Alvin Schwartz’s books have
been very popular since they were first published in the 1980s. His stories
are based on classic folktales, legends, and myths that have been around for
generations.
Many of them focus on ghosts. In the second book in his trilogy entitled, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark he shares a story entitled “The Bad News”. There is a recording of this story at the bottom of this post.
Many of them focus on ghosts. In the second book in his trilogy entitled, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark he shares a story entitled “The Bad News”. There is a recording of this story at the bottom of this post.
Schwartz’s “The Bad News” is
a humorous story that is based upon a ghost folktale that has been told in
Great Britain for years. The British version is entitled, “Cricket Heaven”. In
this version two very elderly men Michael and Freddie, sit on a park bench
outside the Lord’s cricket ground every day talking about their favorite sport,
Cricket. They spend hours discussing their favorite funny cricket moments.
One day Michael turns to
Freddie and asks, “Do you think there’s cricket in heaven?”
Freddie serious for a change
ponders Michael’s question. Then responds, “I dunno. But let’s make an
agreement: if I die first, I’ll come back and tell you if there’s cricket in
heaven, and if you die first, you do the same.”
The two men both in their eighties shook hands on it. Sadly, just a few months later poor Freddie passes
on.
Michael still sits on the
same park bench every day. But now alone, he feeds the pigeons. One day he is
startled to hear a voice nearby whisper, “Michael………….Michael!”
The voice being familiar,
Michael asks in amazement, “Freddie is that you?”
“Yes, I am a ghost.”
Michael still amazed gathers
his wits and asks, “So, is there cricket in heaven?”
There was a pause and then
Freddie replied, “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“Gimme the good news first.”
“Well.......there is cricket
in heaven.”
Michael now excited says,
“That’s great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that?”
Freddie slowly whispers, “You
are going to open the innings this Friday.”
Another classic version of
this story plays even more adroitly on the theme of “good news, bad news”. In
this version the ghostly friend informs the other friend that the good news
is-- there is cricket in heaven but the bad news is-- there is cricket in hell…
The following Schwartz
version puts an American twist on this classic folktale. He has two friends
discussing their favorite sport, baseball.
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