The Green Ghost Read Online Free Page B

shivering so hard that her teeth chattered.
    Lillian rushed to her sister’s side again. “Oh, Elsa, I’m sorry,” she cried. “We’ll goback. We’ll go back home right now.”
    But Elsa didn’t answer. She didn’t move, either. Lillian lifted her, but she couldn’t get Elsa to stand. Her legs were rubbery.
    If Papa had been here, he could have carried Elsa back easily. Even Mama could carry her. Elsa was short for her age, but she was a chubby little girl. Lillian could lift her, but she couldn’t get far with such a load.
    Lillian considered leaving her and running back home for help. But Elsa looked so tiny lying there. So tiny and so cold. How could she leave her? And what if she couldn’t find her way back to this spot quickly enough?
    So Lillian did the only thing she could think of. She gathered Elsa into her arms. Then she carried her into the shelter of the tree she had been trying to cut. The limbs were thick, so there was little snow near thetrunk. Lillian laid Elsa on the bed of soft pine needles.
    Lillian tucked both coats more closely around her. Then she lay down behind Elsa and pulled her close. She wrapped her own body around Elsa as tightly as she could.
    “It’s all right,” Lillian whispered. “It’s all right. Papa will come.” And she breathed her warm breath into her sister’s neck.
    Elsa cuddled in closer.
    Lillian lay perfectly still, holding her little sister.
    After a time, Elsa quit shivering. Lillian was glad of that. She was so glad she hardly noticed that she was the one shivering now. Later, though, she did notice when her own shivering stopped.
    She must be getting warmer. She
was
getting warmer. She was certain of that. And inthat gathering warmth, Lillian slipped into sleep.

    She dreamed that Papa was coming. She had always known he would come!
    Papa
was
coming. In his arms he carried a woolen cloak as richly green as any pine tree.

Chapter 10

Lots of Room
    “G host!” Kaye cried.
    She banged through the door into the kitchen. Without shedding her coat or boots, she clattered up the stairs. She burst into the bedroom where her parents were sleeping.
    “Ghost!” she cried again. “She’s a ghost! I know it!”
    Her father sat up. His hair poked out in every direction, the way it always did whenhe slept. “What?” he cried. His arm reached to pull her into a tight hug. “Kaye, what’s wrong?”
    “What is it, sweetheart?” Her mother sat up, too, and laid a hand on Kaye’s back. “Did you have a bad dream?”

    “It wasn’t a dream,” Kaye cried. She shook herself free of her parents. “She was real. She was a ghost, and she was real!”
    But her mother wasn’t interested in the ghost. She touched Kaye’s jacket, her cheeks. “Kaye!” she cried. “You’re cold. You’ve been outside!”
    “Is something wrong?” It was Elsa, standing in the doorway to the bedroom.
    “Is she all right?”
    And so Kaye explained about waking to find the girl sitting on her bed, about following her into the woods, about the enormous tree.
    “She wants you to see it,” she said to Elsa. “That’s why she came to me. So I could take you to see the tree.”
    Elsa stood very still, saying nothing.
    “It’s a special tree,” Kaye explained. “It’sa Christmas tree … for you. A really beautiful one.” Kaye didn’t know when she had begun crying again. She swiped at the tears running down her cheeks. Elsa had to believe her. She just had to!
    Kaye could see the adults exchanging looks over her head.
We know this is nonsense
, the looks said.
But she’s upset. Maybe she’ll calm down if we do this thing she wants
.
    “Okay,” her father said very slowly. “Why don’t you show us?”
    Kaye wiped away her tears.
    Before they left, Elsa made hot chocolate for everyone. “To warm your bones,” she said. While they drank it, she whipped up a coffee cake and put it into the oven.
    Then they put on their coats. When they stepped out onto the porch, the sun was