“Well, there’s no barn, dear, you have a very good imagination though.”

Jessica stood with her head down and her hands jammed into her pockets. She was so confused, and embarrassed. Mr. Cook must think her a very foolish little girl.

But Mr. Cook cleared his old throat and said, “Well now, there used to be a barn there.”

Jessica, and her mother and father all said at the very same time, “There was?”

Mr. Cook nodded his strange head.

“Yep. Big old barn. Just through the window like the little miss says, but that was a long time a go, when I was a little boy and my daddy owned the farm I live on now. This place belonged to the Weatherbees.”

Mr. Cook took a sip of his coffee.

“I remember on Halloween night, 1932, there was a fire. We could see the flames leaping up into the sky all the way from our farm down the road. My pa and I ran as fast as we could, but there was nothing to be done. The barn burned right to the ground. Mr. Weatherbee lost his horse in that fire. He was a good horse who worked in the fields. They couldn’t afford a new one, and so they couldn’t farm. Eventually they moved in with their son who lives in the city.”

He sipped more of his coffee, looked thoughtfully towards the window and said, “Say, today’s Halloween, ain’t it? Now isn’t that a funny coincidence.”