by MagdalenMary495
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
Part 1
Laughing, Jarrod finished the tale he’d begun as he met
Victoria on the stairs that afternoon. “And when the witness mentioned the old
Hadley house, I coughed so hard not to burst out laughing that the Judge
himself came off the bench and ran for the pitcher of water!”
Picturing the dignified Judge, racing for the pitcher, Victoria laughed until
her silver hair shook with mirth.
“Then the Judge recessed the case until Mr. Barkley got over his chocking
spell!”
Looking at one another, Jarrod and Victoria both went off into another gale of
laughter. Unable to control themselves even as Heath and Nick came in the front
door. Puzzled by the gaiety.
“Boy howdy,” Heath drawled, tossing his hat on the foyer table, “that must have
been some joke.”
Nick too, grinned as he took off his own Stetson. “How’s about letting us in on
it?”
Jarrod gave Nick a bantering smile, “Oh, brother Nick, you’ve heard the joke.
In fact, the joke was on you!”
At that remark, Victoria could no longer control her mirth. Hearty laughing
filled the hall as Jarrod looked pointedly at Nick with a nod toward Heath.
“Isn’t it about time that Heath here heard one of our family stories? Like
maybe one about a ghost? And the old Hadley place?”
Nick recognized the name instantly as Jarrod knew he would. The anticipating
grin left Nick’s face, quicker than he could rope a calf, to be replaced by a
scowl. “Can’t never let it rest, can you Jarrod? You always gotta rub it in! Go
ahead, tell Heath! Tell the whole valley and be done with it! Print it in the
Stockton Eagle if you want!”
At that, Nick stomped past Jarrod and Victoria on the stairs, taking them two
at a time. To emphasize his anger over the whole thing, he slammed his bedroom
door.
“Come, Heath,” Victoria came down the stairs, linking her arm into Heath’s,
leading him toward the parlor. “It’s time you learned another Barkley family
legend. The night that Nick was haunted by a ghost that came too soon.” As they
entered the parlor, Heath and Victoria sat down on the sofa, Jarrod took a
stance by the fireplace..a wicked grin on his face.
Thumbs in the pockets of his vest, Jarrod paced up and down as if speaking to a
jury. “It all began with the Cooper brothers...”
“You’re brother, Jarrod, is a pantywaist!” Charlie Cooper taunted eight year
old, Nick Barkley. “Always got his nose in a book, thinks he’s too good for the
rest of us.”
“You take that back!” Nick, threw his strap of schoolbooks on the ground,
clenched his fists and prepared to defend his brother. Almost a daily
occurrence since the arrival of the Cooper brothers three months earlier. “You
can’t call my brother names an’ get away with it!”
There were three Cooper brothers. Twins, Charlie and Scott who were just Nick’s
age and a younger brother, Marty. From the very beginning, the Cooper brothers
left their mark on the valley. If they could steal it, break it, fight it or
overpower it, they did. Some folks even said the Cooper brothers made little
Nick Barkley look like a saint...which took some doing. And almost from the
very beginning, the brothers took a dislike to Jarrod. If they told that Jarrod
Barkley not to cross a line they drew in the dirt, he’d just stare back at
them, cross the line and walk on by. Not that they were awed by Jarrod or
anything. It’s just that if they tried to fight Jarrod, they also had to tangle
with Nick. It sure did gall those twins that Marty refused to tussle with Nick
after the first black eye. And even Scott cried ‘uncle’ after the fourth black
eye and busted lip. Charlie knew he was no match for that Nick Barkley alone,
not without his brothers to back him up. But he sure did want to get even with
that high and mighty Jarrod Barkley. Jarrod, he thought, was just too perfect.
Old teacher’s pet. Always knew the right answer. It got to be a contest with
Charlie that he wanted to best that Jarrod Barkley, but not with a fight. He
had a cunning mind, folks always said so. And one way or another, he aimed to
beat that Jarrod Barkley in a battle of wits. When he heard the legend of
Hadley House, Charlie thought he had the perfect plan.
“Your old brother is so a pantywaist! Teacher’s pet too!”
