The Zombie in the Basement (2 page)

Eric looked taken aback and he tried to come up with an answer.

“
Uh, it was like ten years ago, or maybe fifteen. Yeah, fifteen years ago. You weren’t even born yet so you can’t check.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Okay, Eric, sure, if you say so.” Then Jimmy’s eyes glanced over Eric’s shoulder to see Ricky walking away from them.

“
Hey, where you goin’?” Jimmy called.

“
To go get that ball. That old man doesn’t scare me,” Ricky said.

Eric and Jimmy both stared at one another, and then with a knowing smile, both boys turned and ran after Ricky.

If Ricky was actually going to go into the yard of the meanest man on the block, then they wanted to be there to see it.

CHAPTER 2

RICKY CROSSED THE
street and walked up to the peeling, rusting wrought iron fence. His stomach felt like it had a thousand butterflies all swirling around in there, each one trying to get out. He was scared. Really scared, but he wasn’t about to back down now. Behind him, Jimmy and Eric were chattering like two school girls, each surprised at what Ricky was going to do.

No one went into the yard of old man Rollin, no one.

Ricky placed his hands on two of the iron bars, feeling the roughness of the paint. Rust was on more than half the bars, leaving a red dust on the sidewalk below them. Weeds grew through every bar, and when you walked down the sidewalk, you had to walk near the curb

or they would hit you. And when you had on shorts, the grass would make your bare legs itch.

Ricky stared through the bars at the house, with its overgrown trees and peeling paint. At night the house was so spooky he wouldn’t even go this close, but now, in the daylight, it wasn’t so bad.

He knew monsters didn’t like the daylight; they only came out at night.

“
So, what are you waitin’ for?” Jimmy asked from behind him. “Aren’t you gonna go get the ball?”

“
Don’t rush me, I’ll go,” Ricky said with a touch of nervousness to his voice.

“
He’s scared now and he’s gonna chicken out,” Eric said. “You just watch.”

Ricky turned around to face Eric, his jaw set tight. “I will not! I said I was gonna go in there and I will. I…I’m just thinking of the best way in, is all.”

Jimmy sneered. “What best way? Just climb over the fence and go get it.”

Ricky turned back to stare at the yard. “You think he’s got a dog in there? He might.”

Eric made a raspberry sound. “Oh, please. None of us have ever seen a dog in there. You’re fine, now either get goin’ or say you’re a chicken and we can all go home.”

Ricky stared at Jimmy defiantly, but he knew his friend was right. Besides, if he backed down now it would be all over the school the next day that he’d chickened out. No, he had no choice now, he had to go in there and get the ball.

“
Eric, give me a hand up, will ya?” Ricky asked his friend who moved into position. Eric laced his fingers together so they made a step and Ricky placed his right foot in them. Eric lifted up and Ricky felt himself raised into the air. He used his hands to keep himself from falling and a second later his head was even with the top of the iron fence.

“
Come on, Ricky, you’re heavy, I can’t do this all day!” Eric shouted as he pushed up on Ricky’s foot.

“
Hold on, let me get over,” Ricky replied as he placed both hands on the fence and pushed himself up. The top of the wrought iron fence had small nubs, no more than an inch high, but as Ricky went over, his left, rear pants pocket caught on one of the nubs, and as he swung over and let gravity bring him down, the back of his pants ripped, the sound filling the air and causing both Eric and Jimmy to wince when they saw what was happening.

Ricky didn’t know yet, as he was concentrating on landing on the ground, not wanting to go over the fence head first. As he landed, going to one knee, he stood up with a grin. He’d made it.

It was then that he felt a chill on his backside and could feel the gentle breeze touching the skin of his left butt cheek.

“
Hey, did it just get colder?” Ricky asked.

Both Jimmy and Eric began laughing, neither able to contain themselves. As they laughed, Ricky stared at them, thinking they were crazy, but then he felt another touch of a breeze and he reached back to feel the bare skin of his leg, just below the elastic band of his underwear.

“
Oh, great, I ripped my pants,” he said. “My mom is gonna kill me, these were school pants, I didn’t change when I got home today.”

Jimmy and Eric were still laughing, finding the situation hilarious.

Ricky, deciding he’d better go with it or they would only tease him more, smiled widely and said, “Hey, guys, there’s a bright side to ripping my pants.”

“
What’s that?” Eric asked between bouts of laughter.

“
Well, I was almost going to go commando today; glad I changed my mind.”

Eric and Jimmy made a disgusted face and both stopped laughing.

“
Thank God you didn’t,” Jimmy told him. “The last thing I want to do is stare at your white butt.”

“
Same here,” Eric said, nodding his head vigorously.

Jimmy pointed behind Ricky. “Now go get the ball so we can get outta here, I gotta go soon,” Jimmy said.

Ricky nodded and turned around—ignoring his two friends tittering—and faced the old house. Now that he was in the actual yard, it didn’t look any more welcoming.

A crow was in a tree to his right and it cawed at him, as if it was angry about something. Ricky wondered if its home was in the yard and now Ricky had invaded that home. He had images of a hundred crows coming out of the trees and attacking him, their sharp claws and beaks wanting to hurt him, but he shook the images away, knowing to think like that would only freak him out more than he already was.

CHAPTER 3

RICKY WAVED
THE
pollen away from his face as he walked deeper into the overgrown weeds. With each step he took, he released the pollen from the small cocoons that resided on the ends of the weeds. Sneezing more than once, he tried to step more carefully.

The grass went up to his knees in some places, others it was laying on its side, brought down by the weight of the upper stalks. Ricky kicked the grass with his sneaker, hoping to step on the ball. But he was having no luck. Much like a golfer whose golf ball has gone into the rough, the ball was nowhere to be found.

“
Any luck!” Jimmy called out.

“
No,” Ricky said. “But it’s got to be in here, just give me a few more minutes!”

He continued searching and then his foot kicked something hard. Leaning over, he picked up a Frisbee.

The faded yellow plastic said it had been here for a long time. Ricky turned and threw it towards the fence. But his aim was off and it hit the bars right where Eric’s head was.

“
Hey, cut it out!” Eric snapped as he wiped dirt off his face. There had been some dirt stuck to the Frisbee, and when it hit the iron bars, the dirt had flown off and hit Eric.

“
Sorry,” Ricky called out, not really that sorry. After all, he was the one digging through the weeds in search of Eric’s ball.

The same crow cawed at him from a nearby tree and Ricky stopped hunting for the ball to look up at the bird. Small black, beady eyes stared back at him and he got the shivers. It was something about crows that had always freaked him out. They just looked so evil. He figured it was their color…all black and stuff. If they had been bright red or blue, he doubted they would look so malevolent.

Clouds drifted by, blocking the sun, and casting the yard into shadows. Ricky swallowed deeply, the yard looking more imposing than before. Now everywhere he looked there were shadows where dark figures seemed to be waiting to reach out and grab him. He knew it was his imagination playing tricks on him, but he still couldn’t stop feeling this way.

Outside the fence, Eric and Jimmy were quiet, the two boys also sensing the ominous shadows in the yard.

“
You okay?” Eric called to Ricky, who waved back with a wan smile. It was all for show, he was shaking inside, but he was trying his best to be brave. He knew if he took off running now, it would all be for nothing. He wouldn’t have the ball, his pants were ripped, and he would get teased for running away.

No, he needed to at least get the ball before he left the yard.

So ignoring his fear, Ricky began to hunt for the ball again.

He discovered a few more hidden treasures as he searched. A football, a soccer ball and another Frisbee were found and tossed aside. His plan was to take them when he left. But what he needed was the ball they used for stickball.