The Ghostly Hideaway

by Doris Hale Sanders

  *

  Everyone had been deeply affected by the words of anguish written by the hopeless old man. This was evidenced by the break in his voice as Edward read the passage, the tears flowing freely down the faces of the three girls, and even Andy’s lips trembled as he said, “That sure was sad, wasn’t it, Daddy?”

  Suddenly, from upstairs came the sounds of someone sobbing her heart out. They all five heard it and unconsciously looked to be sure everyone was still in the living room and not upstairs. The weather that had been so perfect the night before for the fireworks display had turned nasty during the day and now they could hear the wind rustling and complaining through the trees outside and it looked as though the rain might fall as splashing teardrops any minute.

  The rain came and the wind increased in velocity and volume until the elements drowned out the heartbreaking sounds from upstairs and when their noise finally abated, the sobbing sounds from upstairs had ceased. No one was anxious to go up to bed that night, but when no more sad sounds were heard for some time, they finally went up to bed.

  The whole family seemed subdued and less than cheerful the next morning, but they resumed their routine.

  “Chrissy, what do you think about cleaning up the Coys’ bedroom today? We have most of the rest of the house in good shape; dusted, vacuumed, walls wiped down, windows washed (inside and out on the first floor) and draperies and curtains cleaned. We’ve cleaned the upholstery the best we can, cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer, taken everything off the shelves in the kitchen and pantry and cleaned them. We’ve scrubbed the stove and the oven and even scrubbed the porches. Your father has worked on the outside of the house, repairing the front and back steps, the swing and the shutters, and he’s even done some work to the storage shed, the hen house and the barn. That bedroom is the only thing that hasn’t been cleaned. I don’t see any reason to leave it any longer, do you?”

  “No, I don’t, Mom. I say, ‘Let’s do it.’”

  Right after breakfast, they took the vacuum, dust cloths, cleaning rags, window cleaners and went to work.

  “One thing I keep wondering about is why there are no windows on this side of the house. I looked at it from the outside the other day and there’re no windows at all on this entire side.”

  “That is odd. It makes it awfully dark particularly in your bedroom, Chrissy. You don’t have any outside view anywhere. It’s a good thing you’re not claustrophobic.”

  They picked up all the dirty clothes in the Coy’s bedroom and Chrissy took them down and started the washer. They stripped the bed, made it up with fresh linens, and put the coverlet back on it. It looked really nice. They washed the windows, (the two at the front of the house), vacuumed, dusted; and took the curtains down washing them carefully by hand because they looked extremely fragile. When they got the curtains back up to the windows, all the clothes folded and put away and all the drawers shut properly, the room looked especially nice. There was one corner that seemed quite dark and melancholy, but they didn’t have an extra lamp to set there. Instead, they set an old rocker in that corner and left it alone.

  When Ed got home, he agreed that it did look much, much better and he thought the spirits, ghosts, or whatever would have to agree. Penny had even gone to the fencerow out near the storage shed and picked some sprays of honeysuckle and put in a vase in the room and it seemed to cheer it up a great deal.

  That evening, Penny was again looking through the picture album that had been left on Chrissy’s nightstand earlier. For reasons she couldn’t fathom, she kept returning to the picture of the older woman, the young man, and the little girl. Her attention was drawn again to a shadow or something dark on the back of the young man’s left hand. It looked almost identical to the mark on her father’s hand but it had been his right hand and this was a left hand. Oh, now wait a minute. A picture was a mirror image, wasn’t it? That spot would be on the right hand. Oh, now that sure is weird, isn’t it? Penny lifted the album to get a better stream of light and suddenly the picture was shaken loose from its place in the album and fluttered to the floor landing on its face. Chrissy saw it drop and went to pick it up for her mother.

  “Oh, Mom, look! It has writing on the back. It says ‘Gertrude, Jimmy, and Penelope.’ And it’s dated ‘1970.’ Mom, what is it? You’re as pale as a sheet!"

  Ed had been watching “Law and Order” on the television but he turned toward the others when he heard the panic in Chrissy’s voice. “My God, Penny, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

  Penny still sat with her eyes glazed and her mouth hanging open. She didn’t blink or move at all when Ed waved his hand in front of her face. Ed grabbed her shoulders and shook her, hard. As she focused her eyes on her husband, she fainted dead away. Chrissy ran after a washcloth and wet it with cold water and brought the first aid kit with the smelling salts. After washing her face and passing the smelling salts under her nose, she revived, but she didn’t know for a few minutes why she had fainted. As the memory came back to her, she pointed at the picture that once again had fluttered to the floor. Chrissy picked it up once more and Penny whispered, “That’s me,” pointing to the little girl. And that’s my Dad and my Grandma Gertie. The names and date are on the back and I had already noticed the birthmark on the back of Daddy’s hand. The Coys are or were my aunt and uncle."

  “Are you sure, Penny? Are you positive these people were your relatives? It’s just not reasonable to believe that we stumbled by accident onto the property that was owned by your relatives.”

