Tina had just moved to a new house with her parents. It was a large rambling house with a garden and an apple orchard. She had fun wandering all over it and discovering all kinds of secret cupboards and rooms.
Tina now had a room for herself too. The best thing was a large shelf for keeping all her toys! She arranged all her soft toys—the ships and boats, the dolls, the doll house and its stuff, and the teddy bear, the ball and a jar containing her marbles.
When Tina was dressed, she decided to play with her ball in the garden. It was not on the shelf.
‘It must have rolled off at night,’ she thought, looking for her ball under the bed and behind the curtains. But it was nowhere to be found.
She decided to play with something else. She had a great time exploring the garden too. When she got back, all tired and happy, there was her ball on the shelf!
‘Mummy must have found it,’ she thought, ‘I’ll play with it tomorrow.’
But the next day, the ball was missing again, and so was her teddy bear! Again, she looked for them but they couldn’t be found. She asked Mummy, but she hadn’t seen them either.
Puzzled, Tina played with her toys in the garden again and when she came in, she saw that the teddy bear and the ball were back on the shelf.
That night Tina woke up hearing a thump-thump-thump. Her ball was bouncing in the room as if someone was playing with it.
“Who is that?” Tina whispered, frightened, as she sat up in bed.
“It’s me!” said a voice.
“Who is ‘me’?” asked Tina.
“My name is Hudson. I used to live in this house a long time ago,” said the voice.
“Why can’t I see you?” asked Tina.
“That’s because I’m a ghost,” replied Hudson.
“So you are the one who’s been playing with my toys all the time!”
“Yes, of course!” said Hudson, “I hope you don’t mind. I have never seen toys like these. So I am enjoying playing with them.”
“Will you play with me too?” asked Tina, “I do feel a little lonely sometimes.”
“Hey! That’s a lovely idea!” exclaimed Hudson, “I’m lonely too. I haven’t had a friend for ages!”
The next day, Mummy looked out of the window and found Tina playing happily in the garden.
‘What a strange girl she is!’ she thought, ‘She keeps talking to herself!’
