Dave rubbed his eyes and stared at Mom. “Are you . . . ?” He couldn’t finish his sentence, either.
“Dave?” Finn said, squeezing in between his mom and his friend. “This is my mom, Elise, and my brother Kaz.”
“Elise?” Dave said. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “You’re all grown up!”
“So are you!” Mom said.
Finn’s friend Dave was their Uncle Dave! They were the same person.
Amazing, Kaz thought as he watched his mom and Uncle Dave hug each other.
Finally, Mom pulled away. “You’re bald!” She laughed.
“Not completely,” Dave said. He felt the short curls above his ear and at the nape of his neck. “Hey, where’s my cap?” He looked all around.
“Where did you even get that cap, anyway?” Conrad asked. “It was ugly!”
“It was not,” Dave protested. “It was a Minnesota Twins cap. A Minnesota Twins cap is never ugly. I found it years ago. In the lost and found in there.” He pointed at the movie theater. “It used to be solid, but I transformed it.”
“You can transform stuff?” Kaz cried out.
“Yes,” Dave said, looking at Kaz for the first time.
“So can I!” Kaz said. “I’m the only one in the whole family who can!”
“Yeah, but you still can’t glow,” Finn muttered.
Dave puffed up his chest. “You must get your transformation skill from me,” he said proudly.
Kaz’s mom touched Dave’s bald head. He swatted her hand away. “I sure wish I knew what happened to my cap,” he said. “It fell off when I was inside that mailbox. When I tried to put it back on, it kept falling over my eyes. So I just held it in my hand. I must’ve dropped it when you took my hands, Elise.”
“Did you shrink when you were in the mailbox?” Kaz asked. He’d never seen Uncle Dave full-size, so he didn’t know how big he was.
“A little,” Dave replied.
“That’s probably why your cap kept falling over your eyes. It didn’t fit after you shrank,” Kaz explained. “You can’t shrink or expand something that’s been transformed. You know that, right?”
“Uh . . . ,” Uncle Dave said. “I’m not sure I did know that. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to shrink or expand something I transformed before.” He gazed sadly at the mailbox. “How will I ever get my cap back? If I can’t shrink it, I can’t bring it inside this bottle.”
Conrad snorted. “Just leave it, dude.”
“Claire can come back with a big box sometime,” Little John suggested. “One that’s big enough to hold your cap.”
“Who’s Claire?” Dave asked.
The other ghosts pointed at Claire outside the bottle. She waved at Dave. Gabriel stood silently beside her.
Dave gasped. He pointed at Gabriel. “Th-that’s the guy who blew me out of the movie theater!” he told the other ghosts.
“We know,” Conrad and Finn said together.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Mom said, patting her brother on the arm.
“A lot.” Kaz nodded in agreement. Where would they even begin?
“I don’t want to go to the library with you guys,” Conrad said as Claire and Gabriel moved away from the mailbox. “I’d rather stay here in case Jessie comes back. Would you please take me inside the movie theater?”
“Sure,” Claire said, checking the time on her phone. “Do you want me to take you all the way in or can I just put my bottle up against the window so you can pass through?”
“The window will be fine,” Conrad said.
“George will be happy to see you,” Finn said. “He was really scared when we were here before.”
“Last we saw, he was in the men’s room,” Kaz said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t let the solid people see or hear you for a while,” Mom told Conrad. “You don’t want them to call someone else to come and blow you away.”
“I’ll lay low,” Conrad said. “Thanks for the ride home!” He passed through Claire’s water bottle and waved good-bye.
Then Claire and Gabriel took the other ghosts back to the library. Pops, Little John, Cosmo, and Beckett were waiting for them in the entryway.
“Well?” Pops said as soon as Claire shut the door. The ghosts passed through Claire’s water bottle.
“Look! There’s a new ghost with them!” Little John exclaimed.
“Woof! Woof!” Cosmo barked. He sniffed Uncle Dave all over.
“I’d like you all to meet my brother, Dave,” Mom said cheerfully.
“Pleasure,” Pops said, shaking Dave’s hand.
“Hooray! We have a new uncle!” Little John said, throwing his arms around Dave’s middle.
Beckett hung back.
Dave squinted at him. “Beckett? Is that you, old buddy? You got old!”
“You too,” Beckett said. “D-do you still think of me as your friend?”
“Of course,” Dave said. He wafted over and squeezed Beckett’s shoulders. “What happened all those years ago was an accident. I don’t hold any grudges.”
“Thanks, old buddy,” Beckett said as he hugged Dave in return.
If Uncle Dave didn’t hold any grudges, maybe Mom, Grandmom, and Grandpop could forgive Beckett, too. Maybe they could all be friends.
“We’ll have to take you to see Mom and Dad,” Mom said to Uncle Dave. She meant Grandmom and Grandpop.
“Tomorrow,” said Claire as she led Gabriel toward the stairs. “It’s past dinnertime and Gabriel and I are starving!”
“Hmph,” Beckett said. “Solids. Always wanting to eat something.”
“Wait, solid girl!” Dave called after her.
Claire turned. “Do not call me solid girl,” she warned.
“Call her Claire,” Kaz said.
“Okay.” Dave cleared his throat. “Claire, if we’re going out again tomorrow, would you kindly take me back to that mailbox inside a larger box so I may retrieve my cap?”
“Yes,” Claire said. “As long as you call me Claire and not solid girl.”
“Maybe we can also find out whether Jessie came back to the movie theater,” Little John said.
“And then maybe you can all come back to my house and Kaz can make my fan solid again,” Gabriel said. “You said you could do that, right?”
The ghosts looked at one another.
Finn winked at Kaz, then turned to Gabriel. “Actually, I’m the one who told you that,” he said. “But I think I was mistaken. I don’t think Kaz knows how to make your fan solid again. He has lots of trouble with his ghost skills.”
“Lots of trouble,” Little John added.
“Your fan may have to stay ghostly forever,” Kaz said with a shrug. “Sorry.”
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The Ghosts at the Movie Theater Page 5