Merry, Merry Ghost Read Online Free PDF

shoulder. “It’s warm in here. I keep this room too hot for a little boy. Let me help you with your coat.”
    He lifted his arms obediently. She folded the thin little corduroy jacket. “Are you hungry?”
    He nodded, his face solemn.
    “Do you like roast beef, Keith?” She looked at Peg. “Will you get him some supper?”

    “And some cocoa and a cookie. I promised.” Peg’s smile was delighted. She turned to hurry from the room.
    Keith lifted rounded fists to rub at his eyes and gave a huge yawn.
    Susan gestured sharply at Gina. “Open the corner bedroom. Put on fresh sheets. Make sure there are plenty of blankets.”
    I drifted around the room, listening to Susan’s soft murmurs as she talked to Keith and looking at the panoply of photographs in a bookcase and atop a dresser. It took only a moment to realize the pictures were primarily of a boy and girl from babyhood to late teens. The dark-haired girl had irregular gamine features and an aura of energy and enthusiasm and good humor. Snapshots showed her making mud pies when she was about six with a missing tooth and a streak of dirt across one cheek. At around ten, bony and thin with sharp elbows and knees, she held aloft a tennis trophy. As a teenager in a décolleté white gown, she smiled up at an older man whose irregular features matched her own. The blond boy was cocky with a square jaw and muscular build. He stood stiff and still with a Webelos salute in his Cub Scout uniform. As a Scout, he dangled from a climbing rope over a sandstone gorge. He pinned an opponent in a wrestling match, caught a pass on a football field, strummed a guitar in a pensive mood.
    Two frames held school pictures, starting with kindergarten. The last photo in the frame inscribed Ellen’s Class Photos showed a girl with a vivid questing glance and effervescent smile. Beneath the photograph was written in now faded ink: Ellen’s junior class picture .
    There was no senior class photograph for Ellen.
    I looked at the boy’s framed class pictures. He was on top of the world in his senior picture, confident, cocky, charismatic.
    Peg returned with a tray holding a sandwich and potato chips, a glass of milk, a sugar cookie with a Santa face, and a Spode pitcher and cup and saucer. Keith sat gingerly in his grandmother’s lap. He managed half a sandwich, drank a portion of the milk, drowsily subsided against her.
    Gina poked her head in the door. “The room’s ready.” She was subdued, still with a faint frown.
    “Thank you, Gina.” Susan lightly brushed back a lock of blond hair. “He’s almost asleep. Peg”—Susan’s face was suddenly worried—“will you stay with him tonight? He’s in a strange place. I don’t want him to wake up and be frightened. If he wakes up…” She paused, struggled for breath.
    Peg took two quick steps to the chair. “I’ll stay with him. Do you need oxygen?” As Peg wheeled a portable tank near, I understood why the fireplace held fake electric logs.
    Susan shakily reached out for the mask and held it to her face. Slowly her breathing eased. The bluish tinge faded from her face. She put aside the mask, sank back against the chair. “I’m tired now.” Her voice was faint. “Tomorrow I’ll read everything.” Her voice was flagging. Susan gathered up the papers, replaced them in the envelope. “Mitch’s little boy…tomorrow…some toys…I’ll talk to Wade…He’ll take the proper steps, make everything official.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Mitch’s little boy…” She twisted to look up at Peg.
    “Take good care of him.”
    CHAP TER THREE
    L ight spilled from a room at the end of the hall as Peg nudged the door wider with her knee. She carried Keith to a twin bed with the sheet turned down. She eased him gently between the sheets, then lifted the cover to untie his sneakers, slip them from his feet. He sighed and turned on one side. Dark lashes fluttered on a pale cheek. He was deep sunk in sleep, the soft and