Free The Ghost and Mrs. Hobbs by Cynthia DeFelice Page B

that phone call now. Why don’t you go find your brother and tell him that Mrs. Hobbs won’t be coming back here anymore. The poor kid was scared out of his wits this morning.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œTell him lunch will be ready soon.”
    Allie found Michael out in his “fort,” a little shelter he’d made under a plastic table hidden deep within the forsythia bushes in a corner of the yard.
    â€œMike? Can I come in?”
    There was a long silence. Finally, Michael said, “What’s the password?”
    Michael had created an elaborate password system based on the names of the good guys and bad guys in the Galactic Warriors universe.
    â€œHow should I know?”
    â€œGuess.”
    Allie sighed. “Okay. Just give me a hint. Is it a good guy or a bad guy?”
    â€œBad guy.”
    â€œVulture-Breath?”
    â€œWrong.”
    â€œLady Stretcherly?”
    â€œShe’s a
good
guy!”
    Allie had no idea how Michael kept all this stuff straight. There were, it seemed to her, hundreds of characters, and Michael knew everything about each one of them. “Shark-Jaw?” she guessed, trying to hide her impatience.
    â€œThat was yesterday.”
    â€œ
Michael.
Come on. I give up. Let me in.”
    â€œGuess one more time.”
    Exasperated, Allie racked her brain. “All right. Claw Girl?”
    â€œRight.”
    Allie breathed a sigh of relief. She was pretty sure Michael changed the password whenever he felt like it, depending on his mood, but at least he had decided she was going to be allowed into the fort. On all fours she crawled in and sat down.
    â€œHi,” she said.
    Michael stared at her distrustfully from beneath lowered brows. “You said she wouldn’t come here, and she did.”
    â€œI know, Mike. I’m sorry. Believe me, I had no idea she’d do that. Did she really frighten you?”
    Michael nodded.
    Allie was curious. “What did she do that was so scary?”
    â€œShe
looked
at me.”
    Allie waited. “She looked at you?” she repeated.
    â€œYeah,” said Michael with a small sniffle. “And her eyes are scary. Like she has Superman vision. Like she sees inside you.”
    Allie shivered. So Michael felt Mrs. Hobbs’s secret powers, too.
    â€œAnd she looks scary.”
    â€œI know, Mike,” Allie said. “But you don’t have to worry. She’s not going to hurt you.”
    â€œPromise?”
    â€œPromise,” Allie said, trying to sound certain. And why shouldn’t she be? Mrs. Hobbs had done terrible things, yes, but she had no reason to harm Michael.
    Michael sniffled again and asked, “How come she looks like that?”
    â€œI don’t know, Mike,” Allie said. “But Dad says lunch will be ready soon.” She wasn’t about to tell a frightened four-year-old kid what she was sure was true: that Mrs. Hobbs had gotten burned in a fire she had set, a fire that had killed her own husband and child. Allie didn’t want to believe it herself.

Fourteen
    Allie went inside and thought about the odd events of the morning, puzzling over the message from Mrs. Hobbs. Oh, how she longed to talk with Dub! She started to dial his number, then stopped. She reminded herself that Dub was skating with Pam. The traitor! Why was he acting so stupid, especially now?
    He was the only person who knew that Allie saw and heard ghosts, the only person who had all the background information to advise her. Maybe he’d gotten home. She decided to call. To her relief, he answered.
    â€œDub? Hi. It’s me.” She stopped, unsure what to say next. She’d never before felt awkward with Dub. “Uh, I wasn’t sure you’d be back. How was skating?”
    â€œGreat!”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œThe new rink is
awesome
.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œHow’s Pam?”
    â€œShe’s really cool, Al, when you get to