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“You’re sure you’ll be fine, Ms. Wheeler? She can be a sneaky little thing.”
Barbara listened attentively to the words and for the sound of the apartment’s front door opening. The sooner her parents left, the sooner the newest babysitter would check on her, the sooner she’d pretend to be fast asleep, the sooner the real fun could begin.
It took forever, but it did happen. The babysitter gave a few final, reassuring words to her parents, which were mildly insulting (Barbara prided herself in being a particularly troublesome ten-year-old, but Nancy the Newest Babysitter really didn’t need to know that). The front door clicked shut and Barbara heard Nancy lock it. Then footsteps.
Barbara’s bedroom door opened. Through barely cracked open eyes, she saw the shape of her babysitter against the harsh yellow light of the hall.
“You better be asleep, kid, because I do not want to deal with any funny business tonight.”
Barbara offered no response. She could feel Nancy’s gaze on her, so she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, something she had long since mastered the art of. The babysitter watched her for a full five minutes, but then seemed to believe Barbara’s ploy, because she sighed and closed the door.
It wasn’t until Barbara heard Nancy’s footsteps return to the main room and stop there that she got up. As quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed and then put Princess Patricia, a massive, life-size doll her grandma had given her at her last birthday, in her place in bed. Barbara didn’t like Patricia in the slightest, but she did come in handy when she needed to make it appear like she was sleeping.
Then came the hard part. After her last hunting mission, Barbara’s parents had confiscated her gear. Sure, they were proud that the computer-related knowledge they’d imbued their daughter with had stuck, but not enough that they’d let her keep her homemade creations. It wasn’t fair in the slightest. What was the point of having to listen to their long, boring technology lectures if she couldn’t use anything she came up with afterwards? Sheesh. Something she’d created had only exploded once. And it hadn’t even been that big of an explosion.
So, Barbara had to open her bedroom door every so slightly. Creep out in complete silence. Tiptoe to her parents’ room. Pick the lock on their closet door. Collect her ghosthunting equipment from the top shelf (which she did with the help of the chair from her mother’s vanity). Make sure everything had functional batteries. Finally, tiptoe back to her room.
Once she was sure everything was ready, Barbara then picked the newly-installed lock on her window (she was so lucky no one had caught on to her lock-picking skills as of yet). Barbara climbed out onto the giant oak tree right outside and wiggled down two floors worth of branches to the ground. She grinned when her feet hit grass. That was a lot easier than expected. She had a feeling she was going to like Nancy the Newest Babysitter.
Barbara took her Ghost Detector out from her pack and set off. Once upon a time, she’d just been a naive nine-year-old trying to capture the monster in her closet, but last summer she’d gone to see Ghostbusters in the theater with her ex-best friend, Debbie, and learned the truth. Capturing ghosts was way, way cooler than nightmarish creatures meant to terrify that probably didn’t even exist. Ok, Barbara hadn’t managed to catch a ghost yet, but she was sure she would. She just had to keep trying.
After all, it took her dad lots of tries sometimes to fix the broken machines people brought into the repair shop he ran with Mom. Trial and error was a natural part of scientific discovery. It was something all the great scientists and researchers did, even when their ex-best friends and everyone else at school called them nerdy. Or four-eyes, cause they had to wear big glasses. Or any of the other names Barbara made a point not to think of because she didn’t want to be a crybaby.
Once she caught a ghost, she’d make them all realize that being a smarty was awesome. Plus, then she’d have a pet ghost, which would be cool. She’d like to see them try to make fun of her then.
Barbara sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
Overhead, the moon shone in a cloudless sky. In the distance, cars honked at each other. A warm late spring’s breeze whispered through the trees on the border of the cemetery as Barbara approached its gate. Some more lock-picking later and she was beyond its wrought iron fence. Maybe some other kid would have been scared at being in such a spooky place late at night, but not her. Barbara had been to the cemetery lots of times. After all, what better place was there to go ghost hunting than a place full of graves?
Barbara sat down on a bench beside a path somewhere close to the center of the cemetery, and then carefully removed the rest of her equipment from her pack. All together, it wasn’t very much. But Barbara was sure her detectors actually detected. Why else would her parents take them from her?
So, she sat on her bench, surrounded by devices that whirred and had blinking lights (and a few lightning and fire stickers for added coolness), and waited. And waited. And waited. And rested her head in her hand. And nearly dozed off. And shook herself awake. And waited some more. She waited so long the moon shifted positions in the sky. But no ghosts rose from their final slumber and floated past her. Barbara wondered if she should try wandering around like she had the first few times, but decided against it.
