"Psst – Jonathan!"

"Yeah?" Jonathan half sat up in bed.

"Are you coming to school tomorrow?"

Jonathan's face fell. "Dunno. I hope Mum will let me stay home again."

"But you have to come," Candy hissed back.

"Why?"

"Ssh!" Candy slipped out of bed. "Don't let Mum hear us – it's a secret."

That certainly piqued Jonathan's interest. "What?"

"The Captain is going to help me put things straight about Dad at assembly tomorrow. He's going to..." She cupped her hands around her mouth as she whispered the plan in his ear.

And Jonathan's face slowly opened up with excitement. "That's awesome! That'll...!"

He was cut off by his sister's hand over his mouth. "Quiet!" she hissed.

He nodded eagerly, and she let go of him. "I sure want to see that!" he exulted under his breath. "You bet I'm coming to school tomorrow!"

"And play along if necessary," Candy stipulated.

"Sure." He let out an eager sigh. "Boy, I can't wait to see everybody's faces!"


Shortly before 2.30, the children and the staff of Schooner Bay Elementary School filed into the gym. Tarpaulins still covered the holes in the roof, but for the rest, the interior was back to normal.

With the teachers hissing for silence, the children were herded onto the benches. Candy caught Jonathan's grin at her as the first grade passed her class to go and sit at one of the benches further up front. She gave him a wobbly smile in return.

For what if it wouldn't work? What if the Captain forgot? Had she even told him what time assembly was? Would the people really believe it? Even the grown-ups at the back?

She glanced over her shoulder. And gulped. Two dozen Mums and Dads at least. That was certainly good news for the reach her speech would have around town, but suddenly she wished there weren't any grown-ups at all. It'd be so much easier if she'd just have to go up there and talk in front of her school mates and the teachers...

And there was Mr. Hampton coming down the aisle between the benches. He winked at her, and bent forward to whisper to her, "Right after your class's performance, okay?"

Candy nodded. And squirmed when he walked on. For this meant she had to sit through the performances of kindergarten, first and second grade first – plus do the recital of her own class. Suddenly she wished she could have it over and done with right now – as well as postponing it as far off in the future as possible. Maybe when she finished school or so...


For hours, Mrs. Muir had sat at her typewriter. Sitting, staring, typing, x-ing out what she'd just typed, and crumpling up the paper to throw it in the bin. Clearly, inspiration was at a low ebb today.

At last, she got up and began to pace the room. This was no use – she was too distracted to write anything sensible. And she knew all too well what was bothering her: the thought of having to go into town again one day, to subject herself to being censured and despised and ignored wherever she'd go, and all for her dear, innocent Bob... And the children, being mocked and bullied and ostracized – all for crimes their father had never committed.

Maybe Claymore was right. Maybe the only thing to do was to get out of here, as far away as possible. But the idea of leaving her present – albeit ghostly – tower of strength was almost as frightening as the thought of having to face the town again. Just how bound to Gull Cottage was the Captain? Couldn't he – perhaps – come with them to China or Australia or wherever they'd end up?

"Captain?"

Nothing.

"Captain Gregg?" She stood still and listened intently. But all she heard was the sound of Martha vacuuming downstairs, some birdsong in the tree outside, and the faint crashing of the waves on the beach.

He wasn't there anymore.

He was gone.

Gone.

He, too – her refuge, her tower of strength – had left her to face this frightening ordeal on her own.

And once again, her tears overcame her.


"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free..."

Candy recited the well-rehearsed lines on auto-pilot. Just another minute or so, and... How come time was suddenly flying?

Applause welled up – genuinely pleased from the grown-ups, bored from the kids. Mrs. Henderson directed her class to bow, and then shooed them off the small stage. "Come on, Candace," she hissed.

But Candy shook her head and remained rooted to the spot, crumpling the paper in the pocket of her dress.

"Candace!" An annoyed Mrs. Henderson reached out to grab her by the arm, but there was Mr. Hampton at her side.

"It's alright, Mrs. Henderson," he said. "Candy has something to tell us."

The teacher sent her a look that was as suspicious as it was surprised. But duty forced her to join her students in the audience, and so Mr. Hampton and Candy were left alone on the stage.

A sudden wave of whispers went through the hall, and Mr. Hampton waited a moment for it to subside.

Candy gulped. There was a whole sea of faces looking up at her now, and none of them too friendly. And where was the Captain?

But Mr. Hampton cut into her thoughts, announcing, "Candy Muir has something to tell us. Please give her a warm applause."

