    Week 279 You are on Week 280 Week 281    Story Two Hundred
Eighty Ends June 30  Ernest smiled to himself as he nudged a
fallen branch aside with his walking stick. Honestly, the
Haunted Woods were not that bad during daytime. True, very
little actual sunlight made its way through the thick trees, but
he enjoyed the quiet, shady atmosphere during the hot
afternoons. Besides, being such an old Elephante meant that the
stories of children no longer frightened him.  Haunted houses,
indeed! he thought to himself. It’s all a bunch of bedtime
stories, I tell ya... all of it. Ernest nudged another rock
aside with his stick and sighed pleasantly. Being old and set in
his ways, he liked his regular routine. He would wake up early
in the morning, have a long breakfast while reading from the
Neopian Times, do a few chores, go for a slow walk in the woods,
watch the sun go down, and then read by the fireplace at night.
It was a lonely but pleasant existence.  Just as he was about to
take a turn onto the path that woul