See, one time, she’d gotten lost in the cemetery until sunrise. Apparently that was long enough for her parents to notice her absence and Get Worried. Enough so that they started a Neighborhood Search for their missing daughter and she’d gotten in Big Trouble when they’d found her. Their “You Are Never Doing That Again, Are You Listening, Young Lady?!” lecture wasn’t particularly memorable. Even if Barbara hadn’t really listened to it, she didn’t want a repeat performance. Also, she didn’t really want her parents to worry. She just wanted to catch ghosts a bit more. Plus, she wasn’t going to get caught this time. The ghosts were!
Something rustled in a nearby bush. Barbara’s breath caught in her throat. This was it! She grabbed her containment trap and pulled it into her lap. She was going to do it! She was going to catch a ghost! She bit her lip. Her heart hammered. She held out her Ghost Detector with her free hand.
The rustling intensified. The bush shook. Something leap from it. A ghost!
No. It was just a boy. A stupid boy. Barbara pouted. She had been so close.
The boy brushed himself off and looked at Barbara. “…um…hi?”
“Hi.” Barbara grumbled. Then sat back, crossed her arms, and turned away. A stray lock of hair fell before her eyes and she blew it out of her face.
“I’m…um…I’m Ralph. Ralph Domzalski. What’s your name?” The boy tentatively took a step toward her.
“Barbara.” Barbara rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be at home with your mommy and daddy?” She winced at her tone. She wasn’t actually mad at the boy, who seemed to be around her own age anyway, but his appearance was a big disappointment.
“Shouldn’t you?” Ralph answered. “My parents take me traveling a lot.” He puffed out his chest. “So I know how to take care of myself.” Ralph deflated. He bit his lip. “But you’re-you are normal, right? Like a normal kid?” He paused. “You look pretty normal. But so do I, I guess.”
Barbara glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“umm…nothing. Nothing.” Ralph hunched his shoulders. “Can I sit? Can we be friends? I’ve never had a real friend before.”
“You’re a weird boy.” Regardless, Barbara made room for him on the bench. “I’m trying to catch ghosts.” Her breath caught in her throat. This boy was weird. Maybe he- “ARE YOU A GHOST?” Barbara shouted.
“No.” Ralph said as if the very idea was an affront against his very being. “I’m a troll. Well, half-troll. On my dad’s side.” His eyes widened. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Uh-huh.” Barbara poked him just to make sure he wasn’t really made up of ghostly gases, but he was definitely solid enough to pass as a real person. “Why do you look like a regular kid, then?”
“Cause I’m only half. Like I said. My mom’s a human. Dad’s a troll. But I have pointy ears. See.” Ralph turned his head and pulled his shaggy hair back so Barbara could see one of his ears. It was indeed pointy.
Barbara eyed Ralph skeptically. “Yeah, right. They sell elf ears at the Halloween store on Findley Street.” She grabbed his ear, but, if it were part of a costume, it was attached really, really well.
“Hey! Stop that!” Ralph yanked his head back and brushed off her hand. “You’re really rude, you know that?”
“Says the kid who appears out of bushes in the middle of the night.” Barbara stuck out her tongue at him.
“I can’t go out during the daytime. The sun makes my skin itchy.” Ralph retorted. “I’m allergic. Cause my dad’s a troll and sunlight turns full trolls to stone.” He paused, and then said in a quieter tone, “it’s why I can’t go to school like everyone else. Mom’s scared something real bad will happen to me if I’m out too long.”
Barbara didn’t counter that with anything. She wasn’t certain she believed this Ralph kid was really part troll. But his tone of voice. There were some things that you didn’t tease someone about. Sunlight seemed like one of those, at least for Ralph. She held out a hand to him. “You wanna help me catch ghosts?”
Ralph grinned, and Barbara saw some of his front teeth were pointy like fangs too. He nodded vigorously. “Yeah!”
It took them a half hour to grow bored with waiting on the bench for something to happen.
“Are you absolutely sure there’s ghosts here?” Ralph asked.
Barbara yawned. “It’s a cemetery, where else would they be?”
“Well, wouldn’t a ghost haunt a place that meant something to them in life?”
“I dunno. I don’t actually know a lot of ghosts. That’s the whole point of hunting them.” Barbara stuck out her tongue at Ralph again.
Neither said anything else, but both fidgeted. An owl hooted in the distance.
Finally, Ralph looked at Barbara hopefully. “You know where we could go?”
