Chapter One, Episode 75 - Ghost Talks - Situationally Theirs

Review, Edit and Update
With just one or two typos, I could have had this review done and dusted in short order. However, dialogue needed more clarity which I hope I have provided satisfactorily. I also changed the font size on Sarah's dialogue. My original intent was to show the volume of her voice, however in this review found it ineffective. For any old eyes, like mine, it really did not add anything to the story. Rather, it had the potential of an unwelcome distraction.  
** In playing with font and font size, I seem to have made quite a mess of this Update!  For that I do apologize. No time to work on it any further today, as it may require a complete rewrite. 

Ghost Talks

“Goodnight, Miss Emelina. Elizabeth and I are on our way now. Digby has already gone home; he says goodnight to you and enjoy your evening.” Martha, housekeeper for the Beaufort Estate, called up the stairs to Emelina Beaufort as she had asked. She needed to know when  Martha, Cook and Digby had left for the day. The old house would be eerily quiet, the comfortable voices from the big kitchen missing as the evening grew dark.

“Good night to you both. Have a pleasant evening.” Emelina called back from her cosy seat by the fireplace in the living room. When she heard them leave, she gathered her book, what was left of her cake and blanket, stood and went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

The old house settled with creaks and groans in the silence. Emmie was restless. She had been reading a bit of fluff. Romance novels were not her usual choice. Before returning home that afternoon, she had picked it up from one of the little sidewalk libraries, unsure about whether she should take something that so many hands had touched. With gloves on, she chose the first book that her hands touched, put it in one of the ever present plastic bags that were back in use. When she got it up to her room, she wiped it down with hand sanitizer, then left it while she went to talk with Digby. Unable to concentrate on the book, only crumbs left from the cake she had brought upstairs with her, she got up from her comfy chair and turned down her bed.

~~~~~

Hmm. Pyjamas. I guess I could get ready for bed. It’s not really time, but pyjamas may settle me down…….Maybe I’ll go downstairs and get another piece of cake………No, maybe not. Emelina Beaufort was lost. She paced from bedroom to bedroom, into the dining room and the living room, into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. “I just can’t settle. You just can’t settle." Splashing cold water on her face, she ran wet fingers through her hair.” Back into the hallway, she avoided returning to her bed, staring quizzically at her dining room. One hand on her hip and the other holding the back of her neck, she turned and looked with the same puzzlement at her living room. I wonder if Sarah would mind. There’s nobody but me in the house, so……… Sarah was the resident ghost. A young girl of about 11 or 12 with long blonde ringlets. She was usually in the dining room or on her ghostly swing on the aged redwood in the front yard. Emmie walked over to the dining room window that faced out on the front lawn and the redwood. Pushing the gauzy white curtains aside, she could see that Sarah and her swing were not there. “Sarah?” ….. “Are you here?”…… “If you’re here, I have a question for you. Were these rooms always in this order? Was the dining room always the dining room? I’d like to change things around but I need to know…………….   Oh heavens. Listen to me! I’m talking to a ghost that I can only imagine. It must really be too lonely up here when I’m that desperate for company.”

A chair from the head of the dining room slid back, turned around and did a slow slide into the living room. “Sarah? Is that really you?”  A second dining room chair slid back, turned around and did a slow slide into the living room stopping precisely beside the first one. Emelina was stunned. “Really?” She looked around. “Digby?”...  “Martha?”.....  “Cook?” ....she knew they had all left for the day. Then, a whispery child’s voice came from nowhere. 

‘they’re not here. they went home. the rooms were different then.’  

“Ok, Sarah, if you’re going to talk to me I need to see you.”

‘why?’

Emmie had sensed that Sarah was frightened! “Because I’d like to be your friend and I like to see my friends.” Emmie should have been frightened but was almost amused. I’m trying to befriend a ghost! I’m glad everyone has gone home! They’d lock me up.

‘they changed the rooms.’  Sarah, of the blonde ringlets, was primly sitting on one of the chairs, ankles crossed and her hands folded on her lap.

“Who changed the rooms, Sarah?”

Her voice clearer now, Sarah said ‘soldiers and it always stayed. why do you want to change it?’

“Well, Sarah, I get real lonely up here. Even though I like to be up here, I get tired of being in my bedroom. I’d like to have a cozier living room.”………… “This is ridiculous. I’m talking to a ghost like she is a real person! I need to call Dez and hear a real voice!”

Sarah's voice descended back into a whisper.    ‘you don’t like me.’ 

“No, Sarah. Don’t disappear. It’s just that, well, it’s not normal - I mean it’s very different to …… I don’t know what to say. It’s just that, it’s unusual to be friends with a ghost. Ghosts are usually scary. And you’re just a nice little girl.” With the insecurity of a frightened child, Sarah whispered ‘ok. I will show you. ……. Sarah stood up and pointed to the dining room window. ‘nobody liked watching me on my swing.’ 

“So if I change it back to a living room, would you like that?” Emelina was feeling quite pleased with herself. She really did like Sarah. “I would love to watch you on the swing. I know you like to set the table sometimes and then stand at the window. Would that still be alright?”

‘yes. good bye.’  Sarah vanished, leaving Emelina feeling quite alone, but only for a moment. She knew she wouldn’t be able to move all the living room furniture by herself but she could make a good start. Taking her housecoat off, she pushed up her pyjama sleeves and moved the rest of the dining room chairs and the table into the living room. The only thing she could move from the living room was the navy plush wingback chair and foot stool, the side table and lamp. She lit the small fireplace and surveyed the new and only partially furnished living room. Satisfied she walked over to the window, pushed the gauzy white curtains aside and smiled. Sarah was on her swing. The shadows thrown by the crescent moon were thin but wavered as Sarah swung back and forth, back and forth.

~~~~~

“Miss Emelina…..Miss Emelina…..wake up. It’s Martha. I’ve got your tea for you.”

“Martha? I thought you had gone home. Where am I? What time is it? Where did this blanket come from?”

“Now, you just settle here with your tea. You fell asleep in your chair. I don’t know what you were up to last night but furniture’s been moved all over the place. I’ll get someone up here to put everything back in place. But for now you just stay put.” Martha put her hand on Emelina’s forehead. “No temperature. Maybe you’re just over tired. You’ve been studying on things awfully hard. When Brigitte comes, I’ll have her bring up your breakfast.”

“One need not be a chamber to be haunted,

One need not be a house. The brain has 
corridors surpassing material place.”

~ Emily Dickinson