Karen's Ghost Read online

  “Well, I have decided what I’m going to be for Halloween,” Ricky said. He was cutting busily.

  “You have? What?” I asked.

  “A gas station person.”

  Hannie and Nancy and I glanced at each other.

  “Hmm,” I said. “Interesting.”

  “What are you going to be, Karen?” asked Ricky.

  “The ghost of Ben Brewer.”

  We kept on talking about costumes. Suddenly I had a great idea.

  “Hey!” I exclaimed, “Ricky, you and Nancy should come trick-or-treating with Hannie and me. We’re going out with my brother and my stepbrother and my little sister.”

  “And Scott,” added Hannie.

  “Oh, yeah. Your husband,” said Ricky.

  “But not my brother. Linnie won’t go trick-or-treating with any girls.”

  “You know what else?” I went on. “If we all go together, we should go as characters from a movie or something. That would be really cool.”

  “Yeah!” said the others, except for Hannie.

  “Do you think your parents will let you come trick-or-treating in our neighborhood?” I asked Nancy and Ricky. “My big sister will come with us. Kristy is a baby-sitter. Your parents would not have to worry.”

  “I think so,” said Nancy and Ricky at the same time.

  “Great! Now. What should we dress up as?” I asked.

  “How about the kids from Peanuts?” said Nancy. But nobody wanted to be Charlie Brown.

  “How about Superheroes?” said Ricky.

  “Nah,” said Hannie.

  “I know!” I cried. “The Wizard of Oz. We could have a Dorothy and a Tinman and a Wicked Witch of the West and everything. There would be lots of neat costumes.”

  “I want to be the Scarecrow,” said Ricky, looking excited.

  “I want to be Dorothy,” said Nancy. “She’s the star.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “I’ll be the Wicked Witch of the West. I already have a witch costume.”

  “I still want to be a bride,” said Hannie.

  We talked it over and decided that was okay. Then we thought about who the others could be. This is what we decided: Scott — the Tinman; David Michael — the Lion; Andrew — Toto; and Emily — a Munchkin. We hoped they would like our idea. We thought it was great.

  But someone else did not.

  “What a stupid plan,” said Pamela Harding. She must have been listening. “You guys are such babies. My friends and I are going to be waitresses and cheerleaders and punk rockers. We will be much more grown-up.”

  “We’ll just see about that,” I told Pamela. Then I ignored her.

  Ruby Slippers

  “Three more days! Three more days!” I sang.

  It was Wednesday. The next day would be Thursday. That would just be a regular day. Then would come Friday, the day of our class Halloween party. And then would come … Halloween.

  Guess what? Everyone liked our idea to go trick-or-treating as characters from The Wizard of Oz. No one even wanted to switch costumes. I thought David Michael might say, “I want to be the Tinman, not the raggedy old Lion.” But he did not.

  So on Wednesday after school, Mommy was helping Andrew and me with our costumes. My costume was easy. I just had to add some things to my regular witch costume so that I would look like the Wicked Witch of the West. But Andrew’s costume was hard.

  “Toto!” Mommy had exclaimed when I told her what Andrew was going to dress up as. “Where are we going to get a dog costume?”

  “Not just a dog costume,” Andrew spoke up. “A Toto costume. I have to look like Toto. He is a certain kind of dog.”

  In the end, Mommy had to make Andrew’s costume all by herself. We went shopping. We found material that looked like dark fur. We found a little dog nose. We even found a book that explained how to make whiskers. Andrew’s costume was going to be great.

  That afternoon Mommy was finishing Toto’s head. Andrew was helping. He was making the whiskers. I was working on my witch shoes.

  When the doorbell rang, I said, “I’ll get it! I think it’s Nancy. She said she would wear her Dorothy costume over.”

  I ran to the door and opened it. There stood … Dorothy! Nancy looked so much like Dorothy that I gasped. She was wearing a white blouse and a blue-and-white-checked jumper. In her hand was a basket. But best of all, on her feet were pale blue socks and sparkly ruby slippers!

