A Voice in the Attic

The following is an original story for Halloween submitted by Damien Ferguson, age 10. I hope you enjoy it!

Taylor was alone in the house. She usually enjoyed staying home alone, but tonight was different. Taylor could hear a soft voice calling her from the attic. She could barely hear it, but Taylor could hear it! Then all of a sudden it started getting louder! Taylor was wondering, "What could it be?" Taylor was upset, so she yelled, "WHAT!!!" Then it said, "Come in the attic."

Taylor knew she could not go in the attic. Then it said again, "Come in the attic." But as you know, Taylor knew she was not allowed to go in the attic. Then - suddenly! - the door opened. She looked inside. All she saw was cobwebs. Then she walked inside.

She wondered why her mom and dad told her not to go in the attic. Taylor heard some noise. She saw something. She heard some laughing. She saw blood. A vampire said softly, "Come and join me!" Taylor said, "No!" The vampire replied, "Oh . . . do you have some red Powerade?" Taylor said in a creeped out voice, "Y-e-e-s, why do you ask?" He said, "My name is Apple Seed Dracula." Taylor asked him, "S-o-o-o-o, you know Count Dracula?" Apple said, "Yes, he is my father. He named me Apple because I did not bite him like other vampires." So Taylor gave him some red Powerade and watched as it trickled from the corners of his mouth and fangs.

She knew she would never drink red Powerade again!

The Ferguson Family

It was suggested that I upload some more photos of my family so that you all could get a better view of us, so here goes!

From left to right above: Donovan (6 at the time of photo, 7 now and with a missing tooth!), Carey, Daniel (11), David and Damien (9).

We also have two dogs and two cats. The dogs are Thor, who has been with us since November 2005, and Chi Chi, a Chihuahua, who was given to us by my oldest son, Doug, and his wife, Jenny, as a Christmas present last year.

Here to the right is a picture of me with Thor, Chi Chi and Damien taken earlier this evening.

Our two cats are Tigger and Spooky. Tigger, full of fleas like you would not believe, "followed" our oldest son home 12 years ago when we were expecting Daniel. Tigger still acts to this day like a kitten much of the time. Spooky came to us as a kitten shortly after we moved to Mattoon as a "gift" from our neighbors who thought their mother would kill him for jumping up on the table! Tigger is orange and he bounced a lot, which is how he got his name. Spooky was named after the leading character in one of my kids' favorite stories called Halloween Friends because he looked a lot like the cat in the story.

This is Tigger:

And to the left is Spooky. Look at those green eyes glow!

I hope you enjoyed this!

Daniel Ferguson Wins Most Improved Player Award!

Daniel Ferguson was awarded the Mattoon Cal Ripken Baseball League's Most Improved Player Award following the conclusion of the First National Bank-Gaines Photography post-season tournament contest Tuesday evening, June 24, 2008. He is pictured here holding his award as well as the first place trophy his team won for their first place 13-1 finish.