The Team and the Ghost

by S G Read

  ‘Is that all you want to know?’ Tim asked.

  ‘Ask her about her father.’ Stuart added.

  ‘She doesn’t know anything about her father and if she did she probably wouldn’t want to know him because he left her in there to be ill treated.’ Tim retorted and disappeared.

  The two boys looked round but there was no sign of Tim and they did not feel any cold sensations at all.

  Tim disappeared and hurried outside. He had never thought of going into the convent before but he could walk through walls and doors although going through floors often had its drawbacks when he ended up in the foundations. He walked along the road toward the convent and heard a car coming. He moved to be in the direct line of the driver’s seat and froze the driver as he passed through her before walking on laughing. It was something he had learnt to do after trying to get run over by a car and failing badly on account of his already being dead.

  As the convent approached he slowed wondering where to go in and chose the large oak gates on the front. He walked through them into a courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings. He nearly turned round and went back out just to tell Stuart it was going to take ages but walked through the wall to his left and started his search.

  It was very steamy where he came in and it was not until he came face to face with a girl. Well it was face to face and the rest of her as she was having a shower. Tim stood looking at her but another girl pushed her and she stumbled into him and felt the chill go right through her. She screamed and fought her way past the others to get out causing them to complain and then Tim came face to face with a naked Ursula. It was his turn to scream but remembering where he was he stifled it and walked through the next wall only to find the first girl there still holding her stomach. He stopped and looked at her, she was pretty but she was not Waif so he moved on but he did think he might just come back one day.

  He walked through wall after wall until he was outside again then moved upstairs. He did the same with all the other buildings without success then thought about a cellar if there was one. This is where he could end up in the foundations so he found a door with stairs behind and followed them down.

  It was a laundry with washing machines growling away as they cleaned the clothes they had been entrusted with. There was a nun there making sure all was going well and he saw Waif, she was doing all the work! The nun did not lift a finger to help just made her work harder. Tim moved into a position to freeze her but held him self back for a few moments just in case she chose to go of her own accord. With all the machines full and running the nun walked to the bottom of the stairs.

  ‘When can I go for a walk again Sister Chantel?’ Waif pleaded as she sank onto a cot which was obviously her bed.

  ‘When mother says you can and not before.’ The nun retorted and walked up the stairs.

  Tim waited and listened. He heard the door locked and the nun walk away.

  ‘She is a nasty piece of work.’ He said making Waif jump.

  ‘Tim; how did you get in here?’ She asked worriedly. ‘They’ll catch you.’

  ‘Don’t worry about me Waif, I will be alright. Is this what they make you do?’

  ‘Yes Tim and more.’

  ‘I thought they were supposed to be Christians and help people like you?’

  ‘Not if your mum was one of their nuns.’ They treat me like dirt because that is what they think of me.’

  ‘Well you are not dirt and me and my friends are going to let you see that somehow but we need to know all you know about you mum and dad.’

  ‘I already told you I don’t have a dad and my mum is dead.’

  ‘How do you know the others have looked everywhere for her name in the obituaries.’ Tim struggled over the last word. ‘Is that where dead people are listed?’

  ‘Yes. They should have found my mum though although they won’t find the grave as she is buried in the grounds in unconsecrated ground whatever that means?’

  Tim shrugged his shoulders he did not know either. ‘Do you know where she is buried?’

  ‘Yes I asked the mother superior and she showed me, so that I could put flowers on her grave but Ursula just stamps on them when she sees them.’

  ‘I will have to show her the error of her ways one day; are there flowers on it now?’

  ‘No but when I go out I can put some on there if they let me out again.’

  ‘If you stopped work and went on strike you could make them let you put flowers on it and then I will find out where the grave is.’

  ‘Is it important then?’ Waif asked.

  Tim smiled. ‘Oh yes quite important.’ He did not explain that he planned to go into the grave and that way he could contact her mum and ask about her father, so to him it seemed important. They talked for another half an hour and then the key turned in the lock at the top of the stairs.

  ‘Quick hide.’ Waif cried but Tim was already gone. She looked round for him while Sister Chantel clattered down the stairs. ‘How did he do that?’ She wondered but was soon working again.

  Tim walked back to the hall and found the two boys playing cards as that was all that was available with the upheaval. He watched for a few moments before he appeared.

  ‘What are you playing?’ He asked.

