The Dummy Meets the Mummy!

by R. L. Stine

  Kids buzzed and murmured. Everyone looked very confused. Mrs. Uris had her hands pressed to the sides of her face.

  “I had that dummy in my house,” Aaron said. “He was given to me. A puppeteer gave him to me. He … he’s dangerous, Mr. O’Connor. He’s … evil.”

  Dad squinted at Aaron. “You had Slappy at your house? Are you serious?”

  “My dad got rid of him,” Aaron said. “He was evil, and my dad put him in the car. He never told us what he did with him. But—”

  “You mean your dad was the one who dropped him at our back door?” Dad asked. “He dropped him here and then sped away.”

  “Probably,” Aaron said. “I don’t know. I just know he had to get him out of our house.”

  Dad held Slappy out at arm’s length and studied him. “You really get around, Slappy,” he said.

  “Please, Mr. O’Connor—” Aaron’s voice cracked.

  Dad motioned for Aaron to sit down. “Relax,” Dad said. “Take a seat. Let’s give this dummy a test run. Let’s see if you’re right, Aaron. I promise I’ll be careful.”

  I felt the muscles tighten at the back of my neck. I knew Aaron was right. Why didn’t Dad listen to him and just put the dummy away?

  He had a small stack of papers at his feet. He reached down and fumbled through them. “Slappy comes with a story,” Dad told everyone. “He was made by an evil wizard out of coffin wood. That’s what it says on one of these sheets. If I can just find the right one …”

  He shuffled through the papers again.

  I could feel myself growing more tense by the second.

  A hush had fallen over the room. No one moved. Everyone was watching Dad in silence. Only Aaron kept shaking his head, muttering to himself.

  “Here,” Dad said, pulling up a sheet of paper. He settled back down with Slappy on his lap. “According to the legend, if someone shouts these words out loud, Slappy will come to life.”

  Dad leaned forward. “Should we do it? You tell me. Should we do it?”

  Aaron was the first to answer. “No! Don’t! Please—don’t!”

  A few kids shouted yes. Most didn’t answer. Mrs. Uris still had her hands pressed to her face.

  I ran up to Dad. “What are you doing?”

  “Cathy, I’m not going to read the words,” Dad whispered. “I’m just playing here. You know. Trying to make things scary. Don’t worry.”

  “You’re sure?” I demanded.

  Dad nodded.

  I started to back away—and I accidentally brushed the paper in his hand. He made a grab for it, but it floated out over the kids.

  I saw Ashli grab it. And before I could warn her … before I could scream at her to stop … she held the paper up and read the words!

  “ABASEEGO MODARO LAMADOROS CREBEN!”

  The words rang in my ears. My mind started to spin.

  Were those the right words?

  The dummy didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t move.

  Everyone watched in silence.

  Dad turned to Ashli. “Hand me that paper. You shouldn’t have read those words out loud.”

  A few kids laughed.

  “It’s just a dummy,” LeBron called out. “Did you really think it would jump up and start to dance?”

  More kids laughed. Ari Moone and David Palmer jumped up and started to dance, stiff-legged like dummies.

  Dad leaned over to take the paper from Ashli—and dropped the dummy on its head. The wooden head made a loud clonk as it hit the stone floor.

  That got kids laughing and hooting. But Aaron jumped to his feet, his expression serious and frightened. “Don’t make Slappy mad!” he cried. “I’m serious. Don’t make him mad!”

  Kids laughed.

  “Aaron, we already know you’re a weirdo freak!” a boy yelled. “Why do you want to prove it again?”

  More laughter.

  Dad lifted the dummy off the floor and dusted off the top of his head with the palm of his hand. “He doesn’t look too mad,” Dad said. “He doesn’t look alive at all.”

  “Dad, those might be the wrong words,” I said.

  Dad shuffled through the stack of papers on his lap. “All of this is a mess. There are papers from my desk mixed in here.”

  “How about these words?” Ari shouted. “Yabba dabba doo!”

  That got a big laugh.

  “How about Scooby Dooby Doo?” someone shouted.

