Strange things were happening that night in the neighborhood. Most of the birds fled at the sight of those new orange creatures. They had big, round scary faces that glowed. Pepper-Jack Ray, the blue jay, needed to find his best friend, Waldo, to see if he knew what was going on. 

He flew from tree to tree, afraid to look down. The human children were acting crazy, running and yelling—BOO!  

Pepper-Jack spotted something white on the ground. A white monster was moving slowly. It came closer to the tree. Pepper-Jack flew down for a closer look. 

"Ahhhh . . . BOOOO!" the thing shouted. White dust flew everywhere. 

Pepper-Jack screeched and flew back into the tree. 

"Ahhhh . . . BOOOO!" the white thing shouted again. A puff of white surrounded the monster. 

From the safety of a high branch, Pepper-Jack  hollered, "Who are you? Why are you trying to scare me?" 

"Ahhhh . . . BOOOO!" the scary monster answered. "My word . . . is that you,     Pepper-Jack?" came a familiar voice.   

"Waldo! Is that you?" squeaked Pepper-Jack from the safety of his branch. 

"Yes indeedy, it's me. What a frightful night, young Pepper-Jack. The entire world is scary. Yes indeedy, it is!" 

Pepper-Jack flew down to his turtle friend. "Why are you all white, Waldo?" 

"Some humans threw something at each other as I was walking by. A big cloud of white fell all over me, and it's making me sneeze." 

"So, why did you say ‘Ahhhh . . . BOOOO!’ then? To scare me?" 

"Oh heavens no, young bird, I would never try to scare you. I got to sneezing from the white stuff, and the dust got up my nose and . . ." 

"Aha!" said Pepper-Jack in a happy screech. "You  decided to say ‘Ahhhh . . . BOOOO!’ instead of ‘Ahh-Choo’ so the humans would be afraid of you!' 

"Yes, indeedy, that's it," Waldo sighed in relief. "I just wanted to get home safe and sound, Pepper-Jack." 

"I'm scared staying out here any longer," Pepper-Jack told Waldo. "Maybe we can go home together so we can stay safe.  I'll hop while you walk, okay?" 

"Good idea, young bird, yes indeedy, a good idea." 

So the two friends headed towards home. Until, that is, they had to walk past one of those scary round orange creatures.