Soon Jodie, Shar’s best friend, popped her head out from underneath sleeping bag. “What’s Blackie barking about?” she asked. ‘“‘Why don’t you go tell him to... Hey, by the way, what are you doing up there? Are you too scared to sleep by the fence? You better go back to sleep or you’ll catch a cold. It sure is cold this early in the morning. Well, ’m going back to sleep.” She stuck her head back in the sleeping bag and added, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re too old to be scared. Your sleeping bag is over by the fence.” “Oh no it’s not,” Shar said. “What did you say?” Jodie asked, her eyes closed. “Oh, nothing. Just thanks.” “Well, okay, good night.” Jodie flopped around in her sleeping bag, trying to get. comfortable. Then she was quiet. And Blackie, who had been growling all this time, quit. Shar sat there for a few minutes. Then she put all of her weight on her feet and stood up. Turning around she stepped up to the top step and walked across the porch. She raised her hand and took hold of the cold metal screen door and slowly pushed it open. She could hear the scraping of the metal door against the frame. She opened it just wide enough for her to squeeze through, and she closed the door behind her. Her house smelled like popcorn that they had made and eaten before they went to bed. Her mouth watered as she thought of the salt that they had sprinkled on the white kernels. She walked very cautiously toward the dark hall. Her mom and dad wouldn’t be too happy when they found out about this, because it was on very strict conditions ae ad let her have the slumber party. But she just couldn’t sit there all night. As she passed her sister’s room, she leaned against the wall and glanced in. It felt warm compared with the cold metal door handle. She saw her little sister Karen’s, small body huddled into the corner of the purple bed. Her ringlets drooped across her small pug nose. Becky, who was only seven years old was sprawled across the bed, her long legs tangled up together and her long arms laying across Karen’s back. She could hear their steady breathing. A bed sure looked good right now, Finally Shar stood at her mother’s bedroom door. She paused for a. minute then turned around and tip-toed back to the door. “I’m going to do this on my own, I’m not afraid. That man or whatever it is out there doesn’t scare me at all.” She said out loud, as she opened the door, slipped through, and closed it. She quickly went over to the steps and sat down again. her SLUMBERING SLEEPING BAG by Janis Carter The eerie early morning breeze danced with the light of the moon and the dark shadows around the house. The wood panel fence that surrounded the south and west sides of the patio cast a long dark shadow over the humps under sleeping bags and blankets. The glass sliding door from the patio to the inside of the house was open and only the screen door was closed. The inside of the house that was visible was dark, and the shadows across the room were made by the street light that shown in from the window. It was a peaceful night and everybody was asleep except Shar. About two minutes ago she had gone in the house to turn off the porch light, and on the way back outside had gotten her a drink of chocolate milk from the refrigerator in the kitchen; and when she had come back, her sleeping bag was gone. Only her pillow, the one that had brown spotted dogs curled up in blankets pictured on a background of green was left. She had been afraid to sleep on the side where there was no fence, but it was her party, and she didn’t say anything about it to the others. Now as she sat on the porch step with her knees bent under her and her hands flat on the cement. Her heart pounded. She swallowed hard. The lump going down her throat tasted like chocolate milk. She was a- fraid to move. She didn’t want to disturb the others because they might get scared. “I’ve got to keep quiet,” she convinced herself aloud. I can’t make the others worry.” She knew she just had to go around the fence and see if anything or anybody was out there. Slowly she swung her knees out from under her and slid down to the next step. From there she pushed herself up on one foot and stood up straight. She looked around to see if anybcdy else was up. She looked; at the eleven girls in their different sleeping bags and positions. The street light cast shadows across the girls’ faces and bodies. She reremembered how three years ago she had her first slumber-birthday party, Fier parents said that for every year she got older she could invite another person to come. Then it was eight-now it was eleven. Shar looked at each girl, everyone was still. Slowly she tip-toed between the masses of gray sleeping bags, blankets and pillows. As she neared the patio gate she became more frightened and her palms began to sweat. She wondered ane was behind the fence just waiting for her to come get her sleeping’ ag. “T’ll just be brave and if someone does grab me I'll scream. Then one of my friends should hear me,” she said, talking to herself. She stared straight ahead at the gate. Suddenly there was a rustle in the hedge outside the fence. Then her pet dog Blackie, began to bark. Blackie never barked unless someone came to the house. There must be somebody out there waiting for me, she thought. Slowly she turned around. The street light reflected into her eyes. Shar walked back to the porch where she sat down on the top step and bent her knees up until they reached the next lower step. Then she placed her chin on her knees} and locked her arms around them. With her eyes closed she hoped Blackie would stop his barking. She had been so frightened that she hadn’t even noticed how cold the cement was on her feet until now. She stepped down to the next stair, after she stood up straight, and continued on down to the bottom of the stairs. She stepped clumsily over the huge lumps under the sleeping bags until she was at the west end of the patio. There the girls had thrown their shoes and socks before they had gone to bed. She squatted on the balls of her feet; and as she bent, her knees cracked. She began to go through the pile of brightly colored wool feet covers, until she came to her own red adlers. She sat back onto the hard cement and taking 26 27