Ghosts in the Garden

by Judith Silverthorne

  Sam giggled. “You sound just like my mom when you get all stern like that.”

  J.J. put her hands to her hips. “If it makes you stop talking about ghosts or going back in time, I’m fine with sounding like her.”

  Sam bent over her poster and sketched the diagram of the old grounds at Government House. She blocked in the buildings as best as she could remember. She and J.J. worked in silence, except for the scratching of their pencil crayons. After a while, J.J. switched on her cell phone and turned on some tunes. Sam hummed along to Katy Perry’s latest hit.

  “I’m done,” J.J. said, holding up her poster. She’d drawn and pencil-coloured the clothing styles of the women living in Government House throughout the past 125 years. They were placed sequentially over a faint face of a clock, with the dates of each decade labelled.

  “You’re so good at art,” Sam said. She sat back on her heels. “I’m having trouble with a few things. Do you remember what other buildings there were?”

  J.J. thought for a few moments. “It was kind of dark, so I’m not sure. You have the main ones, though.”

  Sam wrinkled her nose. “Maybe I need to find out more.”

  J.J. scowled. “No, we’re not going back to the foundation.”

  “I know, I know.” Sam held up her hand. “I was thinking about asking Mrs. Goudy instead.”

  “That would be okay, I guess,” J.J. said. “But we’d have to go tomorrow. Our posters are due on Thursday.”

  “Mrs. Goudy called and left a message with Mom to say I can pick up the pictures tomorrow. How about we go right after school? I’ll go home now and get my cell phone and call her to see if that’s okay.” Sam picked up her drawing gear and stuffed it into her backpack, and then she grabbed her poster, rolled it and placed it in the tube.

  “You sure don’t waste much time.” J.J. laughed. “See you tomorrow morning.”

  “See ya!” Sam rushed out the door.

  •••

  J.J. and Sam crossed Dewdney Avenue and headed towards Pioneer Village. A light autumn breeze flipped strands of their hair, and the late afternoon sun warmed their faces.

  “I’m glad Mrs. Goudy agreed to see us again so soon,” Sam said.

  “It was nice of your mom to bake some gingerbread cookies for us to give her too.” J.J. sniffed the cookies as Sam waved the bag in front of her nose.

  “I hope she likes them. Mom said it was the least I could do when she’s helping me so much with my project.”

  Sam turned to enter the service gate of Government House, but J.J. pulled her back.

  “Let’s go down the city sidewalk past the grounds. Then we won’t have any problem running into ghosts or slipping back in time.”

  “It’ll take us longer, though,” Sam said.

  “We’ll just walk faster. There’s no way I’m going through there, even in the daylight.”

  J.J. forged ahead with Sam at her heels, the tube with her rolled-up poster smacking against her legs. They made a game of it, hurrying faster and faster, trying to outdo one another, until they were running through the parking lot of the retirement home. Giggling and out of breath, they slipped into the foyer in record time.

  Amber welcomed them. “Do you want me to take you to Mrs. Goudy, or do you know the way?”

  “We’ll be fine on our own, thank you,” Sam said. J.J. nodded in agreement as she brushed her hair out of her face.

  As soon as they turned into the first long corridor, Sam slowed right down.

  “What are you doing?” J.J. asked.

  “Hoping Lily, or whoever that woman was, will appear again.”

  “I hope she doesn’t.” J.J. glared at Sam, thinking she was just fine without seeing or talking to Lily ever again.

  “I’d like to ask her who she is.” Sam’s eyes twinkled. “Or get you to ask her. She seems to connect with you the most.”

  J.J. rolled her eyes. “I don’t see how that will help us solve the mystery of our time travel. Besides, I’d rather not deal with a ghost right now.” She stopped dead in her tacks. “Too late,” she whispered.

  At the corner stood the woman in the blue flowered dress, observing their approach. She seemed to waver above the floor.

  “What?” Sam asked.

  “Lily’s here.”

  “Where?”

  J.J. leaned closer to Sam and pointed.

  “I see her now.” Sam nudged J.J. and whispered, “You talk to her.”

  “Wh-what do I say?” J.J. whispered back.

  “Ask her who she is.” Sam gave J.J. a little push forward.