“Take that back!” Nick growled, showing Charlie a fist right under the nose.
Charlie held his ground, leaning toward Nick. His breath hot on Nick’s flushed
face.
“I ain’t gonna! Betcha that brother of yours is scared of everything too!
Betcha he’s scared of his own shadow.”
Nick had about all he could stand, trembling with rage, he edged closer. Ready
to beat Charlie into the dirt then go home and do the same to Jarrod. Having a
brother like Jarrod sure made life hard. “Take it back.”
“Now, Nick, back off,” Charlie stepped away, motioning with his hands for Nick
to simmer down. Reeling dumb little Nick Barkley in like a catfish on a pole,
“Maybe there’s a way you can prove your brother ain’t scared. I’m willin’ to
let Jarrod pass a ...like a test. To prove he’s as brave as you are.”
Swallowing hard, Nick lowered his fists. Wary at Charlie’s sudden change of
heart. “Like what kinda test?”
Charlie appeared to think. To come up suddenly with the idea he’d thought out
for the past week. “Like if Jarrod would go in the old Hadley place, at
midnight, the next full moon. If Jarrod would do that, it’d prove he was
brave.”
“The Hadley place?” Just the idea washed over Nick like a pail full of icy
water. Everybody knew the Hadley place was haunted. Some folks said Mr. Hadley
had gone crazy one night and killed ten hands and three cows. There were
bloodstains all over the floors. And wispy vapors floating in the air if you
looked in the windows. If you walked by at midnight, during a full moon, some
said you could hear the maniacal screams of Mr. Hadley roaming from room to
room. Nick couldn’t say for certain. He’d never been brave enough to try.
“What if...well, what if Jarrod don’t wanna do it?”
“Then he’s yella’. A coward.”
“He’ll do it,” Nick promised hastily, not so sure. Jarrod could be downright
stubborn. Jarrod wouldn’t care that Charlie Cooper called him a coward. It
wouldn’t bother him a whit that the honor of the Barkley name was at stake. And
Nick wasn’t at all positive that he could persuade Jarrod to go in the Hadley
place at midnight during a full moon.
“Good,” Charlie grinned a wicked smile, everything falling into place, “real
good. Only, hey, Nick, I just thought of somethin’. What if the Hadley place
ain’t haunted like everyone says? Or maybe all the haunts are asleep the night
Jarrod goes? Ain’t much proof iffen you walk in an unhaunted house is there?
That wouldn’t prove nothin’.”
“Well, um...” Nick had never really thought of that possibility. Just the
thought of the Hadley place was enough to cause sheer terror in his heart.
Haunted or not. “Well, what did you have in mind, Charlie? I mean, we can’t see
if there are ghosts there before Jarrod walks in can we?”
Charlie chuckled, patted the dumb little sap on the back. Oh, this was so
easy...hitting two birds with one stone. That pantywaist Jarrod and Nick the
pigeon. “You’re right there, Nick. So maybe, we just gotta make sure Jarrod
walks into some spirits. Might be we can make sure there’s some haunting goin’
on....huh?”
“Um, yeah,” Nick laughed uneasily, groping for the meaning behind Charlie’s
idea. “Yeah.”
Part 2
“You see the way it’s got to be, dontcha Nick?” Charlie
asked a few days later.
Nick, who’d been sent to gather kindling, paused in the chore to listen
uneasily. Wondering, not for the first time, how he got talked into these
situations.
“If we wanna make sure ole Jarrod gets haunted, we gotta do it ourselves.”
With his arms full of sticks and twigs, Nick sat down heavily on a log.
Burdened by a sudden weight of conscience. “I don’t know, Charlie. I mean..” He
hastened to add as Charlie scowled, flexing his fingers into a meaningful fist.
Better not admit he found Jarrod less than agreeable to the plan so far. Jarrod
had no desire to find proof that the Hadley house was haunted. Which was the
ruse Nick used when describing Charlie’s plan to him. “Why can’t we just let
Jarrod be scared without doin’ all what you said. Rattling chains, blowing out
his lantern or dressing up ghostly and all? People say the house really is
haunted. Maybe some real ghosts will do all the haunting.”
