Spot and the “Ghost”

It was cool October afternoon, when Spot and I set out with my friends for a weekend at the cabin.

Dave, Ricky, and I were all studying engineering together, and had just finished several gruelling weeks of exams. We decided to celebrate our hard work by a weekend away at my parent’s cabin, complete with s’mores, fishing, and hiking. Mom and Dad were onboard with the idea, as long as we made sure to tidy up the cabin before we came home. I even convinced them to let me bring Spot along. Spot is my family’s beloved golden retriever, who we rescued several years ago, and he is a huge fan of the cabin and the lake.

So, when classes wrapped up Friday afternoon, Dave and Ricky drove over, and we loaded up the back of my red truck with all of our stuff. Dave took his place in the passenger seat, which annoyed Ricky, who grumbled as he got into the back.

Spot was also annoyed about having to go in the back seat. I opened the side door for for him and told him to get in, but he just looked at me, sat back on his hind legs, and barked. I asked again, and he stood up and pranced over to the passenger’s side door. He then put his two paws up on the side of my truck and glared through the window at Dave!

Finally, after bribing him with some treats, Spot was settled in the back seat, along with Ricky, and we were making our way down the highway towards the cabin.

It was just growing dusk when we reached Pleasantville, which is a tiny little town about thirty minutes from the lake. We had been avidly discussing how hard our exams had been. Ricky, who normally gets 100% on everything, was complaining that he had lost marks on one exam, because he didn’t show all of his work.

“I tell you, it’s just ridiculous! I can do that math in my head, why should I have needed to write it out each step for that one problem?!”

“Ricky,” Dave sighed, “let’s get some perspective here, you were docked one mark. You got 99%. I got 75%, and I am still happy.”

I laughed as we approached a gas station.

“Hey guys,” I said, “I am going to stop here to get some gas. We should have enough to get us to the cabin, but I want to make sure we’re good, just in case.”

I pulled up beside the pump, and put my credit card into the machine. Meanwhile, Dave and Ricky got out of the truck and went into the gas station store. A few minutes later, I got back in the truck and enjoyed a brief period of quiet, before Dave and Ricky came back out of the store bickering with each other.

As Dave got in, he handed me a coffee and a chocolate bar, my favourite road trip combo. I also noticed he had a newspaper.

“Dave, did you buy a newspaper?”

“I did,” he replied. “Got it to test Ricky here. He just tried to tell me that he has a photographic memory!”

“I said it was occasionally photographic, depending on the situation,” Ricky rolled his eyes.

I started the truck, and pulled out of the gas station parking lot, as Dave began testing Ricky’s memory.

“You saw the front page of this newspaper in the store, right? There are three stories and two ads listed on the front page. If you can name all of them, I will give you twenty bucks.”

“Easy,” Ricky said, “there was a story about a new tax bill being proposed next month. There was also a story about a jewelry store over in Rocky Ridge being robbed of over $100,000 worth of jewelry. And the last story was about Pleasantville’s new library opening in November.”

Dave looked shocked and then quickly composed himself, “You didn’t list the ads Ricky. Do you not remember them?"

“Oh sorry,” I could see in the rearview mirror that Ricky was looking smug now, “There was one for the motel down the road, and one for the golf course by the lake.”

I laughed as Dave sighed, pulled out his wallet, and handed Ricky a twenty-dollar bill.

It was after dark when we arrived at the cabin. There were other cabins on the lake, but since it was the end of October, most people had packed everything up and weren’t planning on coming back to the spring. The only light we had, outside of the truck’s headlights, was the light being cast by the huge moon. In fact, to me, it looked like the moon was almost full…

I unlocked the door to the cabin, turned on the lights, and went inside. It was a mess. There were dishes in the kitchen sink and food on the counter. A large container of peanut brittle was sitting on the counter. I walked into one of the bedrooms and saw that the bed hadn’t been made. Immediately I felt a pang of annoyance. Apparently I had to keep the cabin clean, but those same rules didn’t apply to Paul and Cindy (my brother and his wife), who had been there the weekend before. I had also told them that Dave was really allergic to peanuts and to avoid bringing them into the cabin. As I walked back to the other bedroom on the main floor, I realized a window was open! Heat was making its way out of the room, while being replaced by the cold night air. I was beyond annoyed at this point. Leaving the cabin in this condition was just disrespectful. In my annoyance, I slammed the window shut a bit too hard, and the latch to lock it broke off.

