Stay Out of the Basement Page 8
It was the happiest dinner Margaret could remember. After they cleaned up, they all went out for ice cream. It was nearly ten o’clock when they returned.
Dr. Brewer headed for the basement.
“Hey — where are you going?” his wife called suspiciously.
“I’m just going down to deal with the rest of the plants,” Dr. Brewer assured her. “I want to make sure that everything is gone, that this horrible chapter in our lives is over.”
By the end of the week, most of the plants had been destroyed. A giant pile of leaves, roots, and stalks were burned in a bonfire that lasted for hours. A few tiny plants had been transplanted outside. All of the equipment had been dismantled and trucked to the university.
On Saturday, all four Brewers went to select a pool table for the new basement rec room. On Sunday, Margaret found herself standing in back by the garden, staring up at the golden hills.
It’s so peaceful now, she thought happily.
So peaceful here. And so beautiful.
The smile faded from her face when she heard the whisper at her feet. “Margaret.”
She looked down to see a small yellow flower nudging her ankle.
“Margaret,” the flower whispered, “help me. Please — help me. I’m your father. Really! I’m your real father.”
BEHIND THE SCREAMS
STAY OUT OF
THE BASEMENT
CONTENTS
About the Author
Q & A with R.L. Stine
Double Trouble: Cloned Animals
Monsters of Matter and Mind
Creepy Candle
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Preview
A Terrifying Peek at
GOOSEBUMPS HALL OF HORRORS #5:
DON’T SCREAM!
Bonus material written and compiled
by Gabrielle S. Balkan
About the Author
R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street, the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.
Q & A with R.L. Stine
Why is it so scary to walk down into a dark basement?
R.L. Stine (RLS): Anything could be lurking down there. There are cobwebs and scampering mice. And the dripping, creaking sounds help add to the scary atmosphere. And who’s behind the furnace making that sound of heavy breathing? YIKES! I’m scaring MYSELF!
What kind of creepy things are hiding in your basement?
RLS: My basement is just like everybody’s basement. It’s filled with the stuff everyone keeps around—old books, old clothes, a few coffins, a decaying mummy, jars of zombie dust, bat blood … all the usual stuff.
Have you ever had a dream or a nightmare about a character from one of your books?
RLS: I never have nightmares. Never. My dreams are very boring. I guess it’s because I’m too busy dreaming up nightmares for kids during the day.
Have you ever come up with the ending to a story before having any other part of it figured out?
RLS: Writers most from different am I. first ending the—backwards write I.
In Goosebumps: Hall of Horrors #5: Don’t Scream! there is a cell phone with a mind of its own. Will the robots eventually take over the world?
RLS: Machines have already taken over. A robot beat all the human contestants on Jeopardy! Humans can’t go anywhere without having a cell phone attached to their ear. The machines are winning—which is GREAT news for a horror writer like me!
Double Trouble: Cloned Animals
What do Dolly the sheep, Copycat the … cat, Gene the calf, and Snuppy the Afghan hound have in common? They are some of the 20-plus animal species that have been cloned since the first, a tadpole, was cloned in 1952.
Would you clone a favorite pet?
And would you pay $50,000 to do so? In 2004, Julie from Texas did just that. The result? Little Nicky was produced from the DNA of Julie’s beloved seventeen-year-old Maine Coon cat. Animal rights activists criticized the move, saying Julie could have used this big sum to help provide homes for thousands of stray animals instead.
Would you eat a cloneburger?
That is, a burger made from a cloned cow? What if it made it cheaper? It would cost far more to produce a single cloned cow than to breed one naturally. The first cloned calf was born in February of 1997, named Gene (get it?) and now living in the Minnesota Education Center. Other cloned cattle have been named Second Chance, 86 Squared, Betty, Cathy, and Daisy.
Would you bring back the dinosaurs?
Or, at the very least, clone an endangered animal? In 2001, scientists introduced Ombretta, a seven-month-old lamb, to the world. Ombretta was the first genetic clone of an endangered mammal to survive beyond infancy. Ombretta’s ancestors, the European mouflon, originally lived in the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Corsica, and Sardinia and nearly died out over one hundred years ago.
Would you accept a pig kidney?
What if it could save your life? For over a decade, scientists have been on a quest to create organs for transplant from pigs into humans. A set of five piglet clones, born in 2000, and named Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel, and Dotcom, were an important first step in this process.
CLONED ANIMALS
Monsters of Matter and Mind
Komodo dragon, sea serpent, oarfish, Loch Ness monster, Tasmanian devil … some of these monsters are real, some are not. Learn the facts so you are not fooled by fiction.
KOMODO DRAGON
These meat-eating lizards live underground in New York subways.
FICTION! Three to five thousand Komodo dragons live in the harsh climate of the Indonesian islands of Flores, Gila Montang, Rinca, and Komodo.
Baby Komodos start off eating insects and small lizards, but full-grown adults could eat a human.
