Casper Tells a Story

In a rickety mansion on a hill, Fatso the ghost was looking a little green. He had heavily participated in a Day of the Dead celebration the night before and it still felt like a whole community of jumping beans was partying in his stomach. "Serves you right for cleaning out all the cemetery offerings!" His brother Stretch said crossly. "Yeah" his brother Stinky added. "Not to mention you didn't leave any for us!" "Come on you guys, I'm sorry enough already." Fatso said rubbing his groaning tummy.

At that moment, the trio's nephew, Casper floated into the bedroom. "Hi guys!" Casper said to his uncles. "How's Uncle Fatso doing?" "Never better." Fatso groaned trying to keep down the offerings. Stinky looked worried. "Stretch, how are we gonna haunt the carnival tonight without Fatso?" "Simple" Stretch answered. "We do twice the work. Which means we can wreck...I mean...ride the tilt a whirl twice!" "It's okay guys! I'm feeling better already!" Fatso cried desperately, but his gurgling stomach forced him to lie back down. In his condition, he wasn't going anywhere.

Stretch looked at the clock, if the two adult ghosts didn't hurry, they'd miss the first wave of fleshies to scare. "Casper you stay behind and watch Fatso and we'll get you something nice from the carnival." "Okay" Casper agreed. "Just as long as it's not stolen from anybody." "No promises!" Stinky and Stretch said in unison. And off they went singing all the way to the carnival.

Fatso sighed as he flipped on the TV, but no sooner did he turn it on than he was greeted by a baking contest! Seeing his uncle turn a new shade of green, Casper grabbed the remote and started flipping through every channel. Unfortunately, nearly everything had something to do with food. Turning off the TV, Casper turned to his uncle and asked, "Why don't I tell you a story instead?"

"A story? What do I look like? A kid?" Fatso asked morphing into a five-year old. Casper laughed. "No, you look like an uncle who needs to take his mind off of food." "Oh! Don't say, 'food!'" Uncle Fatso cried changing back into himself. Knowing his uncle wasn't a reader, Casper decided to tell a story from the heart. He then got the sick ghost comfortable, brought him a bottle of seltzer, and started to tell the story. "This is the story about a birthday I had, where I thought no one would come." Casper began.

"Before I made the friends I have now, everyone was scared of me and my family because we were ghosts. It was pretty lonely for us then, because we were the only ghosts in the neighborhood." Fatso's interest was piqued. He had no idea that Casper and his parents had gone through these hard times. Mostly because they never told anyone. "When my birthday came around, I decided that I would make my own wish come true and look for friends to invite to my party."

"First I looked through the woods near my house. I didn't find any ghosts there, just a lot of animals who didn't like ghosts." "Why don't you scare like that at school?" Fatso asked upon discovering what sounded like a hidden talent in his nephew. "Oh, the animals weren't scared because of anything I did, they just didn't want to give a ghost a chance. Since they do that with humans too, I decided I was better off checking the town for guests."
  

"Next, I tried the zoo, but the kids there were so scared they let all the animals loose and rode them out of there. One kid even rode a snake. Then I tried the suburban and urban neighborhoods, but I wasn't welcome in those places either. Finally, I tried the library, cause whoever heard of people running from you in a library? I did, right then and there."

Fatso was taken aback by all this. He didn't realize how bad his nephew's family had it in their first hometown. He thought they'd only moved because of Casper's parents' new jobs at the time. Suddenly, he felt a sinking feeling like his heart had dropped to the bottom of stomach.
"Are you okay Uncle Fatso?" Casper asked noticing his uncle's pained look followed by a deep stomach growl. "I'm okay kid," Fatso said rubbing his belly. "You keep talking. I wanna know how the story ends."

"Well, I went back home thinking I was gonna have the worst birthday ever, when my ghost cat, Banshee showed up. Banshee always knew when I was sad and encouraged me to sit down and pet her. I told Banshee that I felt I was never gonna have friends cause I was always gonna be a scary old ghost, but Banshee wouldn't hear of it. So, she teleported back home and came back with her yarn ball. Since ghost cats don't take 'no' for an answer Banshee and I spent the whole rest of the afternoon tying up the town until the cops told us to wind her yarn back up again!"
Fatso had a laugh at this part.
  

"When we finally got home," Casper continued. "The house was totally empty! Where did everybody go? I was just about to search the whole house when I heard, 'Surprise! Happy Birthday Casper!' My parents had invited my whole ghost family to my birthday party! Even Spooky and Poil showed up! What started out as my worst birthday ever, ended up being my best because all the ghosts I loved showed up to celebrate it. Even you Uncle Fatso!"

"I remember that party!" Fatso said excitedly. "Your uncles and I lifted a whole 99 cent store for your presents, and it's still floating now!" "I remember we had to have two cakes because you ate the first one!" "Oh! Don't mention cake!" Fatso said as his stomach gurgled like a witch's cauldron. "Sorry Uncle Fatso." Casper said, realizing his mistake. "Don't worry kid (burp) my stomach's not as upset as it was earlier. I'm gonna take a rest though. I've got a long night ahead of me." "Well, goodnight, Uncle Fatso. Let me know if you need help in your dreams." "Will do Casper" Fatso said giving him a big hug.

When his uncle had fallen asleep, Banshee the ghost cat came to check on everyone. "I think I'll get ready for bed too Banshee" Casper said heading for the bathroom. "With all that Uncle Fatso ate, he's gonna have more nightmares than he can count!"

Four hours later, while nephew and uncle fought their way through food induced nightmares, Fatso's phone rang while featuring an unknown number on the screen! Banshee checked it after it went to voicemail and was greeted by an angry message from Stretch!

"Hey Fatso!" Stretch yelled into the phone. "Stinky here got us busted at the carnival! Pick us up at the fire station, will ya?"

Banshee quickly erased the message and turned the phone off. Those two needed to cool off for the night, and Banshee needed to help Casper and Fatso battle giant marshmallow men in their dreams!

Author's Note: The story Casper tells is based on the cartoon, "Casper's Birthday Party" with many creative liberties taken. Banshees the cat is based on Casper's cat featured in the ghost's first cartoon, "The Friendly Ghost." You can watch both cartoons on YouTube now.