The Burglar In The Closet

As a youth, little Billy Cranford once lived in a home he always referred to as "the Pendleton Place," after the family that originally lived on the property. It was quite a home in its day. It had two stories and overall it was an attractive house. Today the old house is still standing, though the second story was removed in the 1990's. I do believe the home is a "rent house" these days. I"m almost positive that it was being rented at least as early as the days when little Billy Cranford lived in it.

The "Pendleton Place" was the setting of one of little Billy Cranford's most unnerving experiences. One night, family members and friends arrived home to discover evidence that someone may have broken into the house. They also suspected that the perpetrator was still on the premises. The circumstances that led to this conclusion were clearly explained when the story was told, but I no longer remember the details.

Immediately, those in the home spread out to find the culprit. Some headed upstairs, while others searched the bottom floor. I do recall that Leon Smith and Charlie Hughes were among the searchers, and that Charlie had retrieved a "tire tool" to use as a weapon during the search. Donald Pevesque, who is mentioned in many of Billy's adventures, may have been involved as well - again, memory fails me.

In the process of "hunting the burglar" (my term), little Billy hit upon an idea. There was a closet beneath the staircase that led to the second floor, and Charlie was sure to search it. It would be clever, thought little Billy, to get into this closet and scare the daylights out of Charlie!

He proceeded to do exactly that, getting into the closet and hiding behind some hanging clothes. Thus stationed, he waited. He did not mention how long he remained in the closet, but as he crouched it occurred to him that leaping out at a man armed with a tire tool was not a wise thing to do. He then decided not to scare anyone after all, and exited the closet just as either Charlie (or perhaps Leon) entered the room.

As soon as little Billy ran out of the closet, something amazing and quite frightening occurred. An individual - in fact the person for whom they had been searching - also ran out of the closet! Apparently little Billy had been in the closet with him all that time!

The person in question quickly made for the door and ran off into the night, but Billy never forgot that night at the Pendleton House when a clever prank resulted in terror for the boy who hid in the closet. As Billy later said, "I was going to be 'smart' and hide in the closet, and all that time he was in there!"

Note:
At another time, the family observed someone outside the house, apparently watching television through the window. When seen, the person ran away.

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