“I know, I know.” He grinned. “I’ve watched her by myself before, darling. I think we’ll be fine.”
She ran a hand through her hair and chuckled. “I know. I just worry.”
“I know, darling.” He gave her a quick kiss. “Go see how the café looks. Take as long as you need. We’ll get on just fine here without you.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” she muttered as she headed towards the station wagon.
John watched her pull out of the drive and waved as she headed off. He knew how much she wanted to get to work, how much she wanted to get started. It had been difficult for her to even wait the week. She had been all but twitching with anticipation. It was nice to see her finally get the chance to get at it.
He wandered out of the house and down the lawn towards Julie who was rolling the football absently between her two feet. She glanced up at him, her green eyes as wide as the smile she offered.
“Have you come to play, daddy?” She bent to pick up the football and toss it at him. “It’s much more fun if you play.”
John bounced the football from one hand to the other as if considering. “And why should I play if you always win?”
“You always let me win,” she countered. “That’s not my fault.”
“Well it’s kind of your fault.” He dropped the football and scooped her into his arms. “It’s because you’re so darn cute that I let you win all the time.”
“Daddy!” she protested as he swung her through the air. “Put me down!”
“Put you down?” He let go for half a second and then caught her again. “Like that?”
“Nicely,” she insisted giving his shoulder a smack. “Don’t drop me.”
“Oh I would never drop you, darling.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead before setting her down on the ground again. “Are you going to keep playing outside for a while?”
“Are you going to play with me?” she countered her eyes just as questioning as they had been when he’d first walked over.
“I have to go back inside and work, hun. Do you want to come play inside for a little bit?” He raised a brow and enjoyed her giggled response.
“Can we watch TV now?”
He saw her look towards the driveway as if to check if her mom was still there listening. He leaned down and in a conspiratorial whisper said, “As long as we don’t tell mom.”
She squealed in delight and jumped from one foot to the other. It was the most excitement he’d seen from her since they’d finished painting her bedroom. She’d been rather down and remote since the move. It was nice to see a shadow of his daughter back.
She’d always been a happy child. He hoped that what she was going through now was just a result of the move, the stress of a new environment. She continued to talk about her friends back in London. She talked about school. It was clear that she missed their old home. But he was hopeful that she would adjust to the new environment.
He scooped her up into his arms once more just to enjoy the feeling. He knew that soon she’d be too big to cart around. She was already getting there. So he would enjoy it while he could. She was growing up so rapidly. He wished constantly that he could slow down time; make her grow up more slowly. But as that was impossible he would simply cherish the time he had with her.
He settled her in front of the TV they had set up in the living room. There had been some debate over whether it should live in the living room or the parlor but ultimately the parlor had been reserved for a technology free room. They could agree that it was necessary in their lives.
The TV looked quite at home in the space, despite the traditional décor. And their over stuffed couch was the perfect pairing. Julie curled up in her usual spot and waited patiently for her father to put something on the TV.
John settled into the armchair once the cartoon was playing. He’d mastered tuning out the sound of it long before he’d had a daughter. If working in a crowded corporate building had taught him anything it was how to ignore everyone around you.
He kept his eyes on his computer screen as he worked on his current project. But that didn’t keep him from glancing over to ensure that she was occupied every few moments.
He’d promised Ellen he wouldn’t let her watch TV the whole time that she was gone, but time had a habit of getting away from him. He knew when it started to get dark and he turned on the lamp that they’d probably been watching TV for a little too long. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Hey little one, are you hungry?” He closed his laptop and set it aside.
“I had toast a little while ago.” She shrugged. “But I could eat.”
“You had toast?” His brow furrowed. He didn’t remember seeing her get up and leave the room.
“You were talking to yourself. You didn’t notice.” She giggled a little as she said it.
“Alright, miss sassy-pants, what do you want for dinner?” He rested his chin on his fist and regarded her closely.
“Grilled ham and cheese,” Julie replied, her tone certain.
“Well then that’s what we’ll have.”
Chapter 3
A Friend
* * *
Ellen talked non-stop that first evening about the café. She had dreams for it. She had ideas. And she was desperately eager to get started on it. She flitted around the house gathering what she needed the next morning, gave them both a kiss, and then she was gone out the door.
It was like that for the next four days.
John stayed home with Julie and Ellen left for the entire day, buried in her work. He tried not to begrudge her that. He remembered when his workdays had been like that and when she had supported him through it. He would aim to do the same for her.
Julie was still as restless as she’d been in their first week in the house. She was usually a self-sufficient child, content to play alone when friends were not around. But she was becoming easily bored playing outside and their trips to the playground didn’t even satisfy her.
John took what time he could away from work to entertain her, but she was a lackluster playmate even in his company. She wasn’t transitioning nearly as well as they would have hoped she would.
