The Alden children and their cousins Joe and Alice Alden stood in front of an old house on the edge of Greenfield. They looked up and down at the three-story, gray-shingled home. It needed painting. The porch steps were broken and the windows on each of the three floors were a different shape.
Six-year-old Benny shook his head. “This sure is a funny-looking house,” he said.
Joe laughed. “I guess it is. But this house was built in 1900 and in those days houses didn’t look like they do now.”
Joe’s wife, Alice, walked up the four steps that led to the wide porch. “The real estate agent gave me the key,” she said. “Let’s go in.”
The children followed Alice inside. They all walked through the dusty living room and dining room. Ten-year-old Violet ran her fingers over an old table that was in the living room. “This place could use a good dusting,” she said.
Henry, who was fourteen, said, “Well, I heard the agent tell Joe and Alice that no one has lived in the house for years.”
They all walked into a small room with walls covered with empty bookshelves. A huge desk that took up half the room was against one wall. A dead plant was on the floor.
Jessie said seriously, “In all my twelve years I’ve never seen a place as strange as this one.”
Alice moved toward the door. “We haven’t even been upstairs yet. Come on, let’s look.”
As they walked up the stairs, every step creaked. “Are you really going to buy this house?” Benny asked.
They went through all four bedrooms. Two of them still held some furniture. Alice peered out of a window onto an overgrown garden. “You know, Joe,” she said, “with some work this might be just right for us.”
“I don’t think this house is right for anyone,” Benny said. “It’s dirty and creaky and it smells funny, too.”
Joe looked around again. “We’ll have to think about this, Alice. I’m just not sure.”
They all left the house, and the door squeaked loudly as Alice closed it. “I don’t think I’d like to live here,” Violet said. “It’s creepy.”
When Henry’s foot went through the wood of one of the porch steps, they all laughed. “I said it needed some work,” Alice said.
When the Alden family reached the front walk, they noticed an old, white-haired man cutting the hedges that separated his house from the one they’d just been in.
The old man sniffed and said, “Looking at the old Roth house?”
“What’s a Roth house?” Benny asked.
The old man snorted. “Roth! Roth! That’s the name of the man who built the house you just came out of.”
“Oh!” Benny said.
“I’m Charles Farley,” the white-haired man said. “I live here. Who are you?”
The Aldens introduced themselves one by one. “We’re thinking of buying the Roth house,” Alice said.
“Are you really?” Violet asked.
“Now, Alice,” Joe said, nervously, “we have to talk about that.”
“If I were you young people, I’d never buy that old place. Never! Take my word for it,” Mr. Farley said, firmly.
“I wouldn’t buy it either,” Benny said.
Alice walked closer to Mr. Farley. “Why would you never buy it. Do you think it’s overpriced?”
Mr. Farley snorted again. “Who cares about the price? I wouldn’t buy it because it’s haunted.”
“Haunted!” the Alden children all said at the same time.
Alice Alden laughed. “That’s silly. Haunted by what?”
Mr. Farley narrowed his eyes. “By a ghost, of course.”
Henry didn’t believe in ghosts, but he wanted to be polite. “Whose ghost is it?”
Benny was wide-eyed. “Yes. Whose ghost is it?”
Mr. Farley started trimming the hedge again. “It’s the ghost of young Celia Roth. She lived in that house with her father until 1917. Her mother had died when Celia was a baby. Then Celia just disappeared. No one ever did find out what happened to her. Her father never spoke of her again.”
“How old was she when she … disappeared?” Violet asked timidly.
“Seventeen,” Mr. Farley said. “Just seventeen. And no one ever found her — ”
Alice looked at Benny and Violet’s faces and interrupted Mr. Farley. “We have to go now. Children, come along.”
They all piled into Joe and Alice’s station wagon and headed home. Alice silently drove the car for a while and then said, “Kids, you know there are no such things as ghosts, don’t you?”
Joe agreed. “You all know that, of course.”
“Of course we do,” Jessie said.
“Of course,” Henry said.
But Benny and Violet were silent.
Joe and Alice dropped the children at their home. Joe said, “We’re going on to Pine Grove. We have some big decisions to make. But first we’ll stop by and give the key to the Roth house back to Mrs. Thaler, the real estate agent.”
That night at dinner, the children told Grandfather about their visit to the Roth house. Henry was helping Mrs. McGregor carry a platter of chicken and bowls of little potatoes and peas in from the kitchen.
He took his seat at the table and said, “Can you imagine anything sillier than thinking a house is haunted?”
Grandfather laughed. “Well, of course it’s silly, but I hope you were polite to Mr. Farley.”
Benny looked at his grandfather. “You mean it? There really are no ghosts anywhere?”
Mr. Alden reached over and patted Benny’s hand. “I really mean it,” he said. “I hope you’re not frightened.”
“Not me!” Benny said firmly.
“Not me,” Violet agreed.
The children all felt safe with Grandfather. They could hardly believe they had once run away from him. After their parents had died, they had heard that their grandfather was a mean man who wouldn’t be nice to them. They had lived in a boxcar, until Mr. Alden had found them and took them and their boxcar back to his estate. Now the children couldn’t be happier, and they loved their grandfather dearly.
When Mrs. McGregor brought in a big chocolate cake for dessert, Benny said, “I feel sorry for the ghosts. They’ll never get to eat one of Mrs. McGregor’s cakes. I think I’ll eat an extra piece for them.”
Mrs. McGregor sliced the cake and put two pieces on Benny’s plate. “There you are, Benny,” she said.
Just as they were all eating the cake, the phone rang. I’ll get it,” Mr. Alden said and he walked into his study. He was on the phone for about five minutes before he returned to the dining room.
“Well, that was Joe. They’ve decided to buy that old house and move to Greenfield. They’ve already spoken to Mrs. Thaler, the agent,” Grandfather said.
“The haunted one?” Benny asked.
“Come on, Benny. You know it isn’t haunted,” Mr. Alden said. “Aren’t you happy Alice and Joe will be living here?”
Benny thought for a minute. “Yes, I am, but I’ll miss going to the amusement park that’s near where they live now.”
“Well,” Mr. Alden said, “I’ll certainly be glad to have them here.”
“When will they move in?” Jessie asked.
“Soon,” Grandfather said. “I’m going to ask my lawyer to move things along quickly. They’d like to be settled in a couple of weeks.”
“That place certainly needs a lot of work,” Mrs. McGregor said as she brought in a bowl of fruit.
Jessie said, “Maybe we can fix it up a little.”
Violet jumped up from the table. “What a wonderful idea! We could dust and clean out the closets and drawers. I noticed there were still things in some of them.”
“We can oil the doors and windows,” Henry said.
“And weed the garden,” Benny added.
“And touch up some of the paint,” Jessie said.
“I think Joe and Alice will be very happy to have you do all that,” Grandfather said. “I’ll pay for whatever supplies you need, of course.”
“We’ll need the key to get into the house,” Henry said.
Mr. Alden nodded. “I’ll call Mrs. Thaler in the morning and tell her to give you children the key.”
“Can we take Watch?” Benny asked, looking at the Aldens’ dog, who was dozing in a corner.
Everybody laughed. “I don’t think Watch would be much help,” Grandfather said. “You’d better leave him at home.”
“We’ll take Watch some other time, Benny,” Henry added, seeing Benny’s disappointment.
Benny sighed. “I guess he’d have more fun at home anyway.” |