A Good Night for Ghosts (9 page)

Jack and Annie were wearing their own clothes again. Rain tapped gently against the roof of the tree house. A cool breeze blew through the window.

“We have to get home before Mom and Dad wake up,” said Annie.

“Right,” said Jack. He pulled
A History of New Orleans Music
out of his backpack and left it on the floor.

Annie put the trumpet beside it. Then they headed down the rope ladder. They pulled up their rain hoods. As they tramped in their boots through the wet autumn woods, they were both quiet.

Finally Annie said, “I feel good.”

“I feel good, too,” said Jack. “We accomplished our mission.”

“But I feel other things, too,” said Annie. “I feel mad that Dipper couldn’t sit on the streetcar with us.”

“Me too,” said Jack. “And it wasn’t just in New
Orleans. A long time ago, they had laws like that in lots of places.”

“Unbelievable,” said Annie.

“Yeah,” said Jack.

“And I feel scared when I think of those spiders in their webs,” said Annie.

“Oh, they didn’t bother anybody,” said Jack. “But I still feel scared when I think of ghosts.”

“Actually, they didn’t bother anybody, either,” said Annie.

“True,” said Jack. “And neither did that bat.”

Annie laughed. “That’s true, too,” she said. “I feel sad when I think we’ll never see Dipper again.”

“We can listen to his music,” said Jack.

“Yeah… and I guess the music all around us will always make us think of him,” said Annie. “Like right now Dipper would hear the music of the rain.”

“Tappity-tap-tap,”
said Jack.

“And the music of our feet scrunching over the dead leaves—” said Annie.

“Scrunchity-scrunch-scrunch,” said Jack.

“Patti-pat-pat!”
sang Annie.

“Skid-dat-de-dat!”
sang Jack.

“Skid-dat-de-doh!”
sang Annie.

“Go, Mama! Go!” shouted Jack.

And the two of them ran out of the Frog Creek woods and up their street, heading for home.

• The city of New Orleans is nestled on the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana. The historic city is a blend of many cultures. Its architecture, food, and music were greatly influenced by a mix of French, Spanish, African, German, and Irish settlers.
  

• In 2005, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms in American history. Much of the city became flooded, and over 1,000 people lost their lives. The city is still rebuilding after the devastating storm.
  

• New Orleans is famous for being the birthplace
  of jazz music. Jazz bands play in clubs and march frequently in street parades.
  

• The most famous parade of the year happens on Mardi Gras in late winter. On this day many thou sands of tourists and townspeople participate in parties and processions.
  

• Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August 1901 and died in Queens, New York, in July 1971.
  

• His friends and family called him Dipper because he had a fondness as a child for a song called “Dippermouth Blues.”
  

• All the chapter titles in this book are the titles of songs Louis Armstrong recorded early in his career.
  

• A year before he died, Armstrong told a reporter, “I think I had a beautiful life. I didn’t wish for anything that I couldn’t get and I got pretty near everything I wanted because I worked for it.”
  ^∗
  

• In Louis Armstrong’s
  New York Times
  obituary published on July 18, 1971, his friend and fellow musician Dizzy Gillespie wrote: “Louis is not dead, for his music is and will remain in the hearts and minds of countless millions of the world’s peoples, and in the playing of hundreds of thousands of musicians who have come under his influence. The King is dead. Long live the King.”
  

Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #43
(A Merlin Mission)
Leprechaun in Late Winter

Available now!

Excerpt copyright ©
2010
by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

CHAPTER ONE

I
t was a chilly afternoon in late winter. Annie was doing her homework on the computer in the living room. Jack sat on the couch and stared at a blank page in his small notebook. He heaved a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” said Annie.

“I have to write a story for school,” said Jack, “and I’m stuck.”

“Well, you’d better get unstuck,” said Annie. “Mom and Dad said we have to get our homework done before we go to the theater with them tonight.”

“I know,” said Jack. “But I can’t think of anything to write about.”

“Why don’t you do what you love to do?” said Annie. “Go outside and write down some facts about what you see. Then turn them into a story.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea,” said Jack. “Thanks.” He jumped up and grabbed his coat from the hall closet. Then, taking his pencil and notebook with him, he headed outdoors.

The early March weather was sunny but cold and windy. Jack looked around. Then he wrote down some facts in his notebook:

Jack looked up again. Treetops swayed in the March winds. Jack started to write about them. But when he looked down at his notebook, he nearly dropped his pencil. On the page were two large, fancy letters:

“Oh, man!” whispered Jack. He dashed back in the house and into the living room. “Annie! Look!” Jack held up his notebook. “Look at
this
!”

Annie stared at the page. “Old snow … sun sparkling … Nice.…”

“No, not that!” said Jack. “The letters!”

Annie looked at Jack like he was a little crazy. “Uh … what letters?” she said.

Jack looked back at the page. “They’re gone!” he said. “A big, fancy T and K!”

“T and K?” said Annie.

“Yes! For Teddy and Kathleen!” said Jack. “The letters just appeared on the page when I was outside! They were there! Really!”

“I believe you,” said Annie. She jumped up from the computer. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, I have to get my backpack from upstairs,” said Jack.

“Forget it! Come on! The tree house must be waiting for us!” said Annie.

“Okay, okay,” said Jack. He quickly shoved his
notebook and pencil into a pocket of his coat.

Annie grabbed her jacket. “Mom! Dad! We’re going to take a little break from our homework!” she called.

“Okay, but make it short! We have to leave for the theater by seven!” their dad called from the kitchen.

“We will!” said Jack.

Jack and Annie headed outside. They ran over the melting snow in their front yard and up the sun-sparkling sidewalk. They charged across the street and into the Frog Creek woods. They hurried between the windblown trees until they came to the tallest oak.

High in the branches was the magic tree house. Their friends from Camelot, Teddy and Kathleen, were looking out the window.

“Hello!” called Kathleen.

“Hi!” shouted Annie, waving.

“Good trick with the magic letters!” Jack called.

“We thought you’d like that!” said Teddy. “I just learned how to do it!”

Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed her. They climbed into the tree house and hugged the young enchanters.

“So what’s up today?” asked Jack.

“Where does Merlin want us to go now?” asked Annie.

“Merlin wants you to go to Galway, Ireland,” said Kathleen.

“Ireland? Cool!” said Annie.

“Morgan sent us to Ireland once before—to the ninth century,” said Jack.

“Yes. Well, this time you will go to Ireland in the
nineteenth
century,” said Teddy. “To 1862, to be exact. Your mission is to find an imaginative and creative girl named Augusta.”

“Augusta doesn’t know yet what her talents are,” said Kathleen. “She lives in a time when it is not easy for girls to explore their creativity. Your mission will be to inspire her, so she can give her gifts to the world.”

“What does that word mean exactly?” asked Annie.
“Inspire?”

“’tis a beautiful word,” said Kathleen, her sea-blue eyes shining. “It means to breathe life into a person’s heart, to make her feel joyful to be alive.”

“That
is
beautiful,” said Annie.

“You may need some magic to help you,” said Teddy. From the corner of the tree house, he picked up the magic trumpet that had helped them on their last journey. “Only this time …”

Teddy handed the trumpet to Kathleen. She held the shiny brass instrument for a moment. Then she tossed it into the air. The trumpet spun like a whirlwind. There was a flash of blue light—and the trumpet was gone! In its place was a thin silver pipe with six holes.

“What’s that?” breathed Jack.

“An Irish whistle,” said Kathleen. She plucked the instrument from the air. “When you face great danger, one of you must play it. It will make magical music. And anything the other one sings will come true.”

“But remember,” said Teddy, “its magic will work only once.”