“When we grow old and have gray hair like grandma, will Sarah still be like a little girl?” Abby and Emelina had met Sarah. It took some coaxing to get her to materialize out from between the books on the top shelf of the bookshelf. She drifted around watching Abby. Faded into a wall and then appeared in the dining room. A chair moved out from the table and she was sitting with hands folded and feet barely reaching the floor. “Hi….My name’s Abby. I’ve never met a ghost before. You look scared. I won’t hurt you. I just wanted to say hi.” Emelina gently touched her arm. “Abby. Let’s just be quiet and let Sarah see who you are.” Sarah looked up at her. “But I told her who I am. Should I tell her who my grandma is?” Emelina just shook her head and put her finger to her lips.
“Of course I know who your grandma is?” Sarah, pale and translucent as a cloud, finally spoke, her voice only a raspy whisper. “Why are you here?”
Abby looked at Emelina nervously and whispered “Should I tell her?” Emelina smiled gently. “It’s ok, Abby. You can tell her.” Abby turned to Sarah, took a deep breath and said. “I - I just want to look like you ~ like dress up ~ for Hallowe'en…..if that’s ok.”
For the next hour, Sarah and Abby talked about what Abby should wear, Emelina completely forgotten. “I wish I could come with you when you go out with your friends. Will you come back and tell me all about it?”
~~~~~
“You know about Sarah don’t you, Jeremy?” They were having an early breakfast at the Estate. They had come down to the kitchen in pyjamas and housecoats. Unusual, as it had long been established that the kitchen was no place for pyjamas and housecoats in staff work space. Cook was on a day off; Martha and Digby were on a day trip to Salt Spring Island. It was Sunday and very early in the morning. Em decided ~ after Jeremy pushed her ~ that their more than casual dress would be ok. “I’ve heard the rumours. Mike told me about her when we were a lot younger, but I never did see her. I think he almost had a crush on her when we were eleven. Have you seen her?”
“He didn’t tell me about that! Yes I have seen her. I’ve always wondered why she looked at me so strangely after Mike and I were married. I sometimes thought she appeared just to frighten me.” Emelina laughed. Clearing away their breakfast dishes, she paused. “She’s not very scary now after all these years have passed. I actually think we like each other. She wouldn’t have appeared for Abby ~ you know, Martha’s granddaughter ~ if she didn’t. At least I don’t think so.”
Jeremy wiped down their breakfast table. “Now. Are we going to talk about ghosts and your first husband ~ my best friend by the way ~ or are we going to get packed and ready for our trip to the mainland?” He spun his wife around, dancing her to the stairs. Sarah watched from above.
“It’s not what we have, but who we have.”
~ A.A.Milne, Winnie the Pooh
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