“I dunno. Where?” She put her head in her hand. This night was not going how Barbara expected it to in the slightest.
“I passed by this ancient-looking movie theater when I was walking earlier,” Ralph said. “I bet there’s loads of ghosts there.”
Barbara glanced once more at her Ghost Detector, which wasn’t detecting much of anything. Then at the silent cemetery around them, but saw nothing but tombstones and shrubbery. “Ok. Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, the door squeaked as Barbara and Ralph entered the movie theater. It was definitely a spooky enough location for ghosts. The only light was the moon behind them. The theater lobby remained in shadows.
Barbara slipped her pack off her shoulders and searched around in it until she found her flashlight. She clicked it on and shone yellowy light around the lobby, illuminating the empty concession stand and some dust particles floating in the air. She set her pack down against the concession stand, so she could explore without its heavy weight.
“They closed this place down last November,” Barbara told Ralph in a hushed tone. It felt like, if she spoke too loudly, she’d be disturbing something best be left alone. “Cause Jimmy Jenkins’s mom caught him watching an R-rated movie and threw a massive fit about it. See, the Jenkins are the richest family in the neighborhood, so they always get whatever they want. It’s not fair.”
“Oh.” Ralph said in a way that told Barbara he really didn’t understand what she was talking about.
They crept further into the movie theater. Barbara handed off the flashlight to Ralph so she could carry her Ghost Detector (she’d left her full pack by the concessions, just in case she’d need to run). The device beeped, but not to the extent that meant anything, as they worked their way through the theater.
A door leading onto a flight of stairs at the back of the main theater led Barbara and Ralph up to the projector room, where Barbara’s Ghost Detector stopped beeping completely upon their entry. She frowned and hit its side twice, but that didn’t get it going again like it usually did. Due to Barbara’s distraction and the darkness of the room, she didn’t notice the big box on the floor right in front of the doorway like Ralph did. Whereas he sidestepped around it, Barbara tripped over it, slammed into Ralph, and together they fell in a tangled heap on the floor.
“You ok?” Barbara stood first. She held out her hand to him.
Ralph took Barbara’s hand and stood. Then he brushed himself off. “Yeah. I’m half-troll, remember? It takes a lot, and I mean a lot, to bring me down.”
“Uh-huh.” Barbara turned to look around the room, but couldn’t see anything in the dark. “I thought I just did.”
Ralph snatched the flashlight from where it had fallen and rolled across the floor. “Yeah, but that was an accident.” He switched the flashlight on.
“You don’t know that.” Barbara teased him. “Maybe I was trying to trip you up. I have to test you to see if you’d make good Ghost Hunter material, after all.”
Ralph looked at Barbara. He illuminated her face with the flashlight. “Ghost Hunter material?”
“Yeah, like my partner. Who I catch ghosts with.” Barbara playfully punched his arm. “Don’t tell the Official Panelist of Judges I told you this cause they’re still deliberating and stuff, but I think you’d make a good Ghost Hunter.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Barbara turned away quickly. “We should check out whatever’s in this box. Looks pretty interesting if you ask me.” She knelt down, pushed the box’s cardboard flaps aside, and rummaged through its contents.
Ralph shrugged and joined her on the floor. He smiled at Barbara in a way that she interpreted as him not wanting her to notice, but she did anyway. Maybe he liked having a friend as weird as he was too?
It only took a minor amount of rummaging through the box for Barbara and Ralph to figure out it was filled with packed-away, forgotten film reels. Thankfully, each was helpfully labelled. They cast aside such films as Sixteen Candles and The Last Starfighter until they came across a copy of Ghostbusters, which Barbara picked up out of the stack.
In a triumphant tone, she told Ralph, “This is. The. Best. Movie. Ever.”
Ralph jumped up, the copy of Ghostbusters in his hand. “Let’s go, then! We can watch an actual movie! In an actual movie theater!” He grabbed for Barbara’s hand.
She recoiled away from him. Sure, she liked Ghostbusters like a lot and it was a great find and all. “But what about the ghosts?” Barbara protested. “We’re Ghost Hunters! On a hunt! We can’t just stop. Not until we find, and catch, the ghosts!”
“Come on. You didn’t really believe there were ghosts in here?” Ralph tugged at Barbara’s sleeve in an attempt to get her to follow him over to the projector. “Ghost hunting has been fun, but how cool is this? We can watch an actual movie!”
