Ghost Granny (4 page)

“Oh, we can come to your place. That would
be easier, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, it’s just
around the back of the house and down the path to the right. Give
me just a moment to set things up for you. We don’t get a lot of
company, so this is a treat for me.”

“May I help you?” Catherine offered. “No,
not this time. Hopefully we can help each other out as time goes
by.” Sebastian said.

I wonder what he means by that.

Ten minutes later Cody and Catherine were
eating the best beef stew and homemade bread that either of them
had ever remembered eating. “This is insanely delicious! “
Catherine said. “I have always felt like such a looser, all I can
make is spaghetti and a good omelet! I can make pretty good walnut
chocolate chip cookies though. “

“Isabel is a fantastic cook. She loves
cooking for me and Max and I know she will be thrilled to have
another woman around to talk to. That is, if you and Cody decide to
stick around.”

Catherine smiled at him and finished her
second helping of stew. “At least let me help you clean up here.”
Catherine offered.

“No need, just putting the bowls into the
dishwasher and leaving the stew on low for when I bring Max and
Isabel home. “

“Thank you so much for everything,
Sebastian.”

The ride back to the hill seemed much
shorter than the ride to the house, but that might have been
because she was so in awe of what was in front of them. Catherine
could honestly say that she had never seen such a welcoming, and
yet such a mysterious, place in her entire life. Sebastian said his
goodbyes and as Catherine and Cody walked towards their hotel,
Sebastian walked towards the school. Catherine turned around to
steal a look at Sebastian and was flustered when he also turned,
catching her looking at him. He smiled and waved.

“Sebastian is really a nice guy, isn’t he
mom?” Cody said, waving at Sebastian. “He certainly seems nice.”
Catherine agreed.

Once Cody and Catherine got back into the
hotel room, Catherine kicked off her shoes and plopped herself onto
the bed.

“Oh Cody, we have so much to think about! Do
you think we really should just stay here to live? You think this
is something we can actually pull off?”

“I vote yes! Our apartment building does not
even have any room to play, just that ole parking lot and there are
no other kids there that go to my school either. I liked Mrs. Roans
when she used to come babysit me, but she is kinda old to play with
and besides, since I go to Latch Key, I never get to see her
anymore. Wouldn’t you rather work in a chocolate shop than for Mr.
Dobbs, mom?”

No brainer!
Out loud Catherine said.
“We would have to go back home and get our clothes, Cody, I didn’t
pack much more than we would need for the weekend that we were
originally going to stay.”

“We have clothes mom, in the car!”

“What clothes? In our car?”

“Yeah, remember, you were telling me about a
walk-about in Australia and I figured if we were going to Australia
that we would need a whole lot of clothes, so I stuffed a big
garbage bag with all of our clothes, or at least most of them.”

“I never said that we were going to
Australia, Cody, where did you get that idea from?”

“You said that people in Australia go on
walk-about for vacations and I knew Australia is far away.

“So, you really have our clothes in the car,
Cody?”

“I really do, mom.”

“What do you say, should we go swimming one
last time here in the hotel?”

“Sounds good to me, mom, I even promise no
more running around it too!!”

Catherine heard her cell phone ringing in her
purse when they opened their hotel room door after being at the
pool. “Darn it, missed the call.” Checking her messages, she saw
that she had one from her Uncle John.

“Hi Catherine, its Uncle John. I hope you and
Cody are enjoying your trip. I have some bad news. Several of the
apartments caught on fire one night when it stormed, lightening hit
it. I am afraid yours was one of them. We had renters insurance and
since I co-signed for the apartment, the insurance company let me
file the claim on your behalf. I don’t know if this will cover your
losses or not, but they are depositing a check for $20,000 in your
account next Wednesday. I hope you don’t mind, but I kept the
security deposit we got back. I was the one who paid it when you
moved in.