“Nick,” you little sap, Charlie thought, “you aren’t telling me you’re too
chicken to go inside the Hadley house are you? Because if you are, you’re just
as yella as Jarrod.”
“I’m not afraid!” Nick lied. “I’ll be there. Friday night like you said. The
night of the first full moon.”
Charlie grinned. “Good. Good.”
In the woods behind them a sharp snapping sound startled Nick. “What was that?
Did you hear something?”
“Probably just an animal,” Charlie passed it off, unaware of the watching eyes
in the woods. Too intent on carrying out his mischief. “And listen, Nick, I was
thinkin’. Maybe you’d best ask permission to stay the night with me....so we
can be at the house awhile before Jarrod gets there. Set things up.”
Hey now, Nick thought happily, this might give him a good excuse to bow out of
Charlie’s plan. Mother especially did not like the Cooper brothers. The chance
of her agreeing to let Nick stay the night with Charlie were about as slim as
snow in California.
“Sure, Charlie,” Nick agreed, cheered immensely. “I’ll ask Mother and Father
tonight.”
“Yes, Nick,” Mother surprised him by granting permission that night at dinner.
“I’ll expect you to behave yourself, of course.”
Shocked by this unexpected turn of events, Nick swallowed a bite of ham without
chewing. “Charlie Cooper? You’ll really let me stay the night with Charlie
Cooper?”
“Yes, Nick, I heard you. Are you agreeable, Tom?”
Father. Nick’s eyes lit up with hope. He won’t let me. He’s said before the
Coopers are a scourge in Stockton. “Yes, Nick, I’m sure that will be fine. Go
ahead, have some fun with Charlie. I’m sure you deserve every minute of it,
son.”
Nick gulped. Who would have thought it? Father and Mother letting him hang
around Charlie. Scratching his head, Nick pondered this in amazement. Grown
ups. You just couldn’t ever figure them out.
Getting Jarrod to agree took more persuasion. Desperate, Nick corned Jarrod
that Friday afternoon in the barn. As usual, Jarrod had come straight home from
school getting right on his chores. He never dawdled like Nick or stopped along
the way. The perfect son. Nick wanted to gag. He even pitched hay with a
perfection Nick found hard to swallow. Nick might not mind so much taking
Jarrod down a peg or two. If he’d agree to come.
“C’mon, Jarrod,” Nick wheedled. “It’s for our family honor.”
“Going along with some dumb idea of Charlie Cooper’s has nothing to do with our
family honor.” Jarrod protested. “Besides, I don’t believe the Hadley house is
haunted. Father said people see an empty house and haunt it with their
imaginations. There aren’t any ghosts in the Hadley house.”
There will be when you get there, Nick almost let the ghost out of the closet.
“If you don’t come,” Nick resorted to threats, his last recourse. “I’ll tell Mother
who taught Audra the song about the drunken sailor....Jaja...” he taunted using
Audra’s nickname for her older brother.
“Nick! You promised!”
“I crossed my fingers behind my back when I did so it don’t count.” Nick
countered, jumping away from his brother’s wrath. He could usually outrun
Jarrod if he had to...he might have to...soon.
“You better not tell!”
“I will if you don’t say you’ll meet me and Charlie tonight. At midnight.”
After grumbling and fighting it a few minutes, Jarrod eventually gave in.
“Alright. But if Father finds out we’ll both be in serious trouble. Nicky!”
Nick went off to Charlie’s. Dreading what lie ahead. Hoping midnight might not
come at all.
He’d only been gone half an hour when Jarrod’s plans changed abruptly.
“Jarrod,” Tom Barkley said as he entered the living room. “I need you to do a
favor for one of the neighbors.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Mother is packing you a change of clothes. I’m taking you to stay the weekend
with the Donaldsons. You know Mr. Donaldson has been having trouble with his
lumbago. It’s bothering him more than usual and he’s milking ten cows these
days. I told him you’d be glad to take some of the work off his hands for a few
days.”
“Well, yes, but...I...” Jarrod’s tongue twisted in knots trying to explain.