  “Uh, hello,” J.J. said, her heart drumming in her chest.

  The ghostly figure continued to look at them with soft, dark blue eyes.

  “I’m, uh, I’m Jensyn, uh, J.J., and this is my friend, uh, Samantha.”

  The apparition didn’t speak, but J.J. was sure she glided a few inches closer to them.

  The girls stumbled backwards. The translucent woman stood still.

  Although her heart pounded in her chest, J.J. found her voice. “Wh-who are you?”

  The woman’s head tilted, but she didn’t say a word.

  “Are you Lily?” asked J.J., standing with her hands clutched in front of her.

  A brief smile appeared.

  “Can we help you, somehow?” Sam asked.

  The ghost’s face turned sad and finally she mouthed a word. Then she faded into the wall.

  J.J. slumped against the wall, clutching her hand to her throat.

  Sam sagged beside her.

  “Did she just say ‘watch’?” J.J. asked.

  “That’s what I heard too,” Sam said.

  “What do you think she wants us to watch?” J.J. asked.

  “Not a clue,” Sam said.

  Sam adjusted the poster tube under her arm, and they set off down the hall again, rounding the corner to Mrs. Goudy’s suite. Her door was open.

  “Come in, girls,” she invited. “Please sit down, and tell me about your progress.” She patted the arm of the love seat beside her armchair.

  Sam presented Mrs. Goudy with the cookies. “These are from my mom.”

  Mrs. Goudy’s eyes lit up as she opened the lid of the plastic container. “Gingerbread cookies. How thoughtful. Thank you.” She held out the container to the girls.

  J.J. and Sam each selected a cookie and sat on the love seat. Mrs. Goudy chose one and set the container on the table between them.

  “Mmm. Home-made, freshly baked. Divine,” Mrs. Goudy said, biting into one with a rapturous smile. “This takes me back to when I worked at Government House during the Christmas holidays. All the baking we did to distribute to the less fortunate and for the New Year’s levee.” Her eyes glistened, as she remembered the past. She looked at the girls again with a puzzled expression, but shook it off.

  “Sounds like a busy time,” Sam said.

  “Oh yes, but so much fun getting everything prepared and decorated and seeing all the delighted smiles of people coming to visit.” She brought herself back to the present. “My goodness, dears, you’ll need something to drink. Please help yourselves to refreshments from the fridge.”

  “May I get you something too?” J.J. asked on her way to the kitchen, with Sam trailing behind her.

  “A little apple juice, please. The glasses are in the cupboard to the right of the sink.”

  When the girls returned, Mrs. Goudy handed Sam an envelope. “Your photographs. I hope they’ll be useful to you.”

  J.J. leaned over Sam’s shoulder as she looked through them. “These are perfect. Thank you!” Sam pulled some money out of her jacket pocket. “How much do I owe you for them?”

  “Oh nothing, dear,” said Mrs. Goudy, pushing Sam’s outstretched hand back. “Amber took photographs of all the old photos and printed them on paper in the office, so it didn’t cost me anything.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” Sam said, flushing. “I really didn’t expect you to do this for nothing.”

&n
bsp; “I know, but I wanted to do it. I enjoy your company. Now what else have you to show me?” Mrs. Goudy leaned forward as Sam tugged her poster out of the tube.

  J.J. moved a few items and helped Sam spread it on the coffee table in front of them.

  “You’ve done remarkably well from what I told you,” said Mrs. Goudy, her eyes widening in surprise. “It’s almost as if you’d seen the grounds yourself.”

  J.J. glanced sideways at Sam, who shot her a little grin.

  “You gave me good information,” Sam said. She pulled a pencil out of her pocket.

  “You certainly took good notes,” Mrs. Goudy said. “I didn’t think I’d given you so much detail.”

  Sam stuttered. “I guess it’s because you made it sound so real.” She stared down at the poster. “I’m sure I missed some things, though.”

  Sam looked up again at Mrs. Goudy. “I wonder if you could tell me what some of these other buildings are or if I have them in the right place.”

  As they studied Sam’s drawing, Mrs. Goudy filled in where the well, the pump house, and the vegetable garden were located, and named some of the smaller buildings. She pointed out Bert’s house again.