The applause was lukewarm at best, and he squeezed her shoulder. "I'll be right behind you," he mouthed.

And there, the miracle of all miracles, was the Captain, sitting sideways on the edge of the stage. He crossed his arms and said, "Just talk to me if it's scary to look at everyone else."

Candy managed a small smile, and pulled the paper from her pocket. A deep breath and... "Last week, Mrs. Henderson told us to write an essay about our father. As some of you have read, and most of you have heard, I handed in an essay saying that my father is a seacaptain." Her voice quivered a little, but she knew the text the Captain had helped her prepare well.

"But that was the second version of my essay. The first version went like this." She straightened out the crumpled notebook page and read, "My father's name is Robert Edward Muir. He was born on March 17th, 1935 in Philadelphia as the son of Ralph and Marjorie Muir. He had two younger brothers, named Michael and Andrew. He worked at the city council. He married my Mum in 1959. They got me in 1960, and my brother Jonathan in 1962. He died in a car accident in 1964."

She looked up. "Yes, my father died when I had only just turned four. That's why I barely remember him, so I didn't know what else to write in my essay. I could have asked my Mum, but..." She swallowed. "She still loves my Dad very much, and talking about him often makes her cry, because she misses him so much. And I don't want to make her cry. So that's why I made up that story about having a seacaptain for a father – just so I had enough to write for a proper essay."

Her eyes flitted over the audience; then they focused on the Captain again. "I don't know where those stories about my Dad being a pansy and a criminal come from, for I never wrote anything like that. And I'm sorry about the confusion my essay caused, but I beg you – please stop saying all these awful things about my father! They're not true, and you're making my mother very unhappy. And life is difficult enough for her without being treated as a pariah. Can you please just treat her as you always have?"

A murmur went through the hall. Mrs. Wilkins – Jonathan's class teacher – seemed sincerely moved by her plea. But most kids looked either bored or were giggling, and as for the grown-ups in the back... Candy gulped. Their skeptical and leering faces did not bode well. That meant it was now up to...

She felt a sudden hand on her shoulder, and as from afar, she heard Mr. Hampton say that he wholeheartedly seconded her request to end those malicious rumours once and for all. She saw young Mrs. Wilkins in the first row nod, and stretch out her hand to Jonathan. But where was...?

Suddenly, pandemonium broke loose in the hall. People shrieking, screaming, kids jumping up wide-eyed and pointing at the stage, Mrs. Stuttard fainting, Mr. Hampton swivelling around and jumping at least a foot high... and Candy, who in well-rehearsed shocked surprise squeaked, "Dad!?"

"Yes, Candy. It's me." The man who had appeared centre stage out of absolutely nowhere was fortyish, had lightbrown curly hair and blue eyes – no beard or moustache – and wore a contemporary suit. "How I miss you all..."

Poor Mr. Hampton hiccuped. "You mean... you are...?"

"Robert Edward Muir, sir. The late husband of Mrs. Carolyn Muir and father of Candy and Jonathan." He sighed. "Or rather – the ghost of Robert Edward Muir."

More gasps and shrieks from the audience, while Mrs. Henderson tried to bring Mrs. Stuttard round, and suddenly Jonathan climbed up on the stage as well. "Dad? You're alive!" He ran forward to (pretend to) hug the Captain (for of course it was he), but the ghost quickly popped out of sight and reappeared on Candy's other side – which only caused renewed shrieks. And in the back, one of the grown-ups threw open the door and bolted outside.

But there was not an eye in the room that was not fixed on the stage right now, and that was just the way the Captain wanted it. "I'm sorry, lad," he said to Jonathan. "I'm only a ghost – you would go right through me if you tried to hug me. See?" He let his arm glide through the lectern at the side, eliciting a new wave of startled gasps.

"It's a trick!" a female voice cried from the back.

The Captain frowned – teasingly almost. "Is it, Mrs. Hassenhammer? Then how do you explain this?" All of a sudden he stood in front of her, scattering all the other parents, and grabbed her by the throat. No – not by the throat; in the throat! Everyone around them saw it clearly: his hand had grasped her by the throat and had disappeared into her throat!

Mrs. Hassenhammer stood paralyzed; her eyes bulging.

"It's a trick, is it?" the ghost taunted.

"Get your hands off her, you slimy...!" But Mick Jones bounced right back when his hands grabbed right through the ghostly nothing.

