15-A GHOST!

A GHOST! The ghost leaned toward me. "Yo, Mousey Mouse!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs. I shook my head. Even as a ghost, ROUGH RAT RICKY, aka BOUNCER, was still just as loud. I was frightened out of my skull. "B-B-B-Bouncer, you're a G-G-GHOST!" I squeaked. I opened my eyes really wide. I had never seen a real live ghost before. Sure, I've had lots of near misses. Like when I was trapped in an old mansion that appeared to be haunted by cats. Or when I was chased through subway tunnels by an oversized phantom. But this was the first time I'd ever been snout-to-snout with an honest-to- goodmouse GHOST!

My fur stood on end. My knees felt weak. Then I noticed something strange. Bouncer wasn't floating in the air. And you couldn't see through his body. In fact, he looked just like he always did. "Ho, ho, ho! I'm no ghost, Mousey Mouse!" Bouncer snickered. "You've been reading too many spooky stories!" I watched as he stuffed his face with an entire pineapple. No, a GHOST wouldn't eat food that way. But a real LIVE Bouncer would. It turns out Bouncer had been living on the other side of the island. He had sprained his ankle when the plane crashed. He'd made a CRUTCH to help him

walk. Can you guess what his pawsteps SOUNDED like? Thump... flop! Thump... flop! Thump... flop!