Haunted Tales (6 page)

Clarissa sat in her bed under her blankets with her arms
wrapped around her knees. She knew she should have been sleeping, but she
needed to talk to Mike.

“Okay, sweetheart, I think it’s time for you to go to
sleep,” he said, hovering near her bedroom door.

“Can we talk for a minute?” she asked.

He turned away from the door and moved next to her bed.
“Sure, what’s up?”

“I’m kind of worried about Halloween. I have to have a good
ghost story,” she stalled, “or the rest of the O’Reillys will think I’m lame.”

He shook his head and smiled down at her. “I don’t think
they would ever consider you lame,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I have it on
good authority that they think you are pretty awesome. But, I don’t think
that’s why you wanted to talk to me, is it?”

She paused for a moment, looking down at her blankets, and
then turned her face up to Mike again. “I figured something out today. I feel
safe,” she whispered. “Is that okay?”

“Sure, sweetheart, it’s fine,” he said, perching on the edge
of the bed. “Why wouldn’t you feel safe?”

Shaking her head, she sighed. “No, I don’t mean it that
way,” she said, pausing to try and find the right words. “I finally feel safe.
I finally feel like I don’t have to worry anymore.”

“Oh,” he said, nodding slowly.
“That kind
of safe.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Am I? Should I feel this way?”

“So you’re worried that you’re not worried?” he teased,
lifting an eyebrow over his left eye.

She giggled. “Kind of,” she admitted.

“Let me ask you,” he said. “What’s your favorite kind of
dessert?”

“Chocolate cake,” she responded immediately.

“Very good choice,” he said. “Okay, if you were sitting at
the kitchen table downstairs and I put a huge piece of chocolate cake in front
of you, what would you do?”

“Is this a trick question?” she asked.

“No,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a regular question.
 
What would you do?”

“I’d eat it,” she said.

“Would you enjoy it?”

“Yes.”

“But wouldn’t you be worried that every time you took a bite
you got closer to not having any more cake?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, that’s silly,” she said. “I have
cake. Why worry about not having it.”

“Exactly,” he said. “You feel safe. You are loved, and your
life is wonderful. Why would you worry about something in the future that may
or may not happen?
 
Why not enjoy your cake?”

She smiled up at him. “Are all guardian angels so smart?”
she asked.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “No, sweetie, just
me,” he replied with a wink.

She giggled and scooted down into her blankets. “I love you,
Mike.”

“I love you, too,” he said. “Now go to bed.”

She rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. Soon she
was sound asleep, and Mike watched her for a few more minutes before he faded
away.

“Oh, good, you’re home,” Bradley said when Mary walked into
the house thirty minutes later. “Do you need me to carry anything in from the
car?”

Mary put two bags filled with candy and her purse on the
table near the door and then turned to Bradley. “I saw Kate and Rosie at the
store,” she said, oblivious to his question.

“Well, that’s nice,” he replied, coming over to her. “How
are they doing?”

“They were shopping,” she said, and then she added
meaningfully, “together.”

She opened one of the bags and pulled out a plastic package
of miniature chocolate candy bars, ripped open the top and picked one from the
selection. Tearing open the wrapper, she bit viciously into the small
confection.
 
“They tried to deny it,” she
said, chewing ferociously. “But I could tell.”

“Tell what?” Bradley asked, reaching over to grab of piece
of candy for himself.

She absently pulled the bag to her side, her eyes wide with
indignation. “Didn’t you listen to what I said?” she asked. “They were shopping
together.”

She put her hand in, found another little candy victim,
unwrapped it and bit it in half. “Together,” she repeated, nodding angrily.
“Not alone. Not a coincidence.
Both purses in the child seat.
They were together.”

Yeah, this is
definitely one of those woman things,
Bradley thought, backing away as he
watched Mary’s sharp incisors decapitate yet another caramel-filled sweet.
Better just play along.

“Well, that was certainly, uh…” he paused, praying for a
little insight.

