Sally:

There are no such things as ghosts.

Jenny:

That’s not true. There are lots of ghosts and haunted houses in Chester.

Mrs Snow:

Don’t be silly you two!

Jenny:

Ghosts are everywhere. There is a ghost that runs around in the cathedral every night.

Sally:

Have you seen it?

Jenny:

No, but Tom saw it last week.

Sally:

Tom is very silly.

Mrs Snow:

Oh no, I'm late for work. I have to go now. And you go to bed. Oh don't forget – close the windows and lock the doors! Bye!

Sally/Jenny:

Bye, Mum.

Jenny:

We’re not going to bed. We’re going to watch TV.

Sally:

Right. There is a very interesting film on TV tonight. „The haunted house.“

Jenny:

(they are watching TV and talking about the film) Oh, dear! Doesn’t he look terrible?

Sally:

Like Frankenstein’s monster.

Jenny:

Listen to his voice.

Sally:

What a terrible voice.

Jenny:

Look at that!

Sally:

Oh, gosh!

Jenny:

Sally, did you close the windows?

Sally:

No, I didn’t. Why?

Jenny:

Oh, nothing …

Sally:

Don’t make that noise, Jenny.

Jenny:

Don’t make what noise?

Sally:

Don’t tap … tap, tap, tap … like that.

Jenny:

I’m not tapping.

Sally:

Of course you are.

Jenny:

No, I’m not.

Ghost:

Excuse me, please.

Sally/Jenny:

(screaming, hiding)

Jenny:

(watching carefully from behind a chair) Who are you?

Sally:

You can’t just come in here.

Ghost:

I’m Sir Henry.

Sally:

We didn’t ask you to come here, Sir Henry.

Jenny:

You look strange.

Ghost:

Well, yes, I do, don’t I?

Jenny:

You have lost your head, Sir Henry.

Sally:

Oh, shut up. He can’t do anything to us without a head. He can’t bite for example.

Ghost:

I’m not a dangerous ghost.

Jenny:

That’s good.

Ghost:

You must help me. I’m looking for my head. I must find it. I want to go to Lady Eleanor’s dinner party. And I can’t go without my head.

Sally:

It’s very rude to go to a dinner party without a head.

Jenny:

Perhaps Lady Eleanor has got a spare head.

Ghost:

That’s not funny.

Sally:

How did you lose your head, Sir Henry?

Ghost:

It was in 1645. I was reading a book in this room. Suddenly a cannonball came through the window and there I was ... without a head.

Jenny:

Oh, poor Sir Henry.

Sally:

What an exciting story.

Ghost:

Oh look, here it is.

Jenny:

What?

Ghost:

My head. It’s in this box.

Sally:

Oh, Sir Henry!

Ghost:

Look at me. Do I look good?

Sally:

Well...

Jenny:

You look better now...

Sally:

With your head...

Ghost:

Lady Eleanor is waiting. I must go now.

Sally:

Yes, of course, you have to go to that dinner party.

Jenny:

Sir Henry, do ghosts eat?

Ghost:

Of course not.

Jenny:

Why do you need your head then?

Ghost:

What a silly question. You wouldn’t like to walk around without a head, would you? (disappearing)

Sally:

He didn’t like that. Now he is gone. And it’s your fault.

Jenny:

Well, Mum wouldn’t want us to talk to headless ghosts in the middle of the night.

Sally:

Sir Henry!

Eleanor:

Oh, Sir Henry, it’s so nice of you to come to my dinner party.

Ghost:

Lady Eleanor, how very kind of you to invite me.

Eleanor:

You look great, Sir Henry.

Ghost:

Yes, I’m glad I found my head again. I always lose it. It is terrible.

Eleanor:

I’ve got a spare head for you. Here, take it.

Ghost:

It looks a bit funny, doesn’t it?

Eleanor:

It’s good to have a spare head. May I introduce Sir Simon to you.

Ghost:

Nice to meet you, Sir Simon.

Simon:

Nice to meet you. I was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. I was riding my horse when it suddenly collapsed. I fell off the horse and died. Now I always

ride around on my ghost horse.

Eleanor:

Isn’t it wonderful, Sir Simon always comes on his horse. And this is Lord Konrad.

Ghost:

Nice to meet you, Lord Konrad.

Eleanor:

Lord Konrad is German, he doesn’t speak English very well.

Konrad:

Ich kam 1840 nach England, ich war neugierig, ich wollte hier Zug fahren. Grandiose Erfindung!

Eleanor:

He wanted to travel on one of the first trains.

Konrad:

Yes. Aber mein Zug verunglückte und ich starb, bevor ich richtig Englisch gelernt hatte.

Eleanor:

He died in a train accident.

Simon:

How wonderful. I’ve never been anywhere by train. Of course there were no trains in 1066.

Eleanor:

Sir Simon meint, dass Sie großes Gluck hatten. Er ging nie mit einem Zug. Zuge waren nach seiner Zeit, of course.

Konrad:

Ich geistere im Schnellzug von Bristol nach London. Nachts, versteht sich.

Eleanor:

He haunts the Bristol-to-London train.

Simon:

How very interesting.

Ghost:

I have found some little friends.

Eleanor:

You are too old for little friends, Sir Henry.

Ghost:

I’ve brought them here.

Eleanor:

How could you?!

Ghost:

They are here already.

Eleanor:

Sir Henry! I don’t want any little friends here. Er hat Freunde mitgebracht, wie unuberlegt!

Konrad:

Oh no! Das ist schrecklich. Sie werden kreischen.

Simon:

I don’t want to see your little friends.

(Jenny and Sally appear, all ghosts scream.)

Sally:

I’m Sally and this is Jenny.

Jenny:

We aren’t dangerous.

Simon:

I don’t believe you.

Sally:

We aren’t dangerous, really.

Eleanor:

Well.

Ghost:

They helped me look for my head.

Eleanor:

Oh, did they?

Simon:

What do you think of our little party?

Jenny:

It’s fantastic.

Sally:

We will tell our friends at school about it.

Jenny:

But they won’t believe us.

Eleanor:

It’s time for us to disappear again. And you must go back home again.

Sally:

Can’t you come to our school one day?

Simon:

No, we can’t. We only appear at night.

Konrad:

Der Tag bricht an, ich mach mich auf die Socken!

Eleanor:

Auf die Socken? What a funny thing to say. Well, good night.

Simon:

Good bye.

Ghost:

Bye-bye. Oh dear, my head is coming off again.

Jenny:

We’d better go home now, too.

Sally:

Bye-bye everybody.