Part 10 (1/2)
”Good,” said David Michael.
”So do you want her?” asked Shannon.
”Yes,” replied my brother.
”And what do you say?” I prompted him.
”I say, 'Let's name her Shannon.' ”
So we did.
Chapter 15.
”Help! Kristy! Save me! The ghost of Ben Brewer is after me!”
Karen ran shrieking through the second-floor hallway and burst into my room in a panic. ”Kristy! Kristy!”
”Ahem, Karen,” I replied.
Karen was only fooling around. She knew as well as I did that there probably wasn't any ghost in our attic. And if there was (because we just weren't sure) he certainly wasn't going to chase little girls around in broad daylight.
It was a Sat.u.r.day afternoon, two weeks to the day since Louie's funeral. Karen and Andrew were spending another weekend with us, and Shannon the puppy was almost ours. The members of the Baby-sitters Club were gathered in my room. We'd just had a meeting the day before, of course, but every now and then we like to get together and not conduct business. Besides, my friends enjoy visiting the mansion.
Karen plopped down on the floor between Mary Anne and Dawn. ”You know who old Ben Brewer is, don't you?” she asked them.
”Your great-grandfather?” Mary Anne ventured. (Ghost stories make her nervous.) ”Right. Before he became a ghost, anyway. He was a - what's the word, Kristy?”
”Herpitologist?” I suggested.
”No!” cried Karen, laughing. ”The word that means he stayed in the house all alone for years. He never went out and no one ever went in.”
”He was a recluse,” I said, ”according to Brewer family history.”
”And he ate fried dandelions,” Karen added.
Stacey snorted.
”Well, he did,” Karen insisted, turning to Stacey indignantly. ”Anyway, he's a ghost now and he haunts our attic.”
”Only the attic?” asked Claudia.
”Yes, thank goodness,” I replied.
”But every now and then he leaves it,” said Karen. ”Just for a few minutes. He likes to chase me through the halls. He says otherwise he never gets any exercise.”
”You mean any e-x-o-r-c-i-s-e?” spelled Mary Anne, but Karen wasn't old enough to get the joke. The rest of us laughed, though.
”You do know that's not true, don't you, Karen?” I asked.
”Yes,” she admitted. ”But it's fun to pretend. Sometimes I'm sure he's behind me.” (I s.h.i.+vered.) ”But it's not pretend about the attic. He really haunts it.”
”We have an honest-to-goodness secret pa.s.sage in our house,” spoke up Dawn.
”You do?” Karen's eyes widened.
”I've been in it,” I announced.
”You have?” Karen's eyes became the size of soup tureens.
Crash, bang, THUMP.
”What was that?” exclaimed Stacey.
”My brothers,” I replied. ”I think.”
”Yup, that's right,” said Karen. ”They're playing football.”
”In the house?” I asked.
”Yes. Andrew is the football.”
I rolled my eyes. Mom and Watson were out for the afternoon. I wasn't baby-sitting, since Sam and Charlie were home, but I felt I should be on top of things. There were ten kids in the house, plus Boo-Boo.
”This house,” I informed my friends, ”is actually a madhouse. Can you imagine what it'll be like when Shannon arrives?”
At that moment, Charlie charged into my room with Andrew in his arms and threw him on the bed. ”Touchdown!” he shouted.
Andrew squealed and giggled. He sounded a little too wild, which was unlike him. ”Do a cannonball!” he shrieked. He tucked himself into a ball and Charlie picked him up again and ran him down the hall chanting, ”Ba-boom-ba-boom-ba-boom-ba-boom.” We heard a soft thud as my brother tossed him onto another bed.
”Hey, you guys! Perk up!” I shouted to them.
My friends laughed.
Karen ran after Charlie shouting, ”My turn! My turn!”
”When do you get Shannon?” Mary Anne wanted to know.
”In two or three days,” I replied.
”You know, Kristy,” Claudia began, ”I hate to say this, but - ”
”Then don't,” I interrupted.
”Don't what?”