with his paws.
âGet ready, Bo. Here comes the ghost.â
Whish! blew the wind. Whew! The curtains flew this way and that, knocking a book off my desk. Whisk! My socks lifted off the floor and danced in the air.
Bo scooted around in a circle, trying to get his head under the covers.
Whish! Whisk! The curtains flipped into the air and sank down again, wrapping their ends around the chair. Suddenly the wind calmed. In came a quiet stream of air and a wisp of blue smoke, which swirled and floated across the room.
âHere it comes, Bo. Weâre about to have a visitor.â
The blue smoke twisted and twirled, floating down to the floor and forming itself into a pair of green boots.
âItâs here, Bo!â
The smoke formed a sturdy pair of legs in blue trousers. Next appeared a purple sweater across a big chest and arms. The smoke wiggled and wobbled and formed into a head topped by a red cowboy hat.
The ghost had arrived.
2
T HE G HOST
I recognized him immediately. âUncle Arvie! Itâs you, isnât it?â
âRiggle!â said the ghost, brushing himself off and rushing to hug me. His hug felt like tickling cobwebs.
It was Uncle Arvie, all right. Thatâs just the way Uncle Arvie talksâor used to talk, when he was alive. Most people couldnât understand a word he said. Only his wifeâAunt Juliaâand I could piece together what he was saying. But it wasnât easy.
Bo poked his nose out from under the blanket, sniffed the air, and barked. He tilted his head from side to side, staring at Uncle Arvie.
âDonât be scared, Bo. Itâs Uncle Arvie!â
âYip,â Bo squeaked.
âElephant?â Uncle Arvie asked.
âNo, itâs my dog.â
âElephant!â Uncle Arvie insisted.
This was not going to be an easy ghost to have around.
When I was little, Uncle Arvie spoke just like everyone else, saying normal words at the normal time. But one dayâwhen Uncle Arvie was still aliveâhe woke up speaking this way.
Uncle Arvie had had a stroke, and words were twisted in his brain. He knew what he wanted to say, but the words that came out of his mouth were not the words he chose. Sometimes they werenât even words at allâor at least not words that most people knewâlike riggle and fraggle .
âYouâre supposed to be in heaven now,â I said.
âRailroad, yin.â
âHeavenâup there.â
Uncle Arvie waved his arms as if he were flying. âRailroad!â
He strolled around my room, looking at things. He picked up the book that had fallen on the floor. âPasta,â he said. âWig pasta.â Next he examined the pictures on my bookshelf, picking up one of me and my mother. âMacaroni and Dinosaur!â he said.
âItâs my mother and meâ Dennis ,â I said.
âMacaroni and Dinosaur! Macaroni and Dinosaur!â
Uncle Arvie examined a photograph of my father and kissed the picture. âDinosaurâs pepperoni,â he said. Uncle Arvie pointed toward the door. âPepperoni?â
âMy father isnât here.â
âNod pepperoni?â
âHeâs gone. Heââ
Uncle Arvie tilted his head just like Bo, waiting for me to finish.
âHeâs in heaven,â I said.
âNod!â Uncle Arvie put his hands over his mouth. âNod railroad? Nod pepperoni railroad? Nod, nod.â He was very upset. My father and Uncle Arvie were brothers.
âI was hoping maybe youâd seen him thereâin heaven.â
âNod, nod,â Uncle Arvie cried. âNod, nod pepperoni.â
I gave him a tissue. âLast year,â I said. âRight after you. He was very sick.â
Uncle Arvie blew his nose.
âWe miss him,â I said.
Uncle Arvie held the picture to his chest.
âWe miss you, too,â I said.
Uncle Arvie put the picture back on the bookshelf and lifted another photograph. It
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