Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story

  Time For Andrew

  A Ghost Story

  Mary Downing Hahn

  * * *

  Clarion Books/New York

  * * *

  Clarion Books

  a Houghton Mifflin Company imprint

  215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003

  Text copyright © 1994 by Mary Downing Hahn

  All rights reserved.

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from

  this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,

  215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003.

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Hahn, Mary Downing.

  Time for Andrew : a ghost story / by Mary Downing Hahn,

  p. cm.

  Summary: When he goes to spend the summer with his

  great-aunt in the family's old house, eleven-year-old Drew

  is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with his

  great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

  ISBN 0-395-66556-6

  [1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. Family—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H1256Tf 1994 93-2877

  [Fic]—dc20 CIP

  AC

  QUM 10 9

  * * *

  For all my friends in Missouri,

  especially

  Philip A. Sadler and Ophelia Gilbert,

  who have contributed so much to so many.

  A big thanks from all the birds who

  migrate to Warrensburg every spring!

  Chapter 1

  "There it is." Dad slowed the car and pointed to a big brick house standing on a hill above the highway. From a distance, it looked empty, deserted, maybe even haunted.

  "Oh, Ward," Mom whispered to my father, "it's in terrible shape. From what your aunt said, I thought—"

  Dad glanced at me. "What do you mean, Nora? Just look at the woods and fields, the river, the hills. Drew will have a great time here. Just great. It's a boy's paradise."

  Unfortunately, Dad's enthusiasm was lost on me. My idea of paradise would be part museum, part library, part amusement park, not a spooky old house in the country.

  While Dad raved about the joys of hiking and bird-watching, I stared at the endless fields of corn gliding past the car window. I wanted to tell him I'd changed my mind, I'd go to camp after all, but it was too late. Everything was settled. My parents were going to France, and I was staying with Great-aunt Blythe. It had seemed like a good idea last spring, but now that I'd seen the house I wasn't so sure.

  Although I hadn't opened my mouth, Dad guessed what I was thinking. "You could be at Camp Tecumseh with your old buddy Martin," he reminded me.

  Martin—his scowling face floated between me and the rows of corn stretching away to the horizon. Whenever I dropped a ball, fumbled, or struck out, Martin was there, sneering and jeering. He stole my lunch money, copied my homework, beat me up, called me names like Drew Pee-you and Death Breath.

  I sighed and leaned back in my seat. No Martin for two whole months. Maybe Dad was right. Any place would be paradise compared to Camp Tecumseh—even the House of Usher.

  When Dad slowed to turn off the road, a gust of wind nudged the car. Behind us, the sky was darkening fast. It looked like the storm we'd left in Chicago had followed us all the way to Missouri.

  The driveway was a narrow green tunnel burrowing uphill through trees and shaggy bushes. Shifting to first gear, Dad steered around ruts and potholes, missing some, hitting others. Branches scraped the roof and slapped the windows. While he muttered about the car's suspension system, Mom and I bounced around like Mexican jumping beans.

  When Dad pulled up in front of the house, the three of us sat still for a moment and stared at the gloomy pile of bricks my great-aunt called home. Up close, it looked even worse than it had from a distance. Ivy clung to the walls, spreading over windows and doors. A wisteria vine heavy with bunches of purple blossoms twisted around the porch columns. Paint peeled, loose shutters banged in the wind, slates from the roof littered the overgrown lawn.

  Charles Addams would have loved it. So would Edgar Allan Poe. But not me. No, sir, definitely not me. Just looking at the place made my skin prickle.

  Dad was the first to speak. "This is your ancestral home, Drew," he said, once more doing his best to sound excited. "It was built by your great-great-grandfather way back in 1865, right after the Civil War. Tylers have lived here ever since."

  While Dad babbled about family history and finding your roots and things like that, I let my thoughts drift to Camp Tecumseh again. Maybe Martin wasn't so bad after all, maybe he and I could have come to terms this summer, maybe we—

  My fantasies were interrupted by Great-aunt Blythe. Flinging the front door open, she came bounding down the steps. The wind ballooned her T-shirt and swirled her gray hair. If she spread her arms, she might fly up into the sky like Mary Poppins.

