One night, Kitten Kaboodle was patrolling the stacks when he heard some odd noises coming from an alcove on the second floor.

“Feh!” he heard, followed by the sound of paper being crumpled and tossed onto the floor.

He interrupted his patrol and headed for the source of the noise. In one of the reading nooks, he saw her. At a small reading desk by a window between two over-filled bookshelves, sat a slightly transparent woman. In front of her on the desk was a stack of writing paper, and she was holding a fountain pen in her hand. Light from a nearby streetlamp flooded in through the window illuminating the figure with an eerie glow.

“Meow!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

The figure started, and looked down at him.

“Oh! Hello, there, Little One. Is this your bookshop?”

“Meow,” replied Kitten Kaboodle.

“My name is Paige Turner,” said the ghost. “I’m a writer. I hope you don’t mind me working here.; it’s a very nice bookshop.”

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

Paige reached down to skritch Kitten Kaboodle behind his ears. Kitten Kaboodle purred.

Paige Turner turned back to her work and continued scribbling on a piece of paper while Kitten Kaboodle watched with polite interest. After a while, the ghost looked over her work. She cocked her head, critically considering what she had just written. She turned to Kitten Kaboodle and held out the sheet of paper.

“Here—what do you think?”

Kitten Kaboodle sniffed at the paper and nibbled at the edge.

“Meow!” he said.

Paige sighed and took the paper back, gazing at it sadly.

“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t like it either.”

The ghost groaned in frustration.

“I’ll never be published at this rate,” she complained.

Kitten Kaboodle hopped up on the writing table and looked at the ghost.

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“I don’t suppose you know any editors or publishers who might want to work with me?”

“Meow,” answered Kitten Kaboodle.

“Oh?” replied Paige. “Well, what about a literary agent?”

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

The ghost sat and thought for a while. Kitten kaboodle sat and cleaned his ears.

“Aha!” the ghost cried out suddenly. “I know what I’ll do!”

Paige flickered and disappeared. Kitten Kaboodle hopped down onto the chair just recently occupied by Paige Turner and sniffed. After a moment, he continued patrolling the stacks.

The next day, Kitten Kaboodle had discovered a sun beam sneaking in through a corner of the big front window. He pinned it down, and held it fast, eventually falling asleep.

Suddenly, Kitten Kaboodle heard a yelp that startled him awake.

“What was that?” Mr. Trembles exclaimed.

Kitten Kaboodle sat upright for a moment, listening hard, and then said “Meow!” to Mr. Trembles. He dashed through the store to the stairs and scampered up to the second floor. There he found Horace Weirdly, one of the Regulars sitting in a reading chair, fanning himself, and looking flushed. Beside him stood Paige Turner. She was holding a sheaf of ghostly papers in front of him, urging him to read her work.

Kitten Kaboodle jumped up into Mr. Weirdly’s lap, turned to look at the ghost, and said “Meow!” Both Horace and Paige turned to look at him.

“Oh, come on! Please?” Paige pleaded.

“Meow!” Kitten Kaboodle scolded in reply.

“Oh, my,” said Horace Weirdly. “I feel as though a ghost has just crossed my path!” He stroked Kitten Kaboodle, trying to regain his composure before going downstairs. Kitten Kaboodle looked at Paige again.

“Meow,” said he.

“Awwwww, but that’s not fair…” the ghost complained as she faded away.

After Mr. Weirdly had calmed down, Kitten Kaboodle slipped off his lap so he could get up and go downstairs. He sat, washing his ears, as he always did when he was thinking. He didn’t have the heart to chase Paige Turner out of the shop, but he couldn’t let her continue to haunt the stacks and frighten the customers, either.

What to do? he wondered. What to do?

Later that night, after the store had closed, Kitten Kaboodle returned to the little writing nook up on the second floor. There sat Paige Turner, scribbling away on loose sheets of paper. Kitten Kaboodle jumped up onto the small desk and sat upon the ghost’s work. Paige sighed.

“Must you sit there, Kitty?”

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Yes, well, I’m sorry about that; but there must be someone who comes into this shop who can help get me published,” said the ghost.

Kitten Kaboodle sat for a while, busily cleaning his rear left foot. Eventually, he looked up at the ghost and said, “Meow.”

“Oh?” replied Paige. “Would you? That would be wonderful!”

She hugged Kitten Kaboodle, who squirmed in her grasp.

“Thank you!” she cried. “Thank you!”

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle, modestly.

He squirmed out of her arms—which was quite easy, she being a ghost, and all—and sat atop the stack of papers again. When Paige disappeared, the paper remained, firmly under Kitten Kaboodle’s tucchas.

The next day, Kitten Kaboodle sat by the front door, waiting for one particular Regular who usually visited the bookshop several times each week. He made sure to politely greet all the customers who came in but remained alert for his quarry.

Later that afternoon, he finally showed up; Hammond Cziesz, of Cheesy Publishing, Ltd., publisher of cheesy books. Kitten Kaboodle followed him through the stacks.

“Meow!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Hello, Kaboodle,” said Hammond.

Kitten Kaboodle tried to get Hammond Cziesz to follow him. But Mr. Cziesz didn’t seem to understand. He remained obstinately obtuse.

Kitten Kaboodle ran up to the second floor, grabbed one of the sheets of paper left by Paige Turner, and carried it back down to Mr. Cziesz on the first floor.

“Mmmf!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Eh? What’s this?” asked Mr. Cziesz.

He took the paper from Kitten Kaboodle and read it. He looked thoughtful.

“Did you write this?” Hammond asked.

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

He ran upstairs to get another sheet of paper, but this time, Hammond Cziesz followed him to the little writing nook. He saw the small stack of papers on the table.

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle, as he hopped up on the small writing desk.

“H’m, what do we have here?” Mr. Cziesz wondered aloud. He sat and began reading through the sheets of paper. Kitten Kaboodle sat on the edge of the desk and watched as Hammond read through Paige Turner’s work.

“H’m! This is not too bad, you know?” Hammond said to no one in particular. “I’ll bet I could put some of this into our quarterly magazine.”

“Meow,” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Do you know who wrote this?” Hammond asked Kitten Kaboodle.

“Meow.”

Hammond Cziesz looked thoughtful, and then, after a moment, he scooped up the papers and put them in his briefcase.

“Perhaps,” he said, “Perhaps the writer will come forward to claim his prosody if he sees it in print, eh?”

And with that, Hammond Cziesz left, taking the ghost’s writings with him.

Kitten Kaboodle purred, proud of his afternoon’s work. Paige Turner would be so happy when she heard about it.