He’d promised to meet Nick at midnight. If he went to the Donaldson’s, there
was no hope of making it back in time.
Father’s blue eyes studied him shrewdly. Jarrod couldn’t begin to explain to
Father. Not without getting Nick and possibly himself into deep trouble. Where
Father and Mother were concerned, Jarrod was his brother’s keeper. Nick’s
trouble was his own. Maybe, if he just got word to Nick...
“Father, could we go over to Cooper’s before we leave? I need to tell Nick
something.”
“Tell Nick what? Whatever it is, it can wait. We haven’t time to drive all the
way to Cooper’s before we go to Donaldson’s. They’re waiting for you.”
Too bad, Jarrod thought later, sitting beside Father in the buggy on his way to
the Donaldson’s. It might serve Nick and Charlie right if I don’t show up to
see if the Hadley house is haunted. He comforted himself with the knowledge
that Charlie Cooper was a fool. So was Nick for trusting him. Unless Jarrod was
mistaken, Charlie was probably up to something tonight. Whatever it was, he
hoped Nick didn’t get hurt.
As Nick and Charlie approached the Hadley house, sitting eerie and still in the
moonlight, Nick’s knees quivered together. For a night with a full moon it sure
was dark. There were too many shifting, writhing shadows moving about blotting
out reality unexpectedly. Nick shook so hard he worried that his heart might
just pop out and splat on the dirt road. Or he’d just keel over in fright.
Dying of fear seemed a distinct possibility as the empty socket windows of the
Hadley house stared at them. Daring them to come closer.
“Now all we gotta do is wait for your scaredy cat brother,” Charlie rubbed his
hands together, chortling in glee. “Boy, oh, boy, won’t that be fun. C’mon,
Nick. Let’s get inside and get the place haunted.”
“Yeah,” Nick mumbled. Shuddering with each trembling step to the porch of the
abandoned house.
Neither knew that Jarrod wouldn't show up that night... or that someone else
intended on being there. If it was a haunting they wanted, Nick and Charlie
would not be disappointed.
Part 3
“Can’t I light the lantern now, Charlie?” Nick quavered as
they stepped onto the squeaking porch of the Hadley House.
“No!” Charlie, hampered by a length of chain, two sheets and various “haunting”
equipment couldn’t sock Nick into submission as he’d have liked. “Wait until we
get inside so no one sees. Go on , open the door.”
That Nick Barkley. What a little idiot. He sure didn’t take after Jarrod. Or
maybe, Charlie reflected waiting for Nick to get his nerve up to open the door,
Jarrod got so many brains in the family Nick had to settle for crumbs.
“Charlie. You better open the door.”
“I got my hands full! All you got is the lantern and the matches. You turning
chicken on me, Nick Barkley? Cause if you are...” Charlie threatened.
Making haste to open the door, Nick assured Charlie, teeth chattering,
“I..I’m...not a ch..ch..chicken.”
Too bad the door shrieked like that as he pushed it open. Nick just about
jumped out of his overalls. Just needs oil, the practical side of his mind told
him. The apprehensive side screamed along with the door. Silently.
“Okay, Nick, light the lantern,” Charlie instructed once they were inside. Nick
only daring to put one foot over the threshold when Charlie shoved him forward
with his shoulder. “We’re safe now.”
Safe? To Nick’s dismay he could think of other words to describe how he felt.
Any second, he expected to see ten dead hands rise up from the blood stains on
the floor. Almost he could feel their spectral fingers tightening around his
neck, their breath hot on his head as they opened their ghostly mouths to
devour him.
Nick’s hands shook as he struck a match against the wall. Shuddering as his
hand pulled away a cobweb. The smell of sulfur, a cheerful small flame
heartened him. For a second.
Poof!
“The match blew out.”
“Nick! Quit foolin’ around! Light the dang lantern. We gotta set up our haunts
before Jarrod gets here.”
“I tried,” Nick faltered. “A draft must have blown it out.”
“There ain’t no drafts in here. Can’t you tell it’s been all shut up? Smells
like the inside of a tomb.”
