Gage was a small boy with muddy boots, a bright yellow raincoat, and a very brave heart. He lived on a farm where the hens strutted, the sheep chewed, and the red barn squeaked in the wind.
His best friend was Teddy Bear. Teddy Bear was round, soft, and patched on one ear. He liked honey sandwiches, warm naps, and saying important things in a tiny voice.
One sunny morning, Gage ran into the farmyard.
“Come see!” he called. “Farmer May gave me a treasure box!”
It was a little wooden box with a silver star painted on top. Inside was Gage’s most special thing: a shiny blue marble. It looked like a tiny piece of sky.
Teddy Bear clapped his paws. “A very round treasure!”
Gage placed the box on a hay bale. Then he and Teddy Bear helped feed the chickens. They scattered yellow corn. Peck, peck, peck went the chickens.
But when Gage came back, the treasure box was open.
The blue marble was gone.
“Oh,” said Gage.
Teddy Bear looked under the hay bale. “Maybe it rolled away.”
Gage looked by the water pump. Teddy Bear looked inside an empty boot. They looked beneath the wheelbarrow, behind the pumpkin patch, and even under a sleepy goat.
“Excuse me,” Gage said to the goat.
The goat gave a gentle snore.
Then the wind went whoooosh through the barn.
From the dark doorway came a soft sound.
“Oooooooh.”
Teddy Bear’s button eyes grew wide. “That sounded like a ghost.”
Gage felt a wiggly tickle in his tummy. He did not like dark doorways very much. But his blue marble was special, and Teddy Bear was standing close beside him.
“I can be scared and still look,” Gage said.
“That is a very good plan,” whispered Teddy Bear.
They stepped into the barn. Sunbeams came through the wooden walls in long golden stripes. Dust danced in the air. The cow blinked. The pony swished her tail.
“Oooooooh,” came the sound again.
Gage held Teddy Bear’s paw. “Hello? Is someone there?”
A pale, floaty shape drifted down from the loft. It had a long white sheet, two round eyes, and a floppy straw hat.
“Boo,” said the Ghost.
Then he sniffled.
Gage blinked. “Are you crying?”
The Ghost wiped his misty eyes with the corner of his sheet. “Maybe a little. I did not mean to frighten anyone. I was trying to say hello, but my hello sounds spooky.”
“Oooooooh is not very hello-ish,” Teddy Bear said kindly.
The Ghost nodded. “I know.”
Gage noticed something blue shining inside the Ghost’s see-through middle.
“My marble!” he said. “It is in your tummy.”
The Ghost looked down. “Oh dear. It rolled into the barn. I tried to pick it up, but my hand went right through it. Then it floated into me. I cannot get it out.”
Teddy Bear tapped his chin. “A marble in a ghost is a puzzly pickle.”
Gage did not laugh at first. Then he did. Even the Ghost gave a small giggle.
“We will help,” said Gage. “What makes you float?”
“My ghosty breeze,” said the Ghost. “When I am nervous, it swirls too fast.”
“Let us make it slow,” Gage said.
He remembered how Farmer May calmed the pony. “We can breathe slowly. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.”
Gage breathed in. Teddy Bear breathed in. The Ghost breathed in, which made a funny sound like a tiny flute.
They breathed out together.
“Whooooo.”
The Ghost’s sheet stopped flapping. The blue marble slid down inside him, but it did not fall out.
“It moved!” cried Teddy Bear.
“Again,” said Gage.
They breathed in and out three more times. The cow tried it too. The pony made a big horsey puff. A chicken went “brrr-brrr-brrr,” which was not exactly breathing, but it was helpful in its own chicken way.
The marble drifted lower. It reached the Ghost’s toes.
“Almost!” said Gage.
But just then, the barn door banged shut.
BAM!
The Ghost jumped. His ghosty breeze spun wild and fast. Up went the marble, all the way to the rafters!
