A Good Night for Ghosts (7 page)

T
under shook the night. The wind howled. The pirate ghost floated down the stairs.

“The ghost of Jean Lafitte!” whispered Annie.

The ghost pointed a bony finger at Happy. “NOT AFRAID OF GHOSTS?” his voice boomed again. He pointed at Big Nose Sidney. “NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT? HAH-HAH-HAH!”

“AHHHHHHH!” everyone shrieked again. They all scrambled out of the back room to the front room. They pushed on the front door together. But the door still wouldn’t open.

“SCURVY DOGS! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME!” the ghost of Jean Lafitte shouted.

The pirate ghost floated to the center of the room and stopped. He rested his hands on his hips, threw back his head, and laughed again. “YOU’RE TRAPPED NOW!” Jean Lafitte roared. “TRAPPED HERE FOREVER!”

To Jack’s horror, more ghost pirates began gliding through the walls into the room. One at a time they came: a pirate with a gold earring, another with a pistol, one with a head scarf, another with an eye patch, one with a saber, another with a bushy beard, one with a thin mustache, another with a sack, one with a striped shirt, another with a peg leg.

Finally ten ghost pirates circled the room!

From the center of the circle, Jean Lafitte let out another peal of mean laughter. “HAH-HAH-HAH!”

The pirate crew snorted, snarled, and growled, “YARRR! ARGHH! ARRL!”

Suddenly Jack started singing:

“Jack!” said Annie. “What are you doing?”

“Play Annie! Play!” squeaked Jack.

“I can’t!” said Annie. “We used up the magic! It’s just an ordinary trumpet now!”

“Here, give it to me!” said Dipper.

Annie handed Dipper the trumpet.

Dipper put the trumpet to his lips. He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, and then he blew. The air vibrated with a single warm note. Then Dipper’s fingers danced over the trumpet’s valves. A lively, swinging tune filled the blacksmith shop.

Jean Lafitte stopped laughing his mean laugh. He held up his hands for his crew to be silent. As Dipper played, crooked smiles crossed the pirates’ faces.

Dipper’s joyful music drowned out the noise of the storm outside. Annie snatched two rungs from a broken chair. She used them as drumsticks, tapping them against a wooden bucket. Jack grabbed two more rungs and did the same.

Dipper paused long enough to yell to his trio, “Hey, boys! Sing the Heebie-Jeebie song!”

“We don’t know it!” said Little Mack.

“Make somethin’ up!” called Dipper.

As Dipper played the trumpet, Little Mack sang:

Then Happy sang:

Then Big Nose Sidney sang:

As the trio sang, the ghost of Jean Lafitte started to dance. He shook his head and clapped his hands. He waved his arms through the air. He turned in a circle. “Go, Mama, go!” he shouted.

Lafitte’s crew began dancing like their captain. All the ghost pirates moved in a circle, shaking their heads and waving their hands. Some floated off the floor, turning this way and that.

Little Mack sang:

“Hey, hey, hey!” all the pirates shouted. “Hey, hey, hey!”

Dipper played the trumpet. Jack and Annie drummed on the bucket. The trio sang. The floor shook. The windows rattled. And all the pirates stomped and shook, doing the Heebie-Jeebie dance.

“SWING THAT MUSIC!” shouted Jean Lafitte’s ghost.

“YARR!” the pirates all shouted. “YARR! YARR!”

The front door suddenly banged open.

“GO, MAMA! GO, PAPA! GO! GO! GO!” shouted the ghost of Jean Lafitte. He danced out of the shop, and his pirate crew followed, one by one.

As the ghosts all danced out of the shop, Dipper kept playing. The trio kept singing, and Jack and Annie kept drumming.

“MY CREW AND I SURE ENJOYED YOUR VISIT!” the pirate ghost captain shouted back to Dipper and the others. “BE SURE TO COME BACK! SAME TIME NEXT YEAR!”

The ghost of Jean Lafitte turned and waved his arms in the air again. “COME ON, BOYS! PAPA’S DOIN’ THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES DANCE!” Then, doing the Heebie-Jeebies dance,
all
the pirate ghosts danced away into the dark New Orleans night.

D
ipper stopped playing. The three boys stopped singing. Jack and Annie stopped drumming.

There was silence. They all crept to the open doorway and stepped outside. The rain had stopped, and the wind had died down. The air felt clean and cool. Stars shone overhead. The pirate ghosts were gone.

“Whoa, that was something!” said Little Mack. “What just happened?”

“Was it a dream?” asked Big Nose Sidney. “Were those ghosts real?”

“I don’t know,” said Dipper. “But I’ll tell you this: you’ll never,
ever
get me back in that shop again.”

Everyone laughed. Even Happy looked happy. “Hey, Dipper, how’d you get so good on that horn?” he asked, grinning.

“I practiced for two years at the Waif’s Home,” said Dipper. “That’s how.”

“You got to blow that horn while we sing!” said Big Nose Sidney. “Come with us now! We really do have an important gig tonight on a riverboat!”

“A riverboat?” Jack and Annie said together. They looked at each other. Their research book said that Louis Armstrong developed his musical talents performing on riverboats!

