Wanted by R. L. Stine Page A

concrete floor.
    Thud thud thud thud.
    â€œNo way!” I cried, jumping to my feet.
    The pumpkins all bounced together. Jumped in a circle around me. Their painted faces all grinned up at me.
    As I stared, the faces turned ugly. The eyes darkened to red. The painted mouths opened and closed, making an eerie bub bub bub sound. One pumpkin began to vomit loudly. Thick orange goo poured from its open mouth. And then, all the pumpkins were vomiting, puking up yellow-orange lumps.
    â€œSick!” I screamed. “This is totally sick!”
    My words made them start to laugh. Cold laughter. They circled me, faster and faster, their ugly laughter ringing in my head.
    Trembling in fear, I covered my ears, burst through the circle, and ran for the house.

The day before Halloween, a gray, foggy Saturday, we opened the farm early. We knew it would be our busiest day.
    Sure enough, cars and vans and SUVs began pulling into the parking lot. Families piled out, with lots of little kids, eager to explore the long, leafy fields and pick their own pumpkins.
    My job was to sit in the shed near the entrance and work the cash register. It cost a five-dollar admission fee for each family. I collected the money and passed out tickets from an orange ticket roll Dad had bought from a movie theater in town.
    Then when people made their pumpkin choices, they came back to my little wooden shed, and I rang up the sale.
    I was happy to be in my little shed. The pumpkins definitely creeped me out. And I was grateful I didn’t have to work in the fields.
    Besides, it was a gray day with dark clouds hanging overhead. It looked like it might rain at any moment. I’d stay nice and dry under the flat shed roof.
    Mom had a little stand near the entrance shed. That’s where we had the pumpkins with the painted faces. She also had jars of pumpkin butter for sale, made by Mrs. Barnes. And a few pumpkin pies fresh from the oven.
    The smell of the pies kept floating over to me, making me hungry. But I knew I wasn’t allowed to leave the shed until someone came to take my place.
    Dale and Dolly were the most excited people on the farm. Big surprise, right? They both wore orange skirts and black T-shirts with grinning jack-o’-lanterns on the front.
    Dad told them they were the Official O’Bannon Farm Greeters. They stood side by side at the edge of the field and shouted, “Hi! How are you today?” to everyone who passed by them.
    They loved the job and didn’t get tired of it. And everyone who saw them thought they were the cutest, most adorable things.
    A lot of people stopped to talk to them. “Are you really twins?” a little girl asked. That made my sisters laugh. I mean, what else would they be?
    Some people even stopped to have their picture taken with the girls.
    That made me groan. I knew that after all the fuss and attention, Dolly and Dale would be impossible to live with.
    They are going to think they are STARS!
    Dad and Haywood worked the field. They guided people down the long vines, making a path through the thick, fat leaves. They helped people decide which pumpkins to pick.
    Sometimes they had to cut the pumpkins off the vines. Then they helped carry the pumpkins to my booth, where I rang them up on the cash register.
    Some families bought a lot of pumpkins. Some bought just one. They all seemed to love the idea of walking through the field and picking their own.
    By late afternoon, the cash register was bulging with money. And the cars kept pulling in.
    Maybe this was a good idea, I thought. Maybe Dad was smart, after all.
    If only the rain would hold off. The sky was nearly as dark as night. And I felt a few cold raindrops blow onto my face through the open front of the shed.
    A mom and dad with a tiny little boy stepped up in front of me. The dad set a big, weird-shaped pumpkin down on the counter. “One side is flat,” he said. “Do I get a discount for that?”
    I gazed at the