  "Aunt Blythe, Aunt Blythe!" I was so glad to see her, I forgot the house, forgot my fears, forgot Martin. Jumping out of the car, I ran to meet her.

  "Welcome to Missouri, Drew!" My aunt gave me a quick, hard hug. While I was still getting my breath, she held me at arms' length and looked me over.

  "Twelve already," she said, "and shooting up faster than the weeds in my backyard. I swear you've grown two inches since I saw you at Christmas. At this rate, you'll be taller than I am in no time."

  Since Aunt Blythe was barely five foot two, she wasn't exaggerating. We were almost eye to eye already.

  "Don't I get a hug too?" Dad grabbed his aunt around the waist and lifted her clear off the ground.

  "Put me down, you big idiot."

  "Not till you tell me I'm still your favorite nephew," Dad said.

  "Oh, Ward, you'll always be my favorite nephew." Aunt Blythe winked at me. "And Drew will always be my favorite great-nephew."

  As my aunt turned to hug Mom, Binky ran toward us, barking and leaping, leaving muddy pawprints on Dad's tan slacks. He was a little honey-colored cocker spaniel, floppy-eared and not too bright, but he and my great-aunt were inseparable. Whenever she visited us, Binky came too. He was one of the family, a sort of dim-witted second cousin, lovable in spite of his deficiencies.

  When the dog calmed down, Aunt Blythe waved her arm at the house. "Well, what do you think of the old place?"

  Dad shook his head. "Most people move to a condo in Florida when they're your age. They sit back, enjoy the sunshine, and forget their cares."

  "My age?" Aunt Blythe was obviously insulted. "I'm only sixty-two, Ward. I'd be bored to death in a retirement home. I need things to do, projects to work on, challenges."

  Dad put his hand up in mock surrender and backed away laughing. "You're in the right place then. I've never seen anything more challenging than this."

  Aunt Blythe laughed with him. "It's a wreck," she admitted. "The roof leaks, the window frames are rotting, the front porch is in danger of collapsing—I've got my work cut out for me. If Father hadn't neglected everything, if he hadn't been so stubborn, if he'd..." Her voice trailed off and she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

  "How is Grandfather?" Dad asked, suddenly serious.

  Aunt Blythe's shoulders sagged, and for a moment, she looked tired, depressed even. "Oh, Ward, he's more cantankerous than ever."

  Dad put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "I hope he realizes how lucky he is to have you. Not many daughters would come back home to take care of an old codger like him."

  Aunt Blythe shrugged. "Father doesn't even know me half the time. Mother, Grandmother, Aunt Mildred—I'm somebody different every da
y. The past is more real to him than the present."

  As she spoke, a spiral of dust and dead leaves danced up the driveway toward us like a miniature cyclone. Black clouds darkened the fields of corn across the highway. Lightning forked, and thunder rumbled. The storm had definitely caught up with us.

  Aunt Blythe gave me a gentle push toward the car. "You'd better get your things before the rain starts, Drew."

  Without waiting for me, my parents followed my aunt across the lawn and through the front door. By the time I'd pulled my belongings out of the back, I was all alone. Even Binky was gone.

  I shouldered my daypack and turned toward the house. High up under the roof, I glimpsed a flash of white at a window. As small and pale as a face, it vanished before I had a good look at it.

  Thunder boomed overhead, and a bolt of lightning zigzagged into the woods behind me, but, instead of running for shelter, I stared at the house, too scared to move. What had I seen? The little window was dark, nothing moved behind the glass, but, silly as it sounds, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that someone was watching me.

  While I stood there shivering, the wind increased. It tugged at my daypack and almost yanked the duffel bag out of my hands. Thunder crashed louder than before, and lightning forked across the roof, leaping from chimney to chimney like a special effect in a Frankenstein movie. The sky was an alarming purple black. Raindrops as cold and hard as marbles pelted my head and back, soaking my shirt in seconds.

