CHAPTER 11

In the Old Hotel

You couldn’t miss the Monte Vista Hotel. It was the tallest building in town, and had a big electric sign on the roof, in capital letters. I went in. The place was full of cowboys. A lot of them were in the bar, and a lot of them were standing around in the lobby, hitching up their belts and spitting into spittoons. I walked up to the desk. A guy with slicked-down red hair—I guessed it must be Charley—said, “You the kid? Here’s your key. Room 107—it’s up those stairs.”

I looked around the lobby, and listened to the sound of spit hitting the spittoons. The cowboys were interesting to look at, and they were good spitters. There was a kid my age in the lobby. He was a handsome kid, wearing a cowboy hat. He was leaning against the wall and spitting. He wasn’t bad at it either. I went over and leaned next to him, and took aim at a spittoon.

“Not bad,” the kid said.

“I practice a lot,” I said.

“That’s a neat hat,” he said.

“It’s a hoghead hat,” I said.

“Mine’s a Stetson,” the kid said. “You want to trade?”

“For keeps?”

“Let’s see how we look,” the kid said. We swapped hats.

“How do I look?” the kid said.

“You look like a hogger,” I said. “Try the bandanna.”

“You look like a cowboy,” the kid said. “You want to make the trade?”

“My father gave me the hat,” I said.

“So? My father gave me that one. Your father a railroad man?”

“Shoelace man,” I said. “Your father a cowboy?”

“Nah, movie star,” the kid said. “I’m Seamus Finn.”

“I’m Neddie Wentworthstein.”

“My father is Aaron Finn. You know who he is?”

“Not sure.”

“Did you see The Three Musketeers?”

“Wait! Is he the guy who played Dart-Onion?”

“That’s him. He was Dart-Onion, and he was Count Luigi in The Swordmaster.”

“He’s good! Is he like that in real life?”

“Nah, he’s an actor. He’s in the bar, studying the cowboys so he can be one. Are you here with your father?”

“I’m on my own. I understand the room where I’m staying has a ghost.”

“No fooling?”

“So I’m told.”

“A real ghost? How do you know?”

“Come with me,” I said to Seamus Finn. I walked him over to the desk. “Charley,” I said. “Does room 107 have a ghost in it?”

“Yes, but it’s not a real bad one,” Charley said.

“It’s really a real ghost?” Seamus Finn asked Charley.

“It’s a ghost,” Charley said. “You know, it appears, it vanishes. Would you say that was real, or not real?”

“When my father comes out of the bar, tell him I went with Neddie,” Seamus said. “My father is the guy with the biggest cowboy hat.”

“I know. Dart-Onion,” Charley said.