“Good afternoon, boys,” said the teacher. He looked at them, standing there in their Halloween costumes, clutching their masks. “How kind of you to think of including your poor old teacher in your fun Halloween games.”
“But we didn’t know . . . ,” protested Zit. The other two looked too surprised to speak. “We wouldn’t have, not if we’d known this was a teacher’s house.”
“Don’t you worry!” said Dr. Reeper with a forced chuckle. “I like to see young people enjoying themselves.” He waved a hand around to clear a bit of the lingering smelly smoke. “I’m afraid you interrupted me just as I was in the middle of something. That’s why it’s a little foggy around here.”
“Ugh! Were you cooking?” said Whippet unhappily. “It stinks here.”
“No, not cooking—well, not food, anyway,” said Dr. Reeper. “I was doing an experiment. I should get back to it. And I shouldn’t keep you here—I’m sure you have other people in the neighborhood to delight with your amusing tricks.”
“What about . . . ?” said Ringo, trailing off deliberately.
“Oh yes!” said Dr. Reeper. “Why don’t you boys come and wait on the doorstep while I go get something. I’ll only be a moment.”
The boys followed him as far as the open front door, where they hovered while Dr. Reeper went in.
“What’s going on?” Whippet hissed to Ringo as they waited.
“Listen up, gang,” said Ringo importantly. “Gather round. Greeper wants us to do something for him. And he’s gonna pay us.”
“Yeah, but what does he want us to do?” asked Tank.
“Relax, chill,” replied Ringo. “It’s nothing. He just wants us to deliver a letter—to the house with the weirdo in the space suit.”
“And he’ll pay us for that?” squeaked Zit. “Why?”
“I dunno,” admitted Ringo. “And I don’t really care. It’s money, isn’t it? That’s what matters.” They waited for a little longer. The minutes ticked by, and there was still no sign of Greeper. Ringo peeked through the front door. “Let’s go in,” he said.
“We can’t do that!” exclaimed the others.
“Yeah, we can,” said Ringo, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Just think—at school we can tell everyone we’ve been inside Greeper’s house! Let’s see if we can take something of his. Come on!” He tiptoed into the house, stopped, and beckoned furiously for the others to follow. One by one they sidled through the front door.
Inside, they saw a hallway with several doors leading off it. Everything in the hallway was covered with dust, as though no one had touched it for a hundred years.
“This way,” ordered Ringo, snickering with glee. He set off down the hallway, stopping in front of one of the doors. “I wonder what the old doc keeps in here.” He pushed it open. “Well, well, what’s all this?” he said, a sly smile spreading across his face as he peered in. “Seems like there’s more to the doc than meets the eye.” The other boys crowded around him to see what lay in the room beyond, their eyes widening as they took in the strange scene before them.
“Wow!” said Zit. “What’s in there?”
But before anyone could answer, Dr. Reeper had reappeared in the hallway behind them.
“I asked you,” he said in the scariest voice imaginable, “to wait outside.”
“Sorry sir, sorry sir,” said the boys quickly, whipping around to face him.
“Did I invite you into my house? I don’t think so. Perhaps you could explain why you have behaved so very badly? Or I will be forced to give you extra detention at school for disobedience.”
“Sir, sir,” said Ringo very fast, “we were waiting outside, but we were so interested to know . . . the experiment you talked about earlier . . . we wanted to come in and see.”
“You were?” said Dr. Reeper suspiciously.
“Oh yes, sir!” chorused the boys enthusiastically.
“I wasn’t aware that any of you were interested in science,” said Dr. Reeper, sounding a little happier.
“Oh, sir, we love science!” Ringo assured him feverently. “Tank here wants to be a scientist. When he grows up.” Tank looked rather startled but then tried to compose his face into what he hoped was an intelligent expression.
“Really?” said Dr. Reeper, perking up considerably. “This is wonderful news! You must all come into my laboratory—I’ve been longing to show someone what I’ve been working on, and you seem like the perfect boys. Come in, please. I can tell you all about it.”
“What’ve you gotten us into now?” muttered Whippet to Ringo as they followed Dr. Reeper into the room.
“Shut up,” Ringo replied out of the corner of his mouth. “It was this or detention. So look sharp, all right? I’ll get us out as soon as I can.”