Finders Keepers

Jack’s been talking to me.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You mean — you’ve seen his ghost?’

‘No, it’s not like that. I hear his voice. In my head.’

She blinked. ‘He — he contacted you from beyond the grave?’

Ken nodded. ‘He started talking to me while I was in the hospital. I don’t understand it — maybe it’s because we collided, but. he’s able to talk with me. I know this sounds totally crazy. ’

Lucy gazed at him thoughtfully. ‘Not really. Lots of people believe in stuff like that. My mother went to a medium once. Do you know what a medium is?’

‘No.’

‘It’s someone who’s in contact with the spirit world. My mother said the medium put her in touch with her great-great-grandfather.’ She smiled. ‘There’d always been a rumour in the family that he’d buried some treasure during the Civil War. She wanted to know where it was.’

‘Did she find out?’

Lucy shook her head. ‘It turned out to be a legend. Too bad, huh?’

‘That’s. interesting,’ Ken said.

‘What did Jack tell you?’ she asked. ‘Did he say anything about me?’

‘Yeah. He wanted me to give you this.’ He reached in his pocket and pulled out the bracelet. ‘He got it for you in California.’

‘Oh, wow!’ Lucy exclaimed. ‘It’s really cute.’ She put the bracelet on. ‘How does it look?’

‘Fine,’ Ken said quickly. ‘And he wanted me to tell you he was sorry about that argument you guys had just after he came back from California.’

‘OK.’ She admired the bracelet on her arm. ‘At least now I have something to remember him by. Thanks, Ken.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘And if you talk to Jack again, tell him. tell him I forgive him. About the fight.’

‘OK, I will.’

‘I want to go and show off the bracelet to my friends,’ she said, and turned to go back to the house.

‘Lucy, wait!’

She turned back. ‘What?’

‘Um, listen, you can’t tell anyone how I knew about the bracelet. How Jack’s been talking to me. Everyone will think I’m nuts.’

Lucy nodded. ‘You’re probably right. I mean, people just aren’t very open-minded about this kind of thing. Don’t worry, I’ll say Jack mailed it to me from California and it just arrived today.’

‘Thanks a lot,’ Ken said fervently.

She smiled, cocked her head to one side and gazed at him oddly, like she was scrutinizing him or judging him. Which wasn’t surprising, Ken thought, considering what she’d just learned about him. Then, without saying anything else, she ran back into the house.

When Ken went back inside, he was grateful to find his parents ready to leave. He said his goodbyes to the Farrells, and once he was in the car he told his parents he was really tired so they wouldn’t talk to him.

What a relief to have that over with! Now he could give Jack an honest report. He’d given Lucy the bracelet, apologized on Jack’s behalf, and Lucy had seemed pleased with the gift. Maybe. maybe this would put an end to Jack’s communication.

And then he felt terrible. Jack was dead. The least Ken could do for him was listen. Maybe he’d get used to it. He’d have to get used to it. He could never tell his best friend to stop talking to him.

He really was tired, he realized when he got home. Once in bed he considered taking a sleeping pill, but he figured he was so wiped out he’d fall asleep without one.

Ken?

Oh, no. Jack wasn’t supposed to contact him till tomorrow.

I’m kind of tired right now, Jack.

What did you call me? My name isn’t Jack.

Ken frowned.

Who is this?

I’m Arthur. Arthur Penfield. I’m dead. And I was wondering if you could get a message to my brother.

Ken sat up, his heart pounding furiously.

Wait a minute — you’ve got the wrong guy. I don’t know anyone named Arthur Penfield.

No, we’ve never met. I died before you were born.

Then — why are you contacting me? Talk to one of your own friends!

None of my friends have your gift. You’re one in a million, son. You’re going to be hearing from a lot of us.

Suddenly, Ken didn’t feel very well. What was this Arthur guy talking about? What gift?

‘Leave me alone!’

He didn’t realize he’d spoken out loud until his door opened.

‘What’s wrong, Ken?’ his mother asked. ‘Darling, you’re sweating! We shouldn’t have let you come with us tonight. It was too soon for you to be out and about.’ Worriedly, she put a hand on his forehead.

Oh, if only he could blame this on a fever! If only he could tell her what was happening. Yeah, right. He’d be back in a hospital before dawn. And possibly in a straitjacket.

‘I’m not feeling so great, Mom,’ was all he could say. ‘Could I have one of those pills now?’

He wasn’t actually in any pain. He was just hoping the pill might put him to sleep immediately. Because he didn’t really want to hear from any more dead people tonight. Or ever again.

But he had a very, very bad feeling about this. He didn’t think there was any kind of pill that was going to put an end to these strange communications.

CHAPTER FIVE

IN THE MONTHS THAT followed the accident and Jack’s death, Ken didn’t see much of Lucy. She was a year younger, in the eighth grade, so they didn’t have any classes together. And fortunately, since Meadowbrook was a pretty big school, you didn’t run into the same people every day in the hallways. If he did run into her and they made eye contact, they just mumbled vague greetings. She never asked him any more questions about Jack, and he suspected that she didn’t think much about her late boyfriend.

But she was the only one, outside of his gifted classmates, who had been told about his ‘gift’. And so, after getting his thoughts together, he went in search of her.

He remembered that Lucy was a cheerleader and he knew that the cheerleaders practised almost every day after classes were finished, so he headed to the gym. When he got there, the cheerleaders had just started to gather. He spotted Lucy outside the gym entrance, talking to Simon Dowell. Simon was on the soccer team, but Ken had never known him very well.

He ambled towards them. ‘Hi, guys.’

‘Yo, Preston,’ Simon muttered. He didn’t look too thrilled to see Ken. But Lucy didn’t seem to mind the interruption.

‘Hi, Ken!’

He tried to sound casual. ‘Lucy, can I talk to you for a second?’

‘Sure!’

Ken glanced at Simon. ‘Um, it’s kind of personal.’ He hated saying that — he knew it made him sound