Haunted Shipwreck Read Online Free

comb in his back pocket. His mother ran the diner in town. No one knew what became of his father. One fact was common knowledge amongst the boys: he had a hankering for Chelle like Adam had for Eve.
    “Jack’th hat! Tell everybody what it’th called!”
    Jack shoved Teddy. Teddy grinned even wider, basking in his split-second glory of fitting in.
    Charlie removed his comb and ran it through his ponytail. “What’s so special ‘bout the hat? Looks like a dump truck ran over it.”
    The morning’s mockery had Jack at the boiling point. “This better be the last laugh. It’s called a porkpie. I bought it at Willard’s. Ragtimers like Scott Joplin used to wear them.”
    “You kiddin’ me, Jericho? You just earned a new nickname.”
    Bobby tottered on the curb’s edge. “Lay off him, Chuck. Why don’t you go wow Chelle with that greasy comb of yours?”
    “Buzz off, Private Benjamin. At least I have somethin’ on the side. Though I must admit, Jericho, it’s not as bad as that poke bonnet you gave my girl.”
    “It’s a pillbox.” Jack’s birthday gift to Chelle a month ago still had Charlie fuming. “It was meant as a joke. You know, her dad being a drug dealer and all.”
    “Sounds more like an insult to me.”
    “C’mon, guy’th. Not thith again. It wath a birthday prethent, Chuck. I gave her candy thigarette’th. That didn’t pith you off.”
    Charlie pocketed the comb. “For Christ’s sake, Shay, look at yourself. Now why am I not threatened?”
    Bobby climbed onto his bike. “Man, Chuck, can you warn me when you’re gonna toss the grenade? I’d at least like to dig a trench. And on that note, soldiers…Jericho and I have some unfinished business to settle.”
    “It’s a little early to be porkpiein’ each other, don’t you think?”
    Charlie and Teddy chuckled. Jack and Bobby flipped the bird and turned their backs on the posers of Passing Bell.
    Bobby pedaled toward the side of his house where Old Glory swayed from the porch. “We’ll rendezvous at oh nine hundred hours!”
    Jack was hot on his trail. He rounded the corner of the house. Bobby had his kickstand down, waiting with crossed arms.
    Jack panted. “So what’s this “unfinished business”?”
    “An excuse to go AWOL. C’mon.”
    They walked side by side, holding their hats as the wind gusted. As usual, Bobby’s backyard was a battlefield. Once again, he had been busy building an obstacle course. Green bicycle tires were scattered amidst the dandelions and grass. Camouflaged water balloons swayed from the clotheslines. Roman candles encircled the elm in the center of the yard and a red holey target was nailed to the trunk. An air rifle with “BB” engraved in the gunstock leaned against the patio.
    “So I went to Willard’s today,” Jack said as Bobby grabbed the rifle and aimed at the elm.
    Bobby clicked off a shot. “What’s new? You bought that porkpuss there, right?”
    “That was yesterday. I bought a boneshaker this morning.”
    “A boneshaker? Since when does Old Man Reed sell Voodoo maracas?”
    “It’s a bike, dumbass. It’s a good hundred years old. Though I’m starting to wonder if it’s cursed.”
    “What do you mean?” Bobby squinted through the scope, then pulled the trigger. A BB ricocheted off the clothesline. “It has black streamers or something?”
    “Not exactly. The whole frame’s iron, and it smells burnt.”
    “No kidding? Why didn’t you ride it over?”
    “My mom pitched a fit and locked it up in the shed.”
    Bobby laughed and set the rifle down. He then withdrew a pair of sunglasses from his right combat boot.
    “Jack Jericho, thirteen years old and grounded from riding his Big Wheel. Ha-ha! So that’s why you didn’t tell anybody about it.”
    “I didn’t tell anybody cause…well…yeah, that’s why.”
    “So, what’s up with the bike?”
    “I don’t know, it’s really weird. I was in the woods, and I heard some singing. I heard a sailor song,