Somehow, Nick trembled, that is not a reassuring thought.
“Light another match.”
Bravely, Nick struck another match. Charlie’s angry face glowed just a second
in the light of the tiny flame before another puff of air extinguished it too.
“You’re doin’ that on purpose, Barkley! Gimme them matches.”
Nick handed over a match to Charlie gladly. Big brave Charlie lit a match, held
it up in triumphant fingers. “Ha! Now hand me the lantern.”
As he hurried to do Charlie’s bidding, another non-existent draft blew out the
match he held.
“Dad blame it, Nick! You’re too slow. Hand me another match.”
“Ain’t got no more.”
“You only brought three matches! You stupid... ! Why would you only bring three
matches?”
Nick scratched his head. Charlie sure got angry over the simplest things.
“Well, you see, Charlie, you only need one match to light a lantern.”
Charlie groaned. “It don’t matter, I guess. If we don’t have a lantern, we
don’t. We’ll just have to get ready in the dark. Here...” He handed Nick one of
his mother’s best sheets, “put this over your head when Jarrod comes. We’ll
hide somewhere then once he comes in we’ll start to moan and groan and yell
while we rattle the chains.”
OOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
“Hey, Nick, that was real good.” Charlie praised, thinking there might be hope
for old Nick after all.
Nick gulped, horror wrapping it’s arms around him, “Um, Charlie..I thought that
was you.”
“It wasn’t you?”
“No.” Nick barely whispered.
The rattling of chains began to assault their ears. Nick and Charlie, stiff as
the starched sheets they held, couldn’t move. As they quaked in their dusty
boots, the chains began to clink and slide across the wooden floor. Clink.
Slide. Clink. Slide. Neither boy wanted to voice the fear that the chains held
feet. Feet that kept coming closer.
“Charlie,” Nick’s voice shook so hard he bit his tongue, “is that you?”
Charlie answered with a terrified moan.
An eerie humming began to fill the room. It flowed over Nick and Charlie as
they locked arms, trembling as one.
“Let’s get outta here!” Charlie spoke in a hushed, tortured way. Nick nodded,
although it was too dark for either boy to see the other clearly. Nick wanted
to run. Desperately. Instead they stood planted in terror, unable to run.
Hanging onto one another while their hearts beat against their chests and they
held their breath waiting for whatever horrible haunt would happen next. They
didn’t have to wait long.
“Nick!” Charlie screamed in panic, “It’s a ghost!”
Nick knew he’d never, not in a billion years, forget the apparition that began
to glide from the kitchen. Floating in billows of filmy white, it came closer
and closer. The face. That horrible, hideous face. After one dreadful glance,
Nick shut his eyes trying to forget the tombstone white of the face, the smears
of blood oozing off the cheeks.
Charlie later swore it’s hair was pure white, that it had no eyes and held an
avenging sword pointed toward them. Nick could never remember. Not after the
specter began to speak in a menacing growl, “Nicholas. Charles. Nicholas.
Charles.” It repeated over and over while their blood ran as cold as a mountain
spring. “You are very wicked boys.”
Breaking away from Charlie, fear urged Nick to run. He tripped over Charlie’s
chain, got tangled in the sheets and ran smack into Charlie twice, but he kept
going. Determined to get out of that haunted house if he had to pull himself
out with his teeth.
As Nick hit the ground by jumping off the porch, Charlie raced past without a
backward glance.
Sobbing, Nick darted off down the road with only one thought in mind. I hope it
don’t catch me before I get home. Father will kill me if I get eaten by a
ghost.
“What happened then?” Heath asked after he’d stopped laughing at the idea of
Nick running from an imaginary ghost. “And who was the ghost?”
“Nick made it home,” Jarrod chuckled, leaning against the fireplace, “to a very
irate Father. Mother, of course, being otherwise occupied at the moment.”
