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Description
Ghost
By Joe Douglas

There was a ghost at the foot of Hannah's bed.

It had woken her up as it scuffled and shuffled through her things; a pile of discarded clothes on the floor, a stack of CDs, books and other odds and ends. "Excuse me," said Hannah, "who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

The ghost turned to look at her. It had two round, black eyes that floated and wobbled in its otherwise featureless face. It didn't have a body as such; it looked more like a living shadow, if 'living' is a word that can be attributed to a ghost.
"I'm a ghost, ya silly," it answered, "and I's lookin' for me idea. I's lost it somewhere abouts an' it be importants so I's wants it back." It turned back to the schoolbook it was ripping pages out of.

"Well, you don't have to make such a mess of my room," scolded Hannah.

"It was a mess 'for I gots to it," snapped the ghost without turning around.

Hannah hmmphed and sat in her bed for a moment. Then she had a thought. "What if I help you look for your idea? With two people the search would be easier and we'd find it quicker."

The ghost’s eyes bobbled. "Ah, yous pinky, fleshy types are nothin' but trouble. Still, I's gotta present my idea at the annual Ghost Inventors’ Curiosities and Wonders Show so I needs to find it quick. All right then, but no funny human stuff."

Hannah hopped out of bed and pulled on some socks so her feet wouldn't get cold. It was never a nice night once your feet got cold. "What's an idea look like?" she asked.

"Don't you know nothin'?" cried the ghost. "It looks like an idea, you know, all wibbly wobbly that flashes with every alternate wobble."

"Oh," said Hannah, as if she understood perfectly. "Where was the last place you remember having it?"

"Where do ideas usually stay? In ones head. Cor, ya not too bright is ye? It musta fallen out somewheres. That's the problem with having an intangible body, things is always slipping out."

"Well, where were you when you first noticed it was gone?"

"In t' lounge room watching Tales from the Crypt. I already looked there though."

"Hmmm." Hannah thought again. The house was a big place (but then most houses are big when you are six) so it could be anywhere. Hannah remembered that her favorite toy rabbit always preferred getting lost under a pile of clothes in the laundry. She suggested this as a place to look.

Hannah crept out of her room, down the hallway, through the kitchen, outside onto the porch and then into the adjoining laundry. The ghost bobbed along after her a few feet off the ground mumbling something about getting a hat to hold its ideas in. Inside the laundry there was no pile of clothes on the floor or in the clothes basket. Hannah opened the clothes washer and peered in. Nothing in there either apart from her favorite toy rabbit who was wondering where all the clothes had gone.

"Well, so much fer that idea, lass," grumbled the ghost.

"We'll just have to look somewhere else then," replied Hannah.

She sat on the cold stone floor of the laundry and pondered. If I were a ghost, she thought, where would I put an idea? She tried to remember all the ghosts she'd seen in films and read about in books and comics. She couldn't recall any of those ghosts ever having lost an idea though. Then she had another thought: whenever her dad lost things he always ended up finding them in the shed in the garden. Hannah suggested this to the ghost who agreed it would be a good place to lose things, and so they both made their way from the laundry down the porch steps and into the garden.

Hannah had only been in the garden at night once before. It was a very different place at night. Everything shimmered in the blue-white light of the moon and looked ethereal and unreal. She knew that creatures lived in the garden at night that went elsewhere during the day. Pixies and fairies of course, but also wraiths and ashens who, it is said, are quite polite although they can be tricksters. Sometimes, late at night when she couldn't sleep, Hannah would watch them dance and play Monopoly from her bedroom window. She was sure the ghost knew all of them on a personal basis.

They reached the garden shed, which was never locked, and Hannah pulled the door open. It slid easily over the damp grass. The shed was only small, just enough room for a few gardening tools and her father's ride-on lawnmower. It smelled of grass and potting mix and something not quite right.
"You look over there," said Hannah to the ghost, pointing to a rather icky looking corner. "I'll check here."

The two began their search again. Hannah had to shift several plant pots and a box of tools so she could look thoroughly for the ghost’s idea. The ghost had to contend with the lawnmower but being a ghost he was able to simply pass his eyes through it to peer at what lay on the other side. Hannah wished she could pass her head through things. Being intangible would come in handy, she thought.
After a while Hannah said she didn't think the idea was in the shed after all. The ghost agreed. "Where should wes be a-lookin' now, do ye think?" it asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm out of ideas."

They both sat in silence for a little while trying to think of somewhere else to look. Then, all of a sudden, the ghost’s eyes bobbled. They grew bigger and it let out a "By Jove, I thinks I’s gots it!" and flew through the shed wall.

