Shadows of Caesar's Creek by Sharon M. Draper

Author:Sharon M. Draper
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2011-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ’STRANGE EVENTS’?”ASKED Mimi. She looked up at the moon and back into the flames of the sparkling fire.

“And what kind of shadows will walk?” added Brandy. Tiana shivered and moved a fraction closer to Rashawn.

Noni’s face looked dark and mysterious. Her voice was low and scary as she whispered again, “Shadows walk in the moonlight”

“You mean like ghosts?” asked Rico.

“You trying to scare us, mon?” Ziggy asked. “’Cause you might be doing a good job”

“There are spirits everywhere,” Noni continued. “Spirits of the past, and spirits of hope, and spirits of those who once walked this land. Are you brave enough to sleep in the darkness with the shadows of the past?”

“You can’t scare us” boasted Rashawn. “We’re ready to go to sleep without any flashlights, even”

“No problem, mon” Ziggy added.

Jerome said boldly, “Bring on all your ghosts and shadows and spirits. We’re the Black Dinosaurs We’re not scared of anything”

Rico joined them as they stood and marched to their tent, but he looked scared. They could hear Noni and the girls laughing behind them.

“Dumb girls” Rico said. “They got Noni to protect them, though.”

“We don’t need anybody, mon,” Ziggy boasted. “She was just trying to scare us. That’s what you’re supposed to do to kids on a campout”

They crawled into their sleeping bags, which fit snugly into the tent. Each boy had a flashlight. “Ready to zip the tent?” Jerome asked.

“Ready, mon”

“Let her zip” added Rico.

“Now, flashlights off” commanded Rashawn.

The darkness was almost total. They could see faint shadows from the light of the fading campfire. The light of the moon cast an eerie glow.

“You scared?” asked Rico.

“Not really,” Rashawn replied, but his voice was a little shaky.

“Me neither,” said Jerome. “I just hope there’s no bugs crawling around inside this sleeping bag”

“Where’s the arrowhead, Rico?” Ziggy asked.

“Right here in my pocket. You know,” Rico added, “I wish we could do one of those manhood tests Noni talked about.”

“Like jumping naked in a frozen lake, mon? You must be nuts”

“No, I mean like going on a night hike or searching for secrets in the stars.”

“We could go on a hike tonight,” Rashawn suggested quietly.

“Noni would never allow it,” Rico declared.

“Noni would never know” Rashawn replied excitedly. “We’ll wait until she’s asleep.”

“You mean sneak out, mon? Awesome”

“We’ll get in really big trouble”

“Only if we get caught”

“How could they catch us? We’ll be back in an hour”

“Let’s prove we’re men, and not boys”

“It’s dark”

“We’ve got flashlights.”

“What about the bugs?”

“We’ll take bug spray.”

“Let’s do it”

“Yeah, mon Let’s do it”

They whispered excitedly for the next hour, listening for the sounds from the girls’ tent to disappear. They planned to walk down to the beach by the lake and sit in the moonlight, pretending to be Shawnee boys on a night journey. If Noni woke up and found them, they decided to tell her they had gone out to go to the bathroom.

The night finally became silent. Rashawn unzipped the tent and listened. They could hear insects and frogs, but the girls’ tent was quiet.

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