Ghostsitters (Araminta Spook #5)

    The next morning Wanda and I held a planning meeting in the Wednesday bed room. The Wednesday bedroom is the smallest bedroom of all. It is lined with wood and has two portholes--it looks like a ship's cabin and it is very cozy. There are two bunk beds, which are built into an alcove in the wall. I have the top bunk and Wanda has the bottom. We sat on Wanda's bed and decided to tell Mathilda that we knew all about her Plan to leave Ned and Jed behind.

    "Because, " I told Wanda, "if she knows that we know, then she won't dare do it. " "Won't she?" asked Wanda. "No, " I said, "she won't. "

    But we had to wait a long time to tell her because Mathilda got up really late. It was lunchtime when she came down--not that there was anything for lunch. Mathilda looked really cool as usual. She was wearing her awesome hat--which I love--and her black coat with spiderwebs and lace all over it. When she walked down the stairs, her boots made clippy-cloppy noises. Wanda and I were lying in wait at the foot of the stairs. I jumped out.

    "Ooh!" Mathilda gasped. "Don't do that, Araminta. You gave me a scare. " Good, I thought. "Mathilda, " I said, "we know what you are planning. " Mathilda looked disappointed. "You do?" she said. "Yes. We know you are going to leave Ned and Jed here when you go. " I could tell that that had surprised her. "Oh?" she said. "And we don't want you to, " Wanda chimed in. "We want them to go too. " Mathilda fiddled with a dead mouse on her hat. "Well, they can't go just yet, can they?" she said. "Because I am going out now and they are babysitting. " "Babysitting!" I exploded. "Wanda and I are not babies. "

    "No, we are not, " said Wanda. Mathilda shrugged. "Whatever, " she said. "But you need someone to stay in the house while I am out shopping. " "No we don't, " I said. "Anyway, they aren't someone, they are ghosts. " "Well, they are your ghostsitters, then, " said Mathilda. "We already have ghosts who can sit with us, thank you, and they are much nicer ghosts, " I told her. "We could come shopping with you, " said Wanda, who likes going shopping with Brenda. "Couldn't we, Araminta?" Mathilda looked at me. "No you couldn't, " she said very definitely. "Well, not Araminta, anyway. " "Why not?" I asked. "Because--oh, goodness!" Crash! Bang! Smash! It was Ned and Jed--of course. They were at the top of the stairs playing catch, but it wasn't with a ball, it was with a great big sword--Sir Horace's sword. If they hadn't been ghosts it would have been a really dangerous game to play because Sir Horace keeps his sword quite sharp.

    Jed threw the sword to Ned. Clang! Ned dropped it. Ned heaved it up and chucked it back. Jed jumped out of the way and, crash! it landed on the stairs--and started rolling down toward us. "Argh!" yelled Wanda. "Get out of the way, Araminta!" I thought Wanda was being really nice and was worried about me getting in the way of the sword and being chopped into little pieces, but what she meant was that I was in her way. She elbowed me to one side and ran and hid behind the clock. Mathilda followed her fast. The sword was heading straight for me but luckily I am good at skipping and I jumped right over it as it passed. It came to rest on the other side of the hall. It was then I saw that there was some thing attached to it--a hand.

    Of course, it wasn't a real hand. It was Sir Horace's hand from his suit of armor. Something told me that Sir Horace would not be pleased. I went over and picked it up. And there I was, holding Sir Horace's sword, when I heard Sir Horace boom, "Miss Spookie!So it is true, you are in league with those scoundrels!" I looked up to see Sir Horace at the top of the stairs. If you asked me to draw a suit of armor looking annoyed, I would draw exactly what I saw right then. And then it began to clank downstairs toward me. Naturally Ned and Jed had disappeared, and Wanda and Mathilda were about to do the same. "Byeee, " said Wanda, waving as she and Mathilda headed out of the front door. "I am going to help Mathilda with the shopping. "

    "But, Wanda--" "Be good for the ghostsitters!" said Mathilda. The door slammed and they were gone. But Sir Horace was not. He teetered down to the foot of the stairs and sat on the bottom step with a horrible teeth-on-edge crunching noise. "I will have my hand back, Miss Spookie, " he said. He shook his head slowly. "Two against one is not sporting. Not sporting at all. You can tell that to your friends. " "What friends?" I said. Right then I didn't feel like I had any friends at all. Friends do not go out shopping together and leave their other friend all on her own with an angry ghost. "Those two young scoundrels. "

    "Ned and Jed are not my friends, Sir Horace. No way!"