Racing after the ghost Hannah strained to see where it went. It is hard to spot a grey ghost against a dark blue sky but she managed. The ghost flew around to the other side of the house, the opposite side to where Hannah's bedroom was. Between two trees that had grown between the side of the house and the fence in such a way that they crossed over each others trunks to form an organic X, was suspended a spider's web. In the middle of the spider web was a small table and on that table was a wibbly wobbly ball that flashed with every alternate wobble.

"I jus’ remembered," exclaimed the ghost. "I was a-talking to old Fredrick here and we got to discussin' what we was gonna put in the Ghost Inventors’ Curiosities and Wonders Show and I tooks out me idea ta show him. We both got exited about it and preceded ta gets very drunk on spirits to celebrate. I must 'ave fallen out of the tree and forgots ‘bout leavin' its here."

"That, my dear fellow, is because you are a drunk," came a voice.

Hannah looked up and saw a spider lowering itself down on a thread from one of the higher branches. It wore an elegant top hat and a silk vest. He was a very stylish spider.

"This here be Fredrick, lass," announced the ghost.

"Pleased to meet you. I’m Hannah," said Hannah.

"Charmed," said Fredrick, bowing.

"Thanks fer yer help, lass," said the ghost, turning his wobbly eyes to Hannah.

"You’re welcome."

"Fredrick, my lad. What's we gots ta offer the girl in way o' thanks?"

Fredrick scuttled up into the higher branches again. There was a rattling sound and he came back down with three white cakes.

"These are Herioc cakes, my dear," explained Fredrick, turning to Hannah. "You eat one and you laugh until you pass out. They are frightfully good."

"Always trust you to 'ave the hard stuff," scoffed the ghost.

"Thank you," said Hannah as she took one of the cakes.

The three munched their cakes and marveled at the beauty of the night. All at once Hannah burst out with a giggle that became a laugh, that then became a howl.

"Oh, she’s begun already," said Fredrick.

"Tis her first time. Always hits em on their first time," replied the ghost. They both looked at each other and laughed.

The trio laughed until their sides hurt and they felt they couldn't breathe. They fell in a heap on the ground, apart from the ghost who just hovered in the air, and slept.

***

Hannah woke with the sun shining in her eyes. She stood up and brushed grass and dirt from her nightdress. Looking around she whispered “Mr. Ghost? Mr. Frederik?” There was no reply.

Realizing that it must almost be time for her parents to wake (it was Saturday now, and Hannah’s parents always slept in on a Saturday,) Hannah quickly and quietly made the journey back around the corner of the house, up the porch steps, through the kitchen, down the hallway and into her bedroom. She climbed into her bed, pulled the blankets up under her chin and wondered where the ghost and the spider had disappeared to. She thought it was rather rude they didn’t say goodbye, especially considering she helped the ghost find his idea. She shifted her weight, rolling over onto her side to get comfy, and felt a lump under her pillow. Curious, she lifted the pillow up to see what it was, revealing a very small wooden box with strange squiggles carved into it. On the box’s lid was attached a note, and this is what it said:

“Dear Miss Hannah,
Is must thank you again for all your helps this night with searching’ for me idea. ‘Tis true that I’s a forgetful chap but I’s reckons without your ‘elp I’d ‘ave never remembered where’s I left its. So, in thanks, I’s present you with the first prototype of me idea. Just holds it to your eye and you’ll see wonders. This I promise.
Regards,
Reginald. G. Fishcake, Esquire (Ghost)”

Putting the note aside Hannah carefully opened the box lid. Inside was a small, round piece of glass, its edges trimmed with gold. Hannah noticed that a very small handle protruded from some side of the gold edging, barely big enough for her to hold between her thumb and forefinger. Carefully, very, very carefully Hannah lifted the glass from the box to examine it. Looking at it reminded her of the one-lens glasses that men used to wear in olden times. She had seen pictures of them in books at school, “monocles” she thought they were called. As the morning sun shone through the glass it glinted purple and blue.

Squinting one eye closed, Hannah held the ghost’s monocle to the other eye and peered through. Through the monocle the world looked different. Everything was in shades of purples and blues, and in other places reds and yellows. All the architecture was wobbly as if it had been built by someone who couldn’t quite see properly. But the best thing? The best thing was that through the monocle, going about their daily business in this wobbly world, Hannah could see pixies and fairies and wraiths and ashens. She could see a world that no other six year old girl has ever seen before. And it was all thanks to a grey ghost with bobbley eyes and an idea he had lost and found again.

