[Child's laughter]
OK. I'm here.
Let's go.
So who's up tonight?
I am.
Just give me a minute.
Yo! Let's get with the program!
Hold on. I'm almost done.
You kinda said that 5 minutes ago.
Done.
Sorry. My grandmother's birthday's coming up,
and I've been putting off writing that card for weeks.
How come?
I've been really busy.
I do volunteer work at the library and at united hospital.
And, um...I just kinda forgot.
I hear ya.
Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow?
No. It's never good to leave something undone,
'cause you never know if you're gonna get a chance to finish it.
Nothing's so important that it can't wait.
That's not true.
What if there's something really important
that you had to do,
but something big kept you from doing it?
Like what?
Like maybe... death?
Always say what you have to say
and do what you have to do.
Because if you don't...
You might not get a second chance.
Submitted for the approval
of the Midnight Society,
I call this story...
Jessie Dickson was the kind of girl
who liked to keep busy.
She did a lot of volunteer work in town
and took all sorts of odd jobs.
Taking care of Mrs. Simpson's yard was one of them.
And this is your heart line.
Sara Simpson lived alone,
and most people in town
thought she was a little bit... eccentric.
There are many obstacles
keeping you from finding your true soul mate.
Shoot.
Jessie lived with her grandpa Samuel.
They were good buddies...
So long as Jessie didn't track mud into the house
or leave the windows open in the rain.
Grandpa Samuel had been a little sick lately,
so they moved his bed downstairs.
That way he wouldn't have to climb the stairs so much.
Aw, Gramps.
Come on, now. Renting my old room out
is the easiest way to bring in some money
till I get back to work.
I don't want some stranger living in our house.
It doesn't thrill me, neither.
But Grandpa--
No "but grandpas." Some things you just gotta do.
Come on.
We're gonna miss the first part of the movie,
and I hate missing the--
Hey... you're renting a room?
I don't wanna talk about it.
Right.
It was so cool when the zombie came to life.
Yeah, but the best
was when the corpse started eating the people.
Man, that's entertainment.
Whoa!
What?
I gotta pick up my lawn money from Mrs. Simpson.
That place gives me the creeps.
So wait for me here.
Alone?
Forget it!
What's she doing?
I don't know.
She's a wack.
Let's get out of here.
[Clock tolls]
Come on!
Alex.
Aah! Aah!
Grandpa!
What? You two look like you've seen a ghost!
Bingo!
We did!
I saw it!
Wait. Saw what?
A ghost!
OK. What's the joke?
It's no joke. It came through
Mrs. Simpson's ceiling and walked through the wall!
Right through.
Mrs. Simpson. Well, that explains it.
And what was the good lady doing when all this was going on?
Sleeping. Some kind of trance.
What were you two doing there at this time of night?
Coming home from the movies.
Double feature. The Dead Walk
and the Dead Walk Again.
No wonder.
You two have let your imaginations run away with you.
No! This was real!
I think you two have been spending too much time over there.
Sara Simpson's crazy as a June bug,
what with her palm reading,
tea leaves and mumbo jumbo.
But this wasn't--
I don't know what you girls are trying to pull,
but it won't work.
Not with me, anyway.
[Chuckles]
I'm here about the room for rent.
Wonderful!
Have a seat.
What did you say your name was?
Uh, Browning.
John Browning.
Have we met before?
You look familiar.
No.
I don't think so.
Cup of tea?
No, thank you. I don't drink... tea.
I'm a coffee man myself.
Doctors made me cut back.
Heart condition.
You look... healthy.
Oh, I am. I am.
I just have to take it easy for a little while.
No lifting, no going upstairs.
That's why we're renting out the room.
It's a big room,
and it's furnished, and, uh...
It's got a good view.
It sounds...
Ideal.
[Chuckling] Oh...
[Knock on door]
Don't move.
Ah, Jessie. This is Mr. Browning.
Would you show him up to the room, please?
Just like that? I mean, he just got here.
Now, Jessie. I'm a good judge of people.
Everything's gonna work out fine.
I gotta go now.
That's him!
That's the ghost we saw come out of Mrs. Simpson's ceiling!
Oh, come on, Jessie.
Making up stories isn't going to change anything.
We need the money, so Mr. Browning stays,
and I don't want to hear another word about it.
I didn't move.
He's here.
Who?
The ghost!
He just rented our room.
Where are you going?
As far away from here as I can get!
What are you gonna do?
We are gonna go talk to Mrs. Simpson.
My ceiling?
He came through my ceiling?
Was it 9:00?
Exactly. We heard the clock bong.
Then it worked!
What worked? What worked?
Well...
I was doing...
A welcoming meditation
for an event known in the psychic world
as the opening.
The opening?
Yes!
It happens...
At the ninth hour of the ninth day
of the ninth month.
It's an opportunity for the spirits to come back
and to complete something they left undone in life.
Kinda like a second chance?
Precisely!
But they only have until midnight of the next full moon
to complete their task.
Well, when's the next full moon?
Tomorrow night.
That's not much time.
No! And what makes it even more difficult
is that in spirit form, they have no physical power,
so that in order to accomplish anything,
they have to find... a human body to inhabit.
Maybe you should come over
and see this guy.
Ahem.
I don't think your grandfather would like that.
Besides... I should stay.
Why?
Because the spirit must return through the same portal.
He'll be back...
And I want to be right here.
I can't hear anything.
It's 3:00 in the morning. He's asleep.
Ghosts don't sleep.
