members responded with an enthusiastic chorus of “Mmm!”
“But first,” the tour guide added, “let’s stroll down to Kingsmere Lake and see the guest house, or should I say, ghost house. Ha, ha, ha ...”
Over the noise of the entire group, John could be heard guffawing.
Dani groaned. “Now I’m really mad. Fake ghost tour, fake cottages, fake trees.”
“Fake trees?” Caitlin said. Then she thought, Dani’s arms are wrapped so tightly around her that she looks like a mad scientist in a straitjacket. Caitlin couldn’t resist tormenting her friend, so she rubbed her stomach and said, “Mmm!”
Dani moaned and squeezed all the harder.
The voice of the ghost tour guide faded away as the girls drifted farther back. Only one straggler remained on the trail behind the girls.
“Guess we haven’t got a ghost of a chance of meeting a real ghost on this fake tour,” Caitlin said.
Dani tried to wipe her nose but struggled to untangle her hand from her overall strap. “It’s ’cause adults don’t believe in ghosts, so they feel they have to make dumb adult jokes about them.”
“Yes, yes, you’re quite right,” a peevish voice behind the girls agreed. “Mind you, I never had children myself to compare with adults. Never did get married. And though I didn’t dislike children, I always had a strong preference for a canine companion, as you can see.”
The girls rotated slowly toward the tour group straggler. The short, stocky man stood with one hand on his walking stick and the other holding a leash attached to his dog, a small terrier. The straggler was dressed in a tweed suit with long, baggy shorts, high wool socks, and leather hiking shoes. The way the man and his dog held their heads and looked around the estate seemed to indicate they were familiar with the place. As he spoke to the girls, he remained expressionless in spite of his bizarre words.
“Oh, it’s true in part what these people say about my peculiarities. But they don’t really understand, and under the present circumstances, well, I think I’ve been proven correct, not that the public cares to take note. So it wasn’t a grand delusion, was it?” The odd man ceased his rambling for a moment and stooped to pat his dog on the head. “There, there, Pat.” The dog glanced at the object of his affection and wagged his tail.
“Mister, we have to get back to the ghost tour ’cause my dad and my six uncles are waiting for us,” Dani said nervously.
At the same time Caitlin thought, Wow, I wonder if Dani noticed that this is the first dog Nikki hasn’t howled at in his entire life! Then Caitlin cocked her head and asked the strange man, “What exactly wasn’t a grand delusion?”
Before the stranger could start speaking again, Dani motioned with her eyes, the signal for getting the heck out of there. Caitlin ignored her friend and listened to the babbling stranger.
“Why, my belief in the afterlife, of course. After all, as you and only you can see, here I am. I’m all but forgotten by young people today, except for an occasional unkind and inaccurate remark they seem to latch on to about my dear mother. But most people can’t possibly understand how close my mother and I were, how much I missed her when she died, and what comfort it was to communicate with her on the other side.”
Dani was speechless, but her eyes raced through an assortment of expressions, all of which seemed intent on impressing Caitlin with the need to run as if they were being pursued by a pack of wild dogs.
“If she was your mother, and you were close to her, wouldn’t she already be on your side?” Caitlin asked, ignoring Dani.
“Indeed,” the stranger said thoughtfully, “we are, naturally, on the same side now, but when I served as prime minister, in times of need, we were able to communicate between the worlds of the living and the dead ...”
Dani’s eyes were now as wide and round as two saucers as she pushed Caitlin down the path toward the ghost tour. “Well, mister, it’s been real nice and real instructional meeting you.”
The stranger followed the girls, carefully placing his walking stick and peering down at his dog, who happily followed by his master’s side. “Still, the notion that I governed the country, particularly through the turbulent war years, on the advice of my mother is preposterous. After all, one’s private life and public duties aren’t at all the same thing. Those séances were meant to keep my spirits up — pardon the seeming pun — so I could function as a proper prime minister and make decisions for the good of the country. Never in twenty-two years did I allow myself to be influenced by personal matters, let alone ...”
The girls watched the stranger stumble through the forest and go past them without looking up until he was quite alone. Suddenly, he became aware of his solitude and cast his eyes around for his audience. Blinking into the sunlight, he appeared lost and confused, then pivoted and skewered his audience of two with new determination. “Perhaps I haven’t been as clear as I should. You see, I’m a ghost.”
“How, how, how ...?” Dani sputtered.
“Who, who, who ...?” Caitlin stammered.
The two girls could have been a pair of monkeys speaking like a couple of owls.
“How is a rather complicated question that I can’t fully answer, but who is easy. I am William Lyon Mackenzie King, naturally, and this is Pat, my lifetime, uh, ghost-time friend.”
“Naturally,” Caitlin said, chewing nervously on one of her French braids.
“But, why, why, why ...?” Dani continued to splutter.
The stranger’s voice became steadier and more self-assured as he spoke. “My purpose is none other than to protect this glorious park. And though less important, I hope to redeem something of my rather muddled reputation. But I can’t achieve either of these important goals without your help.” The stranger paused for a moment as if lost in thought, then asked a bit ruefully, “By the way, did I mention that doing all this involves solving a rather troublesome murder?”
2
A Sweep and Swirl of Leaves
As Dani and Caitlin tried to catch up to the rest of the tour group now assembled at Kingswood Cottage, they both noticed that Nikki kept looking weirdly at the space occupied by Pat the terrier.
“Dani,” Caitlin whispered, “I don’t think Nikki can see Pat, but he senses something’s there. A ghost dog’s so cool, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, real cool. That’s all we need is another ghost. You’re right about Nikki, though. He can’t figure it out.”
The moment the girls rejoined the tour group the guide continued his carefully worded presentation, which provoked a snort from the little stranger claiming to be Mackenzie King’s ghost.
“I’ve heard this endless prattle many times, and it never ceases to irk me. It’s sensationalist fluff, a profound discredit to my dear mother, and an absurd attack on my character and accomplishments as prime minister. The fool says I was crazy at the very place I had the best times of my life. The truth is, there are very few living humans who believe in ghosts. Why, if you think about it, by implication this idiot fellow is also saying