  “Where did you get ruby slippers?” I asked. I was awed. Nancy was not wearing plain old red shoes or even red high heels that belonged to her mother. She had ruby slippers and they fit her.

  “Mommy and Daddy ordered them from a catalog,” she said. “They were a surprise for me. I just got them today.”

  “Come inside and show Andrew and my mother,” I said.

  So Nancy showed off her costume. Then she stayed to visit. While she was there, Ricky called.

  “Guess what. I have straw for my Scarecrow costume,” he said. “I am going to put it under my hat so that it sticks out.”

  Then David Michael called. “Daddy and Elizabeth bought me a real Lion costume!” he exclaimed.

  Right after that, Hannie called. “Scott’s costume is nearly finished,” she told me. “He’s got a funnel for his hat.”

  “Great,” I said.

  “And I am going to carry a bouquet of plastic flowers. That way, they will last forever. I am going to be an even more beautiful bride than I was at my wedding.”

  Ooh, this was so exciting! I could not wait until Saturday, when our whole group would be together. We were going to have the best costumes in the neighborhood, even if we did have a bride in the Land of Oz. Maybe no one would notice.

  I had almost forgotten about Ben Brewer’s haunted birthday party.

  Story Time

  “Okay, class,” said Ms. Colman with a big smile on her face. “Now you may change into your costumes.”

  It was Friday. My friends and I had been waiting all day for this moment. Party time! And time to show off our costumes and tell stories.

  Waiting had been hard for me. In the morning, I forgot to raise my hand and talked out of turn four times. At reading I forgot to switch to my reading glasses. And I used my outdoor voice about a million times.

  Oh, well. Ms. Colman had been very patient.

  “Boys,” our teacher continued, “take your things and go next door to Mr. Berger’s classroom. You may change in there while his class is at recess. Girls, you stay here and change. I will wait in the hall. Call me if you need any help.”

  There was a big rush of excitement. When we girls were alone, we scrambled for our costumes. Most of them were in paper bags. I put on my witch outfit quickly. Then came the good part. I got to rub green goo on my hands and face, since the Wicked Witch of the West has green skin. Nancy helped me. (Hannie would not come near me because she did not want green goo on her white dress.)

  Hannie and Nancy and I changed in a corner of the room with our backs to everyone. We kept grinning. We were having so much fun! Nancy waited until the last second to put on her ruby slippers.

  Then we turned around. We planned to show Pamela a thing or two. But Pamela and her friends were ready for us. And just as Pamela had promised, they were wearing grown-up costumes.

  Pamela was an airline stewardess. She was wearing a suit (the kind with a skirt) and stockings and even had wings pinned to her jacket. Jannie was dressed up like a punk rocker. She had sprayed her hair blue and made it all spiky. And she was wearing weird clothes. Leslie was standing with Pamela and Jannie. I knew she was one of the girls in our class who wanted to be cool Pamela’s best friend. So I knew she had on a grown-up costume — but I was not sure what it was.

  “What are you supposed to be?” Nancy asked Leslie.

  “A waitress,” Leslie replied proudly.

  Suddenly I felt silly dressed as a witch. It was a baby costume. But then I looked around the room and saw a bunny rabbit and a Raggedy Ann and a princess. I felt better. />
  The door to our room opened then.

  “How are you coming?” Ms. Colman asked us girls.

  “We’re ready!” I said.

  In came the boys. I saw a hobo, a space creature, a cowboy, a policeman, some kind of animal, and finally … the Scarecrow!

  Ricky stood with Hannie and Nancy and me and we could tell that the other kids were impressed. Except for Pamela, who said, “There’s no bride in The Wizard of Oz.”

  When Ms. Colman wasn’t looking, I made my most horrible face at Pamela.

  The party began. Two room mothers came. They brought juice and cookies and candy corn. (I ate all my candy corn like this: white tip first, chocolate bottom second, orange part last.) We played two games. And then Ms. Colman said, “Okay, storytelling time.”

  “Ms. Colman! Ms. Colman!” I cried. “Can I tell my story last?”