  “He’s the one who took out your sister Lily for a while, right?” J.J. asked. She reached for her cookie and took another bite.

  “Yes, they spent a great deal of time together that one summer.”

  Suddenly, J.J. nudged Sam’s arm and pointed. Lily stood on the other side of the room in her blue flowered dress, staring at them.

  Sam choked on a piece of cookie and began coughing. J.J. thumped her back and handed her a glass of juice.

  Mrs. Goudy looked at her in alarm.

  “I’m okay,” said Sam, recovering. “I guess some crumbs got caught in my throat.”

  “As long as you’re all right.”

  “Yes, I am, thank you. Though I will get a glass of water, if that’s okay.”

  “Certainly, dear.” Mrs. Goudy smoothed her hair and looked at Sam’s poster again.

  “I’d like some too.” J.J. led the way to the kitchen, with Sam on her heels. “Would you like us to get you more apple juice, Mrs. Goudy?”

  “I’m fine for now.”

  J.J. kept her eye on the ghostly figure of Lily as they crossed the room. As soon as they were out of sight, J.J. grabbed Sam’s arm and whispered, “What should we do about Lily?”

  “Should we ask Mrs. Goudy if she can see her?” Sam asked. She turned on the water tap and let the water get cold.

  J.J. shrugged. “We don’t want to frighten her,” she whispered.

  “Maybe the ghost will just go away and we won’t have to say anything,” Sam whispered back. She rinsed out her juice glass and filled it with water.

  “Finding everything all right?” called Mrs. Goudy.

  “Yes, thank you,” J.J. called from the kitchen. Sam turned off the tap and they started back into the living room.

  J.J. glanced quickly across the room. Lily was still there, her dark curly hair in a short bob, her head tilted, staring at them. J.J. hurried to sit tight beside Sam again on the love seat.

  J.J. faced Mrs. Goudy, her eyes averted from Lily’s direction. “So what would a young couple do in the evening, if they went out together back when you worked there?”

  “Usually go for a walk, or to a local café for coffee, or for an ice cream cone in the summer. There was one little shop down the street quite a ways, but going there made for a nice evening jaunt, especially if the weather was decent. Or, as I mentioned before, we’d go to the movies on Saturday night once a month.” Mrs. Goudy shifted in her chair. “There wasn’t much money around in those days. We didn’t have a car or money to spend on gasoline. We had to walk or take a street car. On a special occasion, we might go to a dance.”

  “What about if you wanted to spend some time together, but not leave the property?” asked Sam.

  “There were some lovely little walkways through the grounds, and a few benches to sit on. If you wanted to get cozy with a fella, there was a nice little alcove of trees that offered some privacy for a serious chat,” Mrs. Goudy said with a faraway look.

  “Did you go there with anyone special?” J.J. asked timidly.

  “Not really.” Suddenly Mrs. Goudy sat up straighter. She gave a fleeting glance toward the photograph of the young man J.J. had noticed on her previous visit. Then she busied herself placing the lid on the cookie container.

  “I didn’t go in for that kind of stuff as much as my older sister, Lily. She sure enjoyed Bert’s company. I’d never seen her so happy.” Mrs. Goudy’s face lit up at the memory. “I thought they could have been happy together, but then that movie star came along. Bert started taking on airs and ignoring Lily until she turned away.”

  J.J. ventured a look at Lily. She looked sad.

  For a few moments, Mrs. Goudy sat in thought. “When Bert decided he wanted her back, it was too late. She’d already met her husband. I always wondered if she regretted her decision.”

  J.J. walked over to the wall of photos and stared at the one of Mrs. Goudy and her sister. She glanced back at the figure across the room. No doubt about it, she was the same person as in the photograph.

  “Didn’t you say your sister died young, not long after this photograph was taken?” J.J. asked, returning to sit beside Sam. “You don’t have to tell us why,” she added in a rush. “It’s not really any of our business.”

  “I’m fine telling you. It’s so long ago now, it’s not as painful as it once was to talk about.” Mrs. Goudy spoke softly. “She died during the influenza epidemic of 1943. She was the picture of health when she went with her husband to Alberta to visit his family. She became too ill to even come back. She returned in a pine box and was buried in her husband’s family plot at Ogema.”

