by Jeff Kinney
Things got stranger when Jasper walked
into the bakery. His friend Dieter the
shoemaker was walking out and when
Jasper said hello, Dieter ignored him.
And a few seconds later when Marta
the librarian walked in to buy her daily
baguette she walked past Jasper like she
didn't even see him.
When Marta went to the counter to
buy her bread Joris was distracted and
that's when Jasper made his move. He
pulled the tube of toothpaste out of his
pocket and grabbed the glass lid off the
donut platter.
22
Or at least he TRIED to. Because when
Jasper reached for the lid his hand went
right THROUGH it.
Jasper was so confused that he ran
outside and onto the street. But
what happened next upset him even
MORE. Because when he stood in front
of the mirror shop he didn't have a
REFLECTION.
23
Jasper realized that no one could see or
hear him. And when he made a complete
fool of himself nobody noticed.
Even when Jasper barged in on the
Mommy and Me class at the yoga studio,
everyone just kept doing their thing like
he didn't exist.
24
Jasper tried talking himself into thinking
this was a GOOD thing. Because if no one
could see him he could pull off some really
epic pranks.
Just then a line of people walked past
Jasper. There was Brom, his best friend
growing up, and his first school teacher,
Mrs. Van Dijk. Everyone was dressed in
black and looked really sad.
25
Then Jasper saw his own mother at the
back of the line, bawling her eyes out.
Everyone was headed into the church,
so Jasper followed them inside. And even
though Jasper knew no one could see him
he felt a little underdressed so he sat in
the back pew by himself.
26
It didn't take long for Jasper to figure
out that he was at a funeral. But he was
still pretty shocked when he realized who
the funeral was FOR.
The preacher said the guy who died was
toilet papering somebody's front yard
when he got struck by lightning. And you
probably already figured out that person
was JASPER.
So now Jasper knew the truth. He
wasn't invisible all this time, he was DEAD.
And he had to sit there while everyone
came up to the front of the church to
say a few words.
27
Usually at funerals people say NICE
things about the person who died. But
all anyone could talk about was Jasper's
annoying pranks.
For the first time ever, Jasper could see
that sometimes he took his pranks too
far. And he wished he could live his whole
life over again and become a fisherman
or a librarian or just about anything
other than the village prankster.
28
After the last person spoke it was time
for final goodbyes. And when Jasper's
mom went up to the casket it was a
little hard for Jasper to watch.
Jasper had no idea what you're supposed
to do at a funeral when you're the
person who died. So even though it felt
weird he went up to say his goodbyes
too.
But there wasn't a body in the casket
at ALL.
29
There was just a pumpkin with a face
drawn on it which kind of looked like Jasper.
Then everyone started laughing at once.
And that was the moment when Jasper
realized he wasn't really dead and that
this was all one big PRANK.
Jasper was happy he was alive but to be
honest he was annoyed that the other
villagers got him so good.
30
Besides he had a lot of QUESTIONS.
For one thing he couldn't figure out how
his hand went through that glass donut
lid at the bakery. Then Joris explained
that his nephew was a whiz with
technology and the whole donut platter
was a hologram.
And when Jasper asked why he couldn't
see his reflection in the mirror the guy
who owned the mirror shop said he'd
replaced the mirrors with televisions
that showed an empty sidewalk.
31
Then the people who were in the yoga
studio said they almost lost it when
Jasper walked in on their class.
It turned out the whole VILLAGE was
in on the joke. And since pranking was
kind of Jasper's thing he had a hard time
admitting they got him.
Jasper told everyone it was a decent
prank but his were way BETTER.
32
Then the preacher said this was actually
a DOUBLE prank because the day
before, a meteor wiped out the village
and everyone in it.
That meant they were ALL dead and
EVERYONE was a ghost.
Well this was the second time Jasper
found out he was dead in one day, but
this time he didn't take it as hard.
Jasper always wanted to travel, and if
he was a ghost he could fly wherever he
wanted.
33
So he climbed to the top of the
lighthouse and aimed himself toward
Paris.
But it turns out the story about the
meteor was a prank too. And this time the
villagers thought maybe THEY were the
ones who took a prank a little too far.
35
Rusty and Gabe were best friends from
the time they were little. They hung out
at Rusty's house every day after school,
and on weekends they'd watch their
favorite soccer team play on TV.
Most of the time Rusty and Gabe got
along great but every once in a while Gabe
did something that annoyed Rusty. But
Rusty knew that even best friends can
sometimes get on each other's nerves.
Then one day something terrible
happened to Gabe. And I don't wanna get
into the details because it's way too sad
for a kid's book.