  I knew I had a really good story. I had not found the answers to my questions about Ben, but my story was true — and scary. I wanted to save it and surprise everyone.

  The Ghost in My House

  Ms. Colman said that I could tell my story last. Whew. I was going to be the hit of the party.

  Here is what had happened with my story. I tried reading some more of Jeremy’s diary, but it was hard. I could read it, but it took forever. So, maybe the true story of Ben Brewer was in the diary. If it was, though, I did not know it. Since I could not find the true story, I had decided to tell about the haunted birthday parties.

  Ricky Torres was the first person to tell a scary story. That was because when Ms. Colman said, “Who would like to begin?” Ricky raised his hand really fast. He raised it so high, he practically stood up. And he said, “Ooh, ooh, ooh! Me, me, me!”

  He told the story about the walking eye-balls.

  Natalie Springer looked like she was going to throw up.

  Five more people told stories. One of them was Pamela. Her story was stupid.

  When nobody else had a story to tell, it was my turn. I stood up in front of the class and cleared my throat.

  “In my house,” I began, “we have a ghost.”

  Pamela rolled her eyes.

  “His name is Ben Brewer, and he was my great-grandfather. His birthday was on … Halloween.”

  Natalie stared at me. She looked terrified.

  Pamela yawned.

  “Before Ben became a ghost himself,” I continued, “he was haunted by another ghost.”

  Pamela look at her watch. I ignored her.

  “Ben Brewer used to be just a normal person,” I went on. “When he was young he got married. He and his wife had a baby. It was a boy, and they named him Jeremy. Jeremy was my grandfather.”

  “This is boring,” I heard Pamela whisper to Natalie.

  “Then something very sad happened,” I said. “Ben’s wife died. A few years later, Jeremy got married. So Ben was all alone in our big house. He became a recluse. He never left the house, except to get dandelions, so he could fry them and eat them. Then … one rainy night … Ben was sitting in his bedroom … and the ghost appeared. He came down the chimney. Ben screamed.”

  (Natalie Springer screamed, too.)

  The ghost said to Ben, “I am going to haunt you. I am going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

  Pamela was staring at me. She had stopped whispering and fidgeting.

  “Finally Ben grew very old, and he died, too,” I said. “But he stayed in our house as a ghost. He decided that now he was going to give himself a haunted birthday party. But just once every ten years. He did not want to overdo things. So you know what happens on his birthday?” I went on. “This clock that never works chimes every hour …”

  By this time, Pamela was looking very scared.

  “And ghosts fly around the third floor, and you can hear the sounds of a party and smell a birthday cake baking.”

  Natalie began to cry. When she cries, she snorts. And the rest of the kids in my class looked terrified.

  Ms. Colman said, “Well, Karen. Thank you very much.”

  I was not quite finished, but it was too late. The bell rang then. And it scared me. I jumped a mile. Pamela laughed. Still, it had been a very good party. And I had told a very scary story.

  “Trick or Treat!”

  That afternoon, as it was growing dark, Mommy drove Andrew and me to the big house. Our Halloween costumes were with us, of course. They were packed carefully in a box.

  “Mommy? Do I have to go to Daddy’s this weekend?” asked Andrew on the way.

  “Yup,” replied Mommy cheerfully. “We have talked about Karen’s ghost story. You know there is nothing to be afraid of.”

  “I guess not,” said Andrew, frowning.

  But the next day, his frowns were gone. That was because all he could think about was going trick-or-treating. It was all Hannie and Nancy and David Michael and Scott and Ricky and I could think about, too. (I am not sure about Emily Michelle.)

  Just like the day before, the day of the Halloween party, we had to wait and wait and wait to put on our costumes. Kristy had said she would take us trick-or-treating at four o’clock. Around noon, I began looking at my costume. Andrew and David Michael looked at theirs, too. Finally, at two-thirty, we could not wait any longer. We got all dressed up. Then Kristy and I dressed Emily. Emily was a very cute Munchkin.

  “People will give us lots of candy,” said David Michael when he saw her.

