Megan Stine_Jeffery & the Third-Grade Ghost 02 (4 page)

Jeffrey knocked on Ben’s door at exactly 9:32 on Sunday morning, just as Ben had instructed.

“Come in, Jeffrey. The door is open,” said a strange mechanical voice. It seemed to be coming from the welcome mat Jeffrey was standing on. “Be sure to wipe your feet off on me.”

Jeffrey opened the door and walked in. “Hello, Jeffrey,” said the tall, wooden coat rack. “I’ll take your coat.”

Jeffrey hung up his coat. Then he looked at himself in a carved wooden mirror hanging on the wall.

“Hi, Jeffrey,” said the mirror. “Long time no see.”

Jeffrey smiled and looked around. Okay, how was Ben doing it?

Finally, he found a small speaker hidden on the floor. He followed its wire to a small tape recorder hidden on the stairway by the front door. The tape recorder was connected to a timer.

So that’s why Ben wanted him to arrive at 9:32. That was when the tape recorder was set to go off.

Jeffrey walked upstairs. He entered what Ben called his lab and what Ben’s parents called Ben’s room.

“Hey, Ben,” Jeffrey said. Ben was at his workbench. “You certainly have a friendly house these days.”

Ben grinned. “It’s a good thing you came on time,” he said. Ben was in the middle of a big project—his own Halloween costume.

“How’s the robot costume coming?” Jeffrey asked.

“Almost done,” Ben said. “Hand me those screws over there.”

Jeffrey handed Ben three long, thin silver screws. He watched as Ben attached them to his costume.

“Now hand me that computer microchip board,” Ben said.

Jeffrey gave Ben the microchip board and watched as Ben attached it to his costume.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Ben called. He climbed into the costume.

The body of the robot costume was made of two cardboard boxes. They were painted silver. They fit
around Ben, one in front and one in back. His arms and legs were covered with plastic car mats, also painted silver.

Once Ben was inside the costume, he turned it on. Lights immediately began to flash. A computer-like voice said, “Please push button number one.”

Jeffrey pushed it. There was a loud whirl. Then a piece of paper came out of a slot in the front of the costume.

Jeffrey took the paper and read: “Trick or Treat. Give me something to eat.”

“Awesome,” Jeffrey said.

“Wait till you see what happens when you push button number two,” Ben said. He turned off his costume and climbed out.

“What happens?” Jeffrey asked.

“I’m not telling … until you tell me what
you’re
going to be for Halloween!” Ben announced.

“Oh, well, it’s … you know,” Jeffrey said, trying to answer without really answering.

“Jeffrey, this is me, remember?” Ben said. “I thought we were best friends.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you,” Jeffrey said. “I think I’m going to be a magician. But I don’t have everything together yet.”

The main thing Jeffrey still needed was an assistant: Max. He knew that with Max’s help he could
do an amazing magic act. But every time Jeffrey asked Max to help him, Max quickly changed the subject.

“A magician, huh?” Ben said. “You’re going to need a few tricks up your sleeve when you go into the McGyver house.”

“Yeah,” Jeffrey said glumly. “I can’t believe I agreed to that.”

“Is there really a dagger in there?” Ben asked.

“Of course,” Jeffrey said. “But you don’t have to take my word for it. You could see it for yourself—on Halloween.”

“Sorry, I’m busy that night,” Ben said, tightening a light bulb on his robot.

Jeffrey decided to try the best-friend approach. “You know, Ben,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I said to myself, ‘If I have to go into the McGyver house, who is the one person I’d want to go in there with?’ And there was only one name on my list. My best friend. You.”

“No way, Jeffrey. Ricky Reyes challenged
you
to go into the house,” Ben said. “He didn’t say anything about taking a guest.”

Then Jeffrey tried the scientific approach. “But think of the scientific possibilities,” he said. Jeffrey put his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “You might make a great discovery in there.”

“Jeffrey, we’re talking about the McGyver house,” Ben reminded him. “Even the mail carrier never went up to the porch. She used to stand by the fence and yell to Mr. McGyver: ‘Come and get it!’ ”

Next, Jeffrey tried the mystery-detective approach. “Ben, that dagger stuck in the floor could be the weapon of a famous unsolved murder!”

“Yeah,” Ben said, “ours.”

Finally, Jeffrey tried the “you’re a chicken” approach. He knew that one usually got results. “Look, there’s only one way to get over your fear,” Jeffrey said.

“Right. By dropping the subject entirely,” Ben agreed.

“No. By going into the McGyver house with me right now,” Jeffrey said. “It can’t be too bad in broad daylight.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Ben said.

“We’ll just go and look. That’s all,” Jeffrey said.

And he kept saying it all the way over to the McGyver house. Soon the two friends were standing at the fence facing the spooky old mansion.

Jeffrey opened the gate. He and Ben looked at each other. “We’ll just go and look,” Jeffrey said again. He took a deep breath and then took the first step. Ben followed.

With each step, memories came back to Jeffrey about Halloween and the McGyver house. He remembered strange sounds coming from the top floor. He remembered the time Mr. McGyver had thrown a handful of black feathers at them as they passed the house.

Finally, Jeffrey and Ben reached the front porch. Their hearts were pounding. The cold wind made their knees bang together and their teeth chatter.

Jeffrey was about to put his foot on the porch step. “It doesn’t look so haunted, does it?” he asked.

Just then they heard something break with a crash inside the house.

“Okay, mission accomplished. We’ve checked the house,” Ben said quickly.

With that, they turned and ran out of the yard. When they were halfway down the block, they turned around to look at the house again.

“See? We did it,” said Jeffrey. “No problem.”

Ben didn’t look like he agreed.

“Well, that’s what I’ve got to do on Halloween,” Jeffrey said. “Except, I guess, I’ll go
into
the house that night.”

