My friends, we have reached All Hallows Eve! This is the final story for this year of 31 Ghosts bringing to a close the seventh year of this endeavor! Thank you all for sticking around and reading some or all of these spooky musings. Alas, the busy month meant I made absolutely zero progress on Volume 2 of the 31 Ghosts book, but I’m confident I should have that done before the wish bone of your turkey is ready to break.
For now, though, I’ll leave you with the final story for the month.  I’m sure you’re familiar with the children’s classic Shel Silverstein story, “The Giving Tree.” Well… I’ve always hated that story. So let’s add a little agency for the tree, and throw some spooky in there for good measure…
Thank you again, and happy Halloween!

Once there was a tree…

And she loved a little boy.

And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest.

He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples.

And they would play hide-and-go-seek.

And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.

And the boy loved the tree… Very much.

And the tree was happy.

But as time went by, And the boy grew older, And the tree was often alone.

Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, “Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy.”

“I am too big to climb and play,” said the boy. “I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?”

“I’m sorry,” said the tree, “but I have no money. I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy.”

And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.

And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time… And the tree was sad.

And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy and she said, “Come, Boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy.”

“I am too busy to climb trees,” said the boy. “I want a house to keep me warm,” he said. “I want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house. Can you give me a house?”

“The forest is my house,” said the tree. And the enormous branch the boy had climbed and swung from years ago detached from the tree. The boy, no longer as nimble and spry, could not move fast enough and was crushed to death beneath the heavy limb.

The boy did not stay away for long, as his ghost emerged from his destroyed body beneath the enormous branch. He stared up at the tree and cried, “Why? Why did you kill me?” And now he saw the spirit within the tree, majestic and strong smile down at him.

“My boy,” she said, “when you loved me and I loved you and you carved your initials into my body, I overlooked it – you were a boy. Later, when you carved your initials and that of that girl you no longer even see I knew the way this would go.”

“No,” said the boy’s ghost, “I never intended to hurt you.”

The tree smiled sadly. “That might have been true, and that is even worse because it shows you did not think about me. You needed money and I gave you my apples – they were ripe and needed to be harvested anyway. But you took them without regard, without thanks.”

“I was very grateful!” cried the ghost.

The tree shook her branches and said, “You say that now, boy, you say that now…

“And then you came to ask for more. You came to ask for part of my body to build your house – your house of me and away from me?” The tree straightened her trunk to her full height and said, “I know how this story ends…”

The ghost cowered before the powerful tree.

“And now, my boy, you are my ghost. You will haunt my forest, and you will scare off those who intend to do me harm. And you will join my legion of others who have tried to wrong me in the past.”

The boy looked past the tree and saw many ghosts moving among the branches and roots. They converged on the boy ghost and his form lost a little color as he became one of her thrall. And the boy never again left the tree.

And the tree was happy.