Suckers - Jack Kilborn [21]
“BOO!” said Kyle. The girls shrieked in terror and then burst into delighted laughter. Roger handed the flashlight back to Becky and got to his feet.
“Is that all true, Uncle Roger?” asked Theresa.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Roger told her.
I smacked him in the shoulder before he could pursue that line of thinking any further. But not hard enough.
A couple hours later, all of the girls had been claimed by their parents except Becky. We sat in the living room, watching Kill Or You’re Dead, or possibly the sequel.
“I think we should go explore the Taywood house,” said Roger.
“Shut up, Roger,” I suggested.
“No, really! It would be fun.”
“So would running through the Chamber Police Department wearing nothing but gummi worms, and yet I haven’t given in to temptation.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Roger asked.
I put my arm around Kyle. “Son, this is what’s known as peer pressure. When you get older, bad kids will try to get you to smoke and use bad words and chew this nasty black goopy stuff that makes you spit, and your job is to tell them no. Got it?”
“Got it,” said Kyle. He looked over at Roger. “No.”
“Good boy.”
Roger chuckled and sat back to watch the rest of the movie. About fifteen minutes later, Becky’s mother showed up, wearing a witch costume with fluorescent warts.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said. “Did you have a good time, Becky?”
Becky nodded. “Can we go to the Taywood house, Mommy?”
“You mean…” she took a moment to let out a maniacal cackle, “…the haunted Taywood house?”
“Yes!”
“Of course not.”
Becky pointed accusingly at Roger and I. “They’re going!”
“No, we’re not,” I insisted. “I fought the peer pressure. I just said no.”
“No,” said Kyle.
“Good boy.”
“I think you two should go,” said Mrs. Becky’s Mother. “It would be fun. I’ll watch the kids in the van while you explore.”
I sighed. “Aren’t we a little old for this?”
Roger gave me a condescending stare. “Aren’t you the one who spent all of last Thursday night building Death Soldiers out of saltwater taffy?”
“Don’t bring my Death Soldiers into this.”
“C’mon, where’s your Halloween spirit?”
“Kyle, tell Uncle Roger and Becky’s mom what you say to peer pressure.”
“Yes!” said Kyle with a huge grin.
“The child has spoken,” Becky’s mom announced.
And so, yes, I found myself in the van, riding toward the Taywood house, wondering how I ended up in these situations. Well, half the time it was entirely my idea, but I wondered how I ended up in these situations when Roger was the instigator.
It took about thirty minutes to get there, during which Becky told her mother the Taywood story eight different times, each less accurate than the last, until finally it involved aliens, Frankenstein’s monster, and Darth Vader. Though I have to admit the part with Darth Vader was pretty cool.
From the outside, it appeared to be a perfectly normal abandoned house. The homes on each side were also for sale, and had been for quite some time from the looks of the lawns. The Taywood place was a green, two-story wooden house with a large front porch and single-car garage.
“This is really dumb,” I said as Becky’s mother pulled the van into the driveway. “It’s also trespassing. We shouldn’t be teaching our children to trespass. Kyle, I never want to see you trespass, okay?”
“Okay.”
“It’s not trespassing,” said Becky’s mom. “Nobody owns it anymore. And you’re both adults. And it’s Halloween.”
I’m pretty sure that none of those excuses would have carried any weight with my wife (and I didn’t think any of them were true except it being Halloween). But, despite my parental advice, I’ve always really sucked at resisting peer pressure, from tugging on the Rottweiler’s tail at age four to eating the Mystery Solid last month.
“Can I come?” asked Theresa.
“No,” I said.
“Can I come?” asked Becky.
“No,” her mother said.
“Can I come?” asked Kyle.
“No,” I said.
“Why?” asked Kyle.
“Because,” I said.
“Don’t worry about us,” said Becky’s mom (I really should have known her real name, but I