Free Ghost at the Drive-In Movie by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

have a nephew. You’ll meet him soon.” When he laughed his face turned red, as if he had just been running. “And I got the nickname Uncle Flick because I own the Diamond Drive-in Theater—as you see, I live right next door to it! And I love to show ‘flicks,’ which is another word for—”
    “Movies!” said Benny.
    “Will we see one tonight?” Jessie asked.
    “You’ll see two, ” said Uncle Flick. “We have double features every night starting just after sundown. Tonight we’re showing Island of the Horses and The Pirate Spy. ”
    “Pirate Spy?” said Henry. “I can’t wait!”
    “Neither can I,” said Violet. She’d been hoping to see Island of the Horses with Jessie at the Greenfield Mall.
    “Now we just have to wait until the sun goes down,” said Benny, looking up at the afternoon sky. “Hurry up, sun!”
    By the time the Aldens had unpacked, the sun was much lower in the sky. The children stood on the porch of the Fletcher house and looked across at the drive-in theater. A few cars were already parked in the lot beneath the screen. The theater was now open for business!
    “Flick’s already at work,” said Grandfather. “Let’s find a spot to park the car and watch the movie. We can bring Watch with us.”
    They got back in the minivan and Grandfather drove slowly up and down the aisles of the car lot. Since it was still early there were plenty of spaces open. But the children wanted to make sure they had a good view of the movie screen.

    Jessie felt the best spot would be in the front row. But Henry thought that was too close.
    Violet giggled. “It’s just like when we go to the movies at home!” she said.
    They finally picked a spot near the middle of the fourth row. Grandfather parked the car right next to one of the odd-looking posts that stood alongside each parking space.
    “What are those things for?” Jessie asked. There were metal boxes hanging on the posts. They looked like old-fashioned radios, and they were connected to the posts by long, thick cords.
    “They’re speakers from the old days,” said Grandfather. “They’re so you could hear the movie from inside the car.” He rolled down the window. He took the speaker off the post and brought it inside. It had a special hook which he used to hang on the car door.
    “Gosh,” said Benny. “You mean you had to listen to the whole movie through that little box?”
    “James Alden!” a voice called from outside. “You’re not going to make your grandchildren listen to the whole movie through that old thing, are you?” Uncle Flick had driven up in a golf cart. He got out and walked over to Grandfather’s window. “These days you can listen through your car stereo. You just tune in to a special station.”
    “Do the old speakers still work?” Henry asked.
    “Sure! And some people still love using them. Don’t know why, because they sound a bit crackly,” Uncle Flick answered. “You’d really be roughing it.”
    “We’ve roughed it before!” said Benny. “When we lived in the boxcar.”
    After their parents died, Benny, Henry, Violet, and Jessie had run away instead of going to live with their grandfather. They had never met him, and they had heard he was mean, so they escaped to the woods. There they’d found an old boxcar, which they’d made their home. They found their dog, Watch, in the woods, too. When Grandfather found them at last they learned he wasn’t mean at all, and they soon became a family again. As for the boxcar, Grandfather had it moved to the backyard of their home in Greenfield so they could use it as a clubhouse.
    “I’ve heard you’ve had a lot of excitement in your lives already,” Uncle Flick said. “I know a golf cart ride isn’t terribly exciting, but would you like to take a tour? We have more than an hour before the movie starts.”
    Grandfather nodded at the children. “Go on. I’ll stay here with Watch.”
    The children were getting seated in the golf cart when a