END

Description
Ghost
By Joe Douglas

There was a ghost at the foot of Hannah's bed.

It had woken her up as it scuffled and shuffled through her things; a pile of discarded clothes on the floor, a stack of CDs, books and other odds and ends. "Excuse me," said Hannah, "who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

The ghost turned to look at her. It had two round, black eyes that floated and wobbled in its otherwise featureless face. It didn't have a body as such; it looked more like a living shadow, if 'living' is a word that can be attributed to a ghost.
"I'm a ghost, ya silly," it answered, "and I's lookin' for me idea. I's lost it somewhere abouts an' it be importants so I's wants it back." It turned back to the schoolbook it was ripping pages out of.

"Well, you don't have to make such a mess of my room," scolded Hannah.

"It was a mess 'for I gots to it," snapped the ghost without turning around.

Hannah hmmphed and sat in her bed for a moment. Then she had a thought. "What if I help you look for your idea? With two people the search would be easier and we'd find it quicker."

The ghost’s eyes bobbled. "Ah, yous pinky, fleshy types are nothin' but trouble. Still, I's gotta present my idea at the annual Ghost Inventors’ Curiosities and Wonders Show so I needs to find it quick. All right then, but no funny human stuff."

Hannah hopped out of bed and pulled on some socks so her feet wouldn't get cold. It was never a nice night once your feet got cold. "What's an idea look like?" she asked.

"Don't you know nothin'?" cried the ghost. "It looks like an idea, you know, all wibbly wobbly that flashes with every alternate wobble."

"Oh," said Hannah, as if she understood perfectly. "Where was the last place you remember having it?"

"Where do ideas usually stay? In ones head. Cor, ya not too bright is ye? It musta fallen out somewheres. That's the problem with having an intangible body, things is always slipping out."

"Well, where were you when you first noticed it was gone?"

"In t' lounge room watching Tales from the Crypt. I already looked there though."

"Hmmm." Hannah thought again. The house was a big place (but then most houses are big when you are six) so it could be anywhere. Hannah remembered that her favorite toy rabbit always preferred getting lost under a pile of clothes in the laundry. She suggested this as a place to look.

Hannah crept out of her room, down the hallway, through the kitchen, outside onto the porch and then into the adjoining laundry. The ghost bobbed along after her a few feet off the ground mumbling something about getting a hat to hold its ideas in. Inside the laundry there was no pile of clothes on the floor or in the clothes basket. Hannah opened the clothes washer and peered in. Nothing in there either apart from her favorite toy rabbit who was wondering where all the clothes had gone.

"Well, so much fer that idea, lass," grumbled the ghost.

"We'll just have to look somewhere else then," replied Hannah.

She sat on the cold stone floor of the laundry and pondered. If I were a ghost, she thought, where would I put an idea? She tried to remember all the ghosts she'd seen in films and read about in books and comics. She couldn't recall any of those ghosts ever having lost an idea though. Then she had another thought: whenever her dad lost things he always ended up finding them in the shed in the garden. Hannah suggested this to the ghost who agreed it would be a good place to lose things, and so they both made their way from the laundry down the porch steps and into the garden.

Hannah had only been in the garden at night once before. It was a very different place at night. Everything shimmered in the blue-white light of the moon and looked ethereal and unreal. She knew that creatures lived in the garden at night that went elsewhere during the day. Pixies and fairies of course, but also wraiths and ashens who, it is said, are quite polite although they can be tricksters. Sometimes, late at night when she couldn't sleep, Hannah would watch them dance and play Monopoly from her bedroom window. She was sure the ghost knew all of them on a personal basis.

They reached the garden shed, which was never locked, and Hannah pulled the door open. It slid easily over the damp grass. The shed was only small, just enough room for a few gardening tools and her father's ride-on lawnmower. It smelled of grass and potting mix and something not quite right.
"You look over there," said Hannah to the ghost, pointing to a rather icky looking corner. "I'll check here."

The two began their search again. Hannah had to shift several plant pots and a box of tools so she could look thoroughly for the ghost’s idea. The ghost had to contend with the lawnmower but being a ghost he was able to simply pass his eyes through it to peer at what lay on the other side. Hannah wished she could pass her head through things. Being intangible would come in handy, she thought.
After a while Hannah said she didn't think the idea was in the shed after all. The ghost agreed. "Where should wes be a-lookin' now, do ye think?" it asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm out of ideas."

They both sat in silence for a little while trying to think of somewhere else to look. Then, all of a sudden, the ghost’s eyes bobbled. They grew bigger and it let out a "By Jove, I thinks I’s gots it!" and flew through the shed wall.

