Read Last Ghost at Gettysburg for Free Online

you. But he’s like an expert at it.”
    “So, how long has he been a ranger?”
    “Well, he retired from teaching five years
ago, but he’d started learning the ropes as a seasonal ranger a
couple years before that. Technically, he retired because of
disability. He ruptured a disc in his back while breaking up a
fight, but teaching twenty-five years of high school industrial
arts, or what you’d call shop class, was enough. He does miss
coaching football, though.”
    “Did he have some good teams?”
    “Too many to count. Football’s real big here
in Pennsylvania, you know. Dad was never a head coach, didn’t want
the headaches, he’d say, but he loved coaching defense. You’re
aware he was All Big-Ten linebacker at Michigan State. D’you know
what his nickname was?”
    “Nope.”
    “Maddog Mike. See, his idol growing up was
this guy Mike Curtis who played for the Colts back in the day when
they were still in Baltimore. This guy was a maniac. Used to try to
rip guy’s heads off and whatnot. So, Dad became “Maddog” Mike
Darcy. Wore Curtis’s number thirty-two and everything. He had a
bunch of his college buddies over once and they told me some pretty
wild stuff, both on the field and off. As you can see, Dad’s calmed
down a lot. You’d never know he was this crazy football guy. But
his legend lives on. I mean, I’d hate to be some guy coming over to
pick me up for a date and have Dad giving him The
Stare .”
    “He’d do that?” said T.J., imagining Uncle
Mike in “Maddog” mode.
    “Of course, silly,” chirped LouAnne. “I’m his
baby!”
    “But your mom is so laid back.”
    “Well, as they say, opposites attract. She’s
not at all into the history thing like Dad. Just putters around the
garden when she’s not volunteering at the hospital or the library.
Sometimes I need a buffer between me and Dad. He’s so protective!”
    “So, uh,” ventured T.J., “does that mean you
have a boyfriend?”
    “Not at the present time, and it’s not
because of Dad, either. Just nobody around here who’s worth the
trouble. Ninth grade guys are such dorks.”
    Then T.J. remembered that although they were
the same age, his cousin was a year ahead in school because she’d
skipped a year in elementary school early on. Yet she seemed so
much older. He was caught totally off guard when she suddenly
asked, “And what about you? Lots of females chasing you through the
hallways?”
    T.J. panicked. Yes, there were some girls at
school who thought he was cute and all, and he always showed good
manners, unlike most of his male classmates. So far he hadn’t
mustered up the courage to approach them, let alone ask them out.
But he didn’t want to look like a loser...
    “Well, there’s this girl I’m kinda going out
with. Katie Vickers.”
    “Katie Vickers,” LouAnne said slowly, letting
the name roll off her tongue. “Sounds pretty.”
    “Yeah, she’s all right.” Desperate to get off
the subject of his nonexistent love life, he decided to impress
her. “I’m going out for cross country next year. The coach at the
high school gave me a summer workout program and everything.”
    “Great!” said his cousin. “We can train
together!”
    “What?”
    “T.J., I was on the freshman cross country
team at my school this year!” She regarded his look of disbelief
and added, “What, you think your mousy little cousin can’t be an
athlete?” She shot him a definitely un-mousy look.
    “No, no, it’s not that—”
    “I just didn’t want to do the typical girlie
sports like field hockey. Or even soccer. I mean, really —running up and down the field and sometimes never
touching the ball. I prefer track. Just being alone with your
thoughts...relying on your own ability and all.”
    “Me, too.”
    “Problem is, I would actually rather train at
night during the summer, when it’s cooler, but I can’t on nights I
work. See, at the Inn I alternate with a boy over at Gettysburg
College who plays the