Free Dog Whisperer by Nicholas Edwards Page B

wow. Her father really couldn’t see him. And the man had been startled that she and Zack could see him.
    Whoa.
    Double whoa.
    Maybe even triple whoa.
    She stared down at the rocks, trying to absorb all of this. Even though it was a clear and sunny afternoon, the man suddenly seemed to be surrounded by a small cloud of grey mist—and then, he disappeared!
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Emily?” her father asked, sounding very concerned. “You look as though you just saw a ghost.”
    She had a terrible, sinking sensation that that was exactly what had happened.
    It made no sense at all, but she and Zack had apparently just had a conversation—with a real live ghost!

 
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    â€œAre you all right, Emily?” her grandmother asked.
    â€œYeah, I—” Emily shook her head to clear it. “Yes, I’m fine.” She was tempted to say, Hey, I just saw a ghost! But, it probably wouldn’t go over very well. She looked down at Zack, who seemed cheerful and relaxed, as though he saw ghosts every day and didn’t think it was at all unusual.
    Whoa, was it possible that he did see ghosts every day, and she had just never known about it? If that was true, she still didn’t want to know about it.
    â€œHey, here they come!” someone yelled.
    Everyone else moved over to the west side of the bridge, to see the contestants in the Women’s Open category paddling furiously towards the bridge. Emily picked out her mother right away—the daisy decals on her helmet were a dead giveaway—and saw that she was fighting for first place with two other kayakers.
    â€œCome on, Mom!” Emily yelled. “You can do it!”
    She had no idea whether her mother could hear her, but as the kayaks approached the bridge, they all ran to the other side to wait for them to reappear. And when they did, her mother was in the lead!
    They all clapped and cheered and yelled encouragement as her mother’s kayak sliced swiftly through the water, heading for the finish line.
    It was the first time her mother had ever won the annual championship, and it was very exciting to watch her receive her blue ribbon and trophy. She had beaten some really good athletes, including a few women who competed in things like marathons and triathlons regularly. Her father took a bunch of rapid-fire photographs, and her grandfather captured everything on the little video camera.
    Her mother smiled at her. “What do you think?” she asked, handing over the trophy so that Emily could hold it.
    â€œThat was great ,” Emily said. “ You were great!”
    It was fun to hold a trophy—a real trophy. When Emily had been in the Tiny Tots swimming class, everyone got a trophy, and the same thing happened in her soccer league. It didn’t feel as special when a trophy was that easy to get. But, her mother had earned this one, by working hard and practicing a lot, and that made it really neat.
    They went out for a celebration dinner, and then drove down to the airport so that her grandparents could catch the nine-fifteen flight back to New York.
    It had been a great weekend!
    *   *   *
    It wasn’t until Emily had gone to bed, and the lights were out, that she had time to think about the other thing that had happened. It had happened, right? Thinking back, it was easy to wonder whether she had been imagining things, or whether her father just hadn’t been looking in the right place, or whether the mist which had appeared to swallow the elderly man up was only a gust of unexpected fog.
    Could it be possible that ghosts were real ?! Well, okay, she was never going to be able to close her eyes and go to sleep again. They were supposed to be imaginary—not standing right there next to you, having a conversation, like it was totally normal.
    Not that she was nervous, but since she sometimes had nightmares, her door was always left open a crack at night, so that she