Typescript Form for Miscue Analysis
Book Title: The Haunted Mask
Author: R.L. Stine
1. After school, Carly Beth hurried through the halls without talking
to anyone.
1._______
2. She heard kids laughing and whispering.
2.________
3. She knew they were laughing at her.
3.________
4. Word had spread all over school that Carly Beth Caldwell had
eaten a worm at lunch.
4.________
5. Carly Beth, the scaredy-cat.
5.________
6. Carly Beth, who was frightened of her own shadow.
6.________
7. Carly Beth, who was so easy to trick.
7.________
8. Chuck and Steve had sneaked a real worm, a fat brown worm, into
a sandwich.
8.________
9. And Carly Beth had taken a big bite.
9.________
10. What a jerk!
10._______
11. Carly Beth ran all the way home, three long blocks.
11._______
12. Her anger grew with every step.
12._______
13. How could they do that to me?
13._______
14. They’re supposed to be my friends!
14._______
15. Why do they think it’s so funny to scare me?
15._______
16. She burst into the house, breathing hard.
16._______
17. “Anybody home?” she called, stopping in the hallway and leaning
against the banister to catch her breath.
________________________________________________________
17._______
18. Her mother hurried out from the kitchen.
18._______
19. “Carly Beth!
19._______
20. Hi!
20._______
21. What’s wrong?”
21._______
22. “I ran all the way,” Carly Beth told her, pulling off her blue
windbreaker.
22._______
23. “Why?” Mrs. Caldwell asked.
23._______
24. “Just felt like it,” Carly Beth replied moodily.
24._______
25. Her mother took Carly Beth’s windbreaker and hung it in the
front closet for her.
25._______
26. Then she brushed a hand affectionately through Carly Beth’s soft
brown hair.
26._______
27. “Where’d you get the straight hair?” she muttered.
27._______
28. Her mother was always saying that.
28._______
29. We don’t look like mother and daughter at all, Carly Beth
realized.
29._______
30. Her mother was a tall, chubby woman with thick curls of coppery
hair, and lively gray-green eyes.
30._______
31. She was extremely energetic, seldom stood still, and talked as
rapidly as she moved.
31._______
32. Today, she was wearing a paint-stained gray sweatshirt over
black Lycra tights.
32._______
33. “Why so grumpy?” Mrs. Caldwell asked.
33._______
34. “Anything you’d care to talk about?”
34._______
35. Carly Beth shook her head.
35._______
36. “Not really.”
36._______
37. She didn’t feel like telling her mother that she had become the
laughingstock of Walnut Avenue Middle School.
37._______
38. “Come here.
38._______
39. I have something to show you,” Mrs. Caldwell said, tugging
Carly Beth toward the living room.
39._______
40. “I-I’m really not in the mood, Mom,” Carly Beth told her,
hanging back.
40._______
41. “I just – ”
41._______
42. “Come on!” her mother insisted, and pulled her across the
hallway.
42._______
43. Carly Beth always found it impossible to argue with her mother.
43._______
44. She was like a hurricane, sweeping everything in her direction.
44._______
45. “Look!” Mrs. Caldwell declared, grinning and gesturing to the
mantelpiece.
45._______
46. Carly Beth followed her mother’s gaze to the mantel – and cried
out in surprise.
46._______
47. “It’s – a head!”
47._______
48. “Not just any head,” Mrs. Caldwell said, beaming.
48._______
49. “Go on.
49._______
50. Take a closer look.”
50._______
51. Carly Beth took a few steps toward the mantelpiece, her eyes on
the head staring back at her.
51._______
52. It took her a few moments to recognize the straight, brown hair,
the brown eyes, the short snip of a nose, the round cheeks.
52._______
53. “It’s me!” she cried, walking up to it.
53._______
54. “Yes.
54._______
55. Life size!” Mrs. Caldwell declared.
55._______
56. “I just came from my art class at the museum.
56._______
57. I finished it today.
57._______
58. What do you think?”
58._______
59. Carly Beth picked it up and studied it closely.
59._______
60. “It looks just like me, Mom.
60._______
61. Really.
61._______
62. What’s it made of?”
62._______
63. “Plaster of Paris,” her mother replied, taking it from Carly Beth
and holding it up so that Carly Beth was face to face, eye to eye with
herself.