“That’s right,” said Little Mack.

“Oh, wow, Dipper, you have to go with them!” said Annie.

“Yeah, man!” said Jack.

But Dipper just shook his head. “Sorry, folks, but I can’t play tonight. I have to get up early in the morning to haul coal.”

“Aww, Dipper,” said Little Mack.

“Aww, Dipper,” said Jack.

“Don’t y’all worry about me,” said Dipper. “Have a good time on the boat, fellas. Hang on to that smile, Happy.”

“I’ll try,” said Happy.

“See you later,” said Big Nose Sidney.

“So long to y’all, too,” Little Mack said to Jack and Annie.

“Bye,” said Jack.

“Good luck on your gig,” said Annie. The three boys waved and took off.

Dipper looked after them for a long moment. Then he turned to Jack and Annie.

“Here’s your horn back,” he said. “Thanks for letting me play it.” He handed the trumpet to Annie.

“Do you want to keep it?” she said.

“No, thanks. I have my own horn back at my house, a cornet they gave me at the Waif’s Home,” said Dipper. “Someday when I’m grown, maybe I’ll bring it out again.”

“I think you should have gone with the fellas,
Dipper,” said Jack, “to share your musical gifts—”

“I know, I know,” said Dipper, “to share my musical gifts with the world.” He shook his head as if he were shaking off the thought. Then he beamed a big smile at Jack and Annie. “Hey! Weren’t we talking about dessert a little while back? That’s a gig I can get behind and still get some sleep. Come on!”

As Dipper led Jack and Annie down the rain-slicked street, the wet sidewalks glistened like silver. Life had returned to the French Quarter. Horses and mules splashed through puddles. Streetlamps burned brightly outside dance halls and restaurants. Waiters carried tables and chairs back outside.

When Dipper, Jack, and Annie came to Jackson Square, they found kids playing music again. A band was playing a song Jack knew: “When the Saints Go Marching In.” A few people in costumes were wandering about.

Dipper led Jack and Annie to the back door of
the River Café. “The cook here is a friend of mine. So don’t worry about the waiters,” he said with a wink. “Be back in a minute.” He slipped into the café kitchen.

As Jack and Annie waited for Dipper, they could hear the jazzy music coming from the square:

“Teddy was right. I love New Orleans,” said Annie.

“Me too,” said Jack. “But how are we ever going to accomplish our mission for Merlin? Dipper seems like he’s never going to change his mind about making music.”

“I know,” said Annie. “In fact, I was just thinking that we might have to do something really drastic.”

“What’s that?” said Jack.

“Show him our research book,” said Annie.

“Whoa!” said Jack. “Do you really think—”

Before Jack could finish, Dipper came back outside. “Mmm-mmm! Talk about something good!” he said. He clutched a greasy napkin filled with freshly made doughnuts. “Follow me.”

As Jack and Annie followed Dipper to the river, Jack’s mind was racing.
Should
they show Dipper the research book? It would prove they’d come from the future. What would Dipper say? What would he think?
It’s too weird
, Jack thought.

“Let’s just try talking to him first,” Jack whispered to Annie. She nodded.

Dipper led them to a bench near the water. Jack and Annie sat on the wet wood on either side of him. Dipper unwrapped the doughnuts and handed one to Jack and one to Annie and kept one for himself.

“Careful,” Dipper said. “The sugar will get all over y’all.”

Jack lifted the warm, sticky doughnut to his mouth and took a big bite. Powdered sugar, flour,
butter, vanilla—all melted in his mouth. It was mighty good.

Nobody talked while they ate their doughnuts. When they were finished, they all wiped their sticky fingers on their shirts and pants. By now, Jack’s clothes were soaked with rainwater, coal dust, kitchen grease, sweat, and grime.
A little powdered sugar and butter won’t make a bit of difference
, he thought.

“So, Dipper,” said Annie. “You know you’re a really great musician, don’t you?”

Dipper smiled at her.

“Actually, you’re a creative genius,” added Jack.

Dipper laughed out loud. “And y’all know who
you
are, don’t you?”

“Yup, the biggest potato heads you ever met,” finished Jack.

“But
this
time we’re
right,”
said Annie.

“Nope, sorry,” said Dipper. “I’m definitely no genius. The truth is I never got past elementary
school. I don’t even know how to read music.”

“But don’t you love to
play
music?” said Annie.

“Yeah, sure, I do. Somehow I’ve got music in my bones,” said Dipper. “Sad to say,
all
I really ever want to do is blow my horn.”

“Then why don’t you?” said Jack. He felt desperate. Even without their mission for Merlin, it seemed incredibly sad that Dipper had turned his back on his music.

“Yeah, why don’t you go play on the riverboat with the fellas?” said Annie. “It wouldn’t hurt you to miss a few hours’ sleep.”

Dipper took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “When I was twelve years old, I got too rowdy one time,” he said. “It was New Year’s Eve. I was singing with the fellas, and I got carried away and fired off a gun… just into the air. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. But I got caught and I got sentenced to two years in the Waif’s Home. I just got out a little while ago. I feel really bad for letting my family down like that. So right now, all I want
to do is help them by keeping a steady job.”