Free Halloween by Curtis Richards Page A

replied, shouldering the front door and disappearing inside.
    Annie and Laurie started up the street again, Annie launching into a tirade about Paul's stupidity in getting himself grounded on one of the key weekends in the year. As she rattled on, Laurie saw the figure again.
    At least she thought she did. About fifty yards down the street, something was standing at the edge of a tall hedgerow separating two homes. The khaki green of his coveralls blended so well with the olive color of the bushes that for a moment she thought it was merely an extension of the shrubbery. Then she glimpsed the ghostly white face through the leaves. "Look!"
    "Look where?"
    "Behind that bush there?"
    Laurie pointed to . . .
    . . . an empty spot beside the hedgerow.
    "You're going to tell me there was a guy in the bushes, right?"
    "There was."
    "Very funny. A second after Linda says there may be a guy hiding in the . . . really, Laurie. Your sense of humor. "
    "I'm telling you. The man who drove by, the one you yelled at?"
    "Subtle, isn't he? Hey, creep!" Annie raced down the street ahead of her friend, balling her fist to slug the masher lurking in the bushes. She peeked around and . . . A cunning smile came over Annie's face. "Hey, Laurie, he wants to talk to you," she shouted. Laurie stood riveted to the sidewalk. "He wants to take you out tonight!"
    Laurie approached the hedge cautiously, knees tensed to catapult her out of there quickly. Like a timid kitten, she peered around the hedge. Nobody there. "Very funny, to use your expression."
    "One practical joke deserves another."
    "He was standing right here."
    "Poor Laurie," Annie commiserated, "you scared another one away." She petted her friend on the head.
    "Cute."
    They ambled down the street, Laurie looking skittishly behind her and approaching another hedgerow with trepidation.
    Annie became serious. "It's tragic. You never go out. You must have a small fortune stashed from babysitting. What's your story? You scared? I'll show you how to relax. You prefer girls? I'll try anything once."
    Laurie laughed, then shrugged. "Guys think I'm too smart."
    "I don't. I think you're whacko. You're seeing men behind bushes!" They stopped before a pretty ranch home partially masked from the street by a pair of dogwood trees. "Well, home sweet home. I'll see you."
    "Okay. 'Bye."
    "I'll call you or you call me."
    "Right," said Laurie, approaching the last privet hedge on the street with steeled legs. She leaned around it, inch by inch.Nobody.
    She looked behind her, walking backward as she scanned the street for the mysterious figure or his station wagon.
    Suddenly a hand gripped her arm.
    She screamed, dropping her books. She tried to run but the hand clutched her arm too tightly. Over her right shoulder she caught the shadow of a big man. Vaguely remembering some judo moves her gym teacher had taught her class for warding off would-be rapists, she shifted her weight, grasped the man's wrist, and stuck her leg between his. She started to roll forward. " Unggg ," she groaned, as the man stood his ground effortlessly. Momentarily she expected to feel the cold steel of his blade plunging into her stomach or slicing across her throat. Then she noticed the color of his sleeve.
    Navy blue.
    She relaxed and the hand released her. She whirled around and almost collapsed with relief in the arms of Sheriff Lee Brackett, Annie's father.
    The handsome, ruddy-faced man in the blue trooper's uniform laughed. "You won't win a black belt that way."
    Laurie sighed loudly. "Mister Brackett! Thank God!"
    "You were maybe expecting the bogeyman?"
    "I don't know what I was expecting."
    "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to startle you."
    "It's okay."
    "Well," he said, stooping, to help her pick up her scattered books, "it's Halloween. I guess everybody's entitled to a good scare."
    "Yes, sir."
    "But look here. Next time someone comes up to you from behind like that, here's the way that throw is supposed to go."
    He stood in