36
Later on that year Rusty was really sad
because he missed his best friend. And
even though Gabe did a lot of annoying
things Rusty knew he would do anything
to spend just one more afternoon with
his pal.
Suddenly a cold gust of wind blew into
Rusty's room and when he turned around
there was his best friend Gabe.
37
Right now you are probably saying "Oh
I guess Gabe wasn't dead after all!" but
you're WRONG. Because this was the
GHOST version of Gabe.
Gabe said he came back from the spirit
world because he knew Rusty really
needed him. And that kind of made Rusty
feel bad for thinkin
g about all the times
Gabe annoyed him.
But Gabe said now that he was a ghost
he wouldn't have to go home and they
could hang out all night if they wanted.
38
Well Rusty was glad to have his friend
back but the thing about staying up late
made him a little nervous because this
was a school night and he liked to get to
bed early. But Rusty didn't say anything
because he knew Gabe would tell him he
was being a Goody Two-shoes.
Rusty said he should probably go
downstairs and tell his parents that Gabe
was back but Gabe said that would spoil
their fun and they should keep this ghost
thing a secret.
Gabe said they should just hang out and
play video games like they did in the old
days.
39
But when Rusty handed Gabe a controller
it went right through his hands.
It turned out since Gabe was a ghost he
couldn't touch anything. So he had Rusty
play the game FOR him which wasn't
really that much fun for Rusty.
After a few hours Rusty said he needed
to do his homework.
40
Gabe said he was glad HE didn't have to
do homework anymore since he was dead.
And he kept talking which made it really
hard for Rusty to concentrate.
Finally Rusty put a soccer game on TV
so Gabe would stop bugging him for a
while. But Gabe booed the whole time, and
Rusty couldn't tell if that was because
Gabe didn't like one of the teams or if he
was just making ghost noises.
41
After a while Gabe got bored with the
game and he started trying out his
ghost powers like walking through walls.
And that made it even harder for Rusty
to concentrate on his homework.
Rusty gave up on his homework and told
Gabe he needed to go to sleep. But Gabe
said that was kind of inconvenient for
HIM because ghosts don't sleep.
42
Rusty got ready for bed and hoped Gabe
would just float away to wherever it is
that ghosts go at night. But even after
Rusty got under the covers and turned
off the lights Gabe kept hanging around
talking.
And all Gabe wanted to do was talk about
this girl named Kelsey Reed who he had a
crush on.
Somehow Rusty fell asleep and when he
woke up Gabe was STILL talking. And
he kept right on talking while Rusty got
ready for school.
43
Rusty told Gabe he'd catch up with
him when he got back from school. But
Gabe said it would be too boring to wait
in Rusty's bedroom all day so he was
coming WITH him.
It turns out Rusty was the only one who
could see or hear Gabe, and he talked the
whole way to school. But Rusty didn't
really respond because he didn't want
anyone thinking he was talking to himself.
44
First period for Rusty was Science. And
unfortunately Marcus Meeks was absent
so that meant there was an empty seat
right behind Rusty.
The next period was Spanish and there
was a pop quiz. Rusty didn't get a chance
to look over his notes the night before
so he knew he was in trouble. But this
was where having a ghost friend came in
handy for Rusty.
45
Rusty's teacher graded the quizzes
during class. And when Rusty got his
quiz back he remembered that Gabe had
always been lousy in Spanish.
At recess, Rusty was too tired to play
kickball with the other kids so he sat on
the bench. Then Kelsey Reed sat down
next to him.
46
Kelsey started talking to Rusty and she
was really nice. But when Rusty tried to
talk he could barely think because Gabe
was being really annoying.
On the walk home all Gabe could talk
about was Kelsey Reed. And this time
Rusty didn't even bother responding.
47
That night Rusty needed to study for
a test but of course Gabe made that
impossible.
By now Rusty was overtired and cranky
and finally he just SNAPPED.
Rusty blamed Gabe for his bad grade in
Spanish and said his constant talking was
driving him nuts. And he said maybe it
would've been better if Gabe hadn't come
back in the FIRST place.
48
But as soon as the words left Rusty's
mouth he wished he could take them back
because he could tell he'd hurt his friend's
feelings.
Gabe said that if Rusty felt that way
then maybe he should just go back to the
spirit world. And that kind of got Rusty
a little teary-eyed because he knew if
Gabe was gone for good he'd probably
start missing him again.
49
Rusty said he was sorry and that he
didn't want Gabe to go to the spirit
world.
So Gabe stuck around, and it wasn't for a
little while either. Rusty's grades went
downhill and he didn't bother going to
college because he knew he'd never get any
