4. The Halloween Store

4 The Halloween Store The Halloween store was in the mall. I pulled Mother there in a jiffy. Only too bad for me. 'Cause as soon as I saw the store, I screeched on my brakes speedy quick. On account of the stuff in the window gave me the creeps, I tell you! The window was filled with skeletons and devils. Plus there were scary, hairy monster heads all over the place! I closed my eyes real tight. And I did a hard swallow.

'Cause scary, hairy monster heads can take the brave right out of you. I squeezed Mother's hand tighter. "Okay, here's a little change of plans," I said. "I think I will go home now." Then I tried to pull Mother back the other way. But she didn't budge.

"I know those masks look scary," she said. "But rubber masks can't hurt you, Junie B." She smiled. "Those masks are made from the same kind of rubber that Ollie's rubber ducky is made from. And you're not afraid of Rubber Ducky, are you?" I rolled my eyes at that dumb question. "Rubber Ducky doesn't have a sword through his head," I said. Mother didn't listen. She pulled me into the store. And we went to the aisle with the little girls' costumes. I looked up and down the shelves. They had every little costume in the book, I tell you! They had Little Red Riding Hood, and Little Bo-Peep, and Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Little Orphan Annie, and the Little Mermaid. Plus also, they had Little Miss

Muppet Who Sat on Her Trumpet! Mother's face got gleamy and happy. "Oh, don't you just love these, Junie B.?" she asked. "Wouldn't you like to wear one of these darling costumes tomorrow?" I smiled very pleasant. "No thank you," I said. Just then, a store lady walked by. I reached out and tapped on her. "Where's the Squirty suits?" I asked. The lady looked curious at me. Then she looked at Mother. "Did she say squirtelly suits?" she asked. Mother closed her eyes a second. "No. I'm afraid she said Squirty suits," she told her. "Squirty the Clown. He sprays old women with seltzer." The lady looked strange at us.

Then she led me and Mother to the clown stuff. And she went the other way. I looked down the clown row real nervous. And oh no! Oh no! There were scary clown parts hanging everywhere, I tell you! I quick jumped behind Mother's skirt. Then very slow, I peeked out.

There were round clown noses. And creepy clown hair. And big white clown gloves. And giant, baggy clown pants with s'penders on them. I did some deep breaths. Then finally, I came out from behind Mother. And I looked all the way down the aisle. "Yeah, only here's the problem. I don't