Megan Stine_Jeffery & the Third-Grade Ghost 03 (3 page)

Arvin gave Jeffrey a big wave. “Thanks, Santa. Thanks a lot,” he called from his desk in the corner.

“Thanks for what?” Jeffrey asked.

But Arvin couldn’t answer because just then Mrs. Merrin, their teacher, said, “Jeffrey, come with me.”

“Uh-oh,” Melissa whispered from the desk behind Jeffrey.

Jeffrey got up and slowly followed his teacher to the door.

“Nice to see
you
again,” Mrs. Merrin said. “Help me do an errand. I need to wheel the VCR and monitor down from the office. We’re going to see a movie later.”

When they were out in the hall and halfway to the office, Jeffrey said, “Mrs. Merrin, can we play a little game?”

“Another game, Jeffrey? Yesterday’s Santa Claus game was enough. But what did you have in mind?” His pretty teacher gave him a warm smile.

“Let’s pretend I don’t remember what happened yesterday. You tell me what I did,” Jeffrey said.

Mrs. Merrin stopped walking and leaned her back against the brightly painted hallway lockers. “Well, yesterday at about noon you walked into class dressed as Santa Claus. Red suit, pillow belly—the whole thing. You had so much cotton on your face, I could hardly recognize you.”

“How did you know it was me?” Jeffrey asked.

“Who else would be sitting at your desk?”

I’ll bet I can guess, Jeffrey thought to himself. “What else did I do?” he asked. “I honestly don’t remember.”

Mrs. Merrin’s eyes twinkled. “Well, you asked everyone in the class what they wanted for Christmas. You wrote it all down, but you didn’t ask me.”

Jeffrey was curious. “What do you want?”

“What I really want is a top-of-the-line mixer,” Mrs. Merrin answered. “It has a big bowl and all kinds of attachments.” She laughed and bit her lower
lip at the same time. “And my husband doesn’t seem to be getting the hints I leave. Anyway, no more Santa Claus act, okay? Once is enough.”

Jeffrey wanted to say okay. But the truth was, it was out of his hands. Who knew what Max would do next? Max was out of control.

At lunch in the cafeteria, Jeffrey looked for Ben. He wanted the whole story of Max’s Santa stunt. Suddenly, he saw someone else. It was Arvin Pubbler. And he was carrying Jeffrey’s remote-control racing car!

“What are you doing with my car?” Jeffrey yelled. He tried to grab the car out of Arvin’s hands.

But Arvin held on tight. He looked at Melissa, who was sitting nearby. “Can you believe this guy? Pretending like he didn’t give me his car.”

“I
didn’t
give it to you,” Jeffrey said. “I had to earn the money for that car myself. Why would I give it away?”

“Because you were really Santa Claus yesterday,” Arvin said. “You asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said a remote-control racing car. So you just reached into your desk and gave me yours.” Arvin looked at Jeffrey’s car and smiled. “No one has ever done anything like that for me, ever. Especially you, Jeffrey. I’ll never forget it. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Yes you can,” Jeffrey grumbled, but he knew he couldn’t take back the car. Arvin looked too happy.

“Hey, cheer up, Jeffrey,” Melissa said. “You taught everyone a lesson about the Christmas spirit yesterday. And even though we can’t ever believe a word you say, because you make up so many stories, I want you to know you’re a wonderful human being.”

“Oh, go sit on your hairbrush, Melissa,” Jeffrey snapped. He stormed away angrily.

Jeffrey didn’t want to teach anyone a lesson about the Christmas spirit. But he did want to teach Max a lesson. Max—the ghost who thought it was a
big laugh to give away
his
twenty-dollar remote-control racing car!

Max finally showed up on the way home from school. “Ho ho ho, Daddy-o,” Max said.

“Ha ha ha, you mean,” Jeffrey said angrily. “I guess you think you’re a real funny ghost.”

“Like, why are you so bent out of shape?” Max asked. “Too many pretzels at lunch today?”