“Rude!” Mary finished for him.
“Exactly.
You are exactly right. That was just plain rude.”

Thank you, God.
Bradley sent up a quick prayer of silent thanks.

He smiled, feeling a little confident and nodded. “Yeah,
that was rude,” he said. “What the hell were they thinking?
 
I mean really…”
 

He stopped talking and looked at Mary.
 
She had a half-eaten candy in her hand and
was staring at him with narrowed eyes. “Do you even know what they did?” she
asked.

He felt his stomach twist. “They went shopping?” he said
hesitantly.

“And do you know why I’m upset?” she asked, taking another
quick bite of the candy.

“Because…” he said slowly, his palms sweating, “they should
have…”

“Called me,” she finished for him, waving her hand in the
air.
“Exactly.
I mean, even you can understand that.”

He wasn’t about to ask her what she meant by even you,
although he was pretty sure it wasn’t a compliment.
 

She stopped waving her hands, dropped the bag of candy on
the floor and started to cry. “They don’t want to be my friends anymore,” she
sobbed.

He moved immediately, wrapping her in his arms and holding
her. “Of course they do,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to be your friend?
 
You are amazing.”

“But they went shopping without me,” she cried against his
shoulder.

“Maybe it was a last minute thing,” he said. “Maybe they saw
that your car was gone and figured you had to work.”

She looked up at him and sniffed. “Are you taking their
side?” she asked.

He pulled her back into his arms quickly. “No. No, of course
not,” he said. “But they’ve both done so much for us; I wanted to give them the
benefit of the doubt.”

She nodded slowly. “That’s true,” she said, her voice
muffled in his shirt. “They really have done a lot. And maybe I’m making too
much out of it.
 
The doctor did warn me
that my hormones might go crazy, and I might be experiencing bouts of emotional
highs and lows.”

“That’s true,” Bradley said softly.

She pulled back and stared at him. “So, you think that I’m
making this whole thing up?” she asked angrily. “That my two so-called best
friends can go shopping with each other and not invite me.
 
And this is all my hormones’ fault?”

I’m dead
, Bradley
thought,
just kill me right now.

He looked down at his wife, her eyes red-rimmed and slightly
swollen from crying, a little bit of chocolate and caramel on her lips and her
hair slightly mussed from his arms.
 
She
was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Then he thought about Rosie and Kate.
 
He knew they were shopping for Mary’s baby
shower, knew that all of the secrecy was only because they loved her.
 
He could end all of Mary’s misery by just
telling her the truth, by telling her that her dear friends were going to
surprise her in a few days, by telling her that she had nothing to worry
about.
  
He sighed.
 
He would totally spoil the surprise they’d
been working on for weeks.
 

He thought about what they would want him to do, and
realizing the truth, he slid his hands to Mary’s shoulders and looked down into
her eyes.

“Those witches,” he breathed and watched her face break into
a radiant smile, like the sunshine after a rainstorm.

“Thank you, Bradley,” she said with a soft shudder. “It’s so
nice to have a husband who understands.”

He pulled her back into his arms and exhaled with
relief.
 
Only three more months to go.

“Good morning,” Clarissa said sleepily as she made her way
down the stairs the next morning.

“Morning, sweetheart,” Mary replied with a smile. “You look
tired.”

Rubbing her eyes, Clarissa nodded. “Uh-huh,” she mumbled as
she climbed onto her chair next to the kitchen table. Then she yawned widely.
“I am.”

Mary filled a bowl with oatmeal, sprinkled raisins, dried
cranberries and brown sugar on it and brought it over to the table.
 
She set it down in front of her daughter and
slipped into the chair next to her.

“Is anything wrong?” she asked, placing her hand on
Clarissa’s forehead to check for a fever.

Clarissa reached across the table for the pitcher of milk
and poured some over her cereal.
 
She
shook her head. “No, I stayed up late. Checking,” she yawned.