Jeffrey and Ben started to walk down the street.

“You mean
we’ll
go into the house,” Ben said.

“We? You’re going with me?” Jeffrey said.

“Have to,” Ben said, smiling. “I mean for scientific purposes. I have to be there to see what you look like when you turn into dead meat!”

That night, Jeffrey was in his room not doing his homework when suddenly Max appeared.

“What’s shaking, Daddy-o?” Max said.

“Hi, Max,” Jeffrey said. “Where’ve you been?”

“Like, I went back to that crazy house,” Max said.

“You mean the McGyver house?” asked Jeffrey.

“Yeah, man. They had a mirror in there about as big as a football field. It was a drag when I tripped and broke it. You should have dug the crash,” Max said.

“I did dig—I mean, I heard the crash,” Jeffrey said. “Ben and I were there today. We both heard it.” He left out the part about being scared of the noise and running away. “But I didn’t know that was you.”

“Nobody else,” Max said with a proud smile. “But no sweatski. I cleaned up the glass.”

“Max,” Jeffrey said seriously, “I’ve got to know. Is that dagger really in the house? And does it have writing on it like you said?”

“Sorry, cat,” Max answered. “The dagger’s
there, but it’s forget-itsville on the writing.”

Jeffrey sat down on his bed. “Oh,” he said disappointedly.

“Yeah,” Max said. “It looked more like blood today.”

Jeffrey’s eyebrows shot up. “Blood? Really?”

“Like the bacon said to the skillet, ‘If I’m lyin’, I’m fryin’.’ ”

Jeffrey stood up and grabbed Max by the shoulders. “Max, I’ve got to get that dagger on Halloween. And you’ve got to help me.”

Max gently lifted Jeffrey’s hands from his shoulders. “Hey, don’t bend the fenders, man. I’ll help you,” he promised. “And, as an extra-added attraction, at no cost, I’ll even help you with your Halloween costume. I know your magic act won’t groove without me.”

“Hey, thanks!” Jeffrey said.

For the next two hours, Max and Jeffrey practiced their magic act together. Jeffrey was the magician, but Max was the magic. He made a stuffed rabbit float out of Jeffrey’s hat. He lifted Jeffrey’s black cape so that it seemed to fly. He made a pitcher of water disappear by invisibly grabbing it away. The living-hand trick was the most amazing of all. When Max wanted to, he could make any part of
his body invisible. Now, all of Max disappeared—except for one hand. It was just like the first time Jeffrey saw Max—
very creepy
.

“This is going to be dynamite,” Jeffrey said when they were done. “No one will believe their eyes.”

“Yeah. It’ll be a surprise a minute, Daddy-o,” Max said with a strange laugh.

Jeffrey looked at the ghost. But before he could ask Max what he meant, Max said, “See you later, alligator.” And then he was gone again.

On Halloween morning, Jeffrey looked at himself in the mirror. But it wasn’t Jeffrey Becker he saw. It was Jeffrey the Mysterioso. It even said that in dazzling sequins on the back of his flowing black cape. Under the cape, Jeffrey the Mysterioso wore a white shirt and black pants. He also had on a black top hat, a magic wand, and a look on his face that said anything might happen.

“Jeffrey, you look like a total groove,” Max said. He sat on the end of Jeffrey’s bed.

“Thanks,” Jeffrey said. “But just promise me one thing. You will show up on time at school today, won’t you?”

“No sweat, Daddy-o,” Max said.

“And you won’t try to mess up my act, will you? I mean, no tricks except the ones we planned. Right?”

“That’s
two
things,” Max said. And with a wink, he faded away.

A little while later, Jeffrey the Mysterioso sat in
Mrs. Merrin’s classroom. The room was filled with ghosts, witches, ballerinas, and animals of all shapes and sizes. Everyone had worn a Halloween costume to class. But as Jeffrey looked around the room, he noticed that the real ghost—Max—was doing his usual disappearing act. Max was not there yet.

“Good morning, class,” Mrs. Merrin said, walking into the room. Jeffrey looked up and saw that his teacher was dressed in a costume, too. She wore an old-fashioned, floor-length, fancy ball gown. Her hair was powdered white and she had lots of curls. She told the class that she was Martha Washington. “Everyone looks super,” said Mrs. Merrin. Then she looked right at Jeffrey. “Jeffrey, I got your note.”

“Note? What note?” Jeffrey asked. “I didn’t write you a note.”

“Your note saying you had a very special magic act to share with us,” Mrs. Merrin said.

Jeffrey’s heart began to pound. Suddenly, he knew who had written the note to Mrs. Merrin.
Max
had written it. And that meant that
Max
had something special planned, too. What was the ghost going to do?

“So,” Mrs. Merrin went on, “I want each person in class to show and tell what is special about his or her costume. And, Jeffrey, you can go first.”

Jeffrey looked around the room quickly. Still no Max.

“I’m not ready,” Jeffrey said, shaking his head. He couldn’t do his act without Max. The tricks wouldn’t work!

Mrs. Merrin gave Jeffrey a funny look but just said, “Jeffrey’s trying to keep us in suspense, as every good magician should.”

So Mrs. Merrin asked Ben to explain his robot costume instead. After that Melissa stood up. She was wearing her pink ballet tutu, ballet slippers, and a stethoscope around her neck. She was a famous ballerina-brain surgeon.

Without looking up, Jeffrey could feel Mrs. Merrin’s eyes on him.

“Good for you, Melissa,” Mrs. Merrin said. “Jeffrey?”

Jeffrey looked around the classroom. Max still wasn’t there.

“I’m, uh, not ready yet,” he said.

“Well, get ready, please,” Mrs. Merrin said firmly. “In the meantime, we’ll move on to Ricky Reyes.”