  “Wacka wacka wacka!”

  “Dumbledore! Dumbledore!”

  The big front hall erupted in echoing voices as everyone shouted out their ideas for magic words. Kids laughed and jumped around and called out their funny words.

  I watched Aaron. He was the only one in my class who wasn’t enjoying the shouts and laughter. He had backed to the wall and was standing near Mrs. Uris, his eyes down.

  Aaron was a great guy. Usually a lot of fun. I wondered what happened at his house. Slappy must have come to life. But what horrible thing did he do?

  Dad stood up and swung the dummy over his shoulder. He waited for the shouts to die down. “I’m going upstairs to put Slappy back in his case,” he announced. “Crank up the music. Everyone have fun.”

  I watched him start to climb the staircase. The dummy bobbed on his shoulder. Its head kept bumping Dad’s back as he climbed.

  I had my eye on Aaron. I turned and made my way through the crowd toward him. But a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

  It was Shannon. “I’m glad that dummy didn’t come to life. He’s evil—and Dad knows it. Why did he bring it down and tease everyone with it?”

  “Sometimes Dad goes overboard when he has an audience at the museum,” I said.

  Shannon nodded. “I’m going downstairs. I’m getting more ice cream,” she said. She hurried away.

  Kids were talking and laughing. Ari and David were doing their dummy dance again.

  I stepped up beside Aaron. He still stood against the wall, his eyes lowered to the floor. His red hair fell over his forehead. His hands were shoved into his jeans pockets.

  “What’s up with you?” I asked.

  He jumped. He hadn’t seen me step up to him. “Your dad should listen to me,” Aaron said. “I wasn’t making a joke.”

  “You had the dummy at your house?”

  He nodded. “You remember. That puppeteer who came to school last week. Mandrake the Great.”

  “Yes, I remember,” I said. “His puppets were pretty funny.”

  “Well, he gave me Slappy,” Aaron said. “I saw him leaving after school, and I went over to him. You know. To tell him I liked his show. And he gave me the dummy.”

  I squinted at Aaron. “He gave it to you? For free? Just like that?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t realize he wanted to get rid of it. I mean, he was desperate to get rid of it.”

  “Because?”

  “Because Slappy is evil, Cathy. He ruined my house. He threw up this horrible green puke. It just poured and poured from his mouth. Like a volcano. He covered our house in sickening green puke.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Yuck,” I murmured. “How awful.”

  “The dummy has powers,” Aaron continued in a voice just above a whisper. “He has evil powers, Cathy. And he’s totally sick. If he gets angry …” His voice trailed off.

  “But he’s asleep,” I said. “Dad is putting him back in his case.”

  “What if he wakes up?” Aaron demanded, his eyes widening in fright. “What if Slappy comes to life, Cathy? He could hurt people. He could destroy this museum.”

  “Well, Dad is going to lock him back up,” I said. “The dummy won’t be able to get out of his display case.”

  “That’s not enough,” Aaron replied. “You should find the right sheet of paper with the right words on it. The words to bring Slappy to life. And you should rip the paper into a thousand pieces.”

  I stared hard at him. I didn’t know what to say. “Let me think about it,” I said finally. I squeezed his shoulder. “Try to relax, Aaron. Tr
y to have a good time. I think we’ll all be okay.”

  He lowered his eyes to the floor again and didn’t reply.

  I turned away and started back to the other kids. But something down the hall caught my eye.

  Something moved at the far end of the long hall. I squinted hard, waiting for my eyes to focus.

  And then I let out a cry when I saw the mummy.

  Arragotus poked his head out of the room, then staggered stiff-legged into the hall.

  My breath caught in my throat. The voices of my friends faded from my ears, and I was suddenly surrounded by an eerie silence.

  I knew instantly what had happened. I suddenly realized what the words Ashli had shouted were. Those words … They were the words to bring the mummy to life.

  The papers from Dad’s desk … They got mixed up with the dummy’s papers.

  And now here was the mummy, his thick wrapped feet sliding and scraping on the stone floor as he began to stagger down the long hallway.

