The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Golden Witch
CHAPTER 1 Runaway Pumpkins PUMPKINS goodie exclaimed four year-old Sue Hollister I love Halloween The little girl bounced on the back seat of the station wagon as the family drove toward Mr Johnson’s farm Beside her squirmed pigtailed Holly who was six She put both pinkies into her mouth and stretched the corners Oh Holly don’t pleaded Pam Your face might stay that way She looks like a jack-o lantern anyhow sighed redheaded Ricky who was seven He added Yikes How many are we going to get us said Pete One pumpkin for each of hopefully He was twelve two years older than Pam and sat in the front seat between his mother and his father who was driving As they neared the farm not far from their home in Shoreham Pam suddenly gasped and cried Daddy look out Three big pumpkins came rolling down a lane into the road Thud Thump Splat They hit the station wagon and were smashed to smithereens 7
Mr Hollister pulled to the side of the road stopped the car and they all got out Pieces of pumpkin were stuck on the front bumper and the front right wheel was smeared with pumpkin seeds The fender too had been hit but there was only a small dent on it which could hardly be seen Carefully watching the Sunday-afternoon traffic Pete and Pam hastened into the road and removed the pieces of slippery pumpkin What made the pumpkins run away asked Sue tugging at her mother’s hand Mrs Hollister a pretty slender woman smiled at her daughter and said Maybe they didn’t want to be made into jack-o lanterns Perhaps Daddy knows why Mr Hollister was a tall athletic-looking man with a pleasant smile He had already taken a cloth from inside the car and had wiped everything clean The lane the pumpkins rolled out of is on Mr Johnson’s farm he said Come on let’s see what’s the matter The mother and father and five youngsters walked back toward the lane They were a happy family and often shared mystery and adventure together Sometimes their travels took them to distant places but now and then they met with mysteries right in their home town Shoreham was located on beautiful Pine Lake and the Hollisters big comfortable house was situated on the shore of the lake a mile or so from Mr Johnson’s farm They had come there to buy pumpkins to be used in making 8
jack-o lanterns for a Halloween party the children were planning to have When they reached the lane they turned in It was narrow and stony leading up a small hill Blond fluffy-haired Pam took Sue’s hand and helped her climb Pete ran on ahead He turned gestured with his arm and called out I see what’s the trouble What is it Ricky asked dashing to his side There’s a tractor in the ditch up ahead Yikes Ricky exclaimed And a wagonload of pumpkins has turned over All five youngsters hurried on ahead and reached the scene shortly before their parents Farmer Johnson a middle-aged man with a weather-beaten face looked up from the ditch where he was surveying the damage to his tractor Hello Mr Johnson the children’s father called out What’s your trouble The man removed his cap mopped his brow and climbed onto the road Broken axle he said My tractor skidded into the ditch and look what happened to my load of pumpkins Three of them rolled down the road and banged into us Holly declared twirling one of her brown pigtails I hope no one was hurt Mr Johnson said quickly Our car looked like a pumpkin pie for a few minutes but it’s all right now said Pam She tried to 9