FACT! Komodo dragons will eat almost anything, including bird eggs, deer, goats, wild pigs, smaller dragons, large water buffalo, and even humans— sometimes digging up shallow graves to do so!
This largest living species of lizard can weigh as much as a lion.
FACT! Though they usually weigh about 150 pounds, the largest Komodo on record is ten feet long and weighs 370 pounds. Lions typically weigh between 265 and 420 pounds. An American crocodile can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.
LOCH NESS MONSTER
The Loch Ness monster is named for the gigantic Scottish lake it is rumored to live in.
FACT! Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term for a lake or sea inlet. The deepest point of this freshwater loch is 755 feet—deep enough to cover a building 50 stories tall!
The most famous picture of Nessie (an affectionate nickname for the cryptid) was taken in 1934 but was revealed as a hoax in 1994.
FACT! It is widely believed that the photo of the supposedly twenty-five-foot-long creature was actually of a three-foot-long toy submarine with a sculpted head attached.
Scientists have studied the Loch Ness monster’s skeleton to prove its existence.
FICTION! Otters, fish, and every other animal that lives in the loch leave behind physical signs of their existence: footprints, signs of feeding, and eventually, a skeleton. Because there are no physical signs of Nessie, scientists doubt she exists.
TASMANIAN DEVIL
This twenty-pound marsupial’s fuzzy ears turn bright red when threatened or excited.
FACT! In addition, a tassie will let out a bloodcurdling screech, point its tail straight up in the air, and stamp its feet during a battle over food or territory. Devils do NOT like to share. They are so fierce they often take on prey more than twice their own size.
Sarcophilus harrisii, the scientific name for
Tasmanian devil, means “Harris’s meat lover.”
FACT! These ferocious devils eat carrion (rotting meat) geese, chickens, small farm animals, lizards, insects, seeds, fruits, and have a particular fondness for wombats. They enjoy every part of their prey, including hair and bones.
Tasmanian devils spin in fast circles and move across the land like a tornado.
FICTION! This idea comes from the cartoon devil named Taz. In reality, devils are not known for their speed; the fastest they can move is about fifteen miles an hour for about one mile. Instead, they are to be feared for their powerful jaws that can open nearly eighty degrees wide!
Creepy Candle
When you can’t get your hands on a pumpkin, make a spooky lantern out of a green pepper.
You’ll need:
1 large green pepper
1 sharp paring knife
1 cutting board
1 spoon—the serrated edges of a grapefruit spoon will come in handy, but a cereal spoon is fine.
1 black marker
1 tealight candle
1 box of matches
2 tablespoons of your favorite salad dressing
Proceed:
1 With an adult’s help, carefully cut around the stem at the top of the pepper. This hole should be just large enough to fit a spoon through. Set aside stem and all other pepper clippings.
2 Use the spoon to scrape out the seeds and the white parts from the inside of the pepper. If necessary, scrape the bottom of the pepper to make a flat surface for the candle.
3 Draw a creepy face on one side of the pepper, the more ghastly the better! Give your nightmarish night-light unique features, like hairy eyebrows, sharp fangs, a strange nose, or lopsided ears. With an adult’s help, use the knife to carve out your face shapes. Set aside the pepper clippings.
4 With a parent’s help, light the candle and place it inside.
5 Dim the lights, dip the pepper clippings in salad dressing, and enjoy the ghoulish light!
NOTE: Ask an adult for help with this craft and any craft that calls for a sharp objects or fire. An adult who can reattach sliced-off fingers and work a fire extinguisher is especially useful!
VARIATIONS
Use different types of novelty candles for a variety of effects. Trick candles and those with a sparkling wick add an extra element of surprise.
Use red, yellow, or orange peppers for a different sort of ghoulish look.
Get several peppers and instead of a face, cut out a letter on each pepper to spell a spooky word, like Boo!
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Just because you don’t see plants pretending to be your dad doesn’t mean there’s not a whole lot of freaky flowers out there. And while none of these will tie you up, some of them will assault your senses.
THE GOOD
ALOE VERA
If you’ve ever had a bad case of sunburn, you have paid thankful homage to the aloe vera plant, as its internal gel is used to soothe minor burns and skin rashes. You can find skin products that contain aloe at most grocery stores, or grow your own. Simply snip the succulent leaves and squeeze the cooling gel onto your skin. Ahhhhhh.
PEPPERMINT
In addition to its pleasing smell and yummy flavor, peppermint is useful for a variety of ailments. People have used this green herb to help them fall asleep, remember things, soothe a hacking cough, settle an upset stomach, and, of course, make their breath smell better! It’s easy to grow, and people have been doing so for ten thousand years.
