Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards by Susan Tan

Author:Susan Tan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

* * *

Inside Nathaniel’s closet, where you’d expect clothes to be hanging, were books.

I mean wall-to-wall shelves of books.

“Is this every ghost book ever published?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “Trust me, I have a HUGE wish list.”

He pulled out the books he thought would help the most.

“Where did you get these? Weren’t they expensive?” It felt a little rude to ask, but seriously—some of these books were enormous and fancy, like bound-in-hardcover-with-gold-writing-on-the-titles fancy.

“My Zayde used to give me Hanukkah money every year,” Nathaniel said, nodding toward a photo that I hadn’t noticed on his desk. “And he used to give us money for every straight-A report card.”

“Wow, that’s nice,” I said, walking over to look at the photo. Nathaniel’s Zayde was wearing a white lab coat in the photo and was standing next to a young man who I realized, with a start, was Nathaniel’s dad, but muuuuch younger (and with hair).

“Yeah,” Nathaniel said, and it took me a moment to realize he sounded kind of sad. “He died last summer.”

“Oh, Nathaniel,” I said, putting the photo down. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, it’s okay,” Nathaniel said. “He was sick, so it wasn’t a surprise, but…” He looked at his feet.

“Well, I just wish that he’d been around for all this, you know? For Maudie, and everything we’re finding out. He was a doctor, just like his dad, and my dad. He was … kind of intense. He always talked about how you needed a job that would always be useful. And well, last year I wasn’t doing that well in school, and he told me I had to do better and make him proud.”

Nathaniel paused. Sadness seemed to seep through him, like in that one moment, his whole body was showing me what his words couldn’t.

“And I was just in a bad mood that day and I got mad, because I’m not like my brothers and sisters, and I’m not as good at science and math and school as they are. So I just walked out. And I didn’t realize just how sick he was—the next time I saw him, he was in the hospital, and he couldn’t really talk…” He trailed off, but then took a deep breath and looked at me resolutely.

“That’s why this is so important,” he said. “I WILL make a difference. I’ll prove that ghosts are real, once and for all. I’ll make him proud, just like he wanted me to.”

“It sounds like he loved you a lot, Nathaniel,” I said gently, hoping that it was the right thing to say. “I don’t think you had to prove anything to him.”

Nathaniel shrugged.

“Thanks,” he said. He sniffled. “Well, anyway. I used my Hanukkah money from him to buy ghost books, so there’s a lot we can look through…”

He was changing the subject, which I knew something about.

And I thought there was probably a lot more we should talk about. But he didn’t want to, and I also know something about that.

So I followed Nathaniel’s lead, grabbed a book, and got to work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.