Respect Your Ghosts

by John Bemelmans Marciano

  “I wonder if she’s the Janara and that’s why she sent you upstairs,” Maria Beppina says. “So you won’t find out!”

  “Or maybe it’s your stepdad and that’s why he never talks!” Primo says.

  It makes Sergio’s head hurt to think that on top of his living with a ghost, there might be a Janara in his house, too.

  “What about your family?” Sergio says to Primo. “Nonna Jovanna knows so much about witches, maybe she’s the Janara.”

  “Too obvious. Janara have to hide who they are,” Primo says. “But maybe it’s my momma. Or Poppa! That’d be cool.”

  “How about your sister?” Maria Beppina says.

  “Nah,” Primo says. “Isidora is too boring to be a witch.”

  Shaking his head, Sergio picks up his buckets and starts walking again.

  “It probably isn’t anyone in the Twins’ family, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten the mischiefs so bad,” Maria Beppina says, following.

  “We just need to think of the most unlikely person, and that’s who the Janara has to be,” Primo says. “Wait, I got it!” He stops short and spills water everywhere. “It’s Maria Beppina’s dad!”

  “My dad?” Maria Beppina says. “But he doesn’t even believe witches exist!”

  “Exactly! It’s the perfect thing to say if you want no one to suspect you!”

  “Look, I don’t care who it is,” Sergio says as they arrive in the alley between their homes. “Janara have never given me any trouble. It’s mothers and ghosts I need to worry about.”

  On cue, a shutter from above bangs open. “Boy!” Bis-Bis calls, roaring. “Where’s that water, boy?”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. Hold on!” Sergio says, looking up at Bis-Bis. “You don’t have to shout!”

  “Is your ghost really shouting?” Maria Beppina says.

  Other kids can’t see or hear Bis-Bis, a fact Sergio always forgets. He only wishes he couldn’t.

  “You left crumbs everywhere!” the ghost says. “One night with you and my house is a pigsty! Come clean this mess up!”

  Sergio sighs.

  “What does your ghost want?” Maria Beppina says to Sergio as he leaves.

  “To make my life miserable,” Sergio says.

  6

  VENDETTA

  “WILL you wake up, boy? Wake up, I said!”

  It is Bis-Bis, yelling right into Sergio’s ear.

  “All right, all right, I heard you the first time!” Sergio says, rolling over on the floor. “You sure are loud for someone who’s dead!”

  “And you sure do sleep a lot for someone who’s alive!”

  Sergio sits up and rubs his eyes. It was another night he could barely sleep.

  “You told me this was temporary!” Bis-Bis says, crossing his arms. “Well, it’s been four days, and you’re still here.”

  “What can I do?” Sergio says. “Every time I ask my mother if I can move back she pretends like she doesn’t hear and gives me something horrible to do. Yesterday, she sent me to the Three Crones!”

  Everyone in Benevento is afraid of the Three Crones. Once they gave the evil eye to Gasparro the butcher and all of his hair fell out. Sergio was glad to get the herbs his mom wanted and get out of there without looking any of the Crones in the eye—and with all his hair on his head—but he’s terrified of what his mom will make him do next.

  “Well, we’ve got to figure out something!” Bis-Bis says.

  “Hmm,” Sergio says, trying to think.

  “Hmm,” Bis-Bis says, also trying to think.

  The two of them sit there a long time, both trying to think really hard, with nothing happening.

  Then Sergio has an idea. “Emilio got the Janara to stop bothering them by doing something nice. Maybe that works with parents, too.”

  “But you do things for your mother all day!” Bis-Bis says.

  “Yeah, but something nice,” Sergio says. “Something she doesn’t expect.”

  “Well, what does she really want?”

  “Hmm,” Sergio says, trying to think.

  “Hmm,” Bis-Bis says, also trying to think.

  Again, this takes a long time.

  “I’ve got it!” Sergio blurts out. “She wants to go to the Carrozzos’. To see her cousin!”

