Megan Stine_Jeffery & the Third-Grade Ghost 02 Page 2

  Ben shook his head in disbelief.

  Then Ben opened his lunch-box lid. There was a small explosion and his sandwich shot five feet into the air. It came floating down to Ben on a small parachute.

  “I will tell you one thing, though,” Jeffrey said, leaning in close to his friends. “There’s a dagger stuck in the floor in the McGyver house. And I think it has writing on it.”

  Melissa took a large bite out of her apple. She looked at Jeffrey sideways. “For real?” she asked.

  “This is the absolute honest truth,” Jeffrey said. “It’s a knife this long.” Jeffrey held his hands about two feet apart.

  Ben opened his lunch box again and this time a box of fruit juice popped out. Ricky Reyes caught it as its parachute snagged on his chair.

  “What’s this about a knife, Becker?” Ricky asked, handing the juice to Ben.

  Ricky Reyes was one tough third-grader. His father was an ex-fighter pilot. His older brother was a black belt in karate. Ricky was taking karate lessons, too. Everything about Ricky was cool, especially his enormous collection of toy robots. Jeffrey thought he and Ricky could be good friends, but he hadn’t mentioned it to Ricky yet.

  “Did I say knife?” Jeffrey said. He was teasing Ricky just the way Max had teased him. “I meant a dagger. There’s a dagger stuck in the floor of the McGyver house.”

  Jeffrey stood up and the two boys faced each other.

  “You had the guts to go into the McGyver house?” Ricky asked.

  “Well, I haven’t actually seen the dagger with my own eyes,” Jeffrey admitted.

  “Then how do you know it’s there?” asked Ricky.

  “It’s a good question and I’m going to give you a good answer. But I bet you won’t believe it,” Jeffrey said. “I have this friend who’s a ghost. His name is Max. Yesterday Max flew into the McGyver house and saw the dagger. He told me about it.”

  Ricky’s dark eyes darted from Jeffrey to Ben and back to Jeffrey. There was a slight smile on his face. “So you have a friend, named Max,” Ricky said.

  Jeffrey nodded.

  “And he’s a ghost?”

  “He was inside my desk in class,” Jeffrey said. He couldn’t tell whether Ricky believed him or not.

  “Well,” Ricky said, “if you have a friend who’s a ghost, then you won’t be afraid to go into the McGyver house on Halloween, will you?”

  Jeffrey’s heart started pounding with surprise. “Why would I do something like that?” he asked.

  “So you can get the dagger and bring it out—that’s why. So I can see if you’re as cool as I think you are.”

  That sounded pretty good to Jeffrey. He wanted to have Ricky Reyes for a friend. But go into the McGyver house?

  “Are you going to do it?” Ricky asked in a challenging tone of voice.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Jeffrey said weakly.

  “Good,” Ricky said. “I’ll be there to watch.”

  “Fine,” Jeffrey said. Then Ricky walked away and Jeffrey turned back to this friends.

  Ben shook his head. “Well, now I know what you’re going to be for Halloween,” he said sadly.

  “What?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Dead meat!” Ben replied.

  Chapter Three

  The following week, on Friday, Jeffrey’s class went on a field trip to a pumpkin farm. Mrs. Merrin wanted her class to see how pumpkins looked growing in a field. Then they’d choose a pumpkin for the class.

  But Friday started out as a rainy day. And soon Jeffrey knew that the day wasn’t going to get any better. For one thing, Mrs. Merrin chose Virginia Louise Slimak to be his bus partner.

  Jeffrey couldn’t believe it. “How about giving me a couple of detentions instead?” he pleaded with Mrs. Merrin.

  “Sorry. Those you have to earn on your own,” Mrs. Merrin said with a laugh.

  Virginia Louise Slimak was very popular. And she was smart. But she hated field trips. She hated to go outside because that’s where bugs lived. Also, she got carsick very easily.

  With Virginia Louise as his bus partner, Jeffrey couldn’t wrestle on the bus the way he could with Ben. He couldn’t write things on the steamed-up windows the way he could with Kenny. And he couldn’t lose at thumb wrestling the way he could with Melissa. All he could do with Virginia Louise Slimak was listen to her complain—and watch her turn green.

