Vampire Lodge Read Online Free PDF Page B

out in front of the lodge. “This is going to
be great,” Kevin observed. “The wind’s really picking
up.”
    “ So where are these
bluffs?” Jimmy asked.
    “ Not far. Right through
this trail.”
    Toting their new kites, then, Kevin
and Jimmy set out down the narrow, tree-lined trail. Autumn leaves
continued to fall as they made their way. Acorns and branches
crunched under their feet. “Look!” Jimmy shouted, pointing. “What’s
that?”
    Kevin peered into the dense trees to
his left. Two eyes glittered at him, inside of a red
face.
    “ It’s a fox,” Kevin said,
as the animal scampered away. “There’re lots of squirrels around
too, collecting acorns and nuts for the winter.”
    They both glanced upward then, and
above them, racing back and forth over the high branches, were
dozens of squirrels, mostly brown, but several black ones, and they
even saw one rare white squirrel. Starlings and other birds also
roosted high in the trees, preparing to fly south for the
winter.
    “ This place sure is a lot
different from the city,” Jimmy commented. “The woods and the
animals and the birds. It’s incredible.”
    “ I know,” Kevin agreed.
“Why do you think I like coming here? The only thing I’m worried
about is what my dad was saying on the way up, about Aunt Carolyn
going ‘bust.’“
    “ That means she might have
to close the lodge down, huh?”
    “ Yeah, I think
so.”
    “ Well, what happens
then?”
    Kevin thought about this. It only made
sense. “I guess if she doesn’t have enough money to run the lodge
and the campgrounds, she’ll have to sell the place, something like
that.”
    “ That’d be a
bummer.”
    “ Yeah, but maybe it won’t
happen,” Kevin said. Then he wanted to change the subject because
he didn’t like to think about the idea that Aunt Carolyn might have
to close down the lodge or sell it to someone else. “Just wait till
we get out onto the bluffs,” he said. “This is absolutely the best
kite-flying weather I’ve ever seen. A whole lot of wind but not
too
    hard. If it’s too hard, our strings
could snap, or we might not be able to control the kites, and we’ll
lose them in the trees or crash them.”
    Eventually, the trail opened up into a
huge, flat grassy field. Suddenly Kevin and Jimmy were standing
right out in the open. There was a mild salty smell in the air,
from the ocean, and they could hear the waves breaking time and
time again just over the cliff.
    “ Wow!” was all Jimmy could
say.
    The view over the horizon was
spectacular. Clouds, some white, some dark-gray, churned above
them. And beyond that, they could see the deep-green ocean rising
and falling, every so often topped by swirling squiggles of white
foam that grew and then disappeared, only to be replaced by more of
the same white, foamy squiggles. The great, churning ocean seemed
like it went on forever. And a steady salt-scented wind rushed
against their faces.
    “ And it’s a safe place,
too,” Kevin commented, pointing a finger across the
bluff.
    Along the edge of the cliff, there was
a long, high fence which led all the way down the coast for well
over a mile, or maybe more. The fence was made of metal wire
attached to steel posts.
    “ So there’s no way we can
accidentally fall off the cliff while we’re flying our kites,”
Kevin pointed out. “That fence would catch us.”
    “ Did your aunt put the
fence up?” Jimmy asked, dropping his big spool of string and tying
one end to the tail end of his shiny-red box kite.
    “ Yeah, a long time ago when
she first bought the lodge,” Kevin told him. “It probably cost a
lot of money to put up, but she wants to make sure no one has any
accidents while they’re staying here. Take a look.”
    Jimmy followed Kevin out to the edge
of the bluff. They put their hands on the sturdy metal fence rail,
leaned over, and looked down.
    “ Gosh,” Jimmy said. “That
makes me really dizzy just looking down.”
    “ I know,” Kevin said.