"I think I know why the cats don't go in his yard. I might even know what happened when Bingo went to bite Bill."

I propped¹ myself up on my elbow（肘部） , and cast a sceptical gaze through the darkness at him.

"Go on then, what is it?" I asked, and couldn't resist adding, "Summat strange and eerie², summat as will trouble my sleep?"

"Oh forget it, I knew you'd just start making fun ..."

"I'm sorry," I put in, quickly, knowing that I may have just deprived myself of at least an amusing diversion. Ross could take half an hour to win round from a refusal to spill the beans in cases like this.

"Just don't ..." he replied.

After some persuading, Ross, who in fact wanted to get a second opinion on what he had seen, told me of the strange patch on Bill Smith's yard.

"I was round Bill's after school, before Mum got in. It was raining, and Bill didn't mind me waiting there," Ross told me.

"When I went into his yard, I saw this ... sort of shape on the ground, about two feet from Bill's back door. "

"Shape? What sort? Flying saucer shape? Ghost shape?"

Once again, I was pushing it, and I knew it, but Ross was particularly gullible³（易受骗的） when it came to this sort of thing. He had a huge collection of Ghost Story books, and for a few years read little else.

Ross pressed on, he was in his stride now, and wasn't going to be distracted by my poor attempts at humour.

"His yard was all wet, all the slabs⁴（平板） , I know how wet, 'cos I nearly slipped as I walked down his path. Then, just a couple of feet from his back door, there's this patch which is completely dry. I stood there and looked at it. The rain was running down my nose, and down the back of my coat and soaking（浸湿） the backs of my legs, but ... this patch, about a foot and a half long, by about a foot wide - it was dry!"

I thought his story preposterous⁵（荒谬的） . I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine it, his eyes staring widely at the ceiling, his mouth slightly agape. I kept my own counsel, I could at this point tell him what I thought, but I had jibed⁶ at him enough for one night. I decided⁷ to say nothing. A silence passed, and thickened as it did. I decided that if he pursued the matter, I would let him have a ribbing of epic⁸ proportions.