  I spun around. Did anyone else see him?

  Not yet.

  Some kids had discovered the mask collection. They had pulled them out of their display case and were trying them on. And taking selfies in them.

  I fought back my fear. I tried to think clearly. What can I do? How can I stop him?

  The mummy moved slowly toward us. His arms hung by his sides. His head was lowered and it was aimed directly ahead.

  I glanced back to the stairway. No sign of Dad. He was still upstairs.

  Where was Shannon? I remembered she had gone to the basement to help herself to ice cream.

  My mind was zigzagging all over the place. I was quickly learning how total panic keeps you from thinking straight.

  As the mummy came closer, he raised one arm in the air. Another cry escaped my lips as I realized what he was doing. He was pointing at me!

  “Cathy … Cathy … Cathy …”

  Noooo. Oh no. Hearing my name again from deep in that ancient creature made me freeze in horror.

  He remembered me.

  He remembered how I had bashed him with that armored shield. How I had knocked him back into his case with the model pyramid. He remembered I was the one who put him back to sleep.

  If only I could get that big armored shield now, maybe I could protect my friends and drive the mummy back. But the shield was in the mummy room. I’d have to run past him to get there.

  And I knew he would stop me.

  I glanced around frantically, looking for another weapon. Nothing in sight. Nothing I could use.

  “Cathy …”

  The mummy kept his arm raised in front of him, his hand trained on me as he lurched forward. He was coming for me. Coming for revenge.

  I had to act. I had to do something.

  A scream shook me from my frozen panic. It was Ashli. She saw the mummy. She was the first to see him moving steadily down the hall toward us.

  Other kids followed her gaze. Kids ripped off their masks and turned to stare at the approaching figure.

  I heard gasps and murmurs. Another scream. Mrs. Uris jumped to her feet, eyes wide with alarm.

  Everyone saw him now. Everyone froze and gaped as the mummy drew near.

  And then I heard someone laugh. I turned and saw LeBron pointing and laughing. More kids broke into loud laughter.

  And then to my shock, they began running toward the mummy!

  Laughing, shaking their heads, they stampeded past me, heading to the approaching mummy.

  “Wait! Stop!” I screamed.

  But my voice was drowned out by the thunder of footsteps and cries of laughter.

  “Stop!” I shrieked. What were they DOING?

  Scott must have heard me. He turned back to me. “Come on, Cathy,” he shouted. “We all know it’s your DAD!”

  I screamed some more, but no one paid attention. My friends swarmed around the mummy, admiring it.

  “Awesome costume,” someone said.

  “Ewwww. Mr. O’Connor, you even smell ancient!”

  The mummy stopped for a long moment. He turned his head from side to side, as if confused by the warm greeting.

  A low grunt came from deep inside his chest. He lurched forward and grabbed Candy.

  “Hey—!” she cried out in surprise. “Let go. You’re hurting me, Mr. O’Connor.”

  The mummy whipped his arm around and spun Candy into the wall. She uttered another surprised cry. “That isn’t funny—”

  And then I heard a familiar voice call from the stairway. “What’s up? What’s going on?”

  My dad appeared halfway down the stairs.

  “Rrrowwwrrr.” The mummy uttered a nasty growl.

  Kids screamed. Stumbling, bumping into each other, eyes wide with horror, they realized they’d made a big mistake. And now they all struggled to back away from the terrifying figure.

  With another growl, the mummy lowered his shoulder into a glass display case filled with paperback horror books. The glass shattered and the books went flying.

  More screams.

  “Arragotus—stop!” Dad shouted. He hurtled down the stairs and ran toward everyone, waving both hands. “Back away, everyone! This is real. It isn’t a joke!”

  Now the stampede moved in the other direction. Everyone scrambled to get away from the raging mummy.

  “Rrraaaarrrgh!”

  With a roar from deep in his chest, Arragotus smashed another display case. Glass flew across the hall. Kids howled in panic. “Is this really happening?” someone cried.

  “Is this another joke to scare us?”

  “Oooh. It smells so awful! It reeks!”

