“What in the world?” I thought to myself. We had been on a mission to find canning lids. He promised me he would show me how to make his prize-winning prickly pear jelly out of the juice he had so painstakingly collected. Was he sick?

No! The skeletons had scared him. Huh??? 

“Did you see how the light shined on their teeth?” he asked trembling. “Did you notice how they kept looking at me?” What??? 

And, so Cowboy Talltale told me the story about how he came to be afraid of skeletons. “I was just a young buck, a strong, goodlook’n young fellow in the early 1960s. Me and my buddies, Digger and Scooter, thought it would be fun and festive to celebrate Halloween night by camping in the wilderness just east of Peach Springs. Some of our friends thought this area was a bit frightful because of all the historical tales of mishaps in this region. But, because we were such brave, goodlook’n, strapping young fellows, we did not worry about being afraid in the desolate woods at night. Nothing scared us three! NOTHING! Especially Scooter. Nothing scared Scooter. The three of us laughed at all the nonsense of being afraid on Halloween as we planned our outing to prove to all the rest of our friends how brave we truly were. Brave!

In my mind, it all started as an innocent prank. Two days before the big camp-out, I made a trip to Globe because a man had a truck for sale and my old jalopy was on its last legs.On my way out of town, what do I see but a road-side table sale with all kinds of goodies. Saddle blankets! Cheap saddle blankets, and I needed one. As I was trying to decide on a saddle blanket, my eyes caught a glimpse of a skeleton hanging from a tree, probably to attract holiday shoppers. Now, mind you, I wasn’t into holiday decorating, but when I saw the sun shining on the skeleton’s teeth, a thought came to mind how I could play a Halloween Trick or Treat prank on Digger and Scooter that none of us would forget. Laughing as I paid the vendor five dollars extra for the skeleton, I just could not contain my excitement over what was to be the prank of a lifetime.

On the way home from Globe, I grew kind of attached to the skeleton. And a fine skeleton he was! Such nice shiny teeth—looked almost as if he was smiling. So, I named him Smirky. The drive from Globe to south of Payson gave me plenty of time to think out the details. I would bury Smirky near the old mining camp foundation, convince Digger and Scooter to dig for a gold reserve left behind, and to their dismay, they would terrifyingly dig up Smirky. When I recounted the plan aloud, I looked over at Smirky and he just, well, smirked.

I drove directly to the old mining camp where us brave ones, Digger, Scooter and me had planned on camping on Halloween night. What a glorious warm afternoon: a pleasant, beautiful fall day turning into evening. What a peaceful, serene spot! I jumped out of the truck with an exuberant bounce, laughing so hard I could hardly lift my shovel out of the bed of my truck. Digging and laughing, laughing and digging, it took me forever to dig a deep enough hole to bury Smirky. When I lowered Smirky down into his grave, it appeared he thought the joke was funny, too, with his smirking teeth. So, I buried Smirky with great anticipation of pranking my friends on Halloween.

For two days, I laughed harder than I swear I had ever done before. Every time I thought of Smirky and the trick I was going to play, I could not quit laughing. It was as if common sense had left me. 

Halloween! Finally! Digger and Scooter were so gullible. As we rode out to the camp site, bragging about how brave the three of us were, I told them how I had heard miners used to bury gold stashes by the rock foundation for safe keeping. It wasn’t two minutes and Digger was talking about how rich we were going to be after our camp-out. I was hardly able to conceal my laughter and delight. If only Smirky could hear this!

I hadn’t even stopped the truck yet when Digger and Scooter jumped out to get the shovels.

‘Yes!’ I think to myself. ‘This is going just as planned.’

As Digger and Scooter started digging in the dirt, black clouds suddenly blocked the sun. The sky turned dark. Suddenly, to my dismay, I spotted a juniper tree hosting a flock of black crows and vultures staring mockingly at us. These birds of black creeped me out; however, I brushed it off and giggled as I tried to keep up my enthusiasm.

Then, it happened. Digger screamed so loud I was sure people in Phoenix could hear him. Trying to appear innocent, I consolingly asked, ‘What happened?’

Fear gripped his being. He finally whispered, ‘I found some bones with a skull.’ Loud gulp. In my mind when I’d planned this, the trick had been much funnier than it was playing out, seeing how scared Digger was.

Then, another scream pierced the dark, misty air. It was Scooter. ‘I found some bones, too. And a skull. And here is another skull!’ Shaking with fear from head to toe, I heard yet another scream. This time it was me. None of the skulls were Smirky. These skulls had big, crooked teeth, not like Smirky’s smooth orderly teeth. Where the hell did these skeletons come from?

Suddenly, I heard myself ask, ‘Where’s Smirky?’

Scooter replied, ‘Smirky? What are you talking about? Did you get into the pumpkin spice liqueur?’

Suddenly, the wind roared and moaned, taking on an angry persona; lightning lit the ground near us as thunder crashed in the misty night air heavily enveloping us. Brave reputation or not, the three of us were so scared we dashed for our lives to get into the old jalopy. And, of course, the damn thing would not start. I cried. Digger cried, and Scooter cried. Finally, the old truck started, and we were on our way home to safety. 

We reported the scene to the authorities. After investigating, the authorities believed the skeletons to be prehistoric and quite a find for archeology: a treat. As for me, Digger and Scooter, we felt something supernatural was following us. To this day, if I see my shadow, I always check to be sure there is only one shadow and not two! And where was Smirky?” And, thus the story was told by Cowboy Talltale.

From our house to yours, may you have a safe and happy Halloween. May all your scary skeletons be for decoration only, and if you decide to pull a prank on someone, may all your Halloween tricks BE FUNNY! BOO!