Courage followed Muriel into the kitchen where she began to prepare dinner. Courage helped as much as he could by bringing Muriel the things she needed from the refrigerator and putting things back when Muriel was finished with them. Muriel was nearly finished with dinner when a noise from the livingroom distracted her. "Courage, could you go see what caused that noise?"

Courage knew what was making the noise even before he got into the livingroom. Several of the children had ventured into the livingroom while the others watched from the stairs. Courage wagged his tail and gently motioned for them to be quiet. A few seconds later, Mr. Worth drifted down the stairs. "The children were getting restless being cooped up in the attic. I didn't think you or the nice lady would mind if we came down here for a little while."

Courage smiled and was about to give his approval when Muriel stepped out of the kitchen.

"Oh my!" Muriel's startled voice nearly made Courage jump out of his skin. "Why didn't ye tell me we had visitors?"

Mr. Worth stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hello, ma'am. My name is David Worth. You may call me David if you like." He turned to the children. "Be polite to the nice lady and introduce yourselves."

One by one the children introduced themselves to the startled Muriel.

After taking a few seconds to recover from the shock, Muriel introduced herself to the ghosts. "It's nice to meet all of you. My name is Muriel. I was just fixing dinner .. but I don't suppose any of you are able to .." her voice trailed off uncertainly.

Mr. Worth smiled at her. "Most of the children nibble on cookies or candy once in a while. Not all of them are able to eat though. I really have no need or desire for food but I do sometimes like to drink coffee. If you don't mind, we'll just wait in here while you and Courage enjoy your dinner."

Muriel nodded and fumbled for something to say. "Well, make yourselves at home. Turn on the TV if you like. Just be careful when Eustace gets back. I don't know how he would react to .. well.. all of ye bein' here."

Mr. Worth smiled again unable to hide the amusement he felt at Muriel's reaction to him and the children. "Thank you kindly, Muriel. Don't worry, we know how to hide ourselves when we have to."

Muriel stepped back into the kitchen with Courage following her. "So, I take it they're friends of yours?"

Courage nodded. "Uh-huh."

"It wasn't them that was making all that racket last night was it?"

Courage shook his head, "Uh-uh."

Courage and Muriel ate their dinner while the ghosts played and watched TV in the livingroom. When they were done eating, Muriel went back to the stove and began cooking something else while Courage went back into the livingroom with his friends. A few minutes later, Muriel appeard holding a tray with a plate of cookies and a pot of coffee on it.

"I don't know how many of ye can actually enjoy these but please help yourselves." she said as she put the plate of cookies down on the table and smiled as Courage and several of the children began to swarm around the plate of cookies. Turning to Mr. Worth she said, "I made us a pot of coffee."

Mr. Worth thanked Muriel and smiled as he poured coffee into the two cups that Muriel brought into the room. "I haven't had a good cup of coffee in a long time."

Mr. Worth sat down on the couch and watched the children while he sipped his coffee. There were still plenty of cookies left and a few of the children stared uncertainly over at them. Mr. Worth encouraged them. "You can always try to eat one. I'm sure you've gotten strong enough now that you might be able to at least taste it." Each of the children took a cookie then slowly nibbled at it then smiled happily when they found that they were able to eat it.

"See, what have I been telling you?" Mr. Worth smiled encouragingly, "You have all gotten much stronger over the years."

The happy children devoured the rest of the cookies after making sure that Courage got his fair share of the delicious treats.

"So you're that teacher and those are the children that I've heard about all me life." Muriel finally found the courage to ask the question that had been on her mind since she had first heard the stories. "Please forgive me if I'm being rude, but what happened up on that mountain?"

Mr. Worth took a long sip of coffee. "You're not being rude. We went up into the mountains on a trail that I had taken many times before. We had been hiking for a day and a half, intending to go back early the next morning. The weather had been warm and we were all enjoying the trip. It was absolutely beautiful upon that mountain. It was getting near dark when the temperature suddenly dropped. The storm came up without any real waring and it began to snow. We weren't ready for it." He paused and looked down at his cup of coffee. "Nobody could have predicted a storm like that back then. Anyway, we were not able to build a campfire because of the wind and snow. We couldn't even put up a tent. All we could do was huddle together close to the side of the mountain and try to keep warm." He looked up at Muriel. "I doesn't bother me to tell the rest of the story, but do you want to hear the details?"

Muriel silently nodded.

"The children were frightened and I promised not to leave them. It wouldn't have done any good anyway because I never would have gotten off that mountain to get help. We huddled together as the temperature dropped below freezing. One by one, we went to sleep. One by one we found ourselves watching as the others went to sleep then joined us."

Muriel looked shocked to hear him decribe how they all died. "W-were y-ye scared?"

Mr. Worth looked up at her. "We were scared to die and we were scared after we died. It took a while to get used to the fact that we were no longer among the living. But we finally got used to it. We're not really scared anymore. Just a little tired from having to stay here so long."

"Why can't ye leave? I mean, not that I want you to go.. that is I um.."

Mr. Worth laughed. "I understand what you are trying to say. It's difficult to explain... "

Mr. Worth was cut off by the ringing of the telephone.

Muriel picked up the reciever and then turned toward Courage. "It's for you."

Courage listened as Alden told him that he had figured out where the third stone tablet had been burried. But they couldn't go dig it up right away because the strange sightings had brought a few curious ghost hunters out to the old Nowhere Cemetary. They would have to wait until well after midnight to go search for the stone tablet. He told Courage that he would pick him and Mr. Worth up at about 1:00 in the morning so they would be able to search for the tablet in peace. Courage indicated that he understood and hung up the phone.

He was struggling to come up with a way of telling Mr. Worth what Alden had said but Mr. Worth just smiled and said, "Don't worry, Courage. I heard everything."

Muriel gave them both a puzzled look.

Mr. Worth explained the whole thing to Muriel who responded with a shocked, "Oh my!!"

She was about to say something else when Eustace opened up the front door.

Instantly ghosts disappeared into thin air as Eustace walked in and looked around. "Looks like you've been having some kind of party or something in here!" Eustace growled as he saw the tray with the empty plate and the cookie crumbs all over the floor. Luckily, Mr Worth had taken his cup of coffee with him so Muriel was able to convince Eustace that she and Courage were the ones who made all the mess.

"I turn me back and the two of you act like mice when the cats away! Did ya save any cookies for me?!"

"Of course we did, Eustace." Muriel went into the kitchen and returned with another plate of cookies and a cup for Eustace's coffee.

Courage used this opportunity to sneak upstairs into his attic room.

Mr. Worth and the most of the children were resting while the other children stood guard. He opened his eyes when Courage stepped into the room. "You should get some sleep before Alden gets here. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."

Courage curled up on the floor at his feet and closed his eyes.