Amused ghosts

Amused ghosts
I launched into a story that always won the who has the worst mother-in-law contests. During pregnancy I had gained almost sixty pounds. While Jesse and I were in the hospital waiting for Savannah to make her big debut, my mother-in-law was at our house shopping in my closet. She helped herself to any of my clothes that she liked or thought her daughters might want. Shock would be a mild word to describe what I felt when she showed up at the hospital the next day in my favorite camisole and cardigan. When I confronted her, she justified her actions by saying there was no chance I would lose enough weight to wear the clothes again and should be grateful that she had removed the clothes from the house so I wouldn’t feel bad about my “mom bod.” She still denied it to this day but I always felt she did it to punish me for not letting her be in the delivery room. Fury had seeped into my tone by the end of my story.

“I did get all your clothes back.” Jesse injected from his picture wrapping station. A petulant look sent his direction had him chuckling. “Ok, I also changed the locks with coded ones.”

“She stole your clothes?” Libby was giving me a once over that made it clear she wasn’t impressed with my style. At least I was in real clothes. She was again in her active wear pants. Her shirt didn’t even cover her ass. Everyone knows if you wear those kinds of pants your shirt should cover your ass! Learned that in middle school when stirrup pants came back in style.

“Yep. So, who hates you enough to destroy your stuff and keep you on edge?” My question was directed at Libby. I was certain aqua robe was her ghost, not Michael’s. Once we figured out who she was, then we could figure out why they had teamed up.

“No one.” Her tone was firm. If I couldn’t see her eyes, I might have fallen for it. I’d been doing this a long time. Lies live in the eyes, no matter how well hidden, they were still there. My gut said she was the villain of this piece. A glance at Jesse confirmed it.

“Mrs. H! Please show yourself.” I commanded the sky. Hopefully, she was not only listening but wanted to tell her story. We all looked around. Nothing happened. Hooking a thumb towards the house I addressed my husband. “I’m going ghost hunting.”

“They are both here. Keep an eye out. Their anger is filling the house.” Jesse’s voice echoed slightly in the rolling tote beside Michael. He stood up holding the non-broken figurine of the girl on the phone. “Take this with you.”

“It’s glowing like the sun.” Savannah squinted her eyes as she looked at it. I looked at the creepy faced figurine in my hand. If it had an aura I couldn’t see it. But I’d learned when a psychic told you take something, you should do just that, so I waved it at them before turning to step off the porch of the shed.

“Ok.” My boots began playing my song again as I took the stone path back to the house. After a moment I heard Libby’s heels clicking behind me. Briefly I wondered if the clicking was her war song. I ignored her questions of where I was going. Quickly we reached the screen door to the patio. I held it open for Libby. She huffed at me as she passed. At the door into the house, she didn’t return the favor. Oh yeah. I had found my villain.

Once inside, I headed straight for the kitchen. I figured it was the most changed room in the house. Change is a terrific way to piss off the ghosts. Boots singing my song, I strutted to the sink to place the figurine in the window over it. “Ruby? Mrs. H?”

Clapping caught my attention. I swung my head to the dining area. Sitting in one of the chairs was Ruby. Now that I knew it was a costume, I paid more attention to her face than her clothes. Intelligence mixed with amusement in her brown eyes, her hair was cut into what was I’m sure a cute short cut had it not been trapped forever having been doused in punch and sticking up weirdly. I had to wonder if the sky-high heels on her feet had played any part in her falling into the punch bowl. That was one of the tragedies for ghosts. They were forever trapped how they looked at the moment of death. Thankfully, their faces didn’t get locked or that would be traumatizing to those of us that could see them.

“Figure it out yet, kid?”