  “No!” Bis-Bis says. “Absolutely not! Anything but that!”

  Remember that another other story? Well, here it is.

  The reason Sergio’s mom doesn’t hate the Carrozzos is that her cousin—and best friend—is a Carrozzo. The problem is that the two of them aren’t allowed to visit each other, because of the family ghosts.

  Once Sergio’s mom married into his dad’s family and her cousin married into Mozzo’s, they had to respect their ghosts, who won’t let each other’s relatives into their homes.

  Bis-Bis and the ghost of the Carrozzos hate each other. Once upon a time they were best friends and cousins, but at some point they got into an argument that turned into a vendetta. This vendetta lasted even after the earthquake that killed them both, a hundred and whatever many years ago.

  “The Carrozzos’ big First of May party is coming up. My mom always talks about how she wishes she could go to it. I bet if she did, she’d be so happy she’d let me come home!” Sergio says. “All it takes is for you and the Carrozzo ghost to make up with each other.”

  “No! Never!” Bis-Bis shouts. “It will be another hundred and thirty-seven years before I give that Carrozzo what he wants!”

  “But what does he want?” Sergio says. “What is the vendetta even about?”

  No matter how many times Sergio has asked, Bis-Bis has never told him why the feud started.

  “And I won’t tell you this time, either!”

  The ghost recrosses his arms and turns his head the other way.

  “Was it over a girl?” Sergio says. “Money?”

  “No, nothing silly like that,” Bis-Bis says.

  “Then what?”

  “A boat!” Bis-Bis says.

  “A boat?” Sergio says. “What kind of boat? A river boat?”

  “No!” Bis-Bis growls. “A small boat. Made of wood.” The ghost puts his hands up a foot apart.

  “You mean a toy boat?” Sergio says. “You’ve had a vendetta for one and a half centuries over a toy?”

  “It is not just a toy!” Bis-Bis says. “It’s the principle. When we were eight, our grandfather gave each of us a boat. I took care of mine, which that rotten Carrozzo stole after his sunk.”

  “So what does he want?”

  “After he stole my boat, I went and fished his broken one out of the river. I fixed it up better than either of the boats had been in the first place. I put on fresh paint and sewed new sails for it myself. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw it!” Bis-Bis says triumphantly.

  “He demanded we trade back. I refused and shut the boat away somewhere no one could ever get at, and he’s hated me ever since!”

  “So you couldn’t play with the boat either?”

  “It was worth it just so he couldn’t have the pleasure!”

  Another thing about vendettas: they are almost always stupid.

  “So if you give the boat back, will the vendetta be over?” Sergio asks.

  The ghost harrumphs.

  “Is it still hidden somewhere?”

  “Yes,” Bis-Bis says. “But I’ll never tell! I’ve kept that secret for seven generations and I’m not giving it up now!”

  Bis-Bis is definitely a better secret-keeper than he is, but Sergio needs to get that toy boat! He tries asking the ghost where he hid it every way he can think of, without any luck.

  “Would you rather keep your vendetta,” Sergio finally says, “or be stuck having me live with you for the next ten years?” He smiles.

  Bis-Bis t
hinks. His face starts to crack and his eyes move around in their sockets. Finally, he throws up his hands.

  “Fine!” Bis-Bis shouts. “I’ll be the bigger man. It’s just a stupid toy, anyway! Hopefully it’s half-rotten by now!”

  Sergio thanks the ghost as hard as he can.

  “But if this doesn’t work,” Bis-Bis says, wagging a finger at Sergio, “you’ll be sleeping with the rabbits!”

  7

  THE BOAT

  BEHIND Zia Pia’s, rising up from the wide open space where the Clopper runs, stands a small city of workshops. There’s the blacksmith’s with the black rooster; Zi Totò the tanner’s; and down at the bottom, the foul-mouthed brickmaker’s. The shops seem to be built on top of each other, but what they are really built on top of are the ancient seats of the Theater.

  “We’re never gonna find that dumb boat!” Rosa says.