“Checking for what?” Mary asked.

Clarissa spooned a small portion of oatmeal into her mouth.
“For ghosts,” she replied, her words garbled around the food.
 
She swallowed and then looked up at Mary.
“Did anyone ever die in this house?”

Mary thought about it for a moment and then shook her head.
“Sorry, no,” she said. “No one died here.
 
It’s a peaceful house.”
 
She paused
for a moment. “Well, except when I have company.”

“Maggie says that if you look sideways you can see ghosts,”
she said, demonstrating the sideways look to Mary.

Mary choked back a chuckle. “Well, actually, Maggie is
right, sort of,” she replied.

“Sort of?”
Clarissa asked.

“Well, scientists have studied our eyes, and they have found
that the corners of our eyes are more sensitive to light and movement,” she
explained. “So, often we can see paranormal things, like ghosts, in the corners
of our eyes, but when we turn and view them with full vision, they might
disappear.”

“But they’re still there?” Clarissa asked.

Mary shrugged and nodded. “They could be,” she said. “But
looking for ghosts out of the corners of your eyes can cause some other
troubles.”

Clarissa sighed. “I know,” she said, absently rubbing her
forehead.
“Like walking into bookshelves.”

“Exactly,” she said. “I had a ghost investigator from
Chicago tell me that I should just try to be aware of my surroundings.
 
Then, if I saw something out of the corner of
my eye, I should try to keep watching it that way and not quickly turn towards
it.”

“Do ghosts want to be seen?” Clarissa asked.

“Sometimes,” Mary said.
“And sometimes
not.
I think when they have a problem or need help, they want to be seen.
 
But sometimes they are just visiting some of
the places that were special to them when they were alive, so they are just on
a walk.”

Clarissa giggled. “Hello, I’m just a ghost on a walk,” she
teased, lowering her voice. “Please don’t look at me.”

Mary laughed. “Exactly,” she said, and then she lowered her
voice, too. “Hello, I’m a ghost on a walk. Can you tell me the way to the
nearest boo-
tique
?”

“Do you know where I can buy a
halloweenie
for lunch?” Clarissa added with a laugh.

“Knock, knock,” Mary continued.

“Who’s there?” Clarissa replied.

“Boo.”

“Boo who?” Clarissa answered, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you and make you cry,” Mary
finished.

Bradley exhaled with relief when he heard the laughter
coming up the stairs to greet him. It was going to be a normal day in the Alden
household.
 
He stopped on the stairs and
checked that thought.
 
It was going to be
as normal as possible.

“Good morning my beautiful ladies,” he said as he came into
the kitchen. “What’s up?”

Clarissa hopped out of her chair, threw her arms around him
and gave him a kiss. “Hello, I’m a ghost on a walk, and I have to get ready for
school,” she announced, and then she ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

So much for normal,
Bradley
thought.

He turned to his wife. “Could you explain that?” he asked.

“What?” she replied, looking completely
befuddled.

“Clarissa is a ghost on a walk, and she has to get ready for
school,” he repeated.

She stopped in the process of filling a bowl of oatmeal for
Bradley and looked at the clock on the wall.
 
“She’s right,” she replied. “It is time for her to get ready. Good for
her.”

Bradley took the offered bowl and shook his head.
Okay, I’m going to try again.

He sat down at the table and started pouring milk over his
oatmeal. “Mary,” he began. “I’m a little worried about Clarissa’s eyesight.
Last night she kept walking into things, but she said everything was fine.”

Walking over to Bradley, Mary chuckled and bent over to kiss
his cheek. “She is just adorable, isn’t she?” she asked with a grin and walked
towards the stairs.

“But, aren’t you worried?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No,” she replied hurriedly. “I told her
no one died in this house, so it’s okay.”

He watched her walk up the stairs, his face a study in
confusion.
 
Finally, he sighed, took a
deep breath and stuck his spoon in his oatmeal.
 
I give up.