I have decided to move in with my girlfriend
Jean and we are heading out to California tomorrow. Sorry I
couldn’t stick around to say goodbye to you and Cody. You are more
than welcome to use the trailer as long as you want to, you can
have it in fact. I hope you don’t see this as me taking off on you.
I will let you know my new address and phone number in a few weeks
when I get one. Take care of yourself and that little one. Love
you.”

“Cody, we won’t have to go back to the
apartment after all. Looks like we are here to stay if you are sure
that this is what you want, is it?” Cody answered by jumping up and
down with a big smile on his face.

The next morning Cody and Catherine ate
their last breakfast at the hotel before checking out. “Are you
sure that we don’t owe you anything?” She asked the clerk behind
the front desk.

“No, you have the gift certificate which is
good for one week. You haven’t been here a week total, so the night
that you stayed here before your son won the free week can be
included in the paid for days.”

“Thank you, but we do owe you for the rental
of a movie that we watched that first night, don’t we?”

“Nope, there is no charge for children’s
movies.”

Catherine thanked the hotel management again
and she and Cody walked out to their car. “Wow, Cody, we haven’t
even been in our car since the first night we got here. Everything
is in walking distance here.” She parked their van in front of the
candy shop and then walked the half block down to the school to
enroll Cody into classes. “Cody, would you like to start school
today, or would you feel more comfortable starting tomorrow?”

“I guess it don’t matter mom, this looks
like a pretty good school.” Catherine enrolled Cody and the lady
from the school office showed them around. Catherine asked about
school lunches and was told that Miss Thelma and Miss Luna had a
standing donation for the school so that none of the children ever
had to pay for lunches or school activities. There were speakers
set throughout the area on lampposts and when school was out for
the day they rang bells, which the entire downtown area could hear.
“I have heard those.” Catherine said.

Catherine told Cody to stay inside the
school door and when she heard the bell ring at 3pm that she would
be back to get him. “Mom, can’t I just walk to the chocolate shop
after school? I don’t want the other kids to think I am a
baby.”

“Maybe in a few days, Cody, but for now,
until we get used to things around here, I would feel much better
picking you up after school. So make sure you wait for me, deal?”
“Deal.”

“There you are, Cody! We have been waiting
for you!” Mr. Lucky said walking up to them. “Science project is
first up this morning. Hello, Catherine.”

It was nice to see a familiar face, even if
it was just Mr. Lucky whom they had only briefly met once before.
Catherine smiled and waved good-bye to her son, who seemed to have
no qualms about being in a new school with all new people.

Catherine walked back to the chocolate shop,
stopping to look in her van for the garbage bag that Cody said he
had taken with them. Sure enough there it was. Catherine was glad
she had noticed a modern wash machine and dryer at the house, these
clothes needed to be rewashed after being stuffed in a garbage bag
for the last few days.

What a turn of events, the fire and not
having to go back home to pick up
anything
. It then
struck her just how little of a life they were actually leaving
behind. Important papers like birth certificates and pictures of
Cody and such were kept in a little steel box that she had in the
van. She always carried her credit cards and check book with her.
There was nothing lost in that fire that was of any value. All the
furniture they had had been bought from the thrift shops or given
to them by Uncle John or her former co-workers at the hardware
store. We never really felt at home there in that apartment
building.
Twenty thousand dollars!
Catherine could hardly
believe it.

Catherine opened the shop and found a couple
of notes from Luna. She assumed that Luna had to be the lady in the
blue dress, although she had actually only referred to herself as
“Thelma’s sister.” There were employment papers to fill out and a
note reminding Catherine to open an account at the bank in town. It
was 8:35am and the shop was to be opened for business at ten.
Catherine looked out the window and noticed the bank was across the
street and so she locked the shop back up and went to open an
account. Everyone at the bank was as nice to her as the entire town
had been. She also arranged for her former bank accounts to be
wired into her new checking and savings accounts at the new
bank.

Walking back to the shop, Catherine thought
she saw a light blue mist through the window of the chocolate shop.
When she opened the door, however, there was no mist, blue or
otherwise. Just the wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee and a
new note.