He had to wonder if her mother’s absence had any part to play in it, but he couldn’t put the blame on her. Julie was going through something it was just a matter of determining what the problem was.
He watched her as she played with her toys on the living room floor. She seemed content enough at the moment. He wished that his current work project wasn’t taking up so much of his time so that he could spend more of it with her, but for now he’d have to just supervise and be there in case she needed anything.
“Cars should be able to fly,” Julie said to no one in particular.
John glanced up from his laptop. “And why is that, darling?”
“It just seems about time that they should,” she shrugged and went back to driving her toy car around on the carpet.
John chuckled at that but said nothing further.
Julie didn’t like it here. She didn’t like the way the house smelled. She didn’t like how the floorboards creaked at night. She missed her friends. She missed her home.
Julie drove her car in a circle on the carpet, paying very little attention to what she was doing. She didn’t want to play with cars. She didn’t know what she wanted to do. But she knew that she wanted more than anything to be back in London. There was something about this place that was unwelcoming to her.
She played on the living room floor for a half hour longer before she grew tired of her toys. Her cars and little towns people were only so entertaining when her mind kept drifting to all the reasons why she didn’t want to be there.
She glanced up at her father who was busy on his computer. He was always busy on his computer, always working. And now mom was gone all the time as well. She was basically alone in the house. Alone in a place she didn’t want to be in but had not choice in the matter.
“I’m going t
o play in the parlor,” she announced pushing her toys aside and getting to her feet.
“In the parlor?” John glanced up from his computer, a brow raised. This time there was no laughter in response. “Are you sure you want to play in the parlor, little one? There isn’t much in there.”
“I will find something to do,” she shrugged and when he nodded she left the room.
She hadn’t spent much time in the parlor since they’d moved in. It had been the last room that they had assembled and there really wasn’t much in there. Her father was right about that. But she suddenly felt the urge to explore the room and all that it held.
The parlor was a medium sized room with a high ceiling like the rest of the house. The walls were paneled rather than papered and they had placed a couch and a small table set in the room to fill the space. The large bookcase that filled on wall had been in the house when they’d arrived. Whether the previous owners had left it because it was too big to move or whether it was just something that had been in the house for years so no one really owned it anymore it was hard to say.
Julie wandered into the room, eyes drifting from the table to the couch. She wasn’t really certain why she wanted to be in here. For some reason it just seemed like a better option than the living room, she felt as though she needed to be in there.
She glanced at the large bookcase. None of her books would be in there; they were all in the case in her room. But perhaps there were other things hiding in the case that she could play with. She hadn’t managed to find her colouring books yet. They weren’t in her boxes when they’d unpacked so there was a chance that they’d ended up with the rest of the household books.
She stood on tiptoe and opened the main door to the bookcase. It had few books inside of it but it smelled of old books. It reminded her of the bookcase they’d had at their home. She missed that bookcase.
She scanned the books that were there but saw none of her colouring books. Disappointed, she closed the door and moved onto the next section. She repeated the process but again found none of her books in there either.
She moved onto the cupboards that were below the shelves. Her hand hesitated over the door of the first one. She wasn’t certain why she stopped for a moment, why she waited. But there was something about it.
She was drawn to it, but she also felt the sudden urge to run from the room and back to her father. She wanted to crawl onto his lap and stay there. She wanted to forget about the cupboard and whatever lay within it.
She ignored that feeling. Her curiosity was too great. She felt drawn to it in the same way she had felt drawn to the room. Her hand closed over the small nob and she pulled gently on the door.
It resisted for a moment as though it hadn’t been opened in a long time. She wondered if her parents had looked in this cupboard. She wondered if they had found it’s mysteries or if she was the first one. She really hoped that she would be the first. She wanted something from this house to be hers and just hers.
The door opened fully to reveal two small shelves within the cupboard. She thought, at first, that there was nothing inside. She felt the disappointment overwhelm here. She almost closed the door.
Then she saw it.
It was tucked in the back corner of the cupboard. The light barely reached it but she caught the gleam off of the metal just before she closed the door. She paused in the action and peered into the darkness. Her hand followed her gaze and closed around the cold metal.
She’d never seen a phone that looked quite like this one. She knew it was a phone though. It had the rotary dial pad, a listening end, and a speaking end. She thought she may have seen one in a movie once, but she couldn’t quite remember.
She smiled at her new discovery. She knew that her parents hadn’t found this yet. If they had it would be out on display. They loved old things. They would have showed it to her if they had found it.
No, this was all hers, her discovery.
She pulled it from the cabinet and closed the door firmly. She had no intention of putting it back to hide in the darkness. Something like this deserved to come out and be used. She intended to do just that.
