Chapter 25
As a medium, one often finds that they are their own worst enemy.
Thanks to my interaction with Nana Milner, Rhonda begged me to stay twice as long for three times the pay.
As long as I kept trying to summon Harlan, she wanted to keep trying.
After two hours of having her wring her hands and hope for the best, and Danny staring at me as though I was a monster, I told Rhonda it was time to give up.
Danny seemed ghostly himself as the session ended, but Rhonda was her usual chipper self. She saw me out of the house after I gave Danny a quick, polite “goodbye.” As I left, she stuffed money in my hand and thank me, shutting the door unceremoniously in my face.
When I returned to the diner, later than usual after a session at Rhonda’s, Ginny was serving a lunch to David Honeycutt, the manager and owner of the Wash-A-Teria laundromat, our postman, and honorary mayor in Sage Grove.
I went and took my coat and scarf off, hanging them on the tree by the door, said “hello” to David, then went and washed my hands.
By the time I’d dried my hands and returned to the counter with Ginny, David was gone.
“I guess Harlan finally showed himself?” Ginny asked, looking at the clock.
“Sorry, I’m late,” I said. “No. He didn’t show up. Again. But her son Danny was there. Gave him a message from his grandmother. So…there’s that.”
Ginny grinned.
“That’s good, right? Proving you aren’t a fraud?”
I smiled tightly.
“So,” I said, “what needs doing?”
“Actually,” Ginny said, “A lot have come and gone already. Chili and cornbread served up and gone.”
She gestured at the pots on the stove. One was empty and the burner turned off and the other was half-empty, simmering away still.
“What about Sal?”
“She came by,” Ginny replied. “I took care of the order. She asked if you’d had a chance to ask around about Marcella.”
“Okay,” I said. “I guess I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow.”
“Have you?” Ginny asked, excitedly. “Talked to ghosts about her being missing?”
“Maybe,” I replied. “I don’t know anything. Honestly, it’s not high on my list of priorities. Unhoused people relocate, take off, whatever, all the time. Gary being upset doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. It just means he misses her.”
Ginny cringed.
“Am I getting in your business too much? I’m sorry, Si.”
I waved her off.
“It’s just…that’s business. A different business. It’s what I do to make a living. I don’t like…I don’t want to mix the dead with my life more than I have to.”
“I guess I understand,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” I said with a genuine laugh. “Let’s just forget it.”
“Well,” Ginny said, “if you want, I can clean up and close up for the day.”
“Really?” I asked. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately. I feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”
“Well,” Ginny gave me an impish grin, “sometimes after I clean up, I study and do my homework here. Quieter than the dorm.”
I laughed. “I’d imagine so. But you’re not staying too late and driving back to school when it’s dark are you?”
“It’s fiiiiiiiiiine, Si,” she said. “I’m tough.”
I sighed.
“Well,” I said, “all right. Going home does sound good right now. I have plenty to do, I’m sure. Online clients to respond to, uh, housework, get your payroll figured out for Thursday. I’m sure you’d appreciate that.”
I’d said “housework” but I meant “look for my ghost in my house.” The rest was true, though.
“I do like getting paid on time,” Ginny replied.
“All right,” I said. “You’ve convinced me. Will you stay open a little bit longer, just in case anyone stops by? Then you can finish up and study all you want. Half hour?”
“Sure thing, boss man!” Ginny gave me a sharp salute.
Laughing, we parted ways. I gathered up my things, put my coat and scarf back on, and headed out.
Before I knew it, I was in my car and headed back to the house.
My mind, for some reason, felt like it was racing as I drove, but I couldn’t figure out why.
My thoughts were erratic and complex. What I even wanted to think about eluded me.
Every time I tried to pin down one thought, it flittered away, replaced by another random thought.
Pushing my mind clear, I was approaching my driveway before I knew it.
Finding Danny’s truck outside my house and him sitting in one of the chairs on my porch did not surprise me one bit.
I took my time parking and getting out of the car, not caring how long Danny sat hunched over, holding his coat tightly around himself on my porch.
If he was that cold, he should have stayed in his truck with the heater on.
“Figured you’d be here,” I said calmly as I approached the porch.
“Regular Sherlock Holmes,” Danny mumbled.
I went straight to the front door and unlocked it, then went inside without another word. Danny entered a few seconds behind me. I put away my coat and scarf and headed to the kitchen, ignoring Danny. His footsteps through the house behind me let me know he was following.
After I grabbed a diet soda from the fridge, I turned to find him standing right behind me. I nearly jumped at his closeness, but I managed to stay planted. Popping the tab of the can, I brought it to my lips and took a long swallow as I stared at him.
“You were at her funeral,” Danny said.
“Get out,” I replied.
“That’s how you knew what she was buried in,” Danny continued, ignoring me. “That’s the only way you could know.”
I stared at him for a moment, took another sip of my drink. Proving to Danny that I was not a fraud was not even in the top one hundred things on my agenda. However, I was angry.
“Didn’t your grandmother die while we were in college?” I asked.
“Yes,” Danny said. “So?”
“I went to college in California,” I said.
“Your grandmother died in the middle of February. I was across the country when you came home for the funeral. Or do you not remember calling me? Crying to me from nearly two thousand miles away? How could I have seen what she looked like in her casket, Danny?”
He chewed at his lip, averting his eyes.
“I offered to come home to be with you for a few days, but you insisted that I don’t disrupt my studies. Remember?”
Danny finally looked back at me.
