ONE CRUEL JOKE

By Scott E. Power

On a particular Friday night-no one is exactly sure when but many believe it was Friday the thirteenth-three boys were walking down a dusty road, amidst the fields and farms of northwestern Iowa. The road was very well known to the boys. Each had travelled it many times before. But on that night is was said that the moon hid behind the clouds like a veil, and the darkness was so thick that the road didn't look quite right.

As the boys walked, each one tried to scare the others with frightful stories. Each laughed with disbelief, except Joe. The other two boys could sense that Joe was somewhat scared by the stories and the dark road, so they decided to play a trick.

Soon the boys walked by the gate of the local cemetery. Anyone who had died since 1901, when the cemetery had been established, was put to rot there. Many tall tales had been told about the graveyard, some saying that on certain nights a person could hear the voices of the dead crying out for life.

As the boys stood in front of the fog-covered cemetery and glared into the entrance, the mist seemed to swallow the tombstones and crosses into itself. Joe began to tremble with fright. When the other boys saw how scared he was, they knew it was time to play the trick.

"Inside the cemetery is a grave that is so filled with evil that anyone who stands on the grave and stabs a knife in the ground will die," said Chris.

The third boy, Frank, continued the story. "Yeah, they say that if anyone stand on the grave, sticks a knife in the grave they will turn white as snow and die. I would try it, but I don't think I have enough courage. Are you brave enough, Chris?" asked Frank.

"No way!" exclaimed Chris. "I'm a coward. But I know someone who isn't a coward. Someone brave enough to even stick the knife in the grave. Someone who is too smart to believe such nonsense."

"Who?" asked Joe.

"You, silly! You're the bravest and smartest guy I know. Even Chris says that. Only you can do it. Chris and I are cowards," explained Frank.

In the distance the boys heard a owl hoot in the night.

"Well, what?" asked Joe.

"Are you brave enough to stand on the grave or are we wrong about you? Surely you're not a coward. Are you going to test the evil grave or aren't you? You can even use my knife to stick in the ground and prove that you were there," said Chris. "It has my name on it. It will show that you really had the courage to stand on that grave."

"O.K.," Joe answered.

Frank and Chris led Joe through the fog and up to the cemetery gate. Of course, there wasn't actually a grave. But they knew of a grave with a really old, scary-looking tombstone. Joe was told to go to the old McDowell grave and stand on it-and to stick the knife into the grave to prove he had done it.

Approaching the cemetery with fictitious apprehension, the two boys stopped at the cemetery gate, "Here it is," whispered Frank.

"Boy, does it look bizarre. I would never be strong enough to do what you're going to do, Joe. For being just a kid, you're quite a man," Chris exclaimed.

"Well, are you going to stand there or go in? Or were we wrong about you?" threatened Frank.

Up until this point, Joe had been hoping that they wouldn't really want him to go through with it. His heart was beating fast. He didn't believe he would actually die, but how could he tell otherwise? Would there be such a legend if someone hadn't died while standing on the grave before? People wouldn't just make up something so horrible as a lie about an evil grave, would they?

Joe couldn't believe his friends thought of him as brave and strong. It made him feel good. But if he had known they were lying and playing a mean trick on him, he would have hated them. Joe hated being the sucker. They played jokes on him a lot, knowing he could be fooled easily. But they were his friends and the grave was a different thing. If they thought he would actually die, they wouldn't want him to do it anyway.

Joe said "O.K., I'll do it. if you think I'm so brave, I guess I am. You guys know me pretty well. Besides, I don't believe the legend anyway."

As Joe walked through the gate Frank and Chris looked at each other and grinned. They knew what to do once Joe was standing on the grave.

Finally, Joe was standing on the edge of the grave, looking at the tombstone. Through the darkness and the fog, he could barely read the letters on the tombstone. It said, "Russell McDowell, 1854-1901, The first man buried in this cemetery, Rest in Peace."

Joe stood in fear all alone in the cemetery surrounded by the swirling mist of fog. As Joe lifted his right foot to step onto the grave, his heart was nearly pounding a hole through his chest. His palms were sweating and his stomach began to hurt. "I shouldn't be doing this," Joe thought to himself, "I'm not brave."

But it was too late. His honor was at stake. Aside from that, his right foot was on the grave now, and his left was following. Within seconds Joe was standing on the grave. His heart was still pounding like a hammer. He was proud of himself for taking the step. Now all he had to do was stab the knife into the ground.

At that moment, Joe raised the knife high above his head and with all his strength stabbed the knife blade into the ground. But because of his intense nervousness, he wasn't watching where he was sticking the blade and consequently stabbed the knife through the canvas on the running shoe of his left foot. Joe's only thought was to get off that grave and out of there as quickly as possible.

He tried to turn and run, but it seemed something in the grave had grabbed him by the foot and wouldn't let him go.

Chris and Frank waited a long time at the cemetery gate, hearing nothing. Finally they decided that Joe had played a trick on them and had gone out the back way, leaving them standing around like idiots in the cold night fog.

It was only the next day when they realized how their trick had backfired. The police came to arrest Chris, for they found his knife stuck through their dead friend's shoe on an old grave at the cemetery.


STORY OUTLINE

I. Three boys are walking down a dirt road late one Friday night when they pass an old graveyard.

II. Two of the boys know that Joe is quite gullible and decide to play a joke on him.

III. They tell him that inside the graveyard there is a grave so filled with evil that if a person stands on the grave he will die.

IV. The boys tell Joe that they don't really believe it but are too cowardly to try it. They tell Joe that they think he is brave and strong enough to test the legend and suggest that he should.

V. One of the boys even gives Joe his knife to use to prove that he stood on the grave.

VI. Joe takes the knife and walks to the grave, where he finally gets enough courage to stand on the grave and plunge the knife into the ground.

VII. Joe tries to run but he feels as though something from the grave has grabbed hold of his leg.

VIII. The other boys get tired of waiting for Joe, thinking that he left them there in the night fog by themselves as a joke on them.

IX. The next day the police arrest Chris, for his knife was stuck in his dead friend's shoe in the cemetery.