  “But Bis-Bis told me exactly what to look for,” Sergio says.

  The ghost put the boat in a hole in one of the brick benches and sealed it up with a slab of marble that had graffiti on it. It’s the picture of a flying donkey with wings, Bis-Bis said.

  “Someone probably stole that marble a hundred years ago!” Rosa says. “Or built their workshop on top of it.”

  “Or maybe it’s in the part of the Theater that collapsed,” Emilio says, pointing. He heads down to inspect the rubble and tall grass.

  “I bet it’s up behind the blacksmith’s,” Primo says, starting to climb. “I’m going to check!”

  “Well, I’m not going anywhere!” Rosa says, and plops herself down on an old seat. “If I wanted to work this hard I’d have stayed home!”

  The work is in clearing the old benches, overgrown as they are with weeds and brush, to look for the picture of the flying donkey.

  “Hey, I found it!” Primo shouts. “The drawing!

  Sergio comes up to look, but even with his eyes he can see that the scratches Primo is pointing at are not what they’re looking for. “That’s not a donkey. That’s not even a drawing!”

  “I know,” Primo says, whispering. “I just wanted to ask if Emilio gave you any other hints about who the Janara is.”

  “Shh!” Sergio shushes Primo. “Do you want him to hear!?”

  “I tried to trick my momma into admitting she was a Janara and she got all angry.”

  “Seriously, stop! Emilio is right over—”

  “Hey, what’re you guys whispering about?” Rosa says, coming up behind them. “What’s the big secret?”

  Emilio stops digging to look up at them.

  “No secret!” Sergio says, loud enough so Emilio can hear. “We weren’t even whispering!”

  “Yeah, you’re hearing things,” Primo says to Rosa. “It must be all that gross wax in your ears.”

  “Shut your mouth, donkey-brains!”

  “Why don’t you make me!”

  “Guys, please!” Maria Beppina says as Primo and Rosa start to wrestle.

  Rosa slips on a rock and falls on her butt to the rubble, causing a small landslide. A chunk of white stone goes tumbling and falls at Emilio’s feet.

  “Hey, guys!” Emilio says. “I think Rosa’s butt just found what we’re looking for.”

  The kids stand over the marble, looking at the picture of a winged donkey.

  “I guess the boat was in the part of the Theater that fell down,” Primo says.

  Sergio is devastated.

  “Now what am I going to do?”

  “Do about what, boy?”

  Startled, the kids jump and turn to see . . .

  Amerigo Pegleg!

  Where did he come from? It was like he appeared out of thin air.

  “What are you kiddies poking around for?”

  “We’re looking for a boat,” Primo says.

  “Shouldn’t you be a-looking in the river, then?” Amerigo says.

  “It’s not that kind of boat,” Sergio says, and explains the whole story. Well, most of it.

  “A toy boat, eh?” Amerigo says, a smile coming to his face. He rubs his stubbly chin. “I think I might just be able to help you kiddies. But first I have to ask: Can you keep a secret?”

  Amerigo puts his arm on Emilio’s shoulder. Emilio almost looks scared.

  “Sure, we can keep a secret!” Primo says. “We’re fan-tas-tic secret-keepers!”

  Amerigo takes the kids inside his one-room hovel beneath Zia Pia’s.

  “I grew up in this Theater!” Amerigo says, dipping a torch in black pitch. “When I was no older than you all, I discovered the ancient passageways and chambers within. It’s a secret world that only I know!” He sets the torch on fire with a hiss. “And we enter it through here!”

  “Here” is an oversized mousehole in the back wall. Amerigo crawls through it—he’s surprisingly spry—and leads the kids into a maze of tunnels.

  Can the boat really be somewhere in this spooky underworld? All Sergio wants is to get OUT of here!

  Finally, they come to the end of the labyrinth. Out the other side, they enter into a place that none of the kids can believe.

  “It’s like a palace!” Maria Beppina says.

  Lighting a series of torches, Amerigo reveals a great underground hall. All around are bits of statues and columns, decorated with the feathers, glass beads, and other trinkets Amerigo sells.

