The ghost certainly doesn't seem to mind. The chain-rattling subsides, and it bobbles from side to side gently, as if on springs inside its little plastic base. "Don't worry about it. If they wanted one, they probably would've bothered me more about it whenever I brought it up. They're just my little ghost friend, now."

A second shirt joins the first, and they scoop the ghost up entirely while they step into their boots. Laces can wait. "All right. I. Think I ought to eat. Or I'm going to regret it before too long."