  More afraid of the storm than the watcher in the attic, I ran across the lawn. With every step, I told myself there were no ghosts in Aunt Blythe's house. I'd seen the reflection of a bird or a cloud in the window glass. My imagination had turned it into a face. Nobody watched, nobody waited—except my great-grandfather. It was he who expected me. Nobody else.

  Chapter 2

  The entrance hall was even gloomier than I'd expected. Smelling of wood smoke and the ashes of long-dead fires, it was damp and dark. Light filtered through a stained-glass window halfway up the stairs—art deco, I guess, the kind of design my mother admired in old houses in Chicago. Except for the murmur of wind and rain, the only sound was the mournful ticktock of a grandfather's clock.

  Where had my aunt taken my parents? I walked to the bottom of the steps and peered up into the shadows. Not a sound from the floor above. Ahead was a long corridor. On either side, doorways opened into empty rooms. Like me, the house held its breath and listened.

  Just as I was about to call out, I heard Dad's voice. "Drew's a good kid," he was saying, "but he's so insecure—worries, chews his nails, has trouble sleeping. Make sure he gets outside, exercises. Don't let him spend the whole summer with his nose in a book."

  Aunt Blythe murmured something, and Dad spoke more softly. I caught a phrase here, a word there: "He's nervous ... fearful ... too much imagination____"

  Mom added her whispered opinions to Dad's. "Scared of the dark ... witch under the bed ... monster in the closet...."

  To stop them from saying more, I dropped my daypack with a loud thud. "Where is everybody?" I yelled.

  "Back here, Drew," Dad called. "In the kitchen."

  Without looking at my parents, I sat down at the table and took the glass of lemonade Aunt Blythe handed me. Too angry to speak, I stuffed my mouth with sugar cookies. How could they talk about me like that? Tell my aunt I was fearful, nervous, insecure—what would she think of me?

  Unaware I'd overheard his remarks, Dad began talking about his grant. Thanks to the university where he taught, he and Mom were spending the summer in southern France excavating a Roman ruin. His precious dig—once he got started there was no stopping him. He went on and on, describing fragments of this and scraps of that, things so old nobody knew what they were anymore.

  To hide my feelings, I lowered my head and studied the table's scarred surface. Someone had carved a big, lopsided A into the wood. I ran my finger around its outline—up, down, across; up, down, across.

  Aunt Blythe leaned toward me to see my discovery. "A for Andrew," she said, "like you."

  Without answering, I kept my finger on the A. Up, down, across; up, down, across. I was cutting it deeper into the wood with each stroke. Andrew, Andrew, Andrew—my name, Drew for short.

  "Starting with Captain Andrew Joseph Tyler, we've had quite a few Andrews in this family," Aunt Blythe went on.

  "You're his namesake, Drew," Dad said.

  Aunt Blythe smiled at my parents. "Remember the fuss Father made when he found out you'd decided not to name Drew after him?"

  Mom laughed. "The way he carried on, you'd think we'd picked the most hideous name in the world for our poor baby."

  Imitating the old man, Dad struck the table with his fist and scowled. "I'll not have a descendant of mine called Andrew!"

  "That's why we nicknamed you Drew," Mom added. "We wanted to call you Andrew, but we shortened it to mollify your great-grandfather."

  I looked up from the A. "Did it work?"

  Dad shrugged. "We never saw him after your christening. He came back here in a snit. Never even sent you a birthday card."

  While the others reminisced about Great-grandfather's legendary temper, I studied the A. Catching Aunt Blythe's eye, I asked her if she knew which Andrew had carved it.

  "Certainly not the captain," she said. "It looks like something a boy might do when he was bored."

  A loud clap of thunder made us all jump. Under the table, Binky whined.

  "Poor old dog," Aunt Blythe said, "he's terrified of storms."

  Dad went to the window and peered out. Turning to Mom, he said, "It looks like it's letting up. Maybe we should leave for St. Louis while we have a chance. We don't want to miss our plane."