  But there was something else bothering Jeffrey even more than Virginia Louise. It was Max. Jeffrey hadn’t seen Max in a few days and he didn’t want to go on a field trip without him. Without Max, the field trip would be a bore.

  While everyone put on their sweaters and jackets, hats and scarves, Jeffrey opened the lid of his desk and looked inside. “Max, are you in there?” he asked. Math book, notebook, a spare bologna sandwich, a rolled-up circus poster, a graph of Mickey Mantle’s career batting averages—everything was in his desk except what he was looking for: a ghost.

  “Jeffrey, everyone is waiting for you,” Mrs. Merrin said.

  Jeffrey looked up. Uh-oh. Mrs. Merrin was holding his jacket, knit cap, and long scarf. Everyone else was lined up, ready to leave the classroom.

  Jeffrey didn’t want to leave yet, because he still hoped that Max would arrive. But Max had a habit of showing up late.

  “I’m looking for my list of questions about the trip,” Jeffrey said. He didn’t know what he was talking about, but he knew he had to stall for time.

  “You prepared questions to ask the people at the farm? I’m impressed, Jeffrey,” said Mrs. Merrin.

  “No, these are questions my parents wanted me to ask you. They said if I didn’t, I couldn’t go,” Jeffrey said, taking out a piece of paper from his desk. He didn’t hold it up too high because he didn’t want Mrs. Merrin to see that it was blank. “For example, does the bus have a valid license plate? How many years of driving experience does the driver have? If the driver takes a wrong turn and ends up in a different country, how many foreign languages does the driver speak? And the list goes on and on.”

  “Your parents want answers to all of those questions?” Mrs. Merrin asked.

  “They’re very concerned about my safety,” Jeffrey said.

  “Who can blame them,” Mrs. Merrin replied with a smile. “You know what I think? I think we’ll get the answers to all of your questions when we’re on the bus.” She tossed Jeffrey his jacket, hat, and scarf. “Let’s go, gang, before pumpkin season is over.”

  Then the third-grade class walked outside. Everyone was bundled up against the cold and the rain. But as soon as they stepped onto the yellow school bus, they were hot and sweaty.

  “It’s too hot,” Arvin Pubbler cried. “It’s boiling in here!”

  “It’s only ninety degrees,” said Ben. He was checking the small hiker’s thermometer clipped to his jacket zipper.

  “Could you turn down the heat?” Mrs. Merrin asked the bus driver.

  “Afraid not,” said the bus driver, gunning the engine. He was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt. “Heater’s broken. It’s on full blast and it’s stuck. You get used to it after a while.”

  “Let’s open the windows,” Mrs. Merrin said. She always had an idea for what to do next.

  “It’s raining too hard,” said the bus driver. “Everyone will get soaked.”

  “Okay, gang, get comfortable.” Mrs. Merrin sighed, taking off her coat, her scarf and her sweater. Then she rolled up the sleeves of her husbands white shirt, which she was wearing tucked into her blue jeans. “We’ll pretend we’re orchids growing in a greenhouse.”

  “Or hot dogs in boiling water,” Jeffrey said.

  “Don’t mention food to me when I’m in a bus,” said Virginia Louise Slimak, giving Jeffrey a swift elbow.

  Jeffrey glared at Virginia Louise. She wasn’t supposed to be sitting there. Max was. Where was he?

  The driver closed the doors, and pulled away from the school—without Max.

  The windows were steamed-up. So were the students. It was a cold, rainy day. Th
ey couldn’t see anything out the windows. And after a while it felt as if they had been riding forever in a toaster oven.

  “I think we should have been there by now,” Mrs. Merrin said to the driver. He just shrugged and scratched his head. “Let’s turn around. We’ve missed the road we need.”

  They missed the road a couple more times because they couldn’t see much in the rain. The short half-hour trip to the farm was turning out to be an endless drive to nowhere.

  Finally, an hour later, they arrived at Meander Falls Farm.

  “Let’s go find a pumpkin!” Mrs. Merrin pronounced to the class. Then she told the bus driver, “We won’t be gone long.”

  “Take your time, ma’am,” he said. “My back wheels are stuck in the mud. It’s gonna take some heavy-duty pushing to get us out of here.”

  “What else can go wrong?” Mrs. Merrin asked.