"Get an exorcist!" Mrs. Schoemaker shrieked at the top of her lungs, and then she fainted in Seth Standish's arms.

And suddenly, the ghost of Mr. Muir was jumping back and forth through the hall, from the stage to the rafters and from among the kids to the parents and back, causing everyone to scatter in fear wherever he appeared.

But whether he was visible or not, his monologue continued. "I have heard," he droned, his voice eerily fading in and out, "That some people in this town – or should I say, 'practically everyone in this town'? – have been viciously maligning me. And through me, my beloved Carolyn and my dear children. And I want it stopped. Now! Is that clear?"

He waited a moment for an answer, but all he got were a few gulps. So he continued, "My family has enough to suffer, having to go through life without me. Believe me, I've moved heaven and earth to try and return to them, but I can't. And I will not have you add to their burden by telling such ludicrous nonsense about the man they love and miss so much. Nonsense, yes!" His eyes bored into those of the main culprits at the back of the hall. "And if I hear one more word of those tales..." – suddenly he was back among the parents – "or one more unkind word to my Carolyn or my children..." – his eyes flashed in anger – "then I will come and haunt the culprit to the end of his days! And believe me..." He narrowed his eyes and glared at the petrified grown-ups around him. "What you've seen today is child's play compared to what you'd be subjected to then!" He made a sweeping gesture, by all appearances decapitating those standing nearest to him, causing a collective gasp. "So you will all treat my wife and my children with kindness... or else...!"

The next moment he was gone, but everybody instinctively ducked when his disembodied voice boomed one last exhortation through the hall. "Be warned, Schooner Bay!"

Silence.

"W-w-what was that?" stammered Mrs. Stuttard, who'd only just come round.

"That?" Candy jumped off the stage, her eyes shining with excitement. "That was my Dad!"


The kids were absolutely giddy when Martha brought them home from school.

"Mum! Mu-um!"

Mrs. Muir hurried out of the kitchen. "What's the matter?"

"Mum, you've got to come to town with us!"

"Yeah!" Jonathan added. "You'll love it now!"

Mrs. Muir bit her lip. "I'd really rather not, sweetheart. Maybe some other time."

"Oh, but it's a changed place, Mrs. Muir!" Martha joined in.

"Yeah, everyone is super friendly to us now!" Jonathan told her.

"Really?"

"Oh yes," Martha confirmed. "A bit skittish perhaps, but very friendly. I've never seen anything like it! And everybody was asking about you. I have to pass on the regards of the Joneses, the Vissers, the Hassenhammers, the Schoemakers, Mrs. Wilkins, the Keanes, the Standishes, the... who else?"

"Mr. Hampton," Candy filled in.

"Yes. And Mrs. Henderson, too, and the Davenports and..." Martha lost count, and Mrs. Muir struggled to pull up her jaw.

"All of a sudden? How come?"

"Because of Candy's speech!" Jonathan announced.

"Candy's spee..." Mrs. Muir gave her daughter a flabbergasted look. "What speech?"

Candy had a happy shrug. "I just told them the truth about my essay." And as Martha conveniently disappeared into the kitchen, she added sotto voce, "And the Captain helped, too."

Jonathan smirked. "Yeah, that really spooked them!"

"The Captain?" Mrs. Muir mouthed. She took the kids into the living-room where they could talk without being overheard by Martha in the kitchen. "What did he do?"

"I merely lent credibility to Candy's story." The Captain, suddenly leaning against the fireplace, winked at Candy.

Mrs. Muir looked suspicious. "You didn't...?"

"And I can tell you, madam, your daughter did really well. She really deserves an ice-cream. And so does your son, whose improvised interference worked like a charm to further Candy's plea."

Mrs. Muir looked back and forth between her beaming children and the smug innocence on the face of the ghost of the house. She wasn't sure what to think of their tale. "Alright," she sighed at last. "I believe Martha still has some strawberry ice-cream in the freezer."

"No, no, no," the Captain objected. "This calls for a celebration. With real ice-cream. Official. At the Lobster House."

"At the...?!"

But before she could protest any further, the Captain herded the three Muirs back outside and to the car.

And Mrs. Muir sighed. She knew by experience that if Captain Gregg had set his mind to something, it was sheer impossible to escape his plans. So apparently there was nothing to do but to go to Schooner Bay for ice-cream. The motor of the car was already running, but... "Captain, I do need to bring my purse if we are to go for ice-cream."

