“Ghost finder?” Violet’s voice squeaked in spite of herself.
“You catch real live ghosts?” Benny asked excitedly.
“But there’s no such thing as a ghost. Is there, Grandfather?” Jessie demanded.
“No. Of course not,” Grandfather answered.
“I’m not a ghost catcher or a ghost finder,” Kate Frances said. “I’m a ghost story finder.”
Henry looked puzzled. “I don’t understand,” he said.
Kate Frances made a face at her grandmother. Mrs. Wade’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “What my grandmother means is that I’m doing research for a special school project on ghost stories. Local ghost stories, to be exact. So I’ve been interviewing people around Elbow Bend about the ghost stories and tales they grew up hearing.”
Lainey said, “After all, just because there is no such thing as a ghost doesn’t stop some people from believing the stories, or even thinking they’ve seen a ghost.”
“Are there lots of ghosts in Elbow Bend?” asked Violet, looking around a little nervously.
“They’re everywhere,” Kate Frances said cheerfully. “It seems like everyone has a story to tell. There’s even a famous writer who lives near here who says she has a ghost named Jeffrey living in her house.”
“Uh-oh,” said Benny.
“But you don’t believe in ghosts because there’s no such thing as one, remember, Benny?” Jessie reminded her younger brother.
“Oh, right,” said Benny.
“I have an idea,” Lainey said. “Now that it’s cooling off a little bit, why don’t we take a walk?”
The words “take a walk” made Watch raise his head and wag his tail hard.
Lainey went on, “And you can give everyone the ghost-house tour that you gave me when I got here, Kate Frances.”
“What a good idea,” said Jessie immediately.
Grandfather Alden and Mrs. Wade exchanged glances. “It’s still a little hot for me,” Grandfather Alden said. “I think I’ll stay on the porch a little while longer, and then I’ll help Sally start cooking dinner.”
“Help is welcome,” Mrs. Wade said.
“Okay, then,” Henry said. “Let’s go!”
Soon the Aldens were walking down the shady streets of the small town. Benny held on to Watch’s leash.
Sometimes they would pause and Kate Frances would tell them stories about the town’s houses—and ghosts.
“For example,” Kate Frances said, “that house—that’s the Pink House.” She pointed to a big old house set far back from the sidewalk.
“Is it haunted?” Benny asked.
“Only by the color pink,” Lainey told him.
“It’s not pink,” Jessie objected. “It’s just white. With green shutters.”
“Ah, but once upon a time, it was pink,” said Kate Frances, “inside and out. Pink was the owner’s favorite color. All the flowers that come up around the house are still pink.”
Lainey said, “And they kept one room all pink, too. In honor of the original owner.”
Violet rather liked the idea of a house in shades of pink. But since purple was her favorite color, she decided she would prefer a purple house. “Maybe one day I’ll live in a purple house,” she said aloud.
“With violets all around it,” Jessie said.
Violet smiled at the thought.
“Now, there’s a house some do think is haunted,” Kate Frances said as they walked on. This house was smaller, but still big enough to have a wide front porch filled with rocking chairs.
“Is it a good ghost or a bad ghost?” Benny asked.
“A good ghost, I guess,” Kate Frances said. “It likes to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch. People say you can go by on a perfectly still afternoon and one chair will be rocking. Just one.”
The Aldens looked at the row of rocking chairs on the front porch. But not one of them moved.
“I guess the ghost isn’t out today,” Lainey said.
They walked on, up one street and down another. People said hello as they passed and many people knew Kate Frances by name.
“Do you know everybody in Elbow Bend?” Henry asked Kate Frances.
She shook her head. “Not everybody,” she said. “But people say hello to everyone here. They’re just friendly, I guess.”
She smiled and nodded at a woman who was walking by, frowning as she stared at the houses. The woman wore dark glasses, red lipstick, and a big straw hat to protect her from the sun.
“Hello,” Kate Frances said.
The woman’s dark glasses turned toward Kate Frances. She frowned harder. “Do I know you?” the woman asked.
“No. I was just saying hi,” said Kate Frances.
“Oh,” said the woman. She turned away and kept walking.
“I guess not everybody’s friendly,” Henry teased.
Kate Frances laughed. “I guess not,” she said.
They paused at a corner while a bus rolled by. People were leaning out the windows of the bus, taking photographs, while a man’s voice droned through a loudspeaker inside. Kate Frances nodded toward the bus and added with a mischievous smile, “I don’t know all the tourists who come through town.”
“How do you know so many people?” asked Jessie.
“I’ve been coming to Elbow Bend every summer since I was a little girl to visit my grandmother, Jessie. That’s how I first got interested in ghost stories and folktales, I think. I just loved listening to the grown-ups swap tall tales,” Kate Frances said.
“Tall tales?” asked Violet.
“Stories that are just so outrageous they can’t be true,” said Kate Frances. She stopped. “Now, there’s a house with a good tall tale about it.”
“Tell it,” begged Benny.
“Well, during the full moon in the summer, some say, you can hear the sound of a garden party, right over there behind that wall all covered with jasmine. But if you push open the gate and go inside, the sound stops and nothing is there. Close the gate and come back outside and listen ... and in a few minutes you’ll hear soft laughter and the clinking of glasses.”
“Ohhhh,” Violet breathed.
“Why? Are they ghosts? Where do they come from?” asked Henry.
“Some people say it’s an engagement party for the oldest daughter of the family that lived there long ago. Her fiancé went to war after that and never came back and she died of a broken heart, saying that party was the last happy day she ever had,” Kate Frances said, folding her hands over her heart dramatically.
“How sad,” said softhearted Violet.
Watch gave a sharp bark.
Lainey looked down and then over at Kate Frances. “Watch says don’t forget the ghost dog story.”
“Ghost dog? Where does the ghost dog live?” asked Benny.
“Oh, the ghost dog doesn’t live anywhere. That’s a common ghost story out in the country—here, and in other parts of the world,” said Kate Frances. “Sometimes it appears trotting alongside your carriage ... or these days your car or your bike ... to warn you of danger.
“The story goes,” Kate Frances continued, “that once upon a time, a little dog just showed up in town and made himself at home in the shade of the bench next to the courthouse door. No one knew where he came from or whom he belonged to. He was friendly and several people tried to adopt him, but he wasn’t interested. So they fed him and petted him and took care of him as much as he would let them.
“Anyway, he watched the people come and go as if he were waiting for someone, but no one knew who or why. They did know that every once in a while the little dog would stand up and bark—just one sharp bark—at someone who was going into a trial. And when he did, that person was always found guilty. People started calling the little dog ‘Judge’ and the name stuck.
“Then one day Judge jumped up and started barking like crazy, running around the courthouse and jumping up at the windows. People came running out to see what was wrong, and just about then, the whole building collapsed.
“Well, Judge had saved everyone’s life. Somehow, he’d known that building would fall. But when everyone remembered what he’d done and tried to find him to reward him, he was gone. He’d just disappeared. No one ever saw him again. ...
“Except ...”
Violet pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Except when?” she breathed.
“Except when something terrible is going to happen. Then Judge comes back, waiting and watching and barking and howling to try to warn people. And woe to anyone who doesn’t listen to the Ghost Dog of Elbow Bend.” |