  Turning to me, he hugged me so hard I thought my ribs would crack. "Have a good summer, Drew. Behave yourself, take care of your aunt, write to us. We'll see you in eight weeks."

  I clung to Dad, pressing my face against his shirt, breathing in the smell of him. Terrible scenarios raced through my head. Plane crashes, terrorists, bombs, automobile accidents. The world was full of war and danger. Nobody was safe.

  "Don't go," I begged. "Please don't. What if something happens to you and Mom?"

  Dad's arms tightened around me, his breath stirred my hair. "We've talked about this so many times," he said softly. "We were lucky to get the grant, Drew. Very lucky. I can't back out of the trip now."

  "But there's history right here. You said so yourself. Why do you have to go all the way to France? You could set up a dig in the backyard. I'd help, I bet we'd find all lands of old things—medicine bottles, broken china, stuff our ancestors owned."

  I talked faster and faster, hoping to keep Dad from interrupting, from saying no, from leaving, but of course it didn't work.

  Resting his hands on my shoulders, Dad put some space between us. "Chin up, Drew," he said firmly. "No tears. You're a big boy now."

  I turned to Mom. Like Dad, she held me close, kissed me, told me she loved me. Tears shone in her eyes as she pulled away from me, but she didn't relent.

  Behind me, I heard Aunt Blythe at the sink, washing dishes and pretending not to listen. If I cried, she'd know the truth—I was nervous, fearful, whatever else my parents had said.

  "Okay, go then," I shouted. "Leave right now. See if I care!"

  Mom reached out for me, but I dodged away. "I don't need you, I don't need Dad either!"

  To keep from crying in front of everyone, I ran down the hall, opened the first door I saw, and dashed inside. Too late I realized the room was already occupied. An old man in a wheelchair sat beside a window. Of all the places I might have gone, I'd chosen Great-grandfather's sanctuary.

  "Who is it? Who's there?" He peered at me fearfully. In the gray light, his face was skull-like, the skin stretched thin as paper over his bones, his eyes sunken.

  Just as startled as he was, I stared at him. Never had I seen anyone so ancient. I wanted to run back to the kitchen, but Great-grandfather was speaking to me, one trem
bling hand raised as if to defend himself.

  "You've come back," he quavered. "But it won't do any good. It's my house now, not yours."

  Dad came into the room behind me and grabbed my arm. "What are you doing in here?" he whispered. Then, turning to the old man, he said, "Hello, Grandfather, it's Ward—remember me?"

  When Great-grandfather said nothing, Dad added, "I'm Ed's son. Your grandson."

  Great-grandfather made an inarticulate noise and shook his head. "Edward's dead," he muttered. "Died years ago. In a war."

  "I know," Dad said, "I know. I miss him too."

  Taking Great-grandfather's hand, he studied the old man's face for a moment. "This is my son, Drew, your great-grandson," he said softly. "I'm sorry he startled you, but you know how boys are—a little thoughtless sometimes, a little—"

  Great-grandfather yanked his hand away from Dad. Scowling at me, he banged the floor with a cane. "Don't let him near me. I know all about him!"

  Aunt Blythe rushed to his side. "What's wrong, Father? Drew didn't mean—"

  Great-grandfather turned furiously to his daughter. "He's a wicked boy! Send him back where he came from, I won't have him here!"

  Aunt Blythe gestured to Dad, and he led me out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind us, he said, "What on earth prompted you to bother Grandfather?"

  "I just wanted to get away from you," I mumbled. "I didn't know he was in there." I tried to keep my voice from shaking but it quavered anyway. Great-grandfather had frightened me half to death.

  "From the look on his face, you scared the wits out of him," Dad said. "I wonder who the devil he thought you were."

  I shuddered. "Someone he didn't like very much, that's for sure."

  Aunt Blythe stepped into the hall and gave me a sympathetic hug. "Lord knows who Father mistook you for," she said. "He drifts back and forth through the years as if time doesn't exist for him—at least not as we understand it."