"Nonsense!" he sang. "Now off you go!" She was literally put in the car, and as soon as the door was closed, it sped off by itself toward Schooner Bay. And stopped at the curb at the lower end of the Main Street, and refused to budge anymore.

"Blast," Mrs. Muir muttered under her breath. At least he could have driven them close to the Lobster House?

But a friendly smiling face appeared at the open window. "Hello, Mrs. Muir, how are you today? Hello Candy and Jonathan." It was Mrs. Visser.

"Erm... hello," Mrs. Muir mumbled.

"It's good to see you back in town," Mrs. Visser chatted pleasantly. "We really don't see enough of you around here. Perhaps you should come around for coffee next week, what do you say?"

"Erm..."

"Well, any day is fine with me. Looking forward to it, dear! Bye now!"

"Captainnn!" Mrs. Muir ground as soon as the face had disappeared from her window.

But there was Mr. Peevey. "Hello, Mrs. Muir! Anything that needs fixing at your house today?"

"Oh, hi, Mrs. Muir! My, what a lovely shirt you're wearing! Orange really brings out your natural beauty!" sang Mrs. Hassenhammer.

"Hello, Mrs. Muir!" Seth Standish greeted from across the street.

"Good day, Mrs. Muir!" his companion Bill Davenport added.

And there was Mrs. Grover. "Ah, there you are, darling. I read your latest article in New Woman's Magazine the other day. Absolutely delightful! You've got great talent! Perhaps you should try and write a novel one day!"

"Mrs. Muir! So good to see you!"

"Ah, Mrs. Muir! So glad you could make it to town today! We hadn't seen you in a while; we started worrying that perhaps you were ill!"

"My dear Mrs. Muir, how are you? Did Gull Cottage survive that storm alright, or is there much damage? I'll be happy to come and help you fix it."

"Oh, hello, Mrs. Muir! How are you today? Beautiful weather, isn't it?" That was Mrs. Henderson.

And the barrage of friendliness didn't stop when they finally got a chance to get out of the car and began to walk in the direction of Norrie's Lobster House. Mark Finley came out of the newspaper office and offered her a partnership, leaving her completely free in how she'd want to run her sections of the paper; Eileen O'Hara waved to them from her place at the cash register; Claymore came scuttling out of his office to tell her that he was really, really sorry, but that for tax reasons, he really couldn't lower the rent any further; and everyone they passed nodded at them, smiled at them, greeted them, stopped to chat with them, with the result that it took them nearly an hour to walk the 150 meters to the Lobster House. And there...

"Ah, the lovely Mrs. Muir! And Candy, and Jonathan! Come in, come in!" Norrie bowed for them, and in an obsequious exuberance they had never before seen in him, he prattled on, "Would this table at the window please you? Please, have a seat!" He pulled out the chairs, and gentlemanly pushed them in for Candy and Mrs. Muir. "What shall it be today? I've just received some fresh lobsters, and... oh, ice-cream? Of course. Three super coupes, coming right up. With double extra cream and fresh strawberries. No, no – it's all on the house! Nothing but the best for you and the children, Mrs. Muir!"

He scurried off to prepare the ice-coupes, and finally the other guests had a chance to showcase their friendliness towards Mrs. Muir. Until Norrie returned with three gigantic coupes full of fresh strawberries and ice-cream, and they were finally left to themselves to enjoy their treat.

It was then that the Captain appeared behind Jonathan's chair. "Your worries eased, madam?" he asked quietly.

She smiled in a sigh. "Well, it's certainly a change for the better – although a bit over the top. Right now it's simply... a little too much."

He returned the smile. "I'm sure it'll wear off in time. A little at least."

"Yes." She shook her head at him. "Well, I don't know what you did, and to be honest, I'm not sure I want to know what you did, but... thank you, Captain."

He made a slight bow. "My pleasure, madam. But the one you should really thank is your brave and resourceful daughter."

Mrs. Muir pulled Candy close for a moment and kissed her. "Thank you, sweetheart." And Candy, with her mouth full of strawberries and ice-cream, hugged her right back.

"So..." The Captain pulled at his ear. "No more plans for running off to China then, I hope?"

"China?" Jonathan echoed. "What are we supposed to do in China?"

"Nothing," his mother assured him. "We're staying right here where we belong: in Gull Cottage by the sea."

.

And in Gull Cottage by the sea, they all lived and/or existed happily ever after as a family.

Even though the family's father figure was only a ghost...

.

The End


.

Note: The poetry lines recited by Candy's class come from God Bless America by Irving Berlin.