  The mummy turned toward me. He stopped, as if remembering his mission.

  “Unnnnh.” An ugly grunt burst from his throat. And then my name, like another groan. “Cathy. Cathy.” He moved toward me again, just a few feet away now, dragging one foot heavily on the floor, then the other.

  “Dad! Do something!” I screamed. Again, I scanned the hall searching for a weapon.

  Shannon appeared at the top of the steps to the basement. She had a chocolate ice-cream cone in her hand. I saw the look of confusion on her face. And then I saw her eyes go wide as she saw the mummy roaring down the hall.

  The cone fell from her hand and made a loud splat on the floor. She came running toward me. “Cathy, he’s … he’s alive again! Oh no!”

  The mummy had everyone pinned at the end of the hallway. No way to get around him. No chance of getting to the exit doors.

  “Did anyone call 911?” Mrs. Uris shouted over their cries.

  “We’re trapped!”

  “The mummy will get us all!”

  “Somebody—help!”

  Screams of panic rang out down the hall.

  Dad stood frozen in panic for a long moment. I could see he was struggling to think clearly.

  “Wait! I know what to do!” Dad yelled. “I can stop him. I know what to do!”

  Another crash of shattering glass. The mummy knocked over another display case. He ripped a large painting of Dracula off the wall and shoved a hard fist through it.

  Dad turned to Mrs. Uris. “Take as many of the children upstairs as you can and hide,” he said. “There are lots of rooms. Spread out.”

  She nodded and a group of students hurried after her.

  “We’re not going, Dad,” I said. “We have to save you!”

  Dad turned to Shannon and me. “Okay. I’m thinking about the words that brought the mummy to life …” he said breathlessly. “I think … maybe … if we read them again, they will put him back to sleep.”

  “That’s right!” I cried. How could I have forgotten? “Dad—do it! We can’t get past him to read them off the mummy case. But you have the paper.”

  He blinked. “Huh? No. I don’t have it. I’m pretty sure …”

  “Ashli had it,” I said. “But she returned it to you, Dad. After she read the words. I saw her.”

  I glanced back. The mummy was close. I couldn’t see his e
yes because they were covered in gauze and tar. But I knew he was looking at me. Coming for me. Coming for his revenge.

  He stretched his arms out, ready … ready to grab me.

  “Where is the paper with the words?” Dad frantically searched his pants pockets. “Is it on my desk?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned and took off, running toward his office.

  A few moments later, Dad came running back. I didn’t see a sheet of paper in his hand. His face was bright red. “Dad—” I started.

  “I can’t find it,” he said. “It wasn’t anywhere. I don’t know—”

  My scream cut off his words.

  I let out a shrill scream of terror as I felt rough hands grab me from behind. Then a hard hand wrapped around my throat.

  The mummy had me … had me … had me in his grip.

  Choking me. The dry, hard fingers tightened around my throat. I struggled to breathe.

  Kids shrieked in horror. Loud cries filled my ears over the roar of my pulsing blood.

  Dad leaped at the mummy. He tackled him around the waist and tried to bring him down. But Arragotus stayed on his feet, and his hands didn’t move from my neck.

  Dad grappled with him. His hands wrapped around the mummy’s waist.

  “Rrrrrrrr.” The mummy snarled as he fought Dad. I felt myself growing weak. I took in a gasping breath of air.

  Dizzy. I was dizzy now. The room was spinning around me.

  The tight fingers on my throat … can’t breathe … fading … I felt myself fading.

  His hands were so strong. His head loomed over me. I could feel his stare through the thick web of cloth and tar. And the smell … the ancient odor … so sour … so sickening.

  “No! I will not let you do this!” A sudden burst of anger shot through me. I raised both hands and grabbed the mummy’s wrists. Then I shot my foot up in a ferocious kick.

  I kicked the ancient creature hard in the belly. Raised my foot again and kicked him in the shin.

  Arragotus groaned and slid back in surprise and pain. His hands lifted from my throat.

  I sucked in a deep breath. Another. The air felt so cool. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it.