“I’ll tell you why I’m mad,” Jeffrey said. “You lied to me. You said you were going to school yesterday. You didn’t say that you were going as Santa.”

“Like, I thought I’d give the class a thrill,” Max said with a smile.

“You gave them more than a thrill,” Jeffrey yelled. “You gave away my remote-control racing car!”

“So? That’s the Santa scene, dig? Someone asks for a toy and Santa comes through.”

“Santa doesn’t come through by giving away
my
stuff,” Jeffrey said. “I thought you were my friend.”

“No sweat,” Max said with a snap of his fingers. “Just ask Santa for another car.”

“Oh, sure,” Jeffrey said. “Maybe it’s that easy for Arvin Pubbler. But I had to earn the money for that car. Max, why don’t you just stop messing up my life, dig?”

“What I dig is that you are so square that your hat has corners,” Max said.

“Oh, why don’t you drop—”

Jeffrey stopped himself from saying the last angry word. But he knew by the look on Max’s face that it was too late. He had already hurt Max’s feelings.

“Drop dead? You don’t have to worry about that, Daddy-o,” Max said quietly. “I’m a ghost, remember? That’s already been taken care of.”

And then the ghost disappeared.

And this time Jeffrey knew he was gone for good.

Jeffrey stood in the snow for a moment without moving. He didn’t know what to feel. And worse, he didn’t know what to do. Jeffrey hadn’t meant to hurt Max’s feelings. But what the ghost had done wasn’t right, either.

So Jeffrey walked home alone. He went inside and headed for his room. He didn’t even notice that his father was home early. Mr. Becker was in the living room helping Mrs. Becker. They were trying to untangle strings of outdoor Christmas lights.

“Hi, guy,” his father called. “Bad day at the office?”

“The worst,” Jeffrey said.

“Well, good things are happening here,” Mr. Becker said. “Want to help put up the lights?”

Jeffrey shook his head.

“I have good news,” said his mother. “Someone is coming to see you.”

“Max?” Jeffrey blurted out.

“Max? Who’s Max?” asked Mr. Becker.

Mrs. Becker shrugged. “No, it’s your cousins. Your aunt and uncle were called out of town on an important business trip. So Wendy and Jonathan are coming to spend the holidays with us.”

“Are you kidding? How could you do this to me?” Jeffrey exploded. “Don’t you know I hate them? Last time Jonathan was here, he mangled my bike trying to do a wheelie! And Wendy is so spoiled. She threw out my pet lizard last time just because she said it watched her every time she came into the room.”

“Jeffrey, maybe you need a lesson about the Christmas spirit,” his mother said.

Jeffrey rolled his eyes. He had heard enough about the Christmas spirit already today.

“I’m at an impressionable age, Mom,” Jeffrey said. “Don’t let them come. If I have a bad shock to my system right now, I might grow up to be someone who makes fake rubber vomit for a living.”

“Wendy and Jonathan will be here this weekend,” Mrs. Becker said firmly.

“This weekend?” Jeffrey said. “That’s only two days. It doesn’t give me much time.”

“Time for what?” asked his father.

“Time to find someplace else to live!” Jeffrey said. He put his coat back on and ran out of the house.

First Jeffrey headed toward Melissa’s house. Melissa! Good old, dependable, next-door-neighbor buddy, Melissa, he thought. Wait! Jeffrey stopped in his tracks. Melissa couldn’t help him. She was spending the holidays at her grandmother’s house.

How about Kenny? Good old, dependable—forget it. Kenny was going to Florida for two weeks. Forget Ricky Reyes, too. His father was an airline pilot. He was taking the whole family to Hawaii.

Then Jeffrey thought of Ben. Good old, dependable, best-friend buddy, Ben!
There
was someone Jeffrey could count on. Someone who would understand Jeffrey’s problem. And, most important, someone who had a big house with plenty of room to hide in.

Jeffrey found Ben in the kitchen tying up a large plastic garbage bag. Taking out the garbage was Ben’s job. He hated it.

