Page 3 of Trick or Tease

Billy stared up at the scarecrow. “What’s with the clown mask?”

“Perfectly wretched, isn’t it?” I asked, shooting him a grin.

“It’s… unsettling,” he said.

“That’s the idea.” I took another sip of lemonade. “This is supposed to be spooky.”

“This is a family event,” Billy said.

I wiped my mouth and raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“So? So this guy is scary as shit. Nightmare-inducing. We want spooky fun, but not ‘We need to talk to a therapist’ spooky.”

Lucy raised her cup. “Told her the same thing, my love.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “Kids are tougher than people think. I saw a six-year-old playing Call of Duty in the grocery store parking lot last week.”

“That doesn’t mean we should design a corn maze that requires waivers.”

I pouted. “All the cool haunted houses and mazes have waivers.”

“I’m vetoing the clown.” Billy acted like he was the final word.

Maybe he was, considering it was his family’s farm, but I wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. Hollow Hank deserved a chance to creep people out.

“Wow. I didn’t realize you were the Spook Czar.”

“I am now. It’s part of the gig.”

Billy had officially taken over the operations at Hogan’s Hill Farm. It was his family legacy. I only wanted to help him out. Drum up a little more business for the fledgling pumpkin farm. The corn maze had been my idea.

It was set up in an old field that the Hogan family had used to grow watermelon forever go. It had been a weed patch for too long. They thought about expanding the pumpkin operation but there was such a thing as too many pumpkins and no one was interested in doing the watermelon thing again. Too much water and fertilizer and it just didn’t work in this area of the country.

But feed corn did. It was an easy crop to grow. We didn’t have to worry much about it and could focus on the rest of the farm. We could use it for the maze and then it could be sold to local ranchers.

It was a damn good idea if I did say so myself.

“Fine,” I said. “He can be a sad scarecrow again. For the record, I think the scarier the better.”

“If you want to be scared shitless, you can take yourself into town and do that asylum house thing,” Lucy said. “But don’t ask me to go with you. No thank you.”

Billy looked over at Lucy and flashed a smile. “I’d go with you. Hold your hand.”

She laughed. “Holding my hand isn’t going to cut it.”

“You could hop on my back and be my little koala. Then I can keep you safe.”

I rolled my eyes. How did I end up stuck with these two lovebirds?

“Don’t make me turn the hose on you guys,” I said.

The two had been together forever. They were basically married but it wasn’t official. Billy had yet to pop the question but Lucy didn’t seem to be too worried about it. They both knew they were going to be together and the ring and marriage certificate were just extra.

Yes, I was a little jealous, but I loved them together. My two best friends completed each other perfectly.

Lucy downed the rest of her lemonade and went back to the scarecrow. She pulled out the sign that she had made. It was painted in big red letters: ENTER IF YOU DARE.

“That’s way more threatening than the clown mask,” I said.