  “It’s true, Eddie. There’s no other possibility. Why on earth would they have that picture of us if they weren’t related? Grandma Gertie or Daddy had to have sent the picture to them. And as far as it being an accident that we found this place, I’m not sure I believe that it was a coincidence. I felt something really weird the first time I saw this place. I’m nearly positive I’ve never been here before and yet things seemed almost familiar somehow. I can’t explain it; but someway or other I think we were meant to get ‘lost’ and ‘find’ this farm. I’m thinking the spirits that seem to inhabit this house actually want us to be here. Oh, I know I’m not making any sense but there doesn’t seem to be any other explanation.”

  A couple of nights later, Chrissy, whose room was next door to the one the Coys had used, was awakened by a commotion that seemed to come from that room. She hated to admit it but she was afraid to go see what was happening until morning. When it was daylight again, Chrissy slipped from her room to the door leading into the Coys’ bedroom and opened it slowly. She was totally amazed by what she saw. Some of the clothes they had folded and put away were once again in a heap on the floor; the rocker had been re-positioned back to the middle of the floor as it had been. The bedclothes were mussed and while it had no indentations where it would appear somebody had slept there, it looked as though it had been turned down ready for someone to sleep in.

  Chrissy’s gasp of surprise and consternation had aroused her parents from across the hall and they had come in to discover the disarray, also. After discussing the phenomenon most of the day, they were no closer to solving the mystery than they had been in the morning.

  That evening after supper, they had brought out the journal and were about to begin reading another segment of it when a knock sounded on the front door. They weren’t sure whether to answer it. They wondered if someone was, in reality, at the door or if it was another paranormal event. Ed went to check, however, and found the County Sheriff waiting there. Ed invited the sheriff into the living room and introduced his family.

  “I don't want to trouble you," Sheriff Lampton said as he took the chair Ed offered, "and I’m sure Mr. Coy has already retired for the night; but seeing the lights on and the improvements that have been made, I was sure there must be someone else here. Cliff hasn’t been able to fix things around here for several years. You said your name is Penny. I’m sure that means you’re their niece, Penelope. I’m truly glad there’s someone here to look after him
and his place. Is he as well as usual, do you think?”

  “As a matter of fact, Sheriff, we haven’t seen him since our arrival a few weeks ago. It was raining extremely hard when we got here and after knocking several times with no answer, we found the back door unlatched and just came on in. We could see lights that had been left on in the house, and we assumed he would be home soon. When he still didn’t come in after some time had elapsed, we thought he might be visiting a neighbor, or perhaps in the hospital or something similar and we had no idea where to begin to look. We weren’t even sure where the nearest hospital is or even the nearest town. We had become completely disoriented on our way here in the pouring rain. We had never been here before and we weren’t even sure we had found the right place." Ed had made the best scenario he knew how to make and still be honest.

  “When he still wasn’t here after a week, we began reading Uncle Cliff’s journal thinking it might give us a clue as to his whereabouts. As we understand from reading it, his biggest concern was the death of his wife, Aunt Lorraine. He seemed terribly distraught still over losing her." Penny didn’t see that it should be necessary to tell anyone that she had only recently realized that it truly had been the home of her relatives.

  “As far as anyone in town knows, Penelope is Cliff’s only living relative; she and her family, of course. Sheriff Lampton inclined his head toward Penny and got up preparatory to leaving.

  “Sheriff, could you tell us the best way to get to town for some supplies? There are a few things that we are beginning to need very badly." Ed tried to make sure he didn’t leave the same impression he’d had on Mrs. Thorne.

  Sheriff Lampton explained the best way to get to Fordsville.

  “Do you think we should start a search party to see if he is around here, maybe at a neighbor’s? We also wondered if he might be in the hospital or something.”

  Sheriff Lampton suggested that he do some checking back in town and if they had no word about him or from him in the next few days, they would indeed need to make a search of the local area. The sheriff said his goodbyes and went on his way back down the muddy road.

  A couple of days later, Chrissy heard someone whistling out about the storage shed. She stepped out on the back porch to see if what she had heard was spirit or flesh and saw a young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties with a beautiful golden retriever at his heels. He was undoubtedly the best-looking ‘ghost’ she had ever seen in the almost nineteen years of her life. When he removed his cap as a form of respect, she could see that his hair was an almost fiery red and the freckles on his face tried unsuccessfully to hide the deep, deep dimples in each cheek. As fate would have it, her parents had made the trek into Fordsville to get supplies and see if the sheriff had any information about Uncle Cliff. It would probably be an hour or longer before their return.

  “Hello, colleen, my name is Johnny O’Reilly. I live with my Grandmama up on Thorne Hill. I had been seeing lights on in the house a good bit later than Old Mister Coy usually stayed up and I thought I’d see if we had new neighbors I wanted to meet. Now that I’ve seen you, the answer is definitely ‘yes.’”