“Ben, how would you like an early Christmas present?” Jeffrey said. “You know how you always say you wish you had an older brother? Well, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“You’re giving me a human being for Christmas? That’s kind of gross, isn’t it, Jeffrey?” Ben asked.

“Not just any human being,” Jeffrey said. “The
perfect
human being. He qualifies as an older
brother, but he’s only seven weeks older than you. He’d be more like a best friend.”

“Are we talking about someone specific?” Ben asked.

“Yes,” said Jeffrey. “
Me!
On a special, risk-free, two-week trial basis, I’ll be your older brother. I’ll take out the garbage for you. I’ll always be good and set an example for your little brother and sister. And I’ll take the blame for everything. At the end of Christmas vacation, if things aren’t working out, I’ll go home. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like your cousins, Wendy and Jonathan, are coming for a visit,” Ben said.

“How did you know?” Jeffrey asked.

“I just called your house looking for you,” Ben said, smiling. “Your mom told me.”

“Ben, you’ve got to let me stay here during Christmas vacation,” Jeffrey pleaded.

“Sounds great to me,” Ben said. “But it’s up to my mom and dad. You’ll have to talk them into it. My dad won’t be home from the office until dinner.”

Jeffrey looked at the clock. “That gives me exactly one hour and twenty minutes to think up a good story,” he said.

“Knowing you, that’s plenty of time,” Ben told him.

Jeffrey stayed for dinner so that he could talk to
Ben’s parents. As soon as the meal started, he stared at his plate and tried to look sad.

“Jeffrey, you’re not eating much,” said Mrs. Hyde.

“I guess I’m thinking about my mom,” Jeffrey said quietly.

“She has malaria,” Ben whispered gravely.

“I thought you only got malaria in jungles,” said Mr. Hyde.

“My mom’s been eating a lot of bananas lately. Bananas grow in jungles,” Jeffrey explained. “I came home after school today and there was a big sign on my door. It said ‘Guaranteed.’ ”

“He means quarantined,” Ben said.

“Right,” Jeffrey quickly agreed. “Quarantined. And there was a policeman at the door who told me what it meant. I can’t go in until my mom gets well.”

“Malaria, huh,” Mr. Hyde said. He shook his head solemnly. “That’s a tough break, especially so close to Christmas. Your family sure has had a streak of bad luck, Jeffrey. I remember last spring when those killer bees kidnapped your parents.”

“Fortunately, it was just a case of mistaken identity. They let my mom and dad go as soon as they realized they weren’t famous movie actors,” Jeffrey said. “But you were really great to let me stay here
then, Mr. Hyde,” he added politely. He hoped Mr. Hyde would get the hint.

“What do you think?” Ben said. “Can Jeffrey stay here?”

“Just until my mother is out of quarantine?” Jeffrey asked.

Ben’s parents looked at each other and smiled.

“Jeffrey, we’d like to help you out,” said Mr. Hyde. “But we decided this morning to take the family on a skiing vacation. We’re leaving tomorrow after school.”

“That’s okay. I love to ski!” Jeffrey said. “I’m secretly in training for the Olympics. I haven’t even told my parents yet.”

“That’s terrific,” said Mr. Hyde. “But if you came with us, you’d miss your two cousins who are coming to stay with you.”

Jeffrey’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know about that?” he asked.

“We called your parents to see if you could stay for dinner,” explained Mrs. Hyde. “They told us.”

“You mean my mom doesn’t have malaria?” Jeffrey said, pretending to be surprised. “I guess I really fell for their joke that time, huh? My parents sure have a great imagination, don’t they?”

“With you around, they’d have to,” said Mr. Hyde with a laugh.

Jeffrey walked home glumly that night. When he got to his front yard, he saw the snow fort. It was mostly melted. And someone had chopped away at the remains, leaving only crumbled ice.

Some holiday this is going to be, Jeffrey thought. Just three days ago it had seemed like it would be the best Christmas ever. But that was before the big fight with Max. Now Max was gone—and the rest of Jeffrey’s friends were leaving soon.