     "Indeed? Edmund assured me they were. " Edmund--huh! I might have known. "Well, they are not. " "Ah. Well, then, Miss Spookie, perhaps I could trouble you to help me get my hand back on, " said Sir Horace, who thinks I actually like putting rusty bits of metal back together again. Sir Horace's hand was really badly dented. I unwound the fingers from his sword and carefully put the sword on the floor. I could see that his hand needed a lot of work to make it fit again. I got the small hammer that Brenda keeps for tapping loose rivets back into the boiler and started straightening the crumpled edges of Sir Horace's hand--which is, of course, just an empty metal gauntlet, really.

    The little finger was badly bent, but very carefully I tapped it all the way around to try and fix it. As I gave it one last tap for luck I felt something come loose. With a little plinky sound a grubby old ring tumbled out and rolled across the floor. I picked it up. "Here you are, Sir Horace, " I said. "Here's your ring. " Sir Horace was not a bit pleased. He sat down on the stairs and boomed. "No! No, it is not possible. Noooooh . . . " I had never heard Sir Horace sound quite so upset--not even when he had a mouse living in his foot and Pusskins chased him all over Spookie House. "But it's a lovely ring, " I  said. And it was, even though it was really  bashed around and dirty. I thought it was made of gold and it had a big square green stone in the middle. I really liked it. "You may have that if you want it, Miss Spookie. I am sure I don't. " It was not the most gracious way I have ever been given an early birthday present, but since birthday presents were going to be a bit thin this year, I decided to accept it. "Thank you, Sir Horace, " I said, and I put it in my pocket. I decided I would wear it on my birthday, as it was the only present I was likely to get--apart from Uncle Drac's. I fixed Sir Horace's hand back onto his suit of armor and it fit pretty well considering what had happened to it. But Sir Horace was still not happy. "Miss Spookie, " he said.

    "I am an old ghost now. I want a quiet life. I have, very regretfully, made a decision. " This sounded serious. Very carefully, Sir Horace stood up and rattled like he always does before he says something important. "I have decided that if there is any more trouble from those two rogues I will have no alternative but to go and haunt elsewhere. " I was shocked. "Where?" I gasped. "I have an invitation to a certain Catheter Cottage. " "Catheter Cottage! But that is where Nurse Watkins lives. You can't go there!" "Indeed, Miss Spookie, I can. Nurse Beryl Watkins mentioned when she was polishing me how well I would fit into a particular alcove in Catheter Cottage overlooking her garden.

    It sounded quite delightful. " "But she doesn't know you're a ghost, Sir Horace. She thinks you are just a suit of armor--like I did once. She would have a ter rible shock if you turned up on her doorstep. " "I am sure she would be very pleased, Miss Spookie, " said Sir Horace grumpily. "And it would be peaceful there. A well-ordered house with no nasty surprises. " "And no nice surprises either, " I told him. But Sir Horace bowed and said, "My mind is made up, Miss Spookie. Any more trouble and I shall be off to a quiet alcove in Catheter Cottage. " I watched him lurch away, leaning on his sword. It was true, I thought, he was an old ghost. But he was a wonderful old ghost and I so didn't want him to leave Spookie House.

    Sir Horace shuffled back to Uncle Drac's cupboard, where he likes to hide when he is  fed up. He settled down to look at the pic tures of his old castle in the paper--again-- and I stood guard to make sure that Ned and Jed did not come anywhere near. There was no way I was going to lose our nicest ghost.