  A couple of seconds later, Melissa slipped in the mud. She fell and got her new jacket all muddy.

  Then Virginia Louise Slimak started complaining. “I’m going to be sick again. I need a drink of water,” she whined.

  “Just wait until we pick out a pumpkin,” Mrs. Merrin told her. “Then we’ll all have cider and doughnuts.”

  Finally, after looking at every pumpkin in the field, the class made its choice. They chose a big, round orange pumpkin almost as big as the globe in the school library. Five kids carried it to the farmhouse to pay for it. But Mrs. Merrin stayed behind.

  Jeffrey noticed she was looking around on the ground. She had a worried expression on her face.

  “Did you lose something?” Jeffrey asked.

  Mrs. Merrin didn’t answer right away but zipped her jacket up tighter. “Jeffrey, how would you rate this field trip?” she asked.

  “It’s been great,” Jeffrey said. He hoped his enthusiasm would cheer up his teacher. “I mean, if you don’t count getting lost and the bus being too hot. And Melissa falling down. And Virginia Louise Slimak being carsick so loud …”

  “And me losing my wallet,” Mrs. Merrin said with a sigh. “Now I can’t buy the pumpkin or any doughnuts and cider for a class snack. No, this has not been a terrific field trip, Jeffrey.” She shook her head sadly. “Let’s go home,” she said.

  The bus ride back to school was a lot quieter. By that time, Mrs. Merrin had told the class about losing her wallet. Between what money the kids and the bus driver had with them, they bought the pumpkin. But there was nothing left over for goodies.

  “I can smell those doughnuts right now,” Ben said.

  “Give us a break, Ben,” said Jeffrey.

  “I really mean it,” Ben insisted.

  Everyone moaned. They could smell the doughnuts, too.

  “Hey, look!” Ben shouted. “Under my seat. There are two boxes of doughnuts and two gallons of cider!”

  Jeffrey thought Ben was delirious from hunger.

  But then Ben held up two real-live doughnuts—one in each hand.

  The driver stopped the bus at the side of the road.

  “How did that food get here?” Mrs. Merrin asked.

  Suddenly, the radio came on playing 1950s rock ‘n’ roll.

  “We don’t need the radio right now,” Mrs. Merrin said.

  “I didn’t turn it on,” the driver told her.

  “This is great!” Jeffrey said softly to himself. “Max is back!”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Virginia Louise.

  But Jeffrey didn’t want to answer her. He wanted to talk to Max. “Virginia Louise, don’t tell anybody, but I’ve got three bugs in my pockets,” Jeffrey whispered.

  In less than a second, Virginia Louise was gone from her seat. And, just as quickly, Max appeared. He was sitting next to Jeffrey and munching on a soft, hot doughnut.

  “Max, when did you get here? How did you get here?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Hey, like, you’re the cats that got lost,” Max said. “And speaking of lost, man, dig this.” He handed Jeffrey a wallet. “I bought the doughnuts and paid for everything with your teacher’s money,” Max explained.

  “But, Max, where did you find it?”

  “Out in the field, Daddy-o,” Max replied. “But she’ll never believe it if you tell her.”

  Max floated up above the other kids. He flew to the front of the bus and put the wallet on Mrs. Merrin’s seat.

  “Dig this, man,” Max called to Jeffrey. “She’ll think it was right here in the bus all the time.”

  Jeffrey laughed and Ben noticed.

  “What’s so funny?” Ben asked.

  “I was just practicing my laugh,” Jeffrey lied. “I’m thinking about being a hyena for Halloween.”

  “Really?”

  “No,” Jeffrey said. “But you wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth.”

  “There’s a chance I’d believe you,” Ben said.

  Jeffrey looked at Max and then at Ben. He shook his head.

  “No there isn’t,” Jeffrey said. “There isn’t even a ghost of a chance.”

  Chapter Four

  Jeffrey knocked on Ben’s door at exactly 9:32 on Sunday morning, just as Ben had instructed.

  “Come in, Jeffrey. The door is open,” said a strange mechanical voice. It seemed to be coming from the welcome mat Jeffrey was standing on. “Be sure to wipe your feet off on me.”

  Jeffrey opened the door and walked in. “Hello, Jeffrey,” said the tall, wooden coat rack. “I’ll take your coat.”

