Ways to See a Ghost

really.”
    “No pattern then?” Through the door I saw Dad at the freezer, opening it to get a bag of chips. He clattered them onto a baking tray, putting them in the oven too. That was his cooking sorted.
    Stu went into the kitchen and I followed, hanging around the door.
    “I’ve checked against all the standard variables,” said Stu. “Unusual weather, distance to a nuclear power plant, meteorite strikes, UFO sightings, chemical spills and so on. I even checked government activities, ours and all the other countries operating their secret services over here…Big fat zero, I’m afraid.”
    Dad nodded towards me. “Maybe Gray was right then?” he said. “Maybe it was just coincidence?”
    Stu leaned back against the sink, folding his arms. “Coincidence is what the government want you to think. It’s what they say when they don’t want you to know what’s
really
happening.” He looked at me. “I’ll find the pattern, Gray, I just need to get the right data.”
    Before, I would’ve thought Stu was talking rubbish. But I’d seen so much, you know? I’d stopped believing in coincidences too.
    It took about twenty minutes for Dad to get dinner ready. Nowhere near as good as what Mum makes, but on the plus side Dad doesn’t care about me eating vegetables. We were a few mouthfuls in when I got up the nerve to ask Stu.
    “You know The Database?” I said to him.
    He stopped eating, fork in the air, and his eyes flicked towards the living room, where the laptop was. Like he had to check it was okay.
    “Yes,” he said.
    “Well, you know it has all those UFO sightings, and unexplained phenomena and stuff?”
    “Unexplained to current science,” said Stu, waving his fork. “Current, blinkered, government science.” He lowered his voice. “What’s
really
happening… that’s in The Database.” He pulled his eyebrows together, glaring at me. “All triple locked, with password protected encryption.” Like I wanted to break into it.
    “I just wondered about something that might be in there,” I said.
    Stu looked pleased. “You know, you’re a lucky boy,” he said. “Growing up with your dad. You aren’t being brainwashed by the government and corporations, like most kids.” He turned to Dad. “You haven’t let him have a mobile phone?”
    Dad shook his head. “I stopped Jenice from giving him one as well.”
    Jenice is my mum. I’ve had loads of fights with her and Dad about getting a phone.
    Stu pointed his ketchupy knife at me. “You should thank your dad for that. All those downloads and ringtones, you know there’s messages inside them? Hidden ones, designed to stop you thinking about anything important. Stop you questioning what’s really going on.” He shoved in a forkful of shepherd’s pie, carrying on with his mouth full.“You know what I see, when I look at you kids, all wired into your phones and MP3 players? Zombies! Brainwashed and consuming whatever you’re told to. They’ve got your generation licked – you’re just lambs to the slaughter.” He reached for the ketchup, and squirted a load more on his plate.
    “The thing is,” I said, trying to get him back on the point, “I was just wondering if you had anything on The Database that’s… paranormal.” Stu scowled at me, so I carried on quick. “Like, stuff about… ghosts.”
    I knew by their faces I’d gone too far.
    “Ghosts?” said Dad coldly. “Are you trying to be funny, Gray?”
    “The Database isn’t a joke!” shouted Stu, spraying gobs of chip onto the table. “It’s for holding evidence about the
truth
, not superstitions!” He’d gone red, and the veins in his neck were sticking out.
    “Sorry, I was only asking.”
    “You should be sorry!” said Dad. “I’d have thought you’d know better!”
    Stu calmed down, and put his hand on Dad’s arm. “It’s all right, Gil, you don’t need to fight my battles. Combating ignorance, distinguishing the real, that’s what I do this for.”He looked at me. “If you want to know about ghosts, they’re the effect on our brains of natural variations in the earth’s magnetic field.” I opened my mouth, but he didn’t give me a chance to answer. “They did an experiment a few years ago, where they strapped magnets to people’s heads. Half the people taking part thought they’d seen their dead relatives, floating around in the room. Which proves it.”
    Dad smiled, but his frown at me wasn’t gone. “Why did you even ask,