The History Ghost, Part 3...and

The Last IWSG First Wednesday of 2024!

C. Lee McKenzie, Author Central

In part 2 the ghost whose name is Dr. Moody, visits Miles again and this time explains that he’s in charge of the History Error Department. Some “bumbler” from the Dark Ages has made a lot of mistakes, and he’s trying to correct them on his scroll with ink and a quill pen. When Miles says he doesn’t think history’s that important, Dr. Moody says, “Without knowing what has been done in the past, young man, how are you to judge what to do in the present?”

Part 3

Miles thought about what Dr. Moody had just said. “Sorry, but I don’t get it.”

The man shook his head and glanced around the room. He picked up HotRod magazine from the desk. “Hmmm. Here’s another way to think about that. Do you know the saying ‘necessity is the mother of invention’?”

“When you need something you make it?”

“Right. Well, if we didn’t have history to preserve our inventions, we wouldn’t have progress. We’d be reinventing things we need every few decades. A case in point.” He held up the magazine. “If the internal combustion engine had to be reinvented every decade because we’d forgotten that it existed or how it was made, this”—he pointed at the hot rod Miles had circled, the metallic red with orange and yellow flames lapping the sides.—“would not be here.”

That next week Miles opened his history text first every night. He read the chapters, answered the questions, and even asked some in class. When the next test came he aced it, and that night he hoped Dr. Moody would reappear just so he could show him his A.

But the doctor didn’t return that night or the next. It was over a month before the room turned chilly again and Dr. Moody entered scratching on his scroll, the paper trailing behind him even longer than before.

Miles leapt out of bed. “I’ve been waiting to show you this.” He held the test paper out.

“This pleases me greatly. Good work.” Dr. Moody rubbed his eyes and sighed. “But now I must return to my duties. I’m behind more and more and there are no assistants being appointed as I’ve requested. OhdearOhdear.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking about inventions, Dr. Moody. How is your history scroll organized?”

Dr. Moody explained there were four columns. Names (Persons: Places: Things of importance). Dates, of course. Brief Descriptions, using words that the History Librarian would recognize. “Here,” he pointed to the last column, “is a place for notes.”

“You know, there’s a program that might help you,” Miles said.

“I don’t understand,” Dr. Moody said.

“You enter that data and if there’s a mistake, it’s easy to correct.” Miles pulled up his data management program on the computer and demonstrated it. This should save you tons of time. Want to give it a try?”

They worked together until Dr. Moody got the hang of data entry and until Miles couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and crept into bed.

The next morning, Dr. Moody was gone, but on Miles’ desk sat the ink bottle and the quill pen along with a note. “You’ve made history perfect. My deepest appreciation, Dr. Elias Moody.

At dinner that night, after they’d toasted Miles’s A on his second history test, the conversation went back to Marne’s shopping and boyfriends, then onto Victoria’s braces that had to happen in a few years.

Nothing was different from all those other dinner conversations until his dad said, “I still can’t figure out how one day that textbook is riddled with inconsistencies and wrong dates and in the next it’s not.”

Miles smiled and lifted his glass of milk in another toast. To inventions and history.

The End

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My love of history showed in this little tale. I hope my soapbox tone didn’t drive you nuts! And now about driving readers nuts, let’s consider this month’s IWSG’s question.

The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Remember, the question is optional!

December 4 question - Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

No. I only use cliffhangers at the end of chapters. I like my stories tied up with all the threads of the plot resolved and the characters at a place of new beginnings. I have left some of what I hope are tantalizing possibilities in the one middle-grade series I wrote (The Adventures of Pete and Weasel), but even those books can be read as stand-alone stories. Let’s see what others in this group have to say about cliffhangers.

Quote of the week: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Attributed to philosopher George Santayana.