Barbara froze, horrified. Ralph had lied. About everything. About the ghosts. The very thought shook her to her core. She’d trusted him. Ignored the fact that he was a weird boy who appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night. And he’d lied about the ghosts. She sucked in a deep breath and yelled, “I don’t want to be your friend anymore!” at Ralph. Barbara balled up her hands into fists. She glared at him, challenging him to retort back.
Ralph blinked at Barbara. Then a second time. “Wait, you actually wanted to be my friend?”
“I did. But not now.” Barbara turned her back on him. “Friends don’t lie to each other about ghosts.” She huffed.
“Oh. Ohhh. I’m sorry. Really I am.” Ralph kicked at the ground. “Really really sorry. I didn’t think you’d want to spend time with me otherwise. It’s ok if you don’t want to be around me anymore.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t actually think ghosts would be here. I should have been truthful. I’m sorry. I just wanted a friend.”
Barbara sighed. She knew what it was like to want friends. Really, really want them. “S’okay. Just don’t do it again.” She lightly punched Ralph’s arm. “Or it’s you I’m gonna be hunting, not the ghosts, troll boy.” Barbara reached in her pocket and pulled out a mini plastic ray gun. She pretended to shoot Ralph with “pew, pew” laser noises and everything. “Got you! It is on this night I, Barbara, have captured a part-troll boy!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Wait, you actually believe I’m part-troll now?” Ralph looked at Barbara in disbelief for a second time.
“Eh, you’re weird enough.” Barbara shrugged. She reached for the copy of Ghostbusters they’d found. “I guess we can watch this. If you really haven’t ever seen a movie before and you’re not making that up. Otherwise, it’s like I said. I’ll be a Troll Hunter and not a Ghost Hunter.” She stuck her chin out at him.
“I swear I’m not. On my honor as a part-troll, I swear.” Ralph put his hand over his heart. “Mom and Dad always say they’ll take me to the movies, but they never do.”
After a bit of tinkering with the projector on Barbara’s part and a bit of hunting through the concessions stand for snacks on Ralph’s part, the two, armed with popcorn and gummy bears of questionable edibility, sat down in the main theater and watched the opening of Ghostbusters.
“I’m so excited I get to watch a movie for the first time ever.” Ralph whispered in Barbara’s ear.
Barbara replied, “You’re going to love it. It’s the best.”
They would only make it to about the twenty minute mark into Ghostbusters.
“HEY! Who’s in here?”
Barbara wished she could say she didn’t recognize That Voice. The voice of Professor Lempke. The resident grouchy old man of the Neighborhood Watch, who always always seemed to show up just when she was having the most fun. It seemed his goal in life was ruining hers, given that he, more than anyone else, could catch her on nights when she snuck out.
“RUN!” She shoved Ralph out of his seat and pushed him down the aisle.
“Hey! HEY!”
Lempke’s footsteps thundered behind them.
Barbara and Ralph sprinted through the theater doors into the lobby. Ralph shot out the main entrance and into the night. Barbara aimed to follow him, but then saw her ghost hunting gear pack. She couldn’t just leave it. Even with Professor Lempke hot on her heels. Barbara raced for it. Her hand reached out, ready to grab her pack’s strap. She had it. She had it!
Something grabbed hold of the back of her shirt and yanked. Hard.
Barbara stumbled backward and fell. She landed in an unceremonious heap at Professor Lempke’s feet.
“YOU!” Lempke, truly seeing Barbara for the first time, spat. “Why is it always you?” He grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her up. “I have told your careless parents time and time again they cannot allow you to run wild through the neighborhood like some kind of ruffian. Decent people who don’t want to deal with other people’s petulant children do live here.” He dragged her toward the door.
“Let me GO!” Barbara shouted. She strained to break free from his hold, but Lempke remained strong in his old age.
“No. Not until I take you down to the station, missy. Where we’ll ask the very nice police officer to call your parents so we can have a little chat. This ends once and for all. Tonight.”
At the station, Chief Hopper took one look at Barbara, sighed heavily, and punched her apartment’s phone number, which he’d memorized after the fifth or sixth time time of this. Nancy picked up and called the opera house where Barbara’s parents were hoping they could, for once, get through an entire show.
The lecture that came was, by far, the worst Barbara had ever received. She stared at her shoes as her parents went on and on. About how they were disappointed in her. About how she was surely more mature than this by now. About how they had things they wanted to do too. About how she couldn’t keep doing this.
And then finally, the worst. The Absolute Worst Possible Words escaped Barbara’s father’s mouth.