Dave is pretty handy, and said he would take a look at the latch the next morning to try and fix it. We then proceeded with unloading the truck. Once we had brought in all our stuff, Dave and Ricky started to prepare dinner for us, and I went outside to take Spot for a walk.

The moon was so big and so bright, I didn’t think I needed a flashlight. Spot and I made our way down to the lake. He was stopping to sniff each tree we passed. When we got down to the lake, I realized it was slightly foggy. It’s interesting how even a slight elevation change can make a difference when it comes to fog. It felt almost eery to have the moon reflecting in the dark waters of the lake, while fog was creeping in around me.

Spot was sniffing along the ground when I heard the crunch of leaves behind me. I turned, but with the fog getting denser, and without a flashlight, I couldn’t see anything. He must have heard it too, because immediately he started barking and growling. Spot hardly ever growls, so I knelt down to calm him. Once he was quiet, I listened as best I could, but didn’t hear anything else. Deciding it was probably a deer or something, Spot and I made our way back up the slope towards the cabin.

When I opened the door, the smell of homemade pizza greeted my nose. Ricky is a really good cook, and we all sat down at the kitchen table to enjoy his signature barbecue chicken and arugula pizza. As we finished eating, I noticed that Dave and Ricky had tidied up the cabin while I was out.

When I thanked them Dave laughed, “We didn’t want you to start a fight with Paul over it. Ricky moved the peanut brittle to the top of that cupboard and cleaned the counters so that I don’t have an allergic reaction. And, before you ask, no, he didn’t open it!”

After a fire and s’mores, the three of us went upstairs to go to bed. Fortunately there was three bedrooms upstairs, because no one wanted to sleep downstairs, since it was still cold from the window being left open.

Instead of putting bedding on the mattress in my room, I just laid my sleeping bag over top of it, and put a blanket beside it for Spot. I yawned, the long day of school and driving finally hit me, and I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up to Spot growling again. It was a softer growl this time. I opened my eyes and looked around. The room was pretty dark, but there was a bit of moonlight coming in through the curtains. I sat up and was startled to find Spot fully alert growling at the closed door. I listened and could hear creaking from downstairs. I knew he wouldn’t growl if the noises were Dave or Ricky, so I sat for a moment, and wondered if the cabin was haunted. The creaking grew louder, and then I heard footsteps.

“Do ghosts make noise when then walk?” I wondered.

Quietly, I walked down the hall and started down the stairs. Halfway down, one of the stairs squeaked loudly. I then heard the sounds of footsteps hurrying towards the back of the cabin. When I reached the main floor, I immediately hit the switch for the lights. Nothing was there. Confused, I stood there for several minutes, when suddenly I felt a chill come over me. I looked down the hall in the direction of the back bedroom. At this point, Spot and Dave had come down the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Dave yawned.

I didn’t answer, instead I slowly I made my way toward the bedroom, and flicked the lights on. No one was there, but the window I had shut earlier in the night was open again, with the curtains flapping in the wind...

“Are you sure you shut the window?” Ricky asked the next morning over coffee, eggs, and bacon.

“Positive,” I said. “I definitely heard something down here, and so did Spot.”

“Well I don’t think this cabin is haunted,” Ricky said, matter-of-factly. “Do you think Paul was playing a prank?”

“No, this isn’t Paul. If it isn’t a ghost, then I don’t know what it is.”

“Okay, well the latch is fixed now,” Dave announced as he strode into the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table with us. “Now when it’s locked, nothing will be able to open it.”

An hour later, we were ready to go on our hike. As I laced up my hiking boots, Spot came over, tail wagging.

“You’re coming too buddy,” I said, giving him a quick pat on the head.

No sooner had we headed out the door, when Ricky’s cellphone rang. It was his girlfriend, Sarah. She was at home studying for a math exam, and needed his help.

“Sorry guys”, he mouthed as he fanned us away with his hand. “Go without me.”

Dave, Spot, and I started to follow a trail along the side of the lake. It took us up the side of one of the mountains. Several hours later, we reached a beautiful look-out point. Below we could see the lake and even some of the cabins.

I squinted trying to see ours. Finally I spotted my red truck and the cabin. To my surprise I noticed there was someone outside. My first thought was that maybe it was Ricky, but then this person went to what I was pretty sure was the back bedroom window. It was hard to see what they were doing from so far away.

“Are you seeing this?” I said in Dave’s direction. I turned to see him nodding and jabbing at his phone.