Heath looked at Victoria, astonished. “You, Mother? You were the ghost?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’d overheard Nick and Charlie a few days earlier planning
their haunting. Your Father and I decided to do a little haunting of our own to
teach Nick a lesson he’d never forget.” She smiled , winking at Heath slyly,
“It’s amazing what a little flour, smeared berry juice and an old set of dining
room curtains can contribute to a ghost’s wardrobe. I put a cape over my
clothes, hid my face with a dark veil when I blew out the matches and dragged
the chain. Once I took them off, the boys could see me in all my ghostly
glory.”
“When did you tell Nick it was you?”
Jarrod and Victoria both burst out laughing again. Neither of them able to
control their mirth for several minutes. Finally, Jarrod wiped his eyes and
nodded to Victoria to continue the tale.
“We didn’t tell him at first. He was too frightened. Your Father had planned to
confront him with the knowledge that we knew everything when Nick first came
home. When Nick came in, screaming and crying, your Father felt he’d been
punished enough for that night. Then by the next day....”
Remembering, Victoria’s laughter rang out again as Jarrod took the story from
there. “By the next day, Nick was the model son. Kind. Considerate. He did his
chores on time. He studied. Played with Eugene and Audra. You might say he was
scared into being good.”
“Of course, it didn’t last long.”
“No, Mother, after a few months he stopped being afraid. Being Nick he began to
brag and blow to the other boys about his ‘horrible night’ in a haunted house.
Father finally heard and set him straight. Nick just couldn’t believe he’d been
tricked like that. His pride reared it’s ugly head and he’s been insufferable
about the whole episode ever since.”
Heath, who knew that pride well, could just imagine. He could also understand
why Nick didn’t like to have anyone find out. Even as an eight year old, the
idea that Nick had been frightened out of an empty house by his mother, with
flour and berries smeared on her face, would have stuck like a burr under his
saddle.
Turning to Jarrod, Heath said, “Guess you were glad you got sent off to milk
those cows.”
“Oh, he didn’t get off Scot free, either,” Victoria teased. “Did you, Jarrod?”
“No, indeed. Father didn’t like the fact that I hadn’t told them what Nick
planned. I spent a miserable weekend in my room without any books. Then, of
course, once Nick got mad at the world he told Mother about the drunken sailor
song to get even with me.”
“He probably would have gotten worse than he got,” Victoria chuckled, “except I
ended up breaking my spoon and he apologized so eloquently I didn’t have the
heart to go find another.”
“So what happened to the other boy, Charlie? Did you ever tell him the identity
of the ghost?”
Victoria smiled, “Not after Mr. Cooper heard the whole story, remarked that
Charlie’s behavior as well as Scott and Marty’s had improved immeasurably and
he would appreciate if we kept the whole thing under out hats. Of course, Nick
was too embarrassed for anyone to know the true story so I don’t think he ever
did hear the truth.”
“Can’t recall any Coopers here in the Valley,” Heath said, “did they all
leave.”
“The last we heard,” Jarrod explained, “Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were living in
Washington, Charlie was a state senator in Kansas, Scott was the Sheriff of
some gold mining town and Marty distinguished himself by being a solid citizen
of Great Falls, Montana and the father of fourteen children. The only notoriety
any of them ever got was when one of Marty’s children wandered in to the
Alhambra Saloon...how did that headline go, now, Mother? The one Audra never
could stop laughing at?”
“Small child wandered in. No pants. No diaper.”
Heath could join in the laughter that time, having heard Audra quote the phrase
without telling him the story behind it. “Sounds like you did a good deed,
Mother. Your night of being a ghost might not have turned Nick around but it
sure did have an effect on those Cooper Brothers.”
Jarrod laughed. “Just a word of warning, Heath. It may have been a long time
since that night but Nick can still get pretty riled over it. I know you. You’d
better not nettle him by asking him if he’s seen any ghosts lately. You won’t
like what happens.”
A few days later, Victoria looked up to see Heath coming in the front door, one
hand over his left eye. “Heath! What happened?”
She pulled his hand away, seeing the beginnings of a fine shiner starting to
turn purple. “Oh, Heath, you didn’t? You asked Nick if he’d seen any ghosts,
didn’t you?”
Heath grinned. “Boy howdy, Mother, I just couldn’t resist.”
THE END