Racing after the ghost Hannah strained to see where it went. It is hard to spot a grey ghost against a dark blue sky but she managed. The ghost flew around to the other side of the house, the opposite side to where Hannah's bedroom was. Between two trees that had grown between the side of the house and the fence in such a way that they crossed over each others trunks to form an organic X, was suspended a spider's web. In the middle of the spider web was a small table and on that table was a wibbly wobbly ball that flashed with every alternate wobble.

"I jus’ remembered," exclaimed the ghost. "I was a-talking to old Fredrick here and we got to discussin' what we was gonna put in the Ghost Inventors’ Curiosities and Wonders Show and I tooks out me idea ta show him. We both got exited about it and preceded ta gets very drunk on spirits to celebrate. I must 'ave fallen out of the tree and forgots ‘bout leavin' its here."

"That, my dear fellow, is because you are a drunk," came a voice.

Hannah looked up and saw a spider lowering itself down on a thread from one of the higher branches. It wore an elegant top hat and a silk vest. He was a very stylish spider.

"This here be Fredrick, lass," announced the ghost.

"Pleased to meet you. I’m Hannah," said Hannah.

"Charmed," said Fredrick, bowing.

"Thanks fer yer help, lass," said the ghost, turning his wobbly eyes to Hannah.

"You’re welcome."

"Fredrick, my lad. What's we gots ta offer the girl in way o' thanks?"

Fredrick scuttled up into the higher branches again. There was a rattling sound and he came back down with three white cakes.

"These are Herioc cakes, my dear," explained Fredrick, turning to Hannah. "You eat one and you laugh until you pass out. They are frightfully good."

"Always trust you to 'ave the hard stuff," scoffed the ghost.

"Thank you," said Hannah as she took one of the cakes.

The three munched their cakes and marveled at the beauty of the night. All at once Hannah burst out with a giggle that became a laugh, that then became a howl.

"Oh, she’s begun already," said Fredrick.

"Tis her first time. Always hits em on their first time," replied the ghost. They both looked at each other and laughed.

The trio laughed until their sides hurt and they felt they couldn't breathe. They fell in a heap on the ground, apart from the ghost who just hovered in the air, and slept.

***

Hannah woke with the sun shining in her eyes. She stood up and brushed grass and dirt from her nightdress. Looking around she whispered “Mr. Ghost? Mr. Frederik?” There was no reply.

Realizing that it must almost be time for her parents to wake (it was Saturday now, and Hannah’s parents always slept in on a Saturday,) Hannah quickly and quietly made the journey back around the corner of the house, up the porch steps, through the kitchen, down the hallway and into her bedroom. She climbed into her bed, pulled the blankets up under her chin and wondered where the ghost and the spider had disappeared to. She thought it was rather rude they didn’t say goodbye, especially considering she helped the ghost find his idea. She shifted her weight, rolling over onto her side to get comfy, and felt a lump under her pillow. Curious, she lifted the pillow up to see what it was, revealing a very small wooden box with strange squiggles carved into it. On the box’s lid was attached a note, and this is what it said:

“Dear Miss Hannah,
Is must thank you again for all your helps this night with searching’ for me idea. ‘Tis true that I’s a forgetful chap but I’s reckons without your ‘elp I’d ‘ave never remembered where’s I left its. So, in thanks, I’s present you with the first prototype of me idea. Just holds it to your eye and you’ll see wonders. This I promise.
Regards,
Reginald. G. Fishcake, Esquire (Ghost)”

Putting the note aside Hannah carefully opened the box lid. Inside was a small, round piece of glass, its edges trimmed with gold. Hannah noticed that a very small handle protruded from some side of the gold edging, barely big enough for her to hold between her thumb and forefinger. Carefully, very, very carefully Hannah lifted the glass from the box to examine it. Looking at it reminded her of the one-lens glasses that men used to wear in olden times. She had seen pictures of them in books at school, “monocles” she thought they were called. As the morning sun shone through the glass it glinted purple and blue.

Squinting one eye closed, Hannah held the ghost’s monocle to the other eye and peered through. Through the monocle the world looked different. Everything was in shades of purples and blues, and in other places reds and yellows. All the architecture was wobbly as if it had been built by someone who couldn’t quite see properly. But the best thing? The best thing was that through the monocle, going about their daily business in this wobbly world, Hannah could see pixies and fairies and wraiths and ashens. She could see a world that no other six year old girl has ever seen before. And it was all thanks to a grey ghost with bobbley eyes and an idea he had lost and found again.

END