6

The ghost reached her blurry arms around me. I could feel something soft, something not-quite-there around my chest. I felt her tug me upward—

And then she stopped, and grunted. “You are a big boy, Hans Dieter.”

“Well, yeah, I’m twelve, not some little kid,” I told her. But I was positive I’d felt that. “Okay, try moving my hair instead.”

I stood very still, and ghostly hands wiggled my locs.

Eli’s eyes were huge. “Whoa.”

“Did you see that?” I asked Eli, grinning. “Great work, Oma!”

Eli scribbled frantically. “Your hair moved, all right! We’ve got to test this.”

After we confirmed that yes, my great-great-grandma could hear him just fine, even if he couldn’t hear her, Eli designed another experiment.

 

EXPERIMENT: CHECK TO SEE IF MRS. S. IS REAL

Researcher: Eli Callahan

Test #1: Ask Mrs. S. to lift the glass of water up in the air while HD stands at the bottom of the stairs.

Do you see anything? Yes, it fell over and spilled!

Test #2: Ask Mrs. S. to lift the glass up in the air while HD stands at the top of the basement stairs.

Do you see anything? Yes, some paper towels floated off of the workbench and cleaned up the water! Then they floated into the trash!

Test #3: Ask HD to go in the kitchen in case he’s doing it somehow, without his knowledge. Then ask Mrs. S. to lift the hockey stick.

Do you see anything? Yes, the hockey stick wiggled a little and fell over!

Test #4: Ask Mrs. S. to lift HD’s backpack while HD still waits in the kitchen.

Do you see anything? Yes! My pencil wrote: “Hans Dieter’s backpack looks heavy, and I am tired” on my experiment sheet!

 

When I came back downstairs, Eli stopped making notes and looked at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you yesterday. And I’m sorry I got mad and didn’t let you explain. That wasn’t a very scientific thing to do.”

“Apology accepted,” I told him, smiling. “Thanks for helping me today.”

“No problem,” Eli said. “So, now what do we do?”

“We make the sauerkraut,” the ghost told us.

I sighed. “Oma wants to teach me how to make sauerkraut.”

“How do you make sauerkraut?” Eli asked the hockey stick.

“I will tell you how!” The ghost grabbed the pencil out of his hand and started writing down instructions.

Eli was carefully reading what the ghost was writing, sounding it out under his breath, so I was quiet and let him concentrate.

How to Make Sauerkraut

You will need five clean cabbages, some juniper berries, and a big box of pickling salt. You will also need a kraut cutter, a pickling crock, and a kraut pounder.

  1. Set aside the outer leaves of the cabbages.

  2. Slice the cabbages with the kraut cutter.

  3. Mix some of the sliced cabbage with some of the juniper berries and some of the salt inside the pickling crock.

  4. Pound the cabbage until it releases its juices.

  5. Add and mix more sliced cabbage, juniper berries, and salt.

  6. Pound again.

  7. Continue until the crock is almost full.

  8. Put cabbage leaves on top of the sliced cabbage in a thick layer.

  9. Put the lid on the crock.

  10. Fill the rim of the crock with water.

  11. Wait 2–3 weeks, or until the sauerkraut is done.

I went over to the crock and examined it. It was bigger than my backpack. “That’s going to be a lot of sauerkraut,” I said.

“Yes, yes,” Oma said, putting the pencil down and nodding the top part of her thick air. She seemed much happier now.

“What’s a kraut cutter?” Eli asked.

Oma floated over and starting trying to yank something out of a box as though she’d been waiting fifty years for someone to ask that. (I guess maybe she had.)

“How do we know when it’s done?” I asked.

“By the taste. When it is the best sauerkraut you have ever eaten, it is done.”

“But I don’t know what sauerkraut tastes like,” I said.

“Then we will taste it together.” She pulled harder at the cutter.

I explained all this to Eli. “I don’t know if she can actually taste anything, though,” I whispered, trying not to be rude.

Eli immediately turned to where the kraut cutter was moving. “Mrs. S., seeing as how you’re a ghost, can you taste the sauerkraut?”

Oma’s thick air froze in place. Very slowly she looked down at the kraut cutter.

“I think she’s going to have to think about that,” I whispered to Eli.

“That’s fine,” Eli said. “I have to get home anyhow.”

“Me too,” I said. “Oma, we have to go, but we’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”

The ghost nodded. “Tomorrow, we can begin the sauerkraut!” she said.