  Jeffrey hung up his coat. Then he looked at himself in a carved wooden mirror hanging on the wall.

  “Hi, Jeffrey,” said the mirror. “Long time no see.”

  Jeffrey smiled and looked around. Okay, how was Ben doing it?

  Finally, he found a small speaker hidden on the floor. He followed its wire to a small tape recorder hidden on the stairway by the front door. The tape recorder was connected to a timer.

  So that’s why Ben wanted him to arrive at 9:32. That was when the tape recorder was set to go off.

  Jeffrey walked upstairs. He entered what Ben called his lab and what Ben’s parents called Ben’s room.

  “Hey, Ben,” Jeffrey said. Ben was at his workbench. “You certainly have a friendly house these days.”

  Ben grinned. “It’s a good thing you came on time,” he said. Ben was in the middle of a big project—his own Halloween costume.

  “How’s the robot costume coming?” Jeffrey asked.

  “Almost done,” Ben said. “Hand me those screws over there.”

  Jeffrey handed Ben three long, thin silver screws. He watched as Ben attached them to his costume.

  “Now hand me that computer microchip board,” Ben said.

  Jeffrey gave Ben the microchip board and watched as Ben attached it to his costume.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” Ben called. He climbed into the costume.

  The body of the robot costume was made of two cardboard boxes. They were painted silver. They fit around Ben, one in front and one in back. His arms and legs were covered with plastic car mats, also painted silver.

  Once Ben was inside the costume, he turned it on. Lights immediately began to flash. A computer-like voice said, “Please push button number one.”

  Jeffrey pushed it. There was a loud whirl. Then a piece of paper came out of a slot in the front of the costume.

  Jeffrey took the paper and read: “Trick or Treat. Give me something to eat.”

  “Awesome,” Jeffrey said.

  “Wait till you see what happens when you push button number two,” Ben said. He turned off his costume and climbed out.

  “What happens?” Jeffrey asked.

  “I’m not telling … until you tell me what you’re going to be for Halloween!” Ben announced.

  “Oh, well, it’s … you know,” Jeffrey said, trying to answer without really answering.

  “Jeffrey, this is me, remember?” Ben said. “I thought we were best friends.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you,” Jeffrey said. “I think I’m goi
ng to be a magician. But I don’t have everything together yet.”

  The main thing Jeffrey still needed was an assistant: Max. He knew that with Max’s help he could do an amazing magic act. But every time Jeffrey asked Max to help him, Max quickly changed the subject.

  “A magician, huh?” Ben said. “You’re going to need a few tricks up your sleeve when you go into the McGyver house.”

  “Yeah,” Jeffrey said glumly. “I can’t believe I agreed to that.”

  “Is there really a dagger in there?” Ben asked.

  “Of course,” Jeffrey said. “But you don’t have to take my word for it. You could see it for yourself—on Halloween.”

  “Sorry, I’m busy that night,” Ben said, tightening a light bulb on his robot.

  Jeffrey decided to try the best-friend approach. “You know, Ben,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I said to myself, ‘If I have to go into the McGyver house, who is the one person I’d want to go in there with?’ And there was only one name on my list. My best friend. You.”

  “No way, Jeffrey. Ricky Reyes challenged you to go into the house,” Ben said. “He didn’t say anything about taking a guest.”

  Then Jeffrey tried the scientific approach. “But think of the scientific possibilities,” he said. Jeffrey put his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “You might make a great discovery in there.”

  “Jeffrey, we’re talking about the McGyver house,” Ben reminded him. “Even the mail carrier never went up to the porch. She used to stand by the fence and yell to Mr. McGyver: ‘Come and get it!’ ”

  Next, Jeffrey tried the mystery-detective approach. “Ben, that dagger stuck in the floor could be the weapon of a famous unsolved murder!”

  “Yeah,” Ben said, “ours.”

  Finally, Jeffrey tried the “you’re a chicken” approach. He knew that one usually got results. “Look, there’s only one way to get over your fear,” Jeffrey said.

  “Right. By dropping the subject entirely,” Ben agreed.

  “No. By going into the McGyver house with me right now,” Jeffrey said. “It can’t be too bad in broad daylight.”