The Ghostly Mystery

Table of Contents

 

“Someone should stop that ghost,” Eric said. “He’s scaring lots of people.”

The ghost yelled, “Boo!” and waved his arms at a group of teenagers. They yelled, “Boo!” and waved their arms back at him.

Then the ghost held up his arms and ran in circles around a small boy and his mother. When the ghost yelled, “Boo!” the boy grabbed onto his mother and cried.

“Scaring young children is not funny,” Aunt Molly said.

“That’s an evil ghost,” the man in the suit said.

“Hey, you!” a security guard from the back of the line called out. “Stop that!”

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE YOUNG CAM JANSEN SERIES FOR YOUNGER READERS!

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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1996
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 1998, 2005

Text copyright © David A. Adler, 1996

Illustrations copyright © Susanna Natti, 1996
All rights reserved

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-07604-0

 

 

For Alyse,
Samuel,
Hillel,
and Jacob

Chapter One

“Look at him,” Cam Jansen said. She pointed to someone wearing a costume with three horns. “He looks like a triceratops.”

Eric pointed to someone else and said, “And look at her. She looks like Tyranno saurus rex.”

Cam Jansen, her friend Eric Shelton, and Cam’s aunt Molly were waiting in line. They wanted to buy tickets to a Triceratops Pops concert. Triceratops Pops is a singing group. They wear dinosaur costumes when they perform. Sometimes their fans wear costumes, too.

“I went to a concert in London,” Aunt Molly said. “Someone there was dressed in a piano and he played a tuxedo.”

Cam looked at Eric. Then they both looked at Aunt Molly.

Aunt Molly laughed. “Oh, my. I said that wrong. The man was dressed in a tuxedo and he played a piano.”

Aunt Molly thought a moment. “And it wasn’t in London. It was in Paris.”

Cam stepped out of line. She looked at all the people ahead of her. They were all waiting to buy tickets.

“I hope there are still tickets left for us,” Cam said.

The man standing behind Cam smiled and asked, “Excuse me, but isn’t this a long line for a science talk?”

The man was wearing a dark suit and tie. He was carrying a large leather briefcase.

“This isn’t for a science talk,” Eric told the man. “We’re waiting to buy concert tickets.”

“Oh, no,” the man in the suit said. “My children asked me to get them tickets for a talk about dinosaurs.” The man took a piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it. “They asked me to come here and get tickets for a talk about the triceratops.”

“This is a concert hall, and Triceratops Pops is a singing group,” Eric explained. “Some people call them T-Pops. They’re very good.”

A tall teenager standing behind the man said, “The T-Pops singers are into science, too. They are masters of the ‘science of sound. ”’

Aunt Molly pointed to a woman walking by. The woman had green and purple hair.

Aunt Molly whispered, “She looks strange.”

“I think she looks nice,” the tall teenager said.

Cam looked at the woman with the green and purple hair. Cam blinked her eyes and said,
“Click.
She looks interesting. I want to remember her.”

Cam Jansen has a photographic memory. It’s as if she has a mental camera and there are photographs in her head of everything she has seen. Cam says
“Click”
is the sound her mental camera makes when it takes a picture.

Cam’s real name is Jennifer Jansen. But when people found out about her mental camera, they began calling her “The Camera.” Soon “The Camera” was shortened to “Cam.”

Cam closed her eyes. She said,
“Click,”
again.

“We’ve seen lots of interesting people in the city,” Cam said, with her eyes still closed. “Right now I’m looking at a picture I have in my head of a man Eric and I saw. The man was carrying lots of signs. He even had words painted on his clothing.”

“I remember one of the signs,” Eric said. “‘Air is free! Water is free! Food should be free, too!’”

Cam said,
“Click,”
again.

“Now I’m looking at a picture I have in my head of the Bell Woman.”

“She had bell earrings,” Eric told Aunt Molly, “and bells on her necklace and her bracelet, too. When she walked, she jingled.”

Just then a ghost jumped in front of Aunt Molly.

“Eek!”
Aunt Molly screamed. “Oh, my!”

Chapter Two

Cam opened her eyes.

Someone wearing a ghost costume was standing in front of Aunt Molly. The “ghost” was wearing a large white sheet, black gloves, and a scary gray mask. He waved his arms and shouted, “Boo!”

Cam looked at the ghost, blinked her eyes, and said,
“Click.”

Aunt Molly put her hand to her heart. She held on to Eric and said, “Oh, my.”

Eric whispered, “It’s not a real ghost.”

Eric pointed and said, “He’s wearing sneakers. Real ghosts don’t wear sneakers.”

The ghost waved his arms and shouted, “Boo!” again. Then he jumped in front of someone else.

“What a curious thing to do,” the man in the suit said. “This dinosaur singing group seems to attract odd fans.”

“Excuse me,” Cam said, “but I’m not odd.”

“Someone should stop that ghost,” Eric said. “He’s scaring lots of people.”

The ghost yelled, “Boo!” and waved his arms at a group of teenagers. They yelled, “Boo!” and waved their arms back at him.

Then the ghost held up his arms and ran in circles around a small boy and his mother. When the ghost yelled, “Boo!” the boy grabbed onto his mother and cried.

“Scaring young children is not funny,” Aunt Molly said.