The Case of the Dancing Decorations

The October night was warm, but Jason’s finger trembled as he pressed the doorbell. 

“Don’t worry,” said his best friend, Julie. “I doubt Sadie’s Halloween party will be very scary.”

Jason was always easily spooked but especially on Halloween. Still, he was excited about Sadie’s party. He and Julie had crafted their own costumes. Jason was a storm cloud, and Julie was lightning! 

Sadie’s door creaked open. There stood a towering vampire with fangs! No, it was Sadie’s dad letting them in.

The friends kicked off their shoes. Jason took a deep breath as they joined the ghosts, pirates, and other costumed kids in the living room.

“Boo!” A skeleton appeared in front of Jason. Startled, he jumped, but it was just Sadie. “Welcome to the party!”

Music started to play, and the kids began to do the dance The Electric Slide. They shuffled across the wool rug in their socks, kicking balloons around the room. Jason caught one, held out his arm, and let it go. It started to fall, but then it stuck to his fuzzy cloud costume. 

“Ahh! Why is the balloon sticking to me?!” Jason said.

“Jason, that’s just static electricity,” chuckled their friend Nico, who was dressed as a grizzly bear. 

“What’s that?” 

“Sometimes, after objects rub together, they can stick to things, the way magnets do,” said Nico. “Cool, huh?” 

Kids started picking up balloons and rubbing them on their costumes and the wool rug. They tried sticking them to different surfaces. 

Suddenly, thunder rumbled outside. Jason nearly jumped out of his costume! Just then, Sadie’s dad announced it was time to move to the kitchen for some Halloween crafts.

The kitchen table was covered with tissue paper, scissors, string, and other materials to make window decorations. The kids began cutting spooky shapes out of tissue paper. 

BOOM! Thunder clapped, and lightning flashed. The room became dark. Jason shrieked! 

“It’s OK, kids!” said Sadie’s dad. “The storm must have caused the electricity to go out. Sit tight, and let’s see if it comes back.”

Trying to calm down, Jason took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. His eyes fell on the materials on the table, barely visible in the dark. All of a sudden, he saw the tissue paper ghosts moving in an odd way. Their edges were lifting up all on their own! Jason gasped.

“The paper!” he said. “It’s moving by itself!”

But before anyone could look, the lights were back on again. Sadie and Nico sat at the other end of the table. Nico, holding a purple balloon, just shrugged.

The kids got back to the crafts. But Jason kept wondering: Were the decorations haunted?

Later, as Julie’s mom was dropping Jason off at home, he realized what happened. 

“I need to test it,” Jason told Julie, “but I think it was a balloon that made the decorations dance.”