The Package

Bethany "Betsy" Lewis hated watching her little brother; ALMOST as much as she hated, at age 14, being called "Betsy." But what she hated the most was Sheila Abshire, a neighborhood know-it-all in her class at school and who usually got saddled with babysitting her own little sister. Sheila logic: "The two girls could watch their younger siblings together;" for which Sheila was more than willing to take the credit if nothing happened; or pass the buck is 6-year-old Brian Lewis and Kealie Abshire got into mischief. Brian and Kealie were a six-year-old boy and girl; they never really liked one another's company so much as live to get into mischief together or quarrel with one another. Of course, the mothers, Robin Lewis and Marcia Abshire never saw things that way.

"Aren't they so sweet together?" the mothers would coo (the actual answer was the two of them were about as sweet together as Sheila was great; a bad example, since the mothers both also agreed about how amazing Sheila was). "I'll just bet that they're going to get married one day!"

Then, once the Abshires had gone home from any such playdate, Robin would "playfully" punch Bethany in an arm:

"I'll just bet that your little brother gets married before you do, eh, Bessie?"

Elizabeth was out of arguments for otherwise; and it was partially because, if a fourteen-year-old girl still going by "Betsy" wasn't bad enough, then "Bessie" was the name for a cow; and her own mother continuously said it...

================================

It was an October afternoon approaching Halloween and Betsy was babysitting Brian again while many of her classmates would be preparing for the Junior High Halloween Dance. "Coincidentally," Sheila wasn't preparing for the dance either as she was babysitting Kealie again; and Betsy knew this because the two of them had trotted over into the Lewis' backyard right on cue as soon as Betsy had Brian situated.

The kids started out normally enough, racing around the yard to pick up acorns for whatever reason. Oh well; they were being supervised, they were playing quietly and innocently enough, and Brian hadn't started chucking acorns at Kealie yet. The older girls were doing their job in watching the younger kids. However, Sheila seemed a bit bored with simply watching the kids as she was supposed to. Instead, she tapped Betsy on a shoulder insistently until Betsy imagined being the one to start chucking acorns at a second party.

"Do you ever wonder," she asked in a mischievous tone, "about the empty house across the street?"

If Bethany was a little bit old to give much thought about the abandoned neighborhood house, Brian and Kealie were just the right age to wonder about scary tales. They heard the mere mention of the empty house across the street, dropped their game, and scrambled over to the two older girls sitting on the porch steps.

"Uh-huh!" they both chimed simultaneously, settling themselves, cross-legged, into the grass, their game ignored.

Oh well; at least this way they weren't getting into anymore trouble right away; watching them was easier now and Sheila had the spotlight of the center of attention. Everyone was happy. Betsy could oblige this little disruption to her afternoon. Sheila puffed out her lip in self-importance now that she was a part of the center of attention again and began another story.

"They say that the old Griswold house is haunted!" Sheila declared, waggling her fingers.

If the mothers had chosen then to show up, they would have gotten the wrong idea as Brian and Kealie clung to one another in fright. Betsy rolled her eyes at Sheila's story.

"Will you get real?" she demanded; then, to her obviously terrified brother: "No one is haunting the Griswold house; it's just an empty house. It's a Summer property."

"Oh, really?" Sheila huffed, puffing out her already portly chest this time. "Then why is there a package on their doorstep?"

Kealie screamed loud enough to hear throughout the entire neighborhood and she cringed.

"Ghost mail!" she cried, weeping delicately onto Brian's shoulder.

"Thanks a lot, Sheila!" Betsy seethed, kneeling down beside Kealie. "No, honey, ghosts don't get mail. It's as simple as the delivery company leaving a package and the family having not updated their address for them."

"There's only one way to find out!" Sheila barged her way back into the conversation, picking up a nearby remote control. Brian's eyes went wide in anticipation and he reached out to signal "gimme!"

"Brian Lewis!" Betsy chided him. "Sheila, enough!"

Neither of them were listening anymore anyway and Sheila handed him the remote control.

Before Betsy could stop her brother, his drone was airborne and was buzzing across the street. Then, as if she could stop him by now, the drone was on its way back with the mystery box. Suddenly, the drone dropped off the package. With that, the two youngest children and their caretakers stood around the package.

"Open it!" Brian chirped.

Sheila and Kealie both went to do the honors. However, Betsy stepped in.

"We can't do this, you guys!" she insisted. "Let's just take it down to the post office and they'll take care of it."

"Oh, come on!" Sheila wheedled. "Aren't you just the teeniest bit curious?"

Betsy took in the package with roving eyes of her own.

"Well..." she answered, picking up the box for herself in plain sight of her younger brother and the young neighbor girl whom she was suddenly helping to look after...