I swear their eyes are watching my every move.

Ever since my uncle Elmer put those damned stupid scarecrows up (to scare the birds away from his corn, I suppose), I have had nightmares just about every night.

Nightmares that jerk me awake, sweating, heart pounding like a jackhammer, gasping for every breath: you know how it is.  It's like when you see a horror movie.  Well, the feeling's eventually the same.  I see Uncle Elmer's scarecrows standing in the field right outside the house on our farm, and I get the creeping willies, each and every time.

If there is one thing I hate, it's scarecrows. 

I hate their painted on faces, their straw poking out from everywhere, their floppy hats or too-big clothes, their shoes ... they creep me out.  Guess it's because I just got through reading R.L. Stine's book, "Night Of The Scarecrow", about haunted scarecrows (what else??), and I'm now convinced that they are going to come to life and obliberate my happy ass.

I wish I'd never gotten that book at the library.

Of course, my family and friends think I'm weird anyway, but this scarecrow business is starting to drive all of them crazy.  Somehow, I'm not surprised.  They think I have an overactive imagination (maybe I do, but hey, I can't help it!).  They keep telling me that if they hear one more word about haunted scarecrows, they are gonna send me to a shrink (or, as in the case of my little baby sister, she throws her zwieback cookies at me and gives me big, juicy raspberries).

Great.  Even my own family doesn't believe me, not even my baby sister!

Just last night, I was trying to go to sleep, and the wind was rustling outside.  I was trying to convince myself that it was only the wind blowing through the skeletons of trees, but I also thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I could have sworn on a stack of Bibles that I saw one of the scarecrows from Uncle Elmer's garden walking across the yard, heading towards this house (probably to get me)!

I told mom and dad about it; they only laughed.  As for baby sister, she gave me one of her raspberries and threw her sticky, nasty cookies in my face and into my hair.  I guess they didn't believe me.

Well, we'll see what happens tonight.  If I see anything suspicious or hear anything that's out of the ordinary, I'm gonna run away to Alaska, where I don't even have to worry about things like scarecrows!!

*To be continued.*