“Hi Catherine, sorry to have missed you.
Please feel free to enjoy the coffee and don’t feel bad about
sampling our candies. Isabel should be in about noon to pick up the
empty trays for the chocolates. – Luna”

Catherine was sorry she had missed Luna. The
coffee smelled wonderful, like chocolate coffee. Catherine took the
trays of chocolates out of the refrigerator and placed them into
the glass cases in the front of the store. It wasn’t long before
her first customer of the day showed up.

Catherine thought the young girl looked
familiar when she came into the shop. She smiled and said “Good
morning, welcome to Thelma’s Chocolates.” Then it clicked where she
had seen this young lady before. “Oh, you work at the restaurant,
right? My son Cody and I were there a few days ago. We were the
ones who had a question about our bill being paid already.”

“Yes, I remember.” The young lady said.
“Everything checked out at the end of the night, so you are still
all set. My name is Jill, by the way. So, you and your son decided
to stay in town?”

“Nice to formally meet you, Jill. Yes, our
situation changed at home so we figured this would be a good place
to stay. Everyone has been so nice to us.” Catherine said.

“It really is a nice town. A good place to
grow up in. I understand Cody is in my dad’s class.”

“Your dad’s class?”

“Yes, my dad is Luke Lucky. He is a teacher
over at the school.”

“Oh, yes, I have met your father. So, you
are Jill Lucky, which is a very interesting name. I like it.”
Catherine said. “Today is Cody’s first day at the school, he seemed
excited about being there when I registered him this morning. I
even asked him if he would like to have one more day off before
going, but he opted to stay.”

“Dad is a good teacher. Tell me, has Isabel
made any Halloween chocolates yet?” Jill asked, looking at the
shelves of chocolates before her.

“I understand she is going to be here around
noon, perhaps she will bring some then. Was there something special
you were looking for? I could mention it to her.” Catherine
offered.

“Oh, everything Isabel makes is special. She
is very talented. I know everyone likes her at the school.”

“I have only met her briefly, but she does
seem like a very nice person and these chocolates are hard to
resist in any form.”

“I know what you mean. Isabel teaches part
time at the school, a craft’s class. I don’t know when she finds
the time to do her magic on the chocolates.” Jill said. Jill felt a
chill and looked up to see a puff of dark blue smoke coming out of
the vent behind Catherine.

“I really have to be going now, could you
wrap up a dozen of those chocolate cherries for me?”

“Of course. I enjoyed our talk, Jill, I hope
to see you again soon.” Catherine said ringing up Jill’s
purchase.

There was a steady stream of customers all
morning and at noon Catherine heard the back door opening.

“I’m here!” Isabel’s voice was a welcome
distraction. Catherine held the back door open wide so Isabel could
carry in the trays of chocolates she had today. There were
chocolate pumpkins and white chocolate ghosts, black chocolate cats
and funny hats, bats and spiders and all things Halloween.

“Hi Isabel, these are really nice! I have
had customers in this morning asking if your Halloween creations
were coming soon. Now I see why.” Catherine said, helping Isabel
rearrange the trays in the display case to allow for the new
candy.

“I should have had these here yesterday, but
I have been running a bit late.” Isabel said.

“I have plenty of time. Perhaps one day you
can teach me how to be of some help to you. I don’t mind, in fact,
I would love to know how you make some of these.”

“This is my busy season. I just might take
you up on your offer.” Jill said, turning to the door when they
heard the bell above the door ring.

“Hi Sebastian, let me guess, you could smell
the chocolates were here and just couldn’t wait.” Isabel
laughed.

“True.” Sebastian smiled at his sister.
“That, and I brought you a sub sandwich, I know how busy you are. I
got you one too, Catherine, I hope you like turkey.” He said,
placing three subs on one of the tables in the shop.

“I love turkey! How much do I owe you for
the sub?”