Once there was a young ghost named Cameron. They lived with their mommy and daddy, in a spooky black and purple house, with shimmering silver sparkles on the doors and window frames. The house was in the middle of a dark spooky wood, filled with craggy trees. Cameron loved the house, because it made all kinds of interesting noises.
Creek, went the floorboards. Swish, went the curtains. Plop, plop, went the raindrops against the dusty windows, when it stormed outside. Best of all, tinkle, tinkle, went the wind chimes, when the wind howled eerily outside. Cameron loved the woods, because there were lots of fun places to hide. Inside a rotten log, or beneath the clear water of the babbling stream, just outside the house, or in Cameron’s best hiding place, in the highest branch of the oldest and crookedest oak tree, with no leaves. Now, Dear Reader, you may be asking yourself, but what did Cameron like to do besides hide and listen? Hiding and listening are all very good, but surely, being a ghost, Cameron must have loved scaring people.
Some of you might be saying to yourself, they must’ve been very good at saying boo and jumping out at just the right time to scare the passersby who dared to come down the long twisty lane that led to their house?
Now, the truth of the matter, was this, Dear Reader. Although Cameron loved their spooky house, and the spooky woods, they did not like it when people, and passerby, were truly scared, they much preferred to scare just for pretend, and indeed, sometimes, they pretended not to be a ghost at all.
Sometimes, when hiding under water, they would pretend to be a fish, going “glug glug glug,” and laughing with delight as bubbles popped on the surface. Sometimes, they would say, “Arrrgh, mattey,” while pretending to be a pirate. Sometimes, they would get down on their hands and knees and bark happily like a puppy, but what they loved most of all, was performing.
When they went to their dance class, they would ball up their ectoplasm, that, Dear Readers, is the pale shimmery stuff that ghosts are made of, and sculpt it into the daintest pair of tap shoes, which made the most pleasing Tipitty tap sound. If you have ever been to tap dance class, Dear Reader, you will know just the sound I mean, and when they did their best dance moves, they would laugh, as everyone cheered.
Now, there came a day, when Cameron was no longer a baby ghost, but had reached the level of a young ghost, who could learn many new ghost things, in special ghost classes, with other ghost children. Cameron’s parents were very proud, as they waved goodbye from the spooky house steps, on Cameron’s very first dark night of ghost class.
Cameron's Daddy worked at a boo factory. Secretly, he hoped that Cameron would come back from class, having learned a proper boo, not just for pretend, but in order to really scare. Cameron’s mother, simply hoped, as most mothers do, that they would listen to their teacher, and mind their manners. It was Cameron’s grandma, who gave the best advice though, before Cameron headed out for class.
" No matter what, you should always be yourself, as long as it’s not hurting you, or anyone else. You will do well, my grandchild."
Cameron was glad that there was one person who didn’t want them to be truly scary, if that wasn’t who they were. When Cameron got to ghost class, they were excited to see all the other ghost children, and introduce themselves, very nicely, with a,
" How do you do, and it’s nice to meet you, my name’s Cameron, what is yours? May I be your friend?"
Soon enough, the teacher sat all the children down in a circle, and began that night’s lesson.
"Now children, she said, in a loud clear voice, I want you all to say the sound that ghosts say, do any of you know what that is?"
Most of the class let out very scary and loud boos. Cameron stayed silent. It wasn’t that they wanted to be bad, but they knew, not all ghosts say boo, all of the time. They also remembered human children they had watched once, being told,
" If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all." Luckily, for Cameron, their teacher was good at noticing things. She knew that often times, children have a reason for why they are not listening. Cameron’s teacher was very clever.
So, she did what many clever people do, when they don’t understand why someone is doing what they are doing. She asked a question. The question was this,
" Cameron, My Dear, why aren’t you saying boo? We want to hear what you have to say, or at least, I know I do.”
Cameron took a deep breath, closed their eyes, scrunched up their face, and let out a long sigh.
“Well ma’am, Cameron began, not wanting to seem rude, but knowing that they had to be truthful. You said that every ghost says boo. I know most of you do, but there’s some other things you can say, really lovely things, you see, and that’s truer to me, and who I want to be.”
The class grew quiet and still. The teacher grew thoughtful, like good teachers do when they are told something new. After a while, she said,
"Well then you should show us these sounds. Show us what you like to do, and what is true to you. Then, you can work on a non-scary boo.”
Cameron took a deep breath, and blew. They buzzed like a bee. They arrghed like a pirate. They barked like a puppy. They ploped and burst like bubbles on the clear water of the stream. They made the tinkle sound of their mother’s wind chimes, and lastly, they sculpted their ectoplasm into those dainty shoes, and tipitty tapped all the way to the other side of the classroom, before letting out one final quiet boo!
Everyone clapped, and everyone cheered for Cameron, the ghost who had dared to be different, who had talked about how they felt, and who, most importantly, had stayed true to themselves. So, Dear Reader, if you are ever in a situation where something does not feel right to you, talk to those who are asking you, and see if you can be different, in your own special way too.
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