Pippi Longstocking
Page 8
When they had played this game for a while and Annika's dress was no longer her next-best dress but her next-next-next-best one, and Tommy had become as black as a chimney sweep, they decided to think up something else.
"Suppose we go up in the attic and visit the ghosts," suggested Pippi.
Annika gasped. "A-a-are there really ghosts in the attic?" she asked.
"Are there ghosts? Millions!" said Pippi. "It's just swarming with all sorts of ghosts and spirits. You trip over them whenever you walk. Shall we go up?"
"Oh, Pippi!" said Annika and looked reproachfully at her.
"Mamma says there aren't any such things as ghosts and goblins," said Tommy boldly.
"And well she might," said Pippi, "because there aren't any anywhere else. All the ghosts in the world live in my attic. And it doesn't pay to try to make them move. But they aren't dangerous. They just pinch you in the arm so you get black and blue, and they howl, and they play ninepins with their heads."
"Do-do-do they really play n-n-ninepins with their heads?"
"Sure, that's just what they do," said Pippi. "Come on, let's go up and talk with them. I'm good at playing n-n-ninepins."
Tommy didn't want to show that he was frightened, and in a way he really did want to see a ghost. That would be something to tell the boys at school! Besides, he consoled himself with the thought that the ghosts probably wouldn't dare to hurt Pippi. He decided to go along. Poor Annika didn't want to go under any circumstances, but then she happened to think that a
Pippl Celebrates Her Birthday113little tiny ghost might sneak downstairs while she wassitting alone in the kitchen. That decided the matter.Better to be with Pippi and Tommy among thousandsof ghosts than alone in the kitchen with even the tiniestlittle ghost child.
Pippi went first. She opened the door to the attic stairs. It was pitch-dark there. Tommy took a firm grip on Pippi, and Annika took an even firmer grip on Tommy, and so they went up. The stairs creaked and squeaked with every step. Tommy began to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to stay down in the kitchen, and Annika didn't need to wonder-she was sure of it. At last they came to the top of the stairs and stood in the attic. It was pitch-dark there too, except where a little moonbeam shone on the floor. There were sighs and mysterious noises in every corner when the wind blew in through the cracks.
"Hi, all you ghosts!" shrieked Pippi.
But if there was any ghost there he certainly didn't answer.
"Well, I might have known," said Pippi, "they've gone to a council meeting of the Ghost and Goblin Society."
Annika sighed with relief and hoped that the meeting would last a long time. But just then an awful sound came from one of the corners of the attic.
"Whoo-ooo-ooo!" it said, and a moment later Tommy saw something come rushing toward him in the dim-
ness. He felt it brush his forehead and saw something
disappear through a little window that stood open.
He shrieked to high heaven, "A ghost! A ghost!"
And Annika shrieked with him.
"That poor thing will be late for the meeting," said Pippi. "If it was a ghost. And not an owl. For that matter, there aren't any ghosts," she continued after a while. "If anybody insists that there are ghosts, 111 tweak him in the nose."
"Yes, but you said so yourself," said Annika.
"Is that so? Did I?" said Pippi. "Well, then I'll certainly tweak my own nose."
And she took a firm grip on her nose and tweaked it.
After that Tommy and Annika felt a little calmer. In fact they were now so courageous that they ventured to go up to the window and look out over the garden. Big dark clouds sailed through the sky and did their best to hide the moon. And the wind sighed in the trees.
Tommy and Annika turned around. But then-oh, horrors-they saw a white figure coming toward them.
"A ghost!" shrieked Tommy wildly.
Annika was so scared she couldn't even shriek. The ghost came nearer and nearer. Tommy and Annika hugged each other and shut their eyes.
But then they heard the ghost say, "Look what I found! Papa's nightshirt in an old sea chest over here. If I hem it up around the bottom I can wear it."
Pippi Celebrates Her Birthday115
Pippi came up to them with the nightshirt dangling around her legs.
"Oh, Pippi, I could have died of fright," said Annika.
"But nightshirts aren't dangerous," Pippi assured her. "They don't bite anybody except in self-defense."
Pippi now decided to examine the sea chest thoroughly. She lifted it up and carried it over to the window and opened the cover, so that what little moonlight there was fell on the contents of the chest. There were a great many old clothes, which she threw out on the attic floor. There were a telescope, a few books, three pistols, a sword, and a bag of goldpieces.
"Tiddelipom and piddeliday," said Pippi contentedly.
"It's so exciting!" said Tommy.
Pippi gathered everything in the nightshirt, and down they went into the kitchen again. Annika was perfectly satisfied to leave the attic.
"Never let children handle firearms," said Pippi and took a pistol in each hand and prepared to fire. "Otherwise some accident can easily happen," she said, shooting off both pistols at once. "That was a good bang," she announced and looked up at the ceiling. The bullets had made two holes.
"Who knows?" she said hopefully. "Perhaps the bullets have gone right through the ceiling and hit some ghosts in the legs. That will teach them to think twice before they set out to scare any innocent little children again. Because even if there aren't any ghosts, they
don't need to go round scaring folks out of their wits, I
should think. Would you each like a pistol?" she asked.
Tommy was enchanted, and Annika also very much wanted a pistol, provided it wasn't loaded.
"Now we can organize a robber band if we want to," said Pippi. She held the telescope up to her eyes. "With this I can almost see the fleas in South America, I think," she continued. "And it'll be good to have if we do organize a robber band."
Just then there was a knock at the door. It was Tommy's and Annika's father, who had come to take them home. It was long past their bedtime, he said. Tommy and Annika hurried to say thank you, bid Pippi good-by, and collect all their belongings: the flute, the brooch, and the pistols.
Pippi followed her guests out to the porch and watched them disappear through the garden. They turned around to wave. The light from inside shone on her. There she stood with her stiff red braids, dressed in her father's nightshirt which billowed around her feet. In one hand she held a pistol and in the other the sword. She saluted with it.
When Tommy and Annika and their father reached the gate they heard her calling. They stopped to listen. The wind whistled through the trees so that they could just barely hear what she said.
she
"I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up, cried. "Are you?"