  Mrs. Goudy looked as sad as Lily.

  J.J. wiggled to the edge of the love seat, to be close to Mrs. Goudy. She patted her hand. “I’m sorry I brought back sad memories. She looks like she was lots of fun.” J.J. suddenly thought of her own mother, and how much fun they used to have together before she had died.

  Mrs. Goudy rubbed J.J.’s hand. “Yes, we had great times together.” Mrs. Goudy laughed. “You wouldn’t believe the mischief we got into when we were young.”

  J.J. glanced across the room. Lily was smiling. J.J. turned back to Mrs. Goudy. “She’s sure pretty in that blue flowered dress she’s wearing in the photo,” she said, hoping to lighten the mood.

  “Yes, that was her favourite dress. A birthday gift from Bert.”

  Suddenly, Mrs. Goudy stopped and stared at J.J. “How do you know it was blue flowered? The photo is in black-and-white.”

  J.J. froze.

  “Didn’t you mention it last time?” J.J. asked. She stared at the woman across the room, then at Sam, and then back at Mrs. Goudy.

  “I don’t recall telling you that,” said Mrs. Goudy with a puzzled expression.

  “Lucky guess,” J.J. suggested, twisting a piece of her hair in her fingers.

  Mrs. Goudy tilted her head and stared at J.J. and Sam. “I don’t think that’s it,” she said.

  She clasped her hands and gazed at them for several moments. When she looked away, her eyes went immediately across the room, towards Lily. “You see her too, don’t you?”

  J.J. felt a long shiver trickle up her back, from the base of her spine to the top of her neck. Beside her, Sam gasped.

  Chapter Six

  Sam recovered first. “What did you say?”

  “You can see Lily too. That’s how you know what colour of dress she’s wearing.” Mrs. Goudy’s voice had dropped lower.

  Sam and J.J. nodded.

  “Does she speak to you?” J.J. asked.

  Mrs. Goudy shook her head. “No, but I know she wants to tell me something. We can’t seem to communicate.”

  “How long have you been able to see her?”

  “Not until you girls showed up the first time,” Mrs. Goudy said. “Oh, I felt he
r presence around me before and was comforted by that, but I’d never actually seen her.” She winked at her sister. “It’s so lovely to see you again after all this time. I’ve missed you so.”

  Lily’s ghostly face lit up with a broad smile.

  “Lily, is there something we need to know?” J.J. asked in a soft voice.

  The young woman’s face went solemn. She looked like she was trying to form a response.

  “Can we do anything for you?” Sam croaked, excited to have a puzzle to solve.

  “Watch,” she seemed to mouth again. Then her apparition faded away.

  “That’s what she told us before,” J.J. said, putting her hands on her hips.

  “You’ve seen her before?” Mrs. Goudy asked.

  “Yes,” J.J. said.

  “The first time we visited you,” Sam said.

  “Where was that, girls?” Mrs. Goudy sat up straighter and turned towards them.

  “She was in the hall. We thought it was you coming to meet us,” J.J explained.

  “I don’t get around as easily anymore,” Mrs. Goudy said. “So I wouldn’t have come to meet you, but that is certainly a curious incident.”

  Sam and J.J. nodded.

  Mrs. Goudy furrowed her eyebrows in thought. “But I wonder what we’re supposed to watch.”

  “We haven’t come up with any ideas so far.” Sam leaned forward, thinking hard about the puzzle again.

  “She seems to think we should know, though,” J.J. said.

  “Or that we should be able to figure it out,” Sam added.

  Mrs. Goudy shook her head. “I don’t know what she could possibly want us to watch.”

  “Is something coming up that could be important to both of you?” J.J. asked.

  “Like a special birthday, or an anniversary, maybe?” Sam said.

  Mrs. Goudy shrugged. “I can’t think what it could be.”

  “What about something from your past?” J.J. asked.

  “Not that I know of.” Mrs. Goudy seemed stumped. “Especially if it involves you two as well. It’s a mystery to me.”

  Suddenly, the pendulum clock on the wall chimed five times.

  Everyone looked at it at once. Sam sensed that the chimes marked some kind of urgency for them to solve the mystery before time ran out.