“Then why won’t you actually summon my dad?” he asked, quietly.
“He never shows up when I try to summon him for your mother,” I said. “I’ve told you that. I can’t force ghosts to do things. They’re not compelled to answer me. I’ve told you this.”
“But why wouldn’t he show up?” His eyes were pleading with me for answers. “Why? I was even there today.”
I shrugged. “I don’t have the answers you want, Danny. Your father will or won’t show up as he wishes. Just like every other ghost. That’s all I can tell you.”
Danny threw his hands up and marched out of the kitchen.
I took another sip of my drink as I stood there in the kitchen.
When I didn’t hear the front door open and shut, I sighed and headed to the living room.
I found Danny sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands.
I leaned against the doorjamb and stared at him, holding my half-empty can of soda.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. “I mean, I know what you usually want when you show up here. But that’s not what’s on your mind tonight.”
Danny rubbed his face with the palm of his hands before finally looking up at me. His eyes were red, but no tears had been shed yet.
“I want you to stop giving my mother hope.”
“I don’t give her hope,” I said. “I’ve told her time and time again he’s not going to show up, but she keeps insisting I try. Why she does it is her business. Not yours and not mine.”
Danny considered me for a moment.
“Fine.”
“Fine,” I replied and necked the rest of the soda.
I gasped and burped.
“Now what?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Is that all the questions you had?”
“I guess. Yeah,” Danny said. “You can’t really tell me anything else. Or won’t. Or can’t. Jeez, I don’t even know with you anymore.”
“Well,” I said, gesturing vaguely, “see yourself out. You got—or didn’t get—what you came for.”
I turned to go back into the kitchen, but Danny was suddenly behind me, his hands on my shoulders. Tensing under his grip, I did all I could to not physically react too obviously.
“You don’t want me to stay longer?” he murmured, moving his mouth close to my neck.
For a moment, I considered this.
“Go home, Danny,” I said. “Leave me be.”
“Why, though?” Danny kissed my neck.
I jerked away and stepped back to look at him.
“Your mother didn’t ask you to sit in on the session today,” I said.
“We both know it. You came to try and prove me a fraud. In fact, I think that’s where everything was going to go…
until I planted a seed of doubt in your head by telling you exactly what your grandmother was buried in.
And you know I’d have no way of knowing if I couldn’t see ghosts. ”
Danny’s jaw clenched and flexed as he stared at me.
“So,” I said, “you’ve got what you needed. Go home. Drive back up to Dubuque. I’m sure you’ve been leaving all of your work to your foremen lately. You’re always down here. Go take care of your actual business and stay out of mine.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do,” I said, pointing at the door. “Go.”
Danny considered me for a moment, his cheeks going red.
“For how long?” he asked. “How long do you want me to stay out of your business?”
“I’ll let you know.”
Danny reddened, but he said nothing. He opened his mouth to argue, but he quickly shut it.
Finally, he gave up and turned to leave.
He ripped the front door open and turned to look at me.
His mouth opened again, but his jaw just ended up hanging there briefly before it was shut again.
He breezed out the door, closing it behind him.
I stood in the living room, crunching the can in my hand as I listened to the footsteps on the gravel outside.
Then the sound of a truck door opening and closing.
I refused to dash out the door and stop him.
Then his truck started up, he revved the engine, and I heard him turning his truck to leave.
I forced myself to stay in spot there in the living room, waiting until the sound of his truck dissipated down the driveway.
Once I was certain he was gone, I angrily threw the crushed can into the kitchen, hearing it clattered against the cabinet.
Then I stomped over to the sofa and threw myself into it, mirroring Danny’s position from before, my head in my hands.
Mirroring his previous actions, I rubbed my palms into my eyes, growling with frustration as I dropped my hands to my lap and stared out at nothing.
Though I always did my best to not make it my first thought every time I was in my house, my mind went to the ghost. It was hiding somewhere in the house.
Ghosts, as most people who believe in them know, are often unseen by the world around them.
However, many mediums, such as myself, can see them everywhere.
Even with the abilities I possess, ghosts can hide themselves from me quite well if they so choose.
Most ghosts don’t expend their time or energy hiding, though.
Humans already can’t see them. They’re dead.
Nothing can hurt them to the point of destroying them that I know of; they can hurt temporarily and be trapped.
So, why bother hiding? Though most ghosts can’t be trapped forever.
They eventually will find a way out of anything, but traps can last a very long time if done well.
Houses, protected from ghosts, can keep them out indefinitely.
Trapping ghosts out of something is much more effective than trapping them in something.
Ghosts want to get out and roam. They don’t want to find their way inside a place they may not be able to get out of again.
It’s why protected houses generally stay safe for long periods of time. Generations.
“So,” I said out loud as I stared and my eyes glazed over, “who trapped you?”
Obviously, the ghost didn’t saunter in from the kitchen with a can of beer, ready to talk.
“And why?”
I thought about this for what seemed like forever.
“How long were you trapped?” I thought out loud once more.
It occurred to me that a ghost would have no reason to want to hide from me in my own house. Unless it was afraid I’d put it back in the box. It would only be afraid enough to hide itself from me for that reason if it had been in the box long enough to have grown to hate it.
How long were you in there? I thought.
My eyes landed on the teal cupboard sitting alongside the opposite wall.
Months?
A niggling thought entered my head. My vision unblurred and I rose from the sofa like a robot, thoughts swirling through my head. On autopilot, I went to the front door, shrugged my coat and scarf on, and headed out.