The second Daddy spoke, the ride stopped. The Everses were looking at each other in confusion. Jim tapped me on the shoulder.

"That's not in the normal ride script," he whispered. "What's going on?"

"There are things going on in my house that aren't really to my liking. I need to have a little talk with my father, Mr. Evers."

He looked startled. "Your father? You mean the Ghost Host is an actual ghost? I thought he was just a gimmick that Disney made up to get the ride to work."

I had to laugh a little at that. "Do you think I'm a gimmick too? Mr. Evers, this is my home. This is where I've lived for let me see-" I stopped and counted on my fingers. Three years, then the two years after therapy, another two years of therapy, then three more years here before I ran off to the circus. "-Eight years of my life, not to mention a few months and weeks of my afterlife. With the exception of that grotesque thing in the attic, everyone in this house was alive at one point or another and became ghosts later."

Now everyone's mouths were open and they all looked like fish breathing underwater.

"So you're saying that everyone in this house is an actual ghost including you? You don't just work here as a member of the sideshow?" Michael asked meekly.

I shook my head yes. "And someone has some explaining to do." I dematerialized out of the Doombuggy and into the hallway. I let up the bars on the other cars so that they all could follow me back to the foyer. They got out and allowed me to lead the way.

When we arrived, I marched to the foot of the stairway and screamed.

"Daddy! Get down here please, I need to talk to you about something." And then I heard hurried footsteps. Pretty soon my father appeared at the top of the stairway and walked down the flight to meet me at the bottom. When he saw the Everses standing behind me, he paled for a second, but handled it with ease, having a smile for me when he reached me.

"Yes Chrissy, honey, what can I do for you?"

I frowned. "Daddy, don't 'Chrissy honey' me right now. I have seen with my own eyes that our house has been turned into an amusement park ride. Did I or did I not specifically request that you not do anything strange or weird to the house while I was gone at Tara?"

His gaze was on his shoes. "Yes, you did."

"And did you not assure me that when I returned home everything would be like it was when I had left?"

"Yes, I did."

"Well, Daddy, I have to say that selling our house to amusement park people counts as doing something strange or weird."

"Excuse me, Christine," Jim said before Daddy could reply, "didn't you say that he was your father?"

Daddy inclined his head. "Yes, I am her father. George Gracey, at your service."

That raised some eyebrows, but only I knew why.

I nodded. "Yes Mr. Evers, I did. What about it?"

"Well, what about the 'respecting your elders' thing?"

At that, Daddy looked up. "Christine Lillian, I had nothing but good intentions in doing this. Getting my own father back and bonding with him made me realize that I didn't give you the attention you deserved. I only did this so we could have a little bonding time. Get to know each other better. Besides, you haven't seen the rest of the house."

I opened my mouth to say that I didn't really want to see the rest of the house, but the excitement of everyone in the Evers party overrode me.

"Yes," Edward said, "let's see the rest of the house."

"Come on, Christine," Jim urged, "You've barely scratched the surface."

Seeing I was in the minority, I sighed in defeat and went with them. We got back on the ride and went through more.

I have to admit, I was charmed by the music room and the enchanted busts, but I felt dismayed in the conservatory.

"Daddy, why are you having Jamie do this when Lettie and I cured him of the habit?"

"He said that's what he wanted Chrissy. He won't do anything else."

We rode a little more. Finally, Jim said we were coming to the séance room. When I saw who the medium was, I screamed again.

"Daddy, what is she doing here? I thought you fired her!"

"We needed a spiritual medium, and she was already here, and so I felt that I needn't go to the trouble of hiring a new one."

I growled to myself as hot tears of frustration spilled out of my eyes.

When it was time for the attic, I asked Daddy what the thing was supposed to be.

He didn't want to tell me right away, but finally, he said "that is a representation of Emily. She has never come back, and we still haven't found her body.

I cried. My beautiful stepmother was a fat green blimp with wild hair. How could they do that? I wanted to smash the figure to pieces.

And still, one more surprise awaited me. Lettie, standing on a ledge, bade us goodbye.

"Hurry ba-ack. Hurry baa-ack. Be sure to bring your death certificate. If you decide to join us, make final arrangements now. We're dying to have you."

Soon after we passed under the ledge, she dropped her flowers and materialized on the ground in front of Daddy.

"Daddy, I hate this job. It's so boring. Give me another one."

Daddy snorted. "You're lucky you have a job at all. If you're so bored by it, you're fired. I've been looking for a job to give Chrissy, and with her doing the farewells, at least this place will have some Southern charm."

She growled at him and stalked away. I looked at him, flabbergasted. "Daddy, I don't support this. And even if I did, I wouldn't want Lettie's job. I'd want something that was my own."

I turned then, went to my room, and cried, trapping everyone in the house as I went. No one would leave here until some changes were made.

As I cried on my bed, I reached for the phone and dialed Greeling Terrace. Michael answered on the first ring.

"Peach, I've been meaning to call you. I think we should take a break from our relationship. Getting the house back has been really stressful, and I won't be able to see you for awhile."

I sniffled. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Yes, but only temporarily."

I hung up and rummaged around under my bed. Finally, I found what I was looking for. A box that was filled to the brim with unopened liquor bottles. I opened one and downed it, then another, then another. Michael wasn't coming. I might never see him again. Finally, I stopped drinking and put the bottles away. Then, still crying, I ran to the séance room and looked at Leota. I ran out of the room and came back with an umbrella. Then, with all my might, I smashed her ball into pieces. Then I left.

And once I was gone, she rose from the pile of broken glass and said an incantation which gave her an ethereal body. Smiling to herself, she left the house and walked a nearby cemetery. She stopped in front of a grave that read:

Andrew McKinnon

1915-1936

Loving son

RIP

This was where Scott's spirit lay. She quickly resurrected him. He came to her and said

"Mother, where's father?"

Leota frowned. "Scott, Melanie and Ravenswood Manor are no longer available to us. Your father has been vanished. But we can still have Gracey Manor. Christine is in a delicate emotional state and will be easily manipulated. And you are going to help me."

Little Leota's ride dialogue is Disney's too.