3. The Ghost of Summer Past

3 The Ghost of Summer Past

I went back to sleep, thinking that was the end of it. Everybody has a bad dream now and then, right? No big deal. It happens every day. I was sleeping soundly. I'm not sure if that means I was making a lot of sound or if I wasn't making any sound at all. Anyway, after an hour or two, I heard the clock strike ten. That was weird, because I don't have a clock in my bedroom. I opened my eyes. The window was closed, but I felt the presence of somebody... or something... in my room. And then there was this spooky voice.... "A.J.... A.J.... A.J...." My name echoed off the walls. Maybe it was my imagination. It could have been a hallucination. Or a dramatization. I'm not sure, because there was very little illumination. My name is an abbreviation.

There should have been some elaboration. Or amplification. It was very poor communication. That was my evaluation. For me, it was a humiliation. I just hoped it wasn't an assassination. I should conduct an investigation. Sorry, I got carried away.* And then, suddenly, I noticed a fuzzy- looking figure hovering over my bed. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" It was a ghost! Okay, okay. I know I said there would be nothing else about ghosts in this book. But what was I supposed to do? It was out of my control! The ghost just showed up in my bedroom. You've gotta believe me! I could see right through the ghost floating in the air. It started forming into the shape of a person. He was a man. A bald man. His head was glowing like a

lightbulb. Actually, he looked a lot like my principal at school, Mr. Klutz. But why would Mr. Klutz be floating over my bed in the middle of the night? I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I had to think fast. "Who are y-you?" I asked in a trembling voice. "I am the ghost of summers past," he replied, "Your past, A.J." "Oh, yeah?" I said. "I don't believe in ghosts." "Well, we believe in you," the ghost replied. "You look a lot like the principal at my school, Mr. Klutz," I told the ghost. "I bet you say that about all the handsome bald-headed ghosts who hover over your bed in the middle of the night," said the ghost of Mr. Klutz.

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"Are you one of those spirits that my friend Billy said was going to visit me?" I asked. "You got that right," replied the ghost of Mr. Klutz. "What are you doing here?" I asked him. "What do you want with me? I'm trying to sleep. This is a school night, you know." The ghost of Mr. Klutz held up his hand and made a victory peace sign with his fingers, which means "shut up." "Come," he said, holding out his floating hand. "Follow me, A.J." "HUH?" I said, which is also "HUH" backward. I got out of bed. "Follow you where? Where are we going?" "Out the window," the ghost of Mr. Klutz replied. As he said that, the window opened all by itself. "B-but..."