THE BAD
PITCHER PLANT
This carnivorous plant is usually bad news only if you are an insect, but larger varieties of this plant have eaten prey as large as a rat! The sneaky plant attracts curious insects with its brightly colored rim and a nectar-filled, pitcher-shaped bulb. Insects come to take a quick sip and slide down the rim to be trapped forever! Other meat-eating plants include the Venus flytrap, the Cape sundew, and the Titan butterwort.
HEMLOCK
Helpful plants like the aloe vera and peppermint may convince you that you can wander up to anything you find in the forest and use it to help you feel better. But you shouldn’t eat any old plant you find without knowing the facts first. With its lacy leaves and pretty white flowers, hemlock looks innocent enough, but ingesting as few as six to eight fresh leaves could kill you. In fact, in ancient Greece, hemlock was used to poison condemned prisoners.
THE UGLY
CORPSE PLANT or DEVIL’S TONGUE
This strange plant has the notoriety of being both revolting to look at AND to smell. When it blooms, which perhaps thankfully is only once every four to six years for about three days, it stinks of rotten meat, a smell that attracts a carrion-eating beetle. That’s right, a beetle that eats rotting meat. If your nose has a hankering for other plants that smell like a dozen rotten eggs, a dead hippo, or, say, an outhouse in August, check out the Drakaea glyptodon orchid, dragon arum, or Rafflesia arnoldii.
CORPSE FLOWER
Next time you’re hoofing it through the rain forests of Malaysia, keep your eyes—and nose—peeled for this olfactory monstrosity. With a smell like decaying flesh and a red and spotty surface that would rival a zitty teenager, this rare plant is hard to miss. Swarms of flies like to cluster around the three-foot-wide flower—the largest in the world. Unlike other plants, this parasitic creation has no leaves, stems, or roots. Weird!
Preview
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1
“YOWWWWWWWWW!”
That’s me, Jack Harmon, screaming my head off. I was on the school bus, heading home, howling in pain. As usual.
You would scream too if Mick Owens had you in an armlock. Mick shoved my arm up behind me till I heard my bones and muscles snap and pop.
“YOWWWWWWW!” I repeated.
Nothing new here. Big Mick and his friend Darryl “The Hammer” Oliva like to beat me up, tease me, and torture me on the bus every afternoon.
Last week, our sixth-grade English teacher, Miss Harris, had a long, serious talk in class about bullying. I guess Mick and Darryl were out that day.
Otherwise, they would know that bullying is bad.
Why do they do it? Because I’m smaller than them? Because I’m a skinny little guy who looks like a third-grader? Because I scream easily?
No.
These two super-hulks like to get up in my face because it’s FUN.
They think it’s funny. It makes them laugh. You should see the big grins on their faces whenever I beg and plead for them to pick on someone their own size.
And then, as soon as I start to scream, it’s belly-laugh time for those two losers.
One day, I complained to Charlene, the school bus driver. But she said, “I’m a bus driver — not a referee.”
Not too helpful.
And so here we were in the narrow aisle at the back of the bus. Mick with a big grin on his red, round-cheeked face. Me with my arm twisted behind my back.
Darryl watched from his seat. The other kids on the bus faced forward, pretending nothing was happening. “YOWWWWWWW!”
Mick swiped his big fist at my head — and tugged off my Red Sox cap.
“Hey — give it back!” I cried. I made a grab for it. But he sent it sailing across the aisle to Darryl.
Darryl caught it and waved it at me. “Nice cap, dude.”
I dove for it. Stumbled and fell halfway down the aisle. Darryl passed my cap back to his good buddy.
I turned, breathing hard. “Give it back.”
“It’s MY cap now,” Mick said. He slapped it onto his curly blond hair. His head is so big, the cap didn’t fit.
I dove again, hands outstretched. I almost grabbed the cap back, but Mick heaved it to Darryl. I swung around to Darryl, and he tossed it over my head back to Mick.
The bus slowed, then
bumped to a stop. I bounced hard into the back of my seat. I glanced out the window. We were at Mick’s house.
“Give me my Red Sox cap,” I said. I stuck out my hand.
“You want it?” Mick grinned at me. “You really want it? Here.”
He held the cap upside down in front of him and spit into it. A big white sticky glob.
“Here,” he said. “You still want it?”
I stared into the cap. Stared at the disgusting white glob of spit.
Darryl hee-hawed like a donkey. He thinks everything Mick does is a riot.
“You still want your cap?” Mick repeated. He held it out of my reach. “Tell you what, Jacko. Give me your watch and you can have your cap.”
“That’s totally fair,” Darryl said.
“No way!” I cried. “My grandfather gave me this watch. No way!”
The watch was a special present for my twelfth birthday. It means a lot to me. I never take it off.
“How about it, Jacko?” Mick stuck his hand out. “The watch for your Red Sox cap.”
“Yo, Mick. See your house outside the window?” Charlene yelled from behind the wheel. “You want to keep us all here till dinnertime? What’s your mom serving us?”
A few kids laughed at that. But most kids are too terrified of Mick to ever laugh around him.