Hello again R. Al Stein Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host and keeper of those strange and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R. L. Stein.

Today is another chilling tale.

This homey yarn story club members might make you think twice about moving into a new house.

It's called Great Bones.

The house needed a lot of work.

In fact, it seemed like the perfect project for a blowtorch and a bulldozer.

But apparently, it was also a steel on the market.

Garrett Phillips's dad had thought it was a nice fixer-upper.

Are you kidding, Dad? Garrett said. only a tornado could fix this place by carrying it off. The thing that Garrett

didn't understand was that on the for-sale sign, it said the house had great bones, whatever that

means. Houses don't have bones. They're built out of timber and concrete, not flesh and bone.

That's just a saying. His dad said, even though the house needs a lot of work, its structure, its bones, are still solid and workable.

It's the reason the house wasn't torn down. Its structure is super sound. You can do a lot with the house that's been solidly constructed.

Yeah, Dad.

Garrett rolled his eyes.

Or you could set it on fire and roast some marshmallows and hot dogs in the rising flames.

Very funny, Garrett.

Now get back to work.

His dad had plans to fix up the house and flip it,

meaning he'd put a little money into it to make it look nice,

then resell it and make a profit. This was his dad's new business plan and this was his first house project. It would be a test to see if flipping houses would be a profitable venture for the Phillips family.

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