Hello again, Story Club members. I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with The Most and keeper of the

strangest, spookiest tales on earth. Today is another Ivy's chilling tale. This overcast tale

story club members might make you stay away from any low-hanging clouds.

It's one I call killer clouds from outer space.

Clayton and Tanya Sandler were fishing on Black Rock Lake in the middle of the Oregon

wilderness, not far from Wolf Springs. Their parents had decided that camping in September

was a good idea before the weather took a wintry dive and became too cold.

It was early morning, and the sun was just beginning to crest over the mountains.

Tanya was cold because, hello, September wasn't exactly warm no matter what their parents thought.

Also, she was bored, like really bored. You haven't caught anything yet. Can we go in soon? Could you be quiet? Her brother Clayton said, you're going to scare the fish. The fish are probably sleeping, which is what I should be doing. I miss my warm sleeping bag. Stop griping, Tanya. This is supposed to be fun. Well, it's not. I'm not even catching anything.

Fishing is about patience. You have to be patient. Um, you haven't caught anything yet either,

Clayton. Maybe we should try another part of the lake. I'll start the motor. I already told you,

Tanya, the motor will scare the fish. You have to use the oars. Fine, Captain Crummy. They reeled in their lines.

The bait on the end of the hooks was unnibbled by the fish. Tanya was in the back of the 14-foot

boat. She seized an oar and started to row. Grab an oar, Captain, or I mutiny. Her brother grabbed

the other oar. At first, they were going in circles until they

coordinated their strokes together. Tanya could see her parents' VW bus on the shore and a campfire.

She wished she was there. Her parents slept in the bus while she and her brother slept in the

tent. It was cold last night, and brother was snoring so she didn't get

much sleep between shivering and listening to him saw logs with his nostrils. Of course, when she'd

finally gotten warm and comfortable and it was quiet, their dad was waking them up. The early fish

gets the worm and we get the fish. Ugh, just thinking about being woken up that early made Tanya scowl all over again.

...