Christie Abbott: Sam Kepler

Quotes 

• David Barnes : [after meeting Mr. Knutson who introduces himself as the reference librarian]  Well, he seemed nice.

  Wishbone : Oh, yeah. In a nice-creepy kind of way.

  Joe Talbot : But that's weird, he can't be the reference librarian!

  Sam Kepler : Why not? He seemed to know exactly where the books were.

  Joe Talbot : Yeah, but there's only one reference librarian here, and that's my mom.

• Sam Kepler : [after searching the library for Mr. Knutson]  How could that be? He just...

  David Barnes : Disappeared!

  Wishbone : Wow! The library's haunted! By a nice old man who reads a lot. Could be worse, it could be like The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, published in 1911. It all takes place at the Grand Opera House in Paris in the 1870s. The phantom, or ghost, was a big opera fan. For years, the opera management knew about the opera ghost and they kept him happy by paying him a monthly salary and always reserving box number 5 for him. But when a new manager took over the theatre, he didn't believe the old ghost stories, so he stopped paying the money and he sold seats in the ghost's private box! As you can imagine, those people who believed in the phantom knew it was just a matter of time before he took his revenge.

• Joe Talbot : So he's back for a visit, why do you keep saying it couldn't be him?

  Wishbone : Yeah, give us one good reason!

  Ellen Talbot : Joe, Ezra Knutson is dead.

  Wishbone : ...That's, a good reason.

  Ellen Talbot : His wife sent a letter to the library a couple of weeks ago, I even sent her a card myself.

  Sam Kepler : So who was the man in the library?

  Ellen Talbot : Somebody must've been playing a trick on you, and one of Mr. Knutson's index volumes was missing today too.

• Sam Kepler : Maybe it was his ghost.

  David Barnes : Come on, there's got to be some logical explanation for all this.

  Wishbone : Hm, he's not alive, but today he was very helpful.

  [sarcastically] 

  Wishbone : Oh, yeah, that's reasonable!

• Ellen Talbot : [entering the library]  Marion said I'd see it right away, whatever it is.

  [stops] 

  Ellen Talbot : Oh, no!

  Sam Kepler : What's wrong?

  David Barnes : Remember I told you that volume one of the index was missing this morning? Well, now volume two is gone!

  Sam Kepler : That's Mr. Knutson's index, right?

  Ellen Talbot : That's right, and I haven't even put volumes four, five and six on the computer yet.

• Ellen Talbot : [finds two volumes have been stolen from the library]  I'm glad Marion called.

  Joe Talbot : Uh, Mom? I don't think that's why she called you.

  Ellen Talbot : What do you mean?

  Joe Talbot : Look.

  [hands Ellen the magazine her article was featured in] 

  Ellen Talbot : [reads the big red letters scrawled on top of the article alongside her picture which has been Sed out]  "Give back what you've stolen! abandon the project now!"?

  Sam Kepler : Who could've done this?

  Wishbone : Well, whoever it was, you know it wasn't a dog, 'cause we're not allowed in here!

• David Barnes : [Sam asks who could've stolen the index volumes and trashed Ellen's article]  Well, whoever is it, they'll be coming back.

  Ellen Talbot : How do you know?

  David Barnes : I mean, why didn't they take all those books? That would stop your project.

  Sam Kepler : Well, they probably couldn't carry them all at once.

  Joe Talbot : So they'll be back!

• Ellen Talbot : I'm not going to let myself be intimidated by this person.

  Joe Talbot : What're you going to do?

  Ellen Talbot : Well, I guess I'll have Marion watch my desk for the rest of the day, and then when the library closes I'll guard the books, all night.

  Joe Talbot : I'll stay with you!

  David Barnes : Me too!

  Sam Kepler : And me!

  Wishbone : Count me in, I love slumber parties! Who's bringing the snacks?

  Ellen Talbot : Well, that's really nice of you kids, but...

  Joe Talbot : Mom, we're not going to leave you here all alone.