Says who?
Everybody.
Yeah?
Well, I sleep. Good night.
You can't!
Wanna bet?
What happens if he tried to take over your body?
Then wake me.
Come on. Let's get something to eat.
That'll give you a second wind.
But I don't want a second wind.
What's that?
No!
Run!
The dresser!
Don't stand in my way.
I'm definitely not sleeping over again.
It doesn't want me, Alex.
It wants Grandpa!
What?
Mrs. Simpson said it.
A spirit has to take over a body
to do what it came to do. We gotta warn him!
[Snoring]
Grandpa! Grandpa, wake up!
What? What's going on?
The ghost is after you!
What?
What were you saying?
The ghost tried to take your body!
Oh, I don't believe this.
It's true!
And we can prove it.
Well...
Mmm.
[Knock on door]
He's not even here.
Aah!
Two can play this game.
Now...
Go to back to bed.
And no more games!
Hmm?
Maybe he is in the closet.
Aah! Aah!
I said get in bed!
Ahem.
[Gasps] Get away from me!
Ha ha ha.
Where are you going?
The same place I go every Sunday:
The legion hall.
Shouldn't be gone more than a couple of hours.
Well, at least he'll be safe there.
We gotta get help.
The ghost was trying to get into his body?
Ah! This is wonderful!
No, it's not.
We gotta stop him.
Can't ya put a curse on him or something?
I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.
Grandpa's been sick,
and this thing might hurt him.
Jessie.
You gotta see this.
Recognize anybody?
Sure. That's Grandpa and Mrs. Simpson
and--
That's him!
That's the ghost!
But it can't be.
That was my fiance, Jacob.
You were going to marry a ghost?
[Laughs] Heavens, no!
We were going to get married right after the war, but...
But what?
But I fell in love with someone else.
I was going to tell Jacob when he returned...
But he never made it back.
Grandpa knew him?
Jacob and Samuel were in the air force together.
During a mission, their plane was hit.
Your grandfather ordered Jacob to put on a parachute and jump.
The parachute failed.
Jacob was only 20 years old.
Your grandfather never should have done that.
That's horrible!
It was Grandpa's fault Jacob died.
Unfinished business!
An eye for an eye!
He's come back for revenge!
I gotta get home!
Jessie.
This time... I'm going with you.
Grandpa!
Are you OK?
Everything's fine.
Oh.
Mrs. Simpson's here.
Hello, Sara.
Samuel.
Jacob back from the dead?! I agree he looks like Jacob,
but where do you find this stuff?
I've always thought of you as a level-headed woman.
And what has keeping your feet planted firmly on the ground
ever done for you, you old goat?
At least I am not the laughingstock of the whole town!
What's with them?
I don't know.
They can't spend 5 minutes together without fighting.
I'd better break this up.
Grandpa: Sara! [Door slams]
Too late. She's gone.
Now what?
The ghost has to go back at midnight.
All we have to do is protect grandpa until then.
"I will love you forever. Sara."
Grandpa and Mrs. Simpson?
"Local boy dies during mission."
He's gonna come after us, man!
Let's go!
Let's go this way!
Come on! Hurry up!
We're never gonna get out of here!
Man, oh, man, oh, man.
I think we're gonna be safe here.
Grandpa!
I found the journal!
Where'd he go?
You were supposed to watch him.
[Telephone rings]
Hello?
Jessie, why is your grandfather
standing outside my house?
Jessie?
We'll be right there!
What's going on?
I think the ghost got Grandpa. Come on!
[Tap tap tap tap]
Samuel?
[Ghostly voice] I've missed you, Sara.
Jacob?
Stay away!
I'm not gonna let you hurt my grandfather!
Your grandfather will live, but with my spirit.
His will return to the light in my place.
You and I can be together again, my sweet Sara.
Grandpa!
Jessie, don't.
That's not your grandfather.
Jacob, you can't do this.
He cheated me out of a life, Sara.
It's his fault that I died.
It's only fair that I should live through him.
He tried to save you. It's in his journal.
What journal?
Grandpa's journal. Listen.
"The engine caught fire.
"The cockpit filled with smoke.
"I gave the order to bail out,
"but we were missing one parachute.
"Only Jacob and I were left.
"He didn't know there was only one chute,
so I lied and said I would follow him."
"If Jacob knew, he wouldn't have gone,
"and I didn't want us both to die.
"I don't know how, but I landed the plane and survived.
"What unbearable agony it was
to find that Jacob's chute failed and he was dead."
That should have been me.
He tried to save you.
I didn't know.
Oh, Samuel.
[Bong]
Stop it!
No.
Sara, we can be together again.
I'm sorry, Jacob.
I never got the chance to tell you, but...
It was Samuel I really loved.
And all this time,
I've hated him for something he never did.
Let him go. He was your friend!
Save him...
Just as he tried to save you.
I've always loved you, Sara.
I always will.
Thank him for me.
Grandpa!
Samuel, wake up!
What is it?
Jessie!
How did I get over here?
Are you OK?
I have no idea.
Sara, what is this?
I think it's a new start!
Grandpa Samuel and Mrs. Simpson
renewed their new love affair,
proving that it's never too late
for true love to be rekindled.
The end.
Good story!
But it's sad.
They lost so many years together.
They say nothing is ever lost.
It just comes back in a different way.
I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed.
And I've got to mail this. Later!
Come on.
That was a really good story.
It make you cry, Frankie?
Captioned by Grant Brown