Wait Till Martin Comes

Wait Till Martin Comes is a story from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The story is meant to be comedic.



The Story
An old man was out for a walk. When a storm came up, he looked for a place to take shelter. Soon he came to an old house. He ran up on the porch and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. By now rain was pouring down, thunder was booming, and lightning was flashing. So he tried the door. When he found it was unlocked, he went inside.

Except for a pile of wooden boxes, the house was empty. He broke up some of the old boxes and made a fire with them. Then he sat down in front of the fire and dried himself. It was so warm and cozy that he fell asleep.

When he woke up, a black cat was sitting near the fire. It stared at him for a while. Then it purred. "That's a nice cat," he thought, and he dozed off again. When he opened his eyes, there was a second cat in the room. But this one was as big as a wolf. It looked at him very closely, and it asked, "Shall we do it now?" "No," said the other cat. "Let's wait till Martin comes." "I must be dreaming," thought the old man. He closed his eyes again. Then he took another look. But now there was a third cat in the room, and this one was as big as a tiger. It looked the old man over, and it asked, "Shall we do it now?" "No," said the others. "Let's wait till Martin comes."

The old man jumped up, jumped out the window and started running. "When Martin comes, you tell him I couldn't wait," he called.