Name Read and Comprehend Literature

A Ghost Story
Celia lived in a haunted house, but it wasn’t a scary haunted house. It was full of friendly and fun‐
loving ghosts. There was only one problem. Celia’s parents could see the ghosts too, but they wouldn’t
admit it to Celia, and they had forbidden any of the ghosts to talk to her. Celia’s parents had raised her
not to believe in ghosts. They were teased growing up for their own ability to see them, and they
wanted their daughter to have a normal life. So even though Celia had tried to talk to her parents about
the ghosts, and especially about Buzz, who was her best friend, they refused to admit that they could
see Buzz and the others, and they steadfastly maintained that the ghosts weren’t real.
But this didn’t stop Celia and Buzz from being friends. And Celia had another friend named Jeremy
who could see Buzz too. One day Buzz had followed Celia to school. When she had stood up in front of
the class to give a report, Buzz had stood up at the front of the class with her and done a silly dance the
whole time she was speaking. Celia had barely been able to keep a straight face, and Jeremy hadn’t
been able to keep a straight face at all. He had covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking he
had been laughing so hard. Celia had talked to Jeremy after school that day for the first time, and they’d
been inseparable ever since.
One day after school, Jeremy took Celia to the old abandoned house on Quaker Street so that
Jeremy could introduce her to his ghost friend, Larry. Larry tried to shake Celia’s hand, but his hand
passed right through hers. Celia and Larry empathized with Larry’s transparency, and Larry
commiserated with them about parents who made their lives too complicated by pretending to be what
they were not, and by trying to be and do what they thought other people expected them to. Soon it
began to get dark.
“We’d better go,” Jeremy said.
They said goodbye to Larry and started home. But they didn’t make it all the way out of the house.
As they were crossing the old, covered wooden front porch, the boards gave in beneath them and they
fell down under the porch and were trapped.
“Help! Help!” Celia called.
But no one heard them. There were no neighbors. The house was at the very end of the dirt road
that was at the very end of Quaker Street, so the nearest neighbors were half a mile away.
“What are we going to do?” Celia said.
“I’ll call Larry!”
Larry appeared, and Jeremy told him his plan. “Go get Celia’s ghost friend Buzz. Buzz can go to our
parents and they’ll come to help us.”
“Can your parents see ghosts too?” Celia asked.
“I’m really not sure,” Jeremy said. “But I guess we are going to find
out!”
Larry did as Jeremy asked. Buzz was anxious to help. He went to
Jeremy’s house first, but Jeremy’s parents really couldn’t see him. Buzz
wasn’t even able to materialize. There was no softening of the space in
the room for him to slip through. It was like he was on the other side
of an invisible wall. He went to Celia’s house. Here the air felt familiar.
It was squishy, and he could pop into the human world whenever he
felt like it. He joined Celia’s parents in the kitchen. They were grumpy.
“I don’t see why every ghost in the neighborhood has to
congregate here,” Celia’s father said when he saw Buzz. Buzz told
them what had happened.

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Name Read and Comprehend Literature

“This is just a trick,” Celia’s father said. “She’s testing us again. She’s trying to get us to admit that
we can see Buzz.”
“Maybe we should give up then,” Celia’s mother says wearily. “I can’t keep this up. The lying is
making me sick.”
Buzz goes back and tells Celia and Jeremy that he spoke to Celia’s parents but they didn’t believe
him.
“But they saw you?” Celia asked.
“Yes!” Buzz says. “They saw me!”
Another hour went by and Celia didn’t come home for dinner. Her parents began to get frightened.
“Do you think it’s true?” her mother asked. “Do you really think the kids are in trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Celia’s father said. “But we need to go and find out.”
They hurried to the abandoned house on Quaker Street that Buzz had told them about. There, they
found the children―scraped and bruised, but none the worse for wear―underneath the decrepit old
porch.
“If you had been normal parents, or continued to pretend you were, then no one would have saved
us,” Celia told them.
“Yeah,” Jeremy said. “We could have starved.”
“We’re sorry,” Celia’s parents said. “We just want you to have the best, and easiest, life possible.”
“My life with Buzz is the best life,” Celia said. “For one thing, Buzz probably saved my life!”
“Then we’re even,” Buzz said. “Because you’ve saved my afterlife from being lonely!”

Answer the questions below to show that you have understood the story.

1. The following characters are ghosts:

a) Celia and Jeremy b) Jeremy and Buzz c) Buzz and Larry

2. The fundamental problem in this story is:

a) Celia and Jeremy fall into the porch and are trapped
b) Celia’s parents don’t believe Buzz
c) Celia’s parents are not being honest with Celia
d) Celia’s parents cannot see ghosts

3. Celia and Jeremy became friends when:

a) Jeremy introduced her to Larry

b) Celia found out Jeremy could see ghosts too
c) Buzz introduced Celia to Jeremy
d) They met at the abandoned house on Quaker Street.

4. Before Celia became Buzz’s friend, Buzz was:

a) Still alive b) Bored c) Lonely

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