Back at the farm, Eustace began his work on the barn while Muriel put the
groceries away and began to clean up the house. Courage stayed as close to
Muriel as he could even though he was getting in the way most of the time.
Finally, after nearly tripping over Courage for the tenth time, Muriel
stopped and said, "Courage, it's a beautiful sunny day outside. Why don't
you go out and play for a while."
Courage looked up at her. He knew that her question was actually an order so he slinked out the door and found a sunny place on the porch to lie down.
It really was a beautiful day. The bright sunshine somehow seemed to wash his fear away as it gently warmed his fur. Courage found himself drifting off into a peaceful nap. A loud noise startled Courage awake. He sat up and looked around but the afternoon was quiet except for the occasional hammering sounds coming from the barn.
Courage decided to go look for the bone he had been searching for last night. A gentle breeze was now blowing and it felt good as it ruffled Courage's soft fur. He wandered around a bit venturing further and further away from the house when he heard what sounded like a child laughing. Courage stopped in his tracks and looked around him but there was nobody. Just sand, the empty road up ahead of him, and the farm back behind him.
"I must be hearing things." Courage said to himself and returned to his search. He had been sniffing around for about 10 minutes when he heard it again. This time it was unmistakable. It was definately the sound of a child laughing but it sounded almost sinister. Courage froze for a moment before running back to the house as fast as his legs could carry him. He burst through the door and ran right into Muriel.
He tried to tell Muriel what had happened but to Muriel it sounded like gibberish. Muriel smiled at him. "I see somebody is ready for lunch. Go get Eustace and I'll have lunch on the table in a jiffy."
Courage sighed feeling totally defeated. There was no way he could make Muriel understand what had just happened. He turned and headed outside to the barn to get Eustace.
After lunch, Courage decided to try and find out a little bit more about the necklace and the strange writings on the pendant. Back up in his attic room, he scanned the pendant and fed the image into his computer. After a minute or two a sarcastic voice came from the machine. "You really do find the strangest things don't you? Well, I cannot find anything about the writings or symbols on this thing. But it looks like it could be some sort of invocation or spell. You should go to somebody who would know about things like that."
Courage looked down at the pendant and thought about what Muriel had said when they were in town earlier. A chill ran down his spine as an idea began to take form in his head. He took a deep breath and typed a few words into the computer. A few minutes later the voice answered him, "I can only find one reference to ghosts of children haunting the town. It's a piece of a paragraph from a newspaper story from 50 years ago. It reads, 'The strange sightings of children playing in the streets late at night and the vandalism that has been occuring throughout town are thought to be somehow connected. Police have had several calls from residents to report children playing very loudly on the streets late at night Most of these people say that they didn't see the children but only heard them. But some have reported actually seeing the children. Those who report seeing the children describe the children as looking very pale and being dressed in clothes that appear to be from a hundred years ago. ' The article becomes unreadable from that point on."
Frustrated, Courage typed in another question. The voice answered back, "By unreadable I mean blurred. You see, 50 years ago they did not have computers like they do today. Most things like newspapers were stored on microfilm to save space. But the microfilm that this particular newspaper was stored on is blurred for some reason. Much of it is unreadable."
Courage shut the computer off and turned to leave the room when he heard the sound of laughter again. This time it sounded like it was coming from directly outside his window. Courage took a deep breath and slowly approached the window only to find what he had expected - - there was nobody out there. Courage was beginning to feel like a nervous wreck. He had spent several hours with the computer but still hadn't found anything out about the strange pendant. It would be dark soon and Courage wasn't looking forward to the night.
Courage looked up at her. He knew that her question was actually an order so he slinked out the door and found a sunny place on the porch to lie down.
It really was a beautiful day. The bright sunshine somehow seemed to wash his fear away as it gently warmed his fur. Courage found himself drifting off into a peaceful nap. A loud noise startled Courage awake. He sat up and looked around but the afternoon was quiet except for the occasional hammering sounds coming from the barn.
Courage decided to go look for the bone he had been searching for last night. A gentle breeze was now blowing and it felt good as it ruffled Courage's soft fur. He wandered around a bit venturing further and further away from the house when he heard what sounded like a child laughing. Courage stopped in his tracks and looked around him but there was nobody. Just sand, the empty road up ahead of him, and the farm back behind him.
"I must be hearing things." Courage said to himself and returned to his search. He had been sniffing around for about 10 minutes when he heard it again. This time it was unmistakable. It was definately the sound of a child laughing but it sounded almost sinister. Courage froze for a moment before running back to the house as fast as his legs could carry him. He burst through the door and ran right into Muriel.
He tried to tell Muriel what had happened but to Muriel it sounded like gibberish. Muriel smiled at him. "I see somebody is ready for lunch. Go get Eustace and I'll have lunch on the table in a jiffy."
Courage sighed feeling totally defeated. There was no way he could make Muriel understand what had just happened. He turned and headed outside to the barn to get Eustace.
After lunch, Courage decided to try and find out a little bit more about the necklace and the strange writings on the pendant. Back up in his attic room, he scanned the pendant and fed the image into his computer. After a minute or two a sarcastic voice came from the machine. "You really do find the strangest things don't you? Well, I cannot find anything about the writings or symbols on this thing. But it looks like it could be some sort of invocation or spell. You should go to somebody who would know about things like that."
Courage looked down at the pendant and thought about what Muriel had said when they were in town earlier. A chill ran down his spine as an idea began to take form in his head. He took a deep breath and typed a few words into the computer. A few minutes later the voice answered him, "I can only find one reference to ghosts of children haunting the town. It's a piece of a paragraph from a newspaper story from 50 years ago. It reads, 'The strange sightings of children playing in the streets late at night and the vandalism that has been occuring throughout town are thought to be somehow connected. Police have had several calls from residents to report children playing very loudly on the streets late at night Most of these people say that they didn't see the children but only heard them. But some have reported actually seeing the children. Those who report seeing the children describe the children as looking very pale and being dressed in clothes that appear to be from a hundred years ago. ' The article becomes unreadable from that point on."
Frustrated, Courage typed in another question. The voice answered back, "By unreadable I mean blurred. You see, 50 years ago they did not have computers like they do today. Most things like newspapers were stored on microfilm to save space. But the microfilm that this particular newspaper was stored on is blurred for some reason. Much of it is unreadable."
Courage shut the computer off and turned to leave the room when he heard the sound of laughter again. This time it sounded like it was coming from directly outside his window. Courage took a deep breath and slowly approached the window only to find what he had expected - - there was nobody out there. Courage was beginning to feel like a nervous wreck. He had spent several hours with the computer but still hadn't found anything out about the strange pendant. It would be dark soon and Courage wasn't looking forward to the night.