Ghostsitters Read Online Free PDF Page B

moors. The owners had just moved in, and the first night they were there they got no sleep at all. As soon as they had finished eating dinner all the plates flew off the table, zoomed around the room, and began chasing them. They were terrified. They were chased all around the house by the remains of their dinner for the whole night.”
    Wanda giggled and prodded me. “That’s like you being chased by Nurse Watkins’s parsnip soup,” she said.
    â€œAnd you ,” I told her. “It would chase you too. And it would probably catch you and gloop all over your head because you are so slow.”
    â€œI am not .”
    â€œStop it,” said Mathilda, “or I won’t tell you any more.”
    So we stopped it and Mathilda carried on. “Anyway, the previous owner had thoughtfully left the number of our ghost-removal service and they called us very, very early the next morning.
    â€œMom and Dad arrived and found Ned and Jed. They had a lot of trouble removing them—in fact they had the worst trouble they had ever had. Ned and Jed threw tons of stuff at them and refused to go. Mom and Dad did all the right things that you have to do to get rid of ghosts. They found out who the ghosts were and why they were there, but still they could not get rid of them.”
    â€œSo who were they? Why were theythere?” asked Miss Nosy Bucket.
    â€œAbout a hundred years ago,” said Mathilda, “Ned and Jed were pickpockets. One night they decided to go to the big house on the moor to see what they could find—just for a laugh, they said. They didn’t find much. They got bored and found the kitchen. And then, because actually Ned and Jed never did have enough to eat, they stuffed themselves full of everything they could find. When they could eat no more, they had a food fight with what was left—and then they began to feel really ill. That is the last thing they remember until they woke up as ghosts—or poltergeists. They found out later that the owner of the house collected fungi and they had eaten a whole jar of poisonous toadstools.”
    â€œEurgh!” gasped Wanda. “Toadstools. Yuk. ”
    â€œNot nice,” agreed Mathilda. “Anyway, they decided to stay at the house and have fun throwing things and generally scaring people—and they weren’t about to stop for Mom and Dad either. But they stopped for me .” Mathilda grinned.
    â€œWow,” I said.
    â€œYeah. Mom and Dad called me in. And I removed them.”
    â€œHow?” I asked.
    Mathilda shrugged. “Easy. I just told them that there were much better places to hang out than there and I’d show them some if they wanted. So they came along. The only trouble is”—she sighed—“I can’t get rid of them. They go everywhere with me. They are getting to be a real pain. If I don’t re-home themsoon they will drive me totally bonkers.”
    â€œThey could come here,” I said.
    â€œNo, Araminta, they could not,” said Wanda. “No way .”
    Suddenly there was a loud crash downstairs. We rushed down just in time to see Ned and Jed running out of one of the secret doors in the hall, closely followed by Sir Horace.
    â€œKnaves, scoundrels, and rapscallions!” boomed Sir Horace. “Do not darken my door again, else I shall take my trusty sword to you.” And he aimed some really good swipes at Ned and Jed. But Sir Horace is an old ghost and suits of armor don’t move very fast. Ned and Jed dodged about, laughing.

    â€œOoh, missed!” said Ned—or was it Jed?
    â€œMissed again!” chortled Jed—or was it Ned?
    â€œStop!” yelled Mathilda.
    Ned and Jed stopped and Sir Horace stomped off grumpily. They began to follow him, walking in the stiff-legged way that Sir Horace walks. But I jumped in front of them and said, “If you follow Sir Horace like that you will be sorry.”
    â€œOoh,” they