“You’re going to spend the summer with your grandmother. Maybe she can knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours.”
“WHAT?” Barbara jerked her head up. Her glasses slipped down her nose. “NO! No. I promise! I promise I’ll be good! Don’t send me to Grandma’s! She’s-” Barbara stopped herself from saying her grandmother was the Most Horrible Person Ever. She was the strictest, most boring, most-rule abiding old lady there was. Everything with her had to be done the proper way. When she was around, Barbara had to sit properly. Keep still properly. Only speak when spoken to properly. Not do anything fun ever properly.
Barbara looked to her mother, who could be more easily swayed into forgiveness than Dad. “Please don’t make me go, Mom. Pleeease. I’ll be good. I promise. I will-”
“Enough.” Barbara’s mom put up her hand. “Just enough, Barbara. I’m tired. Your father is tired. We have sat down with you and tried to talk to you about sneaking out I don’t even know how many times anymore. You are going to live with your grandmother for the summer. This is not up for discussion. Now empty your pockets and go to your room.”
So Barbara had to give up all the remaining candy she had stashed in her pockets and her lockpicks. She threw everything down on the coffee table, refused to meet her parents’ gaze, and stomped to her room. Once there, she threw herself down on her bed and groaned into her pillow for what seemed like forever.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Pssst! Hey! Pssst!”
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Barbara. Pssst! Hey!”
Barbara rolled over on her side and glared at Ralph, who stopped tapping away at the other side of her window.
“Go away!” She whispered to him as loudly as she dared. “I’m already in trouble.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Ralph said. Barbara saw him teeter on his tree branch, but he regained his balance. She breathed in relief. He continued, “I’m sorry I had to leave you behind, but I’m not supposed to let anyone see me cause-”
“You’re half-troll and all that.” Barbara interrupted. She quickly glanced at her door, but no one seemed to be coming. So she crawled across her bed to the window. “It wouldn’t be good if both of us got in trouble anyway.”
“Yeah, but even I know friends don’t leave friends behind.” Ralph’s face fell. Then he smiled. “But I brought you something.” He brought out a small object Barbara couldn’t quite get a good look at from his pocket. It glowed orangey-yellow between his fingers.
After another quick glance at her door, Barbara opened the window a crack. “What is it?”
“A piece of Heartstone.” Ralph put his object down on the windowsill between them. It was a stone. Mostly orange, but brilliant red around its many facets’ borders, and with some golden-yellow glowing from the center.
“Ewww. Gross. I don’t want your love rock!” Barbara recoiled away from the window.
“No, it’s not like that.” Ralph rolled his eyes. “The Heartstone is a sacred troll stone. This is just a little piece, though.” He held up the Heartstone piece between them. It pulsed golden light. “The real one is humungous. Bigger than this building even. It gives trolls life and makes us feel better when we’re sick and stuff. But Dad thinks it can do that for anyone cause it also helps me, and Mom sometimes too and she’s no parts troll.” Ralph reached out for Barbara’s hand.
Barbara hesitated. But then met his reach.
Gently, Ralph placed the Heartstone piece in the palm of Barbara’s hand and wrapped her fingers around it. “That’s why I’m giving this piece to you. To make you feel better.”
“Oh.” Barbara didn’t know what else to say. The Heartstone piece felt comfortably warm. It pulsed in a slow rhythm that sort of felt like a heartbeat against her hand. A promise that everything would be ok now. Or things would turn out fine. It did make her feel better. Much better. “Thank you.” She said to Ralph.
Ralph smiled at her again. Then frowned. “I gotta go now. Before Mom and Dad wake up.” He rubbed at the tree branch beneath him with his index finger. “And we’ll be going home tomorrow. And that’s very far away. So I’ll probably never get to see you again.” Ralph met Barbara’s gaze. “But I’m glad we got a chance to be friends.”
“Me too.” Barbara whispered. “You’re fun, troll boy.”
“Bye now.” Ralph took one last lingering look at Barbara. “and, you too. Ghost girl.” He started to climb down the tree.
“Bye.” Barbara waved after him. She sat and watched Ralph leave until he turned around a street corner and was gone into the night. Only then did she close her window.
Barbara looked down at the Heartstone piece in her hand. It was really nice. Like nothing she’d ever seen before.
And her parents certainly would take it away if, no when, they found out about it.
That is, unless she hid it. Extremely carefully. In a place no one would find.
She put the magic stone to her lips. Held it there. Reconsidered what she was about to do.
Then Barbara swallowed a piece of the Heartstone whole.