  “We are the Wroe Family,” Chrissy blushed as she took his hand. “My father is Edward; my mother is Penny; I have twin siblings, Andy and Candy; and my name is Christina although everyone calls me ‘Chrissy.’ We came up from North Carolina to see Mama’s Aunt and Uncle but we haven’t seen either of them since we got here. We’re extremely concerned. Oh, where are my manners? Would you like a glass of tea? I’m afraid that’s all I have to offer at the moment.”

  “Tea would be wonderful." Johnny knew her folks were not at home. He had seen them leave so he didn’t even think about trying to beguile his way into the house. Well, maybe he thought about it but he certainly wouldn’t do it.

  She returned in a short while with two tall glasses of frosty cold tea. They sat side by side on the back steps and enjoyed simple conversation for the better part of an hour. Neither of them, later on, would have a clear memory of what they had talked about. However, they were sure it was a wonderful conversation. Chrissy did remember being introduced to JoJo, the Golden Retriever. JoJo had shook paws with her, had even let Chrissy scratch her ears, and pat her on her silky, golden head.

  “Do you think it would be out of line if I came by again to see you and meet the rest of your family?” Johnny asked.

  “Oh, I think that would be very nice indeed. I know they would all enjoy meeting you and JoJo.”

  When it was time for Johnny to go and he was about to go out of sight, he turned, took off his cap again, and waved to her and JoJo barked good-bye. Chrissy was still on cloud nine when her parents and the twins got home. Nevertheless, she helped unload the back of the SUV and even managed to get excited about all the goodies they had brought home. Penny and Ed had bought a bunch of treats they hadn’t had for a long, long time. Finally they got everything in the house and put away. Then they decided to rest a few minutes.

  “What did you do to occupy the time while we were gone?” they asked Chrissy.

  Chrissy blushed prettily. “Well, actually, I had a visitor after you left.”

  “Who on earth came to visit?” they asked.

  “He was the grandson of the woman you met up on Thorne Hill, Daddy. His name is Johnny O’Reilly and he has a Golden Retriever named JoJo. He was the one who put on the fireworks display we enjoyed on July 4. I thanked him for setting them off where we could watch it, too. I told him it was a terrific show. He said he was glad to know someone other than he and his grandmother had appreciated it.”

  “What is a gold ‘triever?" Candy wanted to know.

  “I know what it is,” Andy spoke up. “It’s one of those ‘tectors that finds stuff that’s under the ground. Did he find any gold or anything ‘round here?

  “A Golden Retriever, Kids, is a beautiful breed of dog. It has curly golden hair and is usually quite friendly,” their Dad explained.

  “She was friendly. She let me pat her head, rub her fur, and scratch her ears. She even barked ‘good-bye’ to me. Johnny said Aunt Lorraine had loved her and he had brought JoJo here to see her often when she was alive and Uncle Cliff enjoyed seeing her, too.”

  Penny was somewhat concerned about the young man being at the house when Chrissy was alone. “Where did you two do all this talking?”

  “He sat on the porch steps while I fixed us a glass of tea and then I sat there, too, and we drank our tea and talked. You know I wouldn’t have invited him into the house when you all weren’t here, Mom.”

  “I know you’re a good girl, Chrissy, but you haven’t dated much and I just didn’t want him or anybody else talking you into things or taking advantage of you.”

  Candy and Andy suddenly remembered one of the treats they had bought at the store.

  “Can we have some ice cream, Mama?" Candy was prepared to pout if necessary.

  “It’s been a long, long time since we had any, please, Mommy." Andy was just as anxious.

  "It's 'may' I have, not 'can' I have," Penny corrected and the twins immediately revised their request.

  "Let's see, it's a little over three hours until time to eat. If I let you have ice cream now, will you still eat a good dinner?" Of course, she knew what the answer would be.

  “Yes, yes,” they yelled in unison.

  “I want strawberry." That was Candy.

  “I want chocolate." That was Andy.

  “Vanilla for me, and I’ll help you fix it." Chrissy loved ice cream, too. And she appreciated a great deal the change in the topic of conversation.

  That night they finished reading Uncle Cliff’s journal. The last entry was dated June 15, 2005.

  The chest pains I’ve been having were worse this morning and my breathing gets more and more difficult. I still miss Lorraine so terribly much. I believed that in time I would become accustomed to her being gone, but it only seems to get harder and harder to accept that I will never see her again on this earth. I want more t
han anything to be with her. Of course, when Johnny came by I tried to be as cheerful as I could... I realized he would be concerned if he knew how depressed and fragile I feel.

  This evening I am going to try to make it up to the graveyard to visit Lorraine and Baby Cliffie’s graves one last time before I get past going. I need to say goodbye to them and tell them it won’t be long before I’ll be joining them in that Great Beyond. The weather is beginning to look fierce and I should probably stay home; but somehow, I feel I must go. CCC 15 June, 2005