It flew low, buzzing us.  I could feel the air from its frantically fluttering wings.

          I covered my head with both hands.  Tess did the same.

          My heart was pounding so loudly, it drowned out the swishing of the wings.

          “Is it gone?”  I heard Tess call.

          I peeked out.  I could see the bat sailing up into the sky.  I watched it swoop down, spiraling to the earth.  It dipped beyond us, flailing in a wild spin.

          It crashed onto one of the headstones.  I could see only one wing flapping in the breeze.  The bat was pretty much toast.

          Slowly, I pulled myself up.  My heart was still thumping and I was having trouble breathing.

          “What may it drop like that?”  I asked moving towards it.

          Tess stopped me.  “Don’t.  Bats are major rabies carriers, you know.”

          “I’m not planning on getting that close.  I’ve just never seen such a huge bat before.  I suppose you could say that my interests include science and animal studying.

          “Cool, come check this out.”  I called from closer to the bat.

          “Careful there.  If you get rabies you’ll get us both in trouble for being here.”

          “Thank you for your heartfelt concern.”  I said sarcastically.

          “What the…”  I said moving even closer to the bat.

          Tess began to giggle.

          Our vicious bat was really a radio-operated airplane.

          We bent over it to examine the pieces.

          “Careful!  It bites!”  A voice called from behind us.

          Startled, Tess fell backwards and I jumped to my feet.  I turned to see a boy about our age, standing beside the cave.  He had the remote control in his hand.  I had never seen him before in my life.

          “Very funny,” Tess said sarcastically.

          The kid grinned at us, but didn’t say anything.  He stepped closer.  He had the same blue eyes that I had and the same color hair.  He also had the same sprinkle of freckles across his nose.  He turned back towards the cave and called.  “All clear.”

          A little boy, about six, and a girl, about our age, came out from behind the cave rocks.  They also had the same blue eyes and freckles.  The girl’s hair was a little darker though and hung in her face.

          “Who are you guys?”  Tess blurted out.

          “My rude friend means…we haven’t seen you before.  Are you visiting?  Are you new?”  I shot a dirty look at Tess.  Sometimes she was rude without meaning to be.

          “We haven’t seen you here before either.  So maybe you’re the new ones.”  The boy with the remote control said.

          I sighed.  Well, let’s try again.  “I’m Jake and this is my friend Tess.”

          I held out my hand but he didn’t take it.

          “Are you brothers and sisters?”  Tess asked.

          “Yep.  All Tilley’s.  I’m Miles,” he said.

          “Whoa, I’m a Tilley too.”  I said.

          “You and about a thousand other people.”  He said.  They didn’t seem very friendly.  But then they asked us if we wanted to see the half of a bat fly.

          “I’m Sarah and this is Luke.”  The girl said.

          Miles tried to get the bat to fly.  Tess checked on her bug.

          “What’s that?”  Sarah asked.

          “Oh, a bug I found.  It’s rare and not usually found in this state.”  Tess said satisfied that the bug was ok.

          “There are some interesting insects deeper in the woods by the river.”  Sarah said.

          “Are you guys visiting or living here?”  Tess asked again.

          “Living.”  Sarah said.

          Tess and I exchanged glances.  We’d never seen them before.  Oh, well, maybe they just moved here.  Or, I thought, maybe they’re from El Dorado County and we’ve just never seen them.  The cemetery backed up against the next county and it was very possible that they lived on the other side of the river and went to El Dorado schools.  Maybe they did come to our graveyard all the time.  We never came to this side so how would we know?

          “You know you’re not supposed to be on this side of the graveyard.  You’re supposed to say in the outer fence.”  Tess said.

          “You’re in here.”  Luke said.

          “We come here every.”  Sarah said emotionlessly.  She was a very monotone person.

          Good point, I thought.  “We’re not supposed to be here either.”  I said.  “Why don’t we all go?”

          “Hey,” Tess began, “ever been inside the cave?”

          Miles gasped.  Sarah and Luke’s face contorted.  “You’re kidding right?”  she asked.

          “We never, ever, go in there,” Miles said softly.  It was there turn to exchange glances.

          “Not ever?” Tess asked.

          “Is it a mine shaft or something?

          Sarah’s eyes opened wide.  “Do you believe in ghosts?” she asked.

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