MYSTERY OF THE SINGING GHOST

By Ana Riley

©  1999, 2003 Ana Riley

CHAPTER 20

            “Pizza will taste good!   I haven’t eaten since six this morning, and I was so nervous about sneaking out of the house in the egg lady’s van, that I didn't even finish my half piece of toast.  Shakespeare?  Hello, you darling little fellow!  Did you miss me?  I missed you terribly.  You’re so lucky to be a puppy.  Life is much simpler for you.  You don’t care about singing ghosts or vandals.  Time to go outside for business.  There you go!”

            “Gia, do you believe that Dora from Weldon is living in a haunted house?”  Ethan is definitely curious.

            “Looks that way.  Constable Lemaigre said that Dora’s never believed in any of this sort of thing until she had to accept it because it was happening not only to her but also to her cat and her house-sitting friends.”

            “Her cat?”

            “Yeah!  Her cat would freak out at night, at the same hour that Dora would usually sense a presence standing at her bedroom door.”

            “Hmm.  Animals’ instincts are usually bang on.”  Ethan has a furrow between his eyebrows.

            “And Dora tried to prove there was no ghost but she always ended up having to accept that possibility.”

            “It would still be fun to go and see this house for ourselves.  What do you think?”

            “Definitely.  If I go to see Jenny, I could fly out of Saskatoon instead of Regina.  We could go to Weldon on the way, that is, if you don’t mind driving me to Saskatoon.”

            Ethan is moving slowly towards me.  He’s sweaty and dirty, but if he decides to hug me, I’ll snuggle right up because he’s divine, even if he’s covered in dirt!  Dear God, please keep Alex out of here, and the pizza delivery man, until Ethan and I have hugged.  If he wants to kiss me, could You put both those people on further hold?  Thanks.

            “I’m not exactly the cleanest cowboy around.  I was wondering, would you mind if I took a quick shower before we eat?”

            Shower?  I can’t believe he just said that!  I was ready to be divinely hugged, held and kissed!  Men!

            “Sure.  I’ll get you fresh towels.”

            Ethan is going outside to his jeep.  Don’t tell me he’s got a change of clothes with him?  He’s carrying a small duffel bag.  This guy is totally prepared Oh!  Where is my brain!  Of course he has a change of clothes with him.  We were going to be staying overnight in Kinistino!  Dah!!!

            “Nice to know I didn’t pack these in vain.”

            “Here’s your towel.”

            “Thanks!”

            My brother’s getting a ghost trap ready to capture a porcupine while my dad is on his way home while the most divine man in the world is showering in my house while I’m standing here muttering to myself, not sure what to do next.  Life is so complicated. 

            My adventure of hunting down one singing ghost has led to perhaps three ghosts, of sorts.  First, we still have a singing ghost, though it may turn out to be a porcupine.  Then, we had the nighttime prowler ghosts that were damaging farms in the county, and these ghosts will turn out to most probably be under-aged horse thieves.  Finally, we have some head hauncho ghost that has been trying to rattle people’s chains and scare them out of their homesteads, and he’s unknown at this point, but probably has a real human body and works in a mega corporation. 

            One of these ghost mysteries is pretty much solved – the under-aged horse thieves have ‘arrested’ their hauntings.  Tonight, maybe we can find out about our singing ghost in the garden, and hopefully by tomorrow, the police will know who has been rattling the farmers’ chains as far as their land is concerned.

            “Pizza’s here!  Where's the money?”

            “Take note, Alex, Dad entrusted it to me…Hi there!"  The pizza delivery person is kind of cute - Jenny  would think so, that is.  "Here.  Keep the change.  Thanks! … Alex, do you think you could wait until Ethan’s showered so we could all eat together properly?”

            “But I’m starved!  He doesn't care if I eat now!”

            Alex’s manners – have we discussed them before?  In case I forgot to mention that aspect of his personality to you, Alex's manners are nonexistent.   He’s stuffing that pizza into his mouth as if there is no tomorrow.  He has pizza sauce dribbling down his chin and he doesn’t care enough to wipe his face with a napkin.  He probably hasn’t figured out what a napkin’s real purpose in life is.  I think his D’NA cells are filled with direct links to his Martian heritage.  It still puzzles me how he was born into this family.

  “Wow!  You look great!  How was the shower?”

            “Hot!  Just what I needed.  Pizza – whoever invented this food must have been a teenager.”

            “Dad’s home.  Maybe he’s got news … Hi, Dad!  So, what did you find out?”

            “  Pizza!  Great!”  These are the first two words out of my dad’s mouth.  Are all men alike?  “The boys that were arrested for stealing Milikin’s horses have finally squealed about who hired them.  Police in Regina are talking to a man as we speak.”

            “Regina?”  Ethan may be hungry but he is polite enough to wait until Dad and I are ready to eat.  Alex, on the other hand, has stuffed two super size slices into his mouth.  Did you know that he doesn’t breathe when he chews?  Amazing Alien Alex!  Oooh!  Dear God, I am so sorry!  I'll try harder, really I will!

            “CAGG offices.  For some reason, that piece of information didn’t surprise me.”

            “Mr. Cooper, do you think this is the end of the chain link or there is someone higher that has been manipulating this plan?”

            “Frankly, Ethan, I think this Regina crook is only a ghostly cover for someone higher, maybe more than one person up the chain.   I see you have your trap out, Alex.  Going to try to capture that singing ghost tonight?”

            “Uh-huh!”  Alex’s mouth is so full, he couldn’t give Dad a more complete answer if he tried.

            “I like Constable Lemaigre’s explanation about the porcupine.  What do you think, Gia?”

            “She could be right.  On the other hand, she told us about that ghost in Weldon and it wasn’t any porcupine.  Constable Lemaigre experienced it first hand and now she believes in ghosts.”

            The phone is ringing.  Just hours ago, I was frightened to answer it.  Now, I’m the first one darting to pick it up.  “Hello … sure, one moment, please.  Dad, it’s for you…Iced tea, anyone?”

            Alex is at the nonverbal, nodding stage for answers now.  Not only is his stomach pizza laden, but so is his brain.  That was a quick telephone conversation for Dad.

            “Well, kids, looks as if this fellow isn’t going to say much, but some of the things he did say confirmed his involvement.  He swears he’s only a middle man.  Looks like this investigation will go on for some time.”

            “Will the bad stuff stop?”

            “Perhaps for a time, Alex, but I don’t think this battle is over yet.”

            “Listen!  Did you hear it?  She’s there!  She’s singing!  Let’s catch her!”

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