  “I call it my Museum of Extra-Ordinary Artifacts,” Amerigo says. “And here is one of my most extra-extra-ordinary pieces.” He bows and sweeps his arms like a puppeteer presenting his show.

  It is the boat.

  It is beautiful.

  Its keel is painted yellow and the sails are white. Some of the paint is chipping, and the fabric is frayed in places, but it’s amazing how good it looks after all this time.

  “When the north side of the Theater collapsed, I found her sitting at the bottom of a cascade of rubble, like she had come a-sailing down it. I always wondered where she came from.” Amerigo says, lifting the boat from its place. “A vendetta! I should’ve known . . .”

  Mozzo is suspicious from the moment the five of them set foot in the stable. “What do you losers want?”

  “It’s not what we want,” Primo says, “it’s what your ghost wants.”

  “What’s this moron talking about, moron?” Mozzo says, turning to Emilio, who in turn turns to Sergio.

  “My ghost wants to end the family vendetta,” Sergio says.

  “Oh, yeah?” says Catina, who is one of Mozzo’s sisters. She is—if possible—even more of a jerk than Mozzo. “And what’s he gonna do about it?”

  “Give your ghost what he wants, just like Primo said,” Sergio says. “The boat.”

  Both Carrozzos screw their faces up into the same snarling, confused expression.

  “What boat?” Mozzo says. “What does our ancestor want with a boat?”

  “Just tell your ghost about the boat,” Rosa says, thumping a finger in Mozzo’s chest.

  “It’s a lovely boat,” Maria Beppina says.

  Mozzo and his sister whisper in each other’s ears. “We have to go talk to our ancestor,” Catina says, and they disappear out the back for what seems like forever.

  When they finally get back, Catina says, “And what does your ghost want in return?”

  “To let my mom come to your First of May feast,” Sergio says.

  More confused expressions, whispering, and another long trip out the back later, Catina says, “If you do return his boat, our generous ancestor will allow your mother to come to the First of May feast.”

  “But if this is some kind of trick, then BAM!” Mozzo says, punching his own palm. “You losers are dead.”

  Stepping over to him, Rosa looks down threateningly. “The same goes for you,” she says. “There’ll be two Carrozzo ghosts if you don’t hold up your end of the d
eal.”

  Mozzo keeps smiling, but it’s a phony, scared kind of smile. Sergio is sure glad Rosa is on his side!

  8

  THE HOUSE OF CARROZZO

  SHOES! How can people wear these things?

  Of course, having a pair that fit might help. The ones Sergio is wearing—the first shoes he’s ever worn—were borrowed by his mother from someone two years younger than him and a foot shorter.

  She thinks the shoes will help Sergio make a good impression at the feast. But how can Sergio make a good impression if he can’t even walk?

  “Har-hu-har-har-HAR!” Bis-Bis roars as he watches Sergio hobble around in pain. “I haven’t laughed this hu-har-har-HARD in a hundred years!”

  Sergio has never heard his ghost laugh before. Now he wishes he never had.

  “Oh, I don’t even care about that boat anymore!” Bis-Bis says, wiping a tear from his cheek. “This makes it completely worth it!”

  Down the steps, it’s all Sergio can do not to fall and crack the boat (not to mention his skull). Inside with his mom and stepfather are Emilio and Maria Beppina, who are going to babysit his brothers, and Rosa and Primo, who are coming with Sergio to face the Carrozzos.

  Walking in, Sergio stumbles.

  “Hey, watch it!” Primo says, grabbing the boat out of his hands. “We still have to give this thing to Mozzo!”

  “Oh, how sweet of you to be bringing him a present!” Sergio’s mom says, patting Primo’s arm. “Mozzo’s a very nice boy, really.”

  The kids all trade looks.

  Sergio hasn’t told his mom that the boat is the reason she got invited to the Carrozzos’. He doesn’t want her blaming him for not being able to see her cousin if something goes wrong.