“No reception up here,” he grumbled. “I was going to call Ricky, to let him know to make sure everything is locked.”

Frustrated that there was no way we could communicate with Ricky from the look-out point, we turned around and headed back down the mountain as quickly as we could.

When finally got to the cabin, I tried the door and was relieved to find that it was locked. Ricky had been smart. I put the key in the lock and tried the door again. It still wouldn’t open. It felt like something was block it from the other side. Urgently, Dave and I started knocking on the door and calling Ricky’s name. After a minute or so, I heard an object being moved on the other side of the door and the door was opened by Ricky. His face was pale as he told us to get inside.

“Something was outside,” he stammered. “I could hear it. First there was a knock at the door. When I went to the door, no one was there. Then I was in the kitchen when I saw the knob turn, but because the door was locked it wouldn’t open.”

We told him about what we saw on our hike, and then the three of us went back inside the cabin.

“I think we should leave right now,” Ricky said. “Something is out there…”

“Ricky, you just finished telling us this morning that it isn’t a ghost,” Dave said. “This is obviously a person who is obsessed with this cabin. I wonder why?”

“Let’s see what happens tonight. At least we have good cell service from the cabin, so can call for help if we need it,” I added.

When it finally got dark outside, we shut off all the lights and had positioned ourselves strategically throughout the cabin. Ricky was upstairs. Dave was in Paul and Cindy’s bedroom. I was in the back bedroom. Spot was in the kitchen chewing a bone. The minutes passed by very slowly, and I was just starting to think this “ghost” had given up on haunting this cabin, when there was a knock at the door.

Dave who was the closest to the door, cross the living room and hit the switch on the wall to turn the outside light on. It must not have turned on because I heard him flicking the switch several times. I then heard him walking back towards the room I was in hitting light switches as he went. Nothing was happening.

He poke his head into the room I was in, “There is no electricity.”

Had the “ghost” cut the power?

Alarmed, I head toward the front door. “Dad has a generator around back. I’ll start it to give us some light.”

“Be careful,” Dave warned. “Something’s out there. I will guard to door until you get back.”

Armed with a baseball bat, I put on a headlamp and made my way to the back of the cabin. To my disappointment, I saw that there was a dark liquid on the ground near the generator. Someone had drained all the oil!

I heard glass shatter, and rushed around the side of the house to see the window to Dave’s room was smashed! Dave had run into the room as well, and we stared at each other through the broken window.

“The door…” I said, and took off around the side of the house. I got back to the front just in time to see the door shut. I tried the handle, but it had been locked on the inside!

Running back to the broken window, I could hear a commotion on the inside. Spot who had been unusually quiet suddenly started barking and then I heard a thud.

I hoisted myself through the broken window and ran into the kitchen. The light from my headlamp landed on a man sprawled on the ground holding the peanut brittle jar. The lid had flown off, and jewelry was spilling out.

Epilogue:

The man’s name was Bob. He was a notorious jewelry thief who had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry over the past several years. He would hide out in vacant cabins during the off-season, and work to reset the jewelry so it could be resold.

He had robbed the store in Rocky Ridge and drove out to the lake. He had hidden his car nearby and had apparently just settled in our cabin a few days before we arrived which explained the mess. However, when he realized we didn’t have much food in there, he had gone out to see if he could find food in the other cabins. When he came back, we had arrived and he wasn’t able to get the jewelry, which he had hidden in the peanut brittle jar.

With a meeting to sell the jewelry the following week, he decided he needs to get into the cabin to get the jewelry back. He tried breaking in the first night, and when that didn’t work he thought he could scare us into leaving. He even went so far as to cut the power!

Dave filled me in on what happened what while I was clambering in though the bedroom window. Apparently Bob had run into the kitchen and started rummaging around in the dark. He pushed Dave out of the way and he fell on his shoulder, dislocating it. After finally locating the jar, Bob was about to run out of the kitchen when Spot came out from under the table. Since it was dark Bob was startled, and not paying attention, he tripped over Spot’s bone and dropped the jewelry.

After that, Ricky came running down the stair having already called the police. They arrived within twenty minutes, arrested Bob, and took the jewelry.

I was driving back to the cabin the following weekend with Mom and Dad, when we stopped again at the gas station. I went in to go to the washroom, and noticed the front page of a newspaper on a stand. There was a picture of Spot and headline read, “Dog stops a jewelry thief who was pretending to be a ghost!”