Read Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great for Free Online Page A

my ear is always covered with the blanket. I don't know why, but I can't stand having my ear sticking out when I sleep.
     
        Anyway, this house is not nearly as spooky as Mouse's. Hers ismuch bigger and much older. They don't even use all the rooms upstairs. I asked Mouse if it scares her to live in a place like that. And she said she never thought about it. She has always lived in the same house and before that her mother's family lived in it, and some day she might get married and live there too. She said a long time ago Washington Irving slept in her house.
     
        "Who's he?" I asked. "Is he related to George?" I laughed at my own joke.
     
        "You mean you don't know about Washington Irving?"
     
        "No. I never even heard of him," I told her.
     
        "You mean you are going into fifth grade and you still never heard about Washington Irving?"
     
        "I told you. . . no! Who is he, anyway?"
     
        "Well, I just can't believe it," Mouse said. "What's wrong with those schools in New York City?"
     
        "If you know so much about him, why don't you tell me who he is at least?"
     
        "Oh, I will, I will . . . I just can't believe that you don't already know, that's all," Mouse said.
     
        "Go on," I told her. "I'm listening."
     
        "Well. . . he was a very famous writer."
     
        "What did he write?" I asked.
     
        "Oh, he wrote 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.'"
     
        "I heard of Rip Van Winkle," I said. "He slept for a long time. But I never heard about Sleepy Hollow."
     
        "You never heard about Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod Crane?"
     
        "That's right," I said. "You people in Tarrytown have a lot of useless information. If this Ichabod Crane was so important, I'd have heard about him in New York."
     
        "Well . . . all I can tell you is that the Headless Horseman rode right through here," Mouse said, spreading her arms. "Right through Tarrytown. So naturally it's important to us. How many towns do you think have a Headless Horseman riding through them?"
     
        "What do you mean, headless ?" I asked.
     
        "Oh, he was this man on a horse and he had no head and Ichabod Crane saw him and got very scared."
     
        "But it's just a story, right? I mean, there's no such thing as a Headless Horseman!"
     
        "Well . . ." Mouse said. "It's kind of a story, but I believe it. In fact, I've heard him around here lately. Haven't you?"
     
        "Heard what?"
     
        "The Headless Horseman! If you listen at night you can hear this eerie noise. And that's him-haunting Tarrytown."
     
        "I don't care if you do or you don't. People who live in Tarrytown all year long know it's the truth!"
     
        "What does he do?" I asked. "Does he kill people?"
     
        "Oh no! Nothing like that. He just rides around haunting. You know, like a ghost."
     
        "There's no such thing as ghosts," I said.
     
        "Maybe there is and maybe there isn't."
     
        I had a lot of trouble sleeping after Mouse told me that. I asked my father did he know about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman and he said, "Sure, it's a very famous story."
     
        "Do you believe it?" I asked.
     
        "It's just a story, Sheila."
     
         "But there might be a Headless Horseman!"
     
        "No, no. Washington Irving invented him."
     
        "But he lived around here, didn't he?"
     
        "Yes, but so what?"
     
        "Well," I said, "suppose he really saw this Headless Horseman and thought nobody would believe him, so instead he wrote a story about him. You see?"
     
        "No, I don't see," Daddy said. "It's all made up. I'll bring you a book of his stories and you can read them. Then you'll understand."
     
        "No!" I shouted. "I don't want to read about any Headless Horseman."
     
        After that, whenever I heard noises at night, I knew it was the Headless Horseman haunting Tarrytown. I