On Friday last, a ghost came to our village school. It circled about the room where the smallest of our children are gathered to play. The Old Woman was watching, but it pulled a mist over her eyes and ears. I suppose it was thinking to have some fun by scaring the little ones. This was not to be.

It flew toward Bai Po, who flailed at it with a candied paw. A great lump of ectoplasm stuck fast and the ghost looked down at the rent in it’s side. Bai Po stuck his fist back in his mouth and was both startled and pleased by the fuzzy-buzzy sensation of ectoplasm on his tongue.

Two small girls sat on a mat, playing a hand and finger game. The ghost zipped between the pair and caused Mei Li to sneeze a great sneeze. As he flew to the other side of the square, the wind whistled through the hole she had left.

It then raced straight at little Tom Tum, who will be a fine wrestler when he grows up. He did not duck or cringe from the rushing thing, but met it head-on! The collision was a mighty thing and there was a tinkling like the breaking of glass. Shiny shards rained down on the floor, where the brittle parts of the ghost had been broken and shattered.

The ghost retreated to a corner and accidentally sat upon Wu Yin, who thought she had been covered with spider webs. She scraped them away with fingers like claws, shredding the skirts of the ghost even more.

The ghost looked frantically, this way and that, trying to find a way out of this mess. It thought it came in through a window, but there was no window in sight. There was only a ring of small bodies, slowly circling the thing which was now trapped in the center of the room. On they came, swinging toys or bare hands, or kicking with their feet.

The ghost panicked, darting in one direction and then in another, until it was thoroughly dizzy. The babies' attack was also taking a toll, shredding what little was left until the ghost looked like thin clouds in a summer sky. It flew straight up and clung to the ceiling. It gathered the remaining strands and straggling strings of itself and, much smaller than it had entered, quickly slipped out the window.

The babies returned to their play and the Old Woman awoke. Everything appeared quiet and normal but, every so often, one of the babies would look at another and simply smile a secret smile.