Billy let out a shaky breath and stepped through the rusty gates. He had heard about this place, but never imagined it would be so scary. He jumped when the gate slammed closed behind him. A large black bird, sitting atop a broken tombstone, gave a loud, “caw!”, and glared at him with cold black eyes. With a nervous swallow, he started down the broken path that led to the center of town.
   A crumbling old church and many scary looking houses, some in much worse shape than the church, came into view. Billy stopped to look back the way he had come. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” he thought. He turned back toward the gate; an image of the boys who dared him to enter Halloweenland came to mind.
   “I told ya he was chicken,” he heard one of the boys say. 
   “Bach, bach, bach,” two others clucked.
   Billy furrowed his brow and turned around. “I’m not a chicken,” he muttered, and started back toward town. He hadn’t gone very far when he stopped again, eyes wide, to stare at one of the dilapidated houses. A ghost had passed through the front wall and was floating toward him on the cool October breeze. Billy trembled as it drew near. “I hope he doesn’t hurt me,” he thought. The ghost stopped and stared at him with hollow, empty eyes. Billy wanted to run away, but was too afraid; so he stood still, hardly daring to breathe, hoping the ghost wouldn’t see him if he didn’t move.  
   But the ghost did see him, and drifted toward him. Billy closed his eyes, imagining how much it was going to hurt when the ghost attacked. Instead, a smile lit the ghost’s face, and his eyes glowed bright blue. “Hi, I’m Boo!” he exclaimed. 
   Billy relaxed; this ghost wasn’t scary at all.  He was only a little ghost, and seemed very friendly.  “Hi, I’m Billy,” he said, “nice to meet you.”
   “It’s nice to meet you, too,” Boo replied. “I haven’t seen you around before, did you just move here?” 
   “No, I’m just visiting; this is the first time I’ve ever been to Halloweenland,” Billy said.
   “Great, I’ll show you around. Follow me,” Boo offered, heading down the path. Billy hesitated, not sure he should follow, after all Boo was a ghost. Boo looked back at him, “Come on,” he called, “there’s lots of neat stuff to see.”
   Billy made up his mind; Boo seemed nice, and didn’t his dad always say there was safety in numbers? He hurried after his new friend.
   “That’s my house,” Boo said, pointing to the decrepit building he had come from. “I live there with my family.” A slightly bigger ghost came from the house. “That’s my sister. Hi, Autumn!” he called as they passed.
   “Hi, Boo,” Autumn called with a wave.
   “My parents named us after things that remind them of Halloween,” Boo explained. “My big brother’s name is Ghoul.”
   Boo and Billy passed several more ramshackle houses, then the road widened, and they were entering the town.  Billy looked around with his mouth agape. He had thought all of Halloweenland would be dreary and scary, but the town was bright and cheerful; decorated in many shades of orange, green, yellow, red, and brown… the colors of fall. 
   Boo pointed out different buildings as they headed toward the center of the village. “There’s the police station. Hi, Officer Batly,” he called to a patrolman heading toward a police car parked in front of the building.
   Billy couldn’t help but notice the officer was a bat dressed in a policeman’s uniform. “Uh, Boo, that’s a bat. Isn’t he a little too small to be a policeman?” he asked.
   Boo giggled. “He’s not always a bat; he’s a veggiepire, silly.”
   Billy crinkled his forehead. “What’s a veggiepire?” 
   Boo’s eyes widened. “You don’t know what a veggiepire is?” he asked. Billy shook his head. “A veggiepire is like a vampire, but they only drink tomato, vegetable, or fruit juice.” 
   Billy giggled, imagining Officer Batly sinking his fangs into an ear of corn. “That’s funny,” he said.
   Boo continued pointing out buildings. “That’s our post office. There’s Mr. Baker’s store; he makes the best cookies and cakes.” Pointing to a larger building, set back from the road, he added, “And, that’s my school. I really like school.” Next to the school, many of Halloweenland’s children were playing in a park.  
   “That looks like a really cool playground,” Billy said.
   “Yeah, it has a lot of fun stuff to do.  Let’s go play for a little while, maybe my friends will be there,” Boo replied.
   Crossing the town square, Billy noticed a store with hundreds of sweets and candies on display in the window. “Wow, what’s that place?” he asked.
   “That’s Mr. Sweets’ shop,” Boo said. “He’s a candymaker. In fact, he makes all the candy in Halloweenland.” 
   “Looks like a great store,” Billy said.
   “Oh, it is,” Boo assured him. “Mr. Sweets is the nicest man in town. He’ll even give you a piece or two of candy, for free, when you visit his store.”
   “I think we should stop by, after we’re done playing at the park,” Billy suggested.
   “Me too,” Boo agreed, heading for the swings.