Julie crawled up onto the couch, the phone in her hands. She crossed her legs beneath her and set the phone in her lap.
It clearly didn’t work. She understood technology. It wasn’t plugged into anything. It needed electricity to run and needed to be hooked to phone lines. Her father had explained these things to her.
She picked the listening piece off its hook and pressed it to her ear. It may not work, but it didn’t hurt to pretend.
“Hello, it’s so nice to hear from you,” she said jokingly into the talking piece. She lifted the receiver to wait for an answer.
She heard nothing but static.
Her brow furrowed at that. She knew that she shouldn’t be hearing anything at all. The phone wasn’t plugged in. The phone wasn’t working.
She shrugged it off and continued her charade.
“Oh, you’ve been doing well? I’m so glad to hear that,” she giggled. “I’ve had better days.”
The static persisted through the receiver but Julie ignored it.
“I’m not sure what to think of this new house. I miss home.” She looked around herself at the unfamiliar room. “I miss my friends. I have no one here.”
She leaned back against the cushion, cradling the phone against her.
“Mom and dad don’t understand. They think it’s so easy to just get used to being here. But dad has his work and mom has her café. What do I have?” she sighed as the static persisted. “My school is in London. My friends are in London. Everything here requires change. I don’t want to change. I want things to stay the same.”
She glared at the wall across the room the talking piece in her hand and the receiver cradled next to her ear. She barely heard the voice when it came through.
I’ll be your friend.
Chapter 4
Unsettled
* * *
John got lost in his work. He tried not to let it happen when he was watching Julie, but it was easy enough to do when she was being quite. When he finally emerged from his task it was several hours later and approaching dinnertime.
He glanced around the living room, took in the toys on the floor and had a moment to wonder where she’d gotten to. Then he remembered her statement about playing in the parlor.
He set his laptop aside a little reluctantly and went off to check on her. She’d been quite all this time so obviously she’d found something to amuse herself with. He had no clue what that could have been. The parlor wasn’t exactly an exciting place.
He was surprised to find her seated on the couch cradling an old candlestick phone. He hadn’t seen one like it in years. He wondered where on earth she’d found it.
More curious was the fact that she seemed to be in deep conversation with someone on the other end of the phone. He smiled at the sight. She’d always had a vivid imagination when she wanted to put it to use.
“Hey little one, what do you have there?” He moved across the room in long strides to sit with her on the couch.
Julie jolted a little at his voice and smiled sheepishly. She hung up the phone but didn’t set it aside. She didn’t want to let it go.
“Oh nothing, just fooling around.” She didn’t meet his eyes when she spoke in case he could see that she was lying. He always said that he could.
“Where’d you find this?” He reached out to touch the phone and she pulled it closer to her chest. His brow furrowed in concern. “Can I see it for a moment?”
She seemed to consider, looking at the phone and then looking at her father. She seemed to be weighing whether she could trust him with her new toy. Finally she nodded.
He took the antique phone from her and ran a hand over the metal that was now warm from her touch. It was a beautiful piece. He could remember his grandmother having one just like it in her house when he was young. It was nice to see one again.
�
��Where did you find this, darling?” He handed it back to her. After all it was nothing more than a toy now. And since she had found it then it was her toy. He wouldn’t take that away from her.
“It was in the cupboard.” Julie pointed to the cupboard in the large bookcase where she had found the phone. “The one on the end.”
John’s brow furrowed further. They’d checked the cupboards in the bookcase when they’d unpacked the room. It had been empty. It was possible that they’d missed it. In the hurry to get things set up they could have missed many things in the house, but he was pretty certain that one of them would have noticed such an antique.
“Well that’s quite a find, little one.” He offered a smile. “How about you leave that in here and we go and make some dinner?”
Julie hugged the phone to herself and shook her head. “I’m taking it with me,” she insisted.
John regarded her for a moment. He could see the stubborn gleam in her eye. He’d like to blame her mother for that, but he new that he was just as stubborn. He knew that there was no arguing with that gleam.
“Fine you can bring it with you to the kitchen. But no talking on the phone while you’re eating.” He wagged his finger in warning and had her giggling.
They headed off to the kitchen to cook. Julie with her arms filled by the antique telephone.
Ellen got home early for the first time that week. It was nice to see the lights still on in the house as she came through the front door and to hear conversation from the living room.
She entered the room with a smile on her face but it immediately changed to a frown at the sight in front of her.
John was busy at his computer. That didn’t remotely surprise her. She had expected him to be working when she got home. That was how she usually found him.
What shocked her was the sight of her daughter, seated on the floor, with an old candlestick telephone in front of her. She seemed to be in deep conversation with someone on the other end, to the point that she had yet to notice that Ellen had even entered the room.
Haunted Happenings Page 16