  At three-thirty, Hannie the bride came over. By a quarter to four, Ricky, Nancy, and Scott had arrived.

  “Please can we go now, Kristy?” I begged. “We can’t wait another second.”

  “Okay,” said Kristy. But first Daddy and Elizabeth took about a million pictures of us. Then Hannie’s parents came over and did the same thing.

  When they were done, my friends and I ran across our front lawn. Our goody bags flopped against our sides.

  “Wait for us!” called Kristy. She was holding Emily’s hand. Emily is not a fast walker. “Slow down!” Kristy added.

  The first house we went to was the house next door. Not Morbidda Destiny’s — the house on the other side. We rang the bell. Mr. Giordano opened the door.

  Before any one of us could say a word, Ricky the Scarecrow pushed his way to the front of our group. “Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give us something good to eat!” he sang. “If you don’t —”

  “Ricky!” cried Kristy. “Stop that!”

  Ricky stopped. And Mr. Giordano smiled. He’s nice. He dropped a candy bar into each of our bags.

  “See? The song works,” said Ricky.

  “Well, don’t sing it again,” Kristy told him. “It isn’t polite.”

  Ricky calmed down. We walked from house to house to house. Almost everyone said what nice costumes we had. Our goody bags grew fuller and heavier.

  And everyone loved Emily. One lady gave us two candy bars each when she saw her. David Michael nudged me. “Told you so,” he said.

  At last we had been to every house in our neighborhood — except Morbidda Destiny’s.

  “Are we going there?” squeaked Andrew, as I started up her driveway.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Why wouldn’t we?” asked Ricky.

  “It’s a witch’s house,” I told him.

  Ricky stopped. Everyone else stopped, too.

  “Let’s just go home,” said Kristy.

  “No,” I replied. I ran to Morbidda Destiny’s front door and rang the bell. No one answered. She wasn’t home. I felt a little disappointed.

  Night Fright

  I was sitting on the floor in my room. Trick-or-treating was over for another year. Hannie, Nancy, Ricky, and Scott had gone home.

  I looked in my goody bag. Then I dumped it out. I counted up the candy bars first. Then I counted up the other things I’d gotten, like packages of peanuts and candy corn. Then I counted up the money. Some people had given us quarters! I had collected 75 cents. But the candy bars were best.

  I wanted to eat a Milky Way bar. I w
anted to eat one badly. (I had gotten three.) But Daddy and Elizabeth had said, “No candy until after dinner.”

  Instead, I took off my witch costume. As I washed the green goo off of my hands and face, I thought of something. Ben Brewer.

  Tonight would be his haunted birthday party. I’d been so excited about trick-or-treating that I had forgotten about Ben.

  “Ooh,” I said, and shivered.

  Suddenly I was very, very scared. I left my costume and my candy (except for one of the Milky Way bars) in a mess on the floor.

  I ran downstairs with the candy bar in my hand.

  And I ran right into Charlie.

  “Aughhh!” I screamed.

  “Karen,” said Charlie. “What’s wrong? I was just about to call you for dinner. Has Halloween got you spooked?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  Charlie and I walked to the kitchen together. I sat at the table with my big-house family. When we had all been served, I said, “Tonight is Ben Brewer’s haunted birthday party.”

  I guess no one heard me.

  Emily said, “Candy!” loudly, and everyone laughed.

  Then Nannie started talking about her bowling team. Sam pinched David Michael under the table. Daddy and Elizabeth kept getting up to answer the door when trick-or-treaters came. Kristy did not do anything but eat. She had been to a dance at school the night before. I think she has a b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d.

  “Tonight is Ben’s haunted party,” I said again.

  Even Andrew did not look very worried. “I will be asleep,” was all he said.

  I knew that I would be on my own that night. I would have to protect myself.

  The Ghost’s Birthday

  When I went to bed on Halloween night, I just lay there. I clutched Moosie and Tickly in one arm. I clutched my goody bag in the other arm. Even though I had brushed my teeth, I could not help snitching some candy every now and then.