Ghost Letters (20 page)

His mother and father had come up and spent the weekend at the Yankee Mahal, instead of taking him off to Michigan. Gil had introduced them to Nargis and they had driven over to look at the school. Even though his father mentioned Howitzer Academy a couple of times, it seemed as if he too had decided it wasn't such a good idea after all.

“Michigan is pretty far away,” his grandfather had said. “He'd have to fly home.”

“I guess that's true,” Gil's mother said. “Here you're only a couple of hours away.”

“The two of us will drive down for weekends,” Prescott said. “And you can come up any time you want.”

Saturday night, Prescott introduced them to Lenore and they all went out for dinner together at a seafood restaurant. They had already agreed not to tell Gil's parents about the letters and everything else that had happened. It seemed as if everybody got along, especially Gil's mother and Lenore. He noticed that his father and Prescott even shared a laugh.

On Monday, there were papers at the school that Prescott had to fill out. Gil met the guidance counselor, who got his grades and other documents from McCauley Prep. By Tuesday morning, he was in class. Even after having been out of school for three weeks, Gil didn't feel he had fallen too far behind. In math there wasn't much of a problem because his teacher at McCauley had got ahead of himself and Gil had already done most of the work. In social studies they were doing a project on the Civil War and Gil joined a group that was writing a report on the Battle of Gettysburg. He and Nargis were in most of their classes together, except for PE and French, where they were on a different schedule because Nargis was taking Spanish.

When it was time for lunch, they met near the lockers and she took him to the cafeteria.

“You're lucky, it's pizza today,” she said. “Not green Jell-O and tofu burgers.”

Nargis led him to a table with some of her friends. She introduced him to a girl named Ming and a boy named Orion. They were talking about some horror movie Gil hadn't seen, but it didn't really matter. Orion kept imitating one of the ghouls who lived in a woodshed on a farm in the Ozarks. He made a creepy face and pretended to carry an ax in one hand. Ming and Nargis laughed. Gil didn't say very much, but he felt sure he was going to fit right in.

During the last period of the day, they had English and Mrs. Ballantine made them read two poems by Robert Frost, including one called “The Bearer of Evil Tidings,” which was
pretty good. Then she gave them their homework assignment. Each student was supposed to write a poem of their own and bring it to class the next day, to read aloud. Gil glanced nervously at Nargis, who was seated across the aisle from him. She rolled her eyes and grinned, as if to say, Don't worry, it's only homework …

After school, Gil and Nargis headed home on their bicycles, but when they reached the cemetery they took a detour. Parking their bikes at the gate, they walked down the hill toward the chestnut tree.

“Maybe we should have brought another lobster trap,” said Gil.

“I don't think so,” said Nargis, wincing.

It was cold but clear, and they could see the harbor spread out below them, and the lighthouse in the distance.

The branches of the chestnut tree were bare, and dead leaves carpeted the ground. As Gil and Nargis reached the spot where Camellia's grave had been, they couldn't see a headstone. Together, they brushed away the fallen leaves, but there was no sign of the granite memorial, only brown grass and gnarled tree roots.

“It must be here,” said Gil, circling the tree.

“Maybe not,” Nargis said with a thoughtful frown. “If we really changed history, who knows what happened to Camellia? Maybe Ezekiel came back …”

“Or maybe she went to India,” said Gil.

Just then, they felt a breeze and the dead leaves rustled at their feet. Both of them caught sight of a lone figure coming toward them up the hill. It was the postman in his gray uniform, stooped under the weight of his mailbag. He was almost the same color as the gravestones, and when he passed through the shadows of the trees he seemed to disappear briefly. Gil and Nargis could tell that he was coming in their direction. Both of them felt like running, but their feet were stuck to the ground.

“Yipes!” said Nargis under her breath.

“Stay calm,” said Gil, even though his hands and knees were shaking.

The postman trudged up to the chestnut tree. With a tired sigh, he touched the brim of his cap in greeting.

Nargis tried to say “Hi,” but her voice squeaked. Gil's mouth had gone dry and all he could do was nod. The postman reached under the flap of his mailbag. After hunting around for a moment, he took out a magazine in a brown paper wrapper. With a wistful wink and the faintest smile, he handed the piece of mail to Gil.

Seconds later, the postman was gone.

“What is it?” Nargis asked as she let out her breath.

“I don't know,” said Gil, turning the magazine over in his
hands. On the other side, he saw an old stamp, and across one corner of the wrapper was written

Complimentary Copy

“Hey, it's addressed to you,” said Nargis, pointing at the label. “Gil Mendelson-Finch. Open it.”

“But, how could this …?” Gil ran his finger under the wrapper and ripped it open. Inside was a copy of
The Atlantic Monthly
, but it was an issue from May 1, 1933.

“That's sixty years before I was born,” he said as Nargis took the magazine from his hands and began to leaf through the pages. At first, there didn't seem to be anything interesting inside, but as she flipped back again, something caught her eye.

“Look! Here's a picture of the Yankee Mahal,” Nargis said. It was a black-and-white photograph. In the foreground stood a man who looked as if he might be Indian. Nargis and Gil read the caption together.

The author, Sikander Khan, poses in front of Ezekiel
Finch's home near Hornswoggle Bay, Massachusetts.

“It can't be!” said Gil.

“Of course it's him,” said Nargis, turning back a page to the title of the article.

RETRACING THE FOOTSTEPS
OF A YANKEE TRADER

At the beginning of the article was a short biographical note on the author.

M
R
. S
IKANDER
K
HAN
is one of India's most respected journalists. He is currently touring the world as a foreign correspondent for
The Statesman
newspaper in Calcutta. Mr. Khan recently visited Massachusetts. In this article, published here by special arrangement, he tells the story of Ezekiel Finch, a Yankee trader who made his fortune shipping tea from India to America. Finch's tea estates were in Ajeebgarh, which happens to be Mr. Khan's hometown, where he began his distinguished writing career as a calligrapher's apprentice.

Returning to the photograph, Gil and Nargis both squinted to try to make out Sikander's features.

Nargis started to laugh. “He's almost bald,” she said.

“Of course. This magazine is from 1933,” said Gil, pulling it out of her hands. “In this picture he'd be much older than when we were writing back and forth.”

The Yankee Mahal didn't seem to have changed at all, with its heavy stone walls and slate roof. Standing in the front yard, Sikander had one arm raised. Gil and Nargis could tell he was waving at them.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen Alter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published in the United States of America in January 2008
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in April 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Alter, Stephen.
Ghost letters/Stephen Alter.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

Summary: While exploring the area around his grandfather's home, Gil discovers a bottle
that carries messages into the past, finds a genie in a letter, and three letters that were
never delivered but would have changed the course of history.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58234-739-4 • ISBN-10: 1-58234-739-5 (hardcover)
[1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. Letters—Fiction. 3. Genies—Fiction. 4. Grandfathers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A46373Gh 2008     [Fic]—dc22     2007030844

ISBN 978-1-59990-815-1 (e-book)