That night, my ghost helped me with my homework. I had to color in a picture of an animal, and then circle the name of the animal from the options presented.
I was sitting at my desk in my room, with my ghost standing just beside me, looking over my shoulder. My box of crayons spilled out on the table, and a black one sat in my hand.
I didn't know what I was coloring until my ghost explained. "It's a tiger, Cherry. They're like your kitty, but much bigger. Orange, with black stripes." He pulled out the orange crayon to match my black one.
I admired the tiger. "Does it have a name?"
My ghost blinked. "I just told you."
"No, I mean like its own name. Like how my name is Cherry." I tapped the black crayon against my desk.
My ghost smiled at me fondly. "You can name it whatever you like."
I paused, thinking, then looked up at his face. "What's your name?"
I had never asked my ghost his name before; he'd always just been 'my ghost' to me. He looked at me, a little surprised at my question. "Why do you ask?"
I shrugged a little, tapping my black crayon again. "I dunno. You call me by my name."
"That's fair." My ghost took a blank piece of paper from my notebook. "I tell you what. I'll write my name, and you can practice your reading by guessing what it is."
I sighed; I didn't much like reading yet. "Can't you just tell me what it is?"
"Come on, it'll be fun." My ghost took the pink crayon from my box, and wrote his name slowly. He then passed the paper over to me.
I inspected the name. I was still learning my letters, so I decided to just take a guess. "Gerald?"
My ghost laughed. Even though it was at my expensse, I knew he didn't mean anything by it. "No, guess again."
I wasn't sure I was reading it right. "Gerard?"
"There you go." My ghost smiled at the sound of his name aloud.
"That's a strange name."
"So is Cherry!" Gerard stuck his tongue out at me, and that made me laugh.
