The Haunted House

        It was late at night, and raining heavily, when Susie's car broke down on a narrow, country road. She put on her coat and had a look at the engine, but she couldn't really see what she was doing. "I'm going to have to go and find help," she thought.
        Susie stumbled along the road until she came to a large, iron gateway. A sign beside it read, "Haunted House", but by now Susie was too soaked to worry. She ran up the drive and knocked on the door.
        A young man opened it. "Hello," he said, "I'm Paul. I think you'd better come inside, you may not have noticed but you're rather wet."
        Susie gratefully went inside, and Paul led her to an enormous fireplace, in which was burning an enormous fire. "Wait here," he smiled.
        While Paul was gone, Susie looked around. It was a very old house, and she began to think it did look rather haunted. Just then, she heard a strange clattering noise in another room. Was it a ghost? The air seemed to feel suddenly cold, and the fire went very dim.
        Susie decided it was a ghost, and stood up to run away.
        At that moment, Paul got back, smiling. "Here," he said, "I've brought you some blankets and a bowl of nice, warm broth."
        "I'm not staying herre," said Susie. "There's a ghost! I heard a clattering noise, the room went cold, and the fire has gone dim."
        Paul grinned. "I dropped a spoon while I was making the broth, I opened a window for a moment to let out a small bird that had got in, and the fire needs some more coal." He chuckled. "Nothing to worry about."
        Susie felt rather foolish. "You must think I'm silly," she said, as she began to eat her broth, "believing in ghosts and haunted houses."
        "I don't think you're silly at all," said Paul, "because there are such things as ghosts, and this house really is haunted. I do think you're silly to be frightened, though, especially with me here."
        Next day, it had stopped raining, and Susie found that Paul had called a mechanic overnight who had fixed her car. "What a nice man," she thought, waving goodbye as she drove past his house.
        Paul smiled as he waved back, then turned and walked inside through the wall.

So

Paul wasn't afraid of ghosts because he was one.

Illustration by Roy Bartle
Image size: approx. 61K.