“Oh, crumbs,” said Teddy Bear.
High above them, the blue marble glimmered on a wooden beam.
Gage looked at the tall ladder. It was much taller than he was. His knees felt a little shaky.
“I do not know if I can climb that,” he said.
Teddy Bear pressed his soft paw against Gage’s hand. “You do not have to do a big thing all at once. You can do one small step.”
Gage looked at the first ladder rung.
“One small step,” he said.
He put one boot on it. Then another. Teddy Bear climbed in front of him, very slowly. The Ghost floated beside them, trying hard not to swirl.
“Slow breeze,” the Ghost whispered to himself. “Slow breeze.”
Up they went. One rung. Two rungs. Three rungs.
At the top, Gage saw the marble. It was resting beside an old bird nest. Inside the nest were three little eggs.
“We must be quiet,” Gage whispered.
Teddy Bear leaned forward, but his patched ear caught on a splinter.
“Oh!” he squeaked.
The beam wobbled.
The marble rolled toward the edge.
Gage stretched out one hand. Not too fast. Not too slow. His fingers closed around the blue marble just before it could fall.
“I got it!” he whispered.
Teddy Bear smiled so wide that his stitched mouth nearly disappeared. “You are a careful climber!”
Gage smiled too. He had been frightened, but he had climbed anyway.
Then the little eggs began to wobble.
Tap. Tap. Crack!
Three tiny chicks popped out. They peeped at Gage, Teddy Bear, and the Ghost.
“Peep?” said one chick.
The Ghost gasped. His ghosty breeze began to spin.
“Slow breeze,” Gage reminded him.
The Ghost took a long, slow breath. “Hello, little chicks,” he said in a soft, normal voice.
The chicks peeped happily.
One climbed onto Teddy Bear’s head. One perched on Gage’s shoulder. The last one walked right through the Ghost’s sheet and came out on the other side.
The Ghost laughed. “That tickles!”
Down the ladder they went, slow and safe. In the farmyard, Gage put his blue marble back into the treasure box. This time he closed the lid with a click.
The Ghost hovered nearby, looking a little lonely.
“Will everyone be afraid of me?” he asked.
Gage thought for a moment. “Maybe they will be surprised at first. But we can help them know you.”
Teddy Bear lifted one paw. “We could give you a name that sounds friendly.”
The Ghost brightened. “Could I be called Puff?”
“Puff is perfect,” said Gage.
So Gage introduced Puff the Ghost to the farm animals. The hens were nervous until Puff helped fan them on a hot day. The sheep liked how he floated above the fence and found juicy grass. The pony liked his gentle, cool breezes.
Puff learned to say, “Good morning!” instead of “Oooooooh!” He still said “boo” sometimes, but only when the goats were being silly. The goats thought it was the funniest game in the world.
Farmer May came out carrying a small tin pail. “I hear we have a new helper on the farm,” she said.
Puff hid behind Gage’s raincoat.
Gage held out his hand. “This is Puff. He helped us find my marble.”
Farmer May smiled. “Then Puff deserves a reward.”
She opened the pail. Inside were little golden bells, each tied with a red ribbon.
“One for Gage,” she said. “One for Teddy Bear. And one for Puff.”
Gage rang his bell. Ting-ting!
Teddy Bear rang his bell. Ting-ting!
Puff’s bell floated in the air and rang all by itself. Ting-ting-ting!
The sound was cheerful and bright. The chicks danced around Gage’s boots. The pony nuzzled his shoulder. Even the goat woke up long enough to say, “Maa!”
That evening, Gage sat on the farmhouse step with Teddy Bear beside him. The blue marble shone in its box. Puff floated over the barn, wearing his straw hat and his new golden bell.
Gage looked at the dusky sky. “Today I found my treasure,” he said.
Teddy Bear nodded. “And we found a friend.”
Above them, Puff gave one careful, happy call.
“Good night!”
It did not sound spooky at all.