Upstate Uproar Read Online Free PDF Page A

between two other cars in a
makeshift lot near the house and turned off the truck. “See you all
at the end of the amazing maze.” He got out of Fred and closed the
door with a bang.
    “That house looks JUST like the one in Signs ,” Lucy said and hit her lock. “I’m not getting
out.”
    “I saw that movie,” Vivian said. “This house
looks nothing like the one in the movie.”
    “Yes, it does. It looks like it has the
creepy window/door face.” Lucy turned around to look at them.
“Don’t you remember when the kids are reading the book about
aliens? They had on the pointy aluminum foil hats?”
    Kate opened her door. “I remember that the
humans won in the end.” With that, she hopped out.
    “Guess we’re going,” Vivian said and opened
her door. “We can’t let a pregnant lady wander the maze alone.”
    Wendy followed Vivian, and Lucy eventually
pulled herself away from the safety of the car and joined them.
    “I’d like to go on record as saying this is a
bad idea,” Lucy said, scanning the night sky as if looking for
UFOs.
    The moon shone above them, but clouds passed
occasionally, making it darker and more difficult to see.
    Vivian pulled her sweater tight as they
walked along the edge of the cornstalks to the front porch of the
house where a few people were sitting, standing and rocking,
Brandon among them.
    An older man in overalls sat on the steps
wearing a booty bag. Vivian smirked at the sight, having not seen a
booty bag in a while, and never on someone wearing overalls. He
could have walked out of the “American Gothic” painting.
    He grinned at them as they walked in his
direction, showing a nice set of dentures that flapped a little
when he spoke. “Greetings. Welcome to our home and the Lake Placid
Amazing Maize Maze.”
    Wendy stuck out her hand and made
introductions. “We’re glad to be here. This is our first maze!”
    Brandon spoke up. “They’re staying with us,
Bill, so give them a discount.”
    Bill thought about that for a moment. “How
about buy three, get one free, just like they do in the five ’n’
dime when you buy tube socks?”
    “Sounds good to me.” Wendy said and dug into
her jacket pocket. “How much for three?”
    “Fifteen smackers,” he smacked.
    She handed him a twenty and he counted out
five ones.
    “You start over by the three
jack-o’-lanterns,” he said, pointing to his left. “There are
flashlights on that table. One per pair, please, got to have enough
for the crowds.”
    Vivian didn’t see any new cars pulling in. Maybe eight cars is a crowd ?
    They walked over to the table and tested the
flashlights.
    “Let’s have a contest and see who can get to
the end first,” Vivian squealed, getting excited at the prospect of
going into her first maize maze.
    “I think we should stick together,” Lucy
said, banging a flashlight on the heel of her hand, which produced
a solid beam of light.
    “Nah, buddy system, but twosome buddies.”
Wendy agreed with Vivian. “Who’s with whom?”
    “I’ll take scaredy-cat here,” Vivian said.
“You take preggo. Y’all go first. We’ll give you a two-minute head
start.”
    Wendy and Kate hooked arms. Kate held a
large, rectangular, yellow flashlight.
    “On your mark, get set, go!” Vivian yelled.
She and Lucy watched as Wendy and Kate scurried off into the corn,
giggling like schoolgirls. Vivian could hear them debating which
way to go.
    “I still think this is way too cliché,” Lucy
said, picking up a different flashlight and clicking it on and off.
Satisfied with one, she shined the light under her chin and changed
her voice to sound something like Vincent Price. “But since you’ve
chosen the dark side, I’ll be your corn companion. Wahahahaha.
Waahaaahaaahaa haa.”
    Thriller flashed through Vivian’s
thoughts, along with images of zombies crawling their way out of
graves. She laughed. “Corny companion is more like it.”

 
     
     
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    L ucy lit the way
through the rows of