63._______
64. “You have to be careful.
64._______
65. It’s delicate.
65._______
66. It’s hollow, see?”
66._______
67. Carly Beth stared intently at the head, peering into her own eyes.
67._______
68. “It – it’s kind of creepy,” she muttered.
68._______
69. “You mean because I did such a good job?” her mother
demanded.
69._______
70. “It’s just creepy, that’s all,” Carly Beth said.
70._______
71. She forced herself to look away from the replica of herself, and
saw that her mother’s smile had faded.
71._______
72. Mrs. Caldwell looked hurt.
72._______
73. “Don’t you like it?”
73._______
74. “Yeah.
74._______
75. Sure.
75._______
76. It’s really good, Mom,” Carly Beth answered quickly.
76._______
77. “But, I mean, why on earth did you make it?”
77._______
78. “Because I love you,” Mrs. Caldwell replied curtly.
78._______
79. “Why else?
79._______
80. Honestly, Carly Beth, you have the strangest reactions to things.
80._______
81. I worked really hard on this sculpture.
81._______
82. I thought – ”
82._______
83. “I’m sorry, Mom.
83._______
84. I like it.
84._______
85. Really, I do,” Carly Beth insisted.
85._______
86. “It was just a surprise, that’s all.
86._______
87. It’s great.
87._______
88. It looks just like me.
88._______
89. I – I had a bad day, that’s all.
89._______
90. Carly Beth took another long look at the sculpture.
90._______
91. Its brown eyes – her brown eyes – stared back at her.
91._______
92. The brown hair shimmered in the afternoon sunlight through the
window.
92._______
93. It smiled at me!
93._______
94. Carly Beth thought, her mouth dropping open.
94._______
95. I saw it!
95._______
96. I just saw it smile!
96._______
97. No.
97._______
98. It had to be a trick of the light.
98._______
99. It was a plaster of Paris head, she reminded herself.
99._______
100. Don’t go scaring yourself over nothing, Carly Beth.
100.______
101. Haven’t you made a big enough fool of yourself today?
101.______
102. “Thanks for showing it to me, Mom,” she said awkwardly,
pulling her eyes away.
102.______
103. She forced a smile.
103.______
104. “Two head are better than one, right?”
104.______
105. “Right,” Mrs. Caldwell agreed brightly.
105.______
106. “Incidentally, Carly Beth, your duck costume is all ready.
106.______
107. I put it on your bed.”
107.______
108. “Huh?
108.______
109. Duck costume?”
109.______
110. “You saw a duck costume at the mall, remember?”
110.______
111. Mrs. Caldwell carefully placed the sculpted head on the mantel.
111.______
112. “The one with all the feathers and everything.
112.______
113. You thought it would be funny to be a duck this Halloween?
113.______
114. So I made you a duck costume.”
114.______
115. “Oh.
115.______
116. Right,” Carly Beth said, her mind spinning.
116.______
117. Do I really want to be a stupid duck this Halloween? she
thought.
117.______
118. “I’ll go up and take a look at it, Mom.
118.______
119. Thanks.”
119.______
120. Carly Beth had forgotten all about the duck costume.
120.______
121. I don’t want to be cute this Halloween, she thought as she
climbed the stairs to her room.
121.______
122. I want to be scary.
122.______
123. She had seen some really scary-looking masks in the window of
a new party store that had opened a few blocks from school.
123.______
124. One of them, she knew would be perfect.
124.______
125. But now she’d have to walk around in feathers and have
everyone quack at her and make fun of her.
125.______
126. It wasn’t fair.
126.______
127. Why did her mother have to listen to every word she said?
127.______
128. Just because Carly Beth had admired a duck costume in a store
didn’t mean she wanted to be a stupid duck for Halloween!
128.______
129. She listened carefully.
129.______
130. She thought she heard someone breathing on the other side of
the door.
130.______
131. Someone or something.
131.______
132. The breathing grew louder.
132.______
133. Carly Beth pressed an ear to the door.
133.______
134. What was in her room?
134.______
135. There was only one way to find out.
135.______
136. Carly Beth pulled open the door – and uttered a startled cry.
136.______