The Halloween Mouse

A few pale shreds of clouds were drifting past the moon. There seemed to be a million bright stars.

"It must've been like this for Tom Sawyer," he decided, thinking about one of his favorite books. "This isn't the Mississippi River and this isn't a raft . . . but it sure is nice."

Timothy smiled and sighed and soon he fell asleep.

When he woke up, the Jack-o'-lantern was all golden inside.

He yawned, then stretched, then stepped over to its mouth. Paws on the bottom teeth, he leaned forward and looked out.

It was early morning. The sun, just coming up, spread gold over the river and the trees along the shore. Timothy heard seagulls. He heard the faraway toot of a boat whistle. He heard the water washing softly against the bottom of his pumpkin-boat.

"What a wonderful morning," he said.

Then he thought about the library and its books. Maybe he would find his way back, someday. He hoped so. But he felt no great hurry to return.

"It isn't every day that's such a fine day for an adventure," he thought. "This is among the finest."

So Timothy Maywood Usher Mouse sailed on.

RICHARD LAYMON is the author of over thirty novels and seventy short stories. He received Bram Stoker Award nominations for four of his books and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel for The Traveling Vampire Show. A native of Chicago, Laymon attended Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and received his Masters Degree in English Literature from Loyola University of Los Angeles. He was a longtime resident of Los Angeles, where he lived with his wife and daughter.

Laymon's fiction is published by Headline in the United Kingdom, and by Leisure Books and Cemetery Dance Publications in the United States.

ALAN M. CLARK hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Receiving his education at the San Francisco Art Institute, he became a free lance illustrator in 1984. He is the recipient of the World Fantasy Award and four Chesley Awards. He and his wife live in Eugene, Oregon.