  ‘It is called cheat.’ Stevey answered. ‘You say what you put down but don’t always put down what you say. Just now Stu said four sixes and put down four cards so the next time when he said four sixes again I called him a cheat but he did put down four sixes the second time so I get the stack of cards. The first one out of cards is the winner.’

  ‘But he did cheat the first time.’ Tim declared.

  ‘Yes he did and that was when I should have called him a cheat.’ Stevey explained. ‘Do you want to play?’

  ‘Okay.’

  They sat and played cards on stools in the kitchen.

  ‘So where did you go?’ Stuart asked half way through the next game.

  ‘I went to see Waif like you said to.’ Tim answered.

  ‘You have been there already? Why didn’t you say so? What did you find out?’ Stuart asked firing questions at him one after the other.

  ‘She doesn’t know her father but she does know where her mother is buried.’ Tim answered. ‘It is in the convent.’

  ‘So why is she buried there?’ Stuart asked.

  ‘She was not buried in consecrated ground or something because she was a bad nun.’ Tim replied. ‘I don’t really know what that means.’

  ‘Does that help?’ Stevey asked.

  ‘Yes.’ Tim declared. ‘When she is able to put flowers on there again I will see where it is and I can go down and that way I get to talk to her mother.’

  ‘You can do that?’ Stuart asked.

  ‘Oh yes and then we will know who her father is and we can go and see why he doesn’t want his daughter.’ Tim declared. ‘Four sevens.’

  They both looked down at the cards but neither said cheat which made Tim smile.

  When it was time to go Tim walked with them to the paddock and watched them go, he knew he would not see Waif but he wondered if he would see the girl he saw in the shower, out walking but he was disappointed and returned to his temporary room. The video player was in there and Tim ran an extension lead from the kitchen as far as it would go and then another from there until he had a plug in his room. He switched on the video player and settled down to watch one of the tapes it was better than just crying in an empty house. Before the men arrived in the morning he had to put the extension leads back where he found them but that did not take long.

  Chapter 6

  Waif was woken by Sister Chantel who shook her roughly.

  ‘Wake up you lazy girl.’ She chastised. ‘Get to work.’

  ‘I want to put some flowers on my mother’s grave.’ Waif declared.

  ‘You can do that later.’ Sister Chantel declared.

  ‘So I’ll do the work later.’ Waif retorted and folded her arms.

  ‘I’l
l take a ruler to you.’ Sister Chantel warned.

  ‘Use a whip if you like but I will put flowers on my mother’s grave and if that Ursula stamps on them again I will put more on there.’ Waif replied.

  The sister hit her with the ruler but Waif let her and did not complain.

  ‘When you have killed me, you will not get into heaven.’ She said when the sister stopped hitting her.

  ‘You wicked girl.’

  ‘Me wicked I don’t think so sister.’

  When hitting her did no good the sister retreated and locked her in the cellar. She hurried to the sister who was I charge of her.

  ‘That little madam has refused to do any work!’ She exploded.

  ‘What Waif, I wonder what has got into her?’ The other sister replied and followed sister Chantel back to the cellar but when she saw Waif in the little cot with blood on her clothes where some of the strokes of the ruler had been on the edge and cut her. She turned on Sister Chantel. ‘I suggest you start work Sister Chantel because Waif will not be able to do any after the beating you have given her.’

  ‘She should have worked.’ Sister Chantel declared.

  ‘Are you ill Waif?’ The sister asked trying to find out why she was refusing to work but Waif was unresponsive.

  ‘She asked to put some flowers on her mother’s grave Sister Angela and threatened to stop work again if Ursula Madison-Paige stomped all over them again.’ Sister Chantel explained as she loaded up the washing machines for the day’s wash.

  ‘Well she will not be doing any more work for some time Sister Chantel so get used to getting your hands wet!’ Sister Angela declared and picked Waif up without problem as she was very thin. ‘I will take Waif to the infirmary.’

  ‘Mother won’t like that.’ Sister Chantel warned.

  ‘Would she prefer to have a murderer in our midst?’ Sister Angela declared and walked up the cellar stairs.

  Instead of the infirmary she took Waif upstairs to her little room and laid her on her own bed while she hurried to the infirmary for bandages and balm for the wounds. She pulled off the rags, which served as Waif’s clothes and bandaged her wounds, washing them first and applying balm as she did so. While she worked Waif looked up at her helpless and in pain but she did not complain once. When she was bandaged Sister Angela pulled the cover over her and returned to the cellar with Waif’s blood stained clothing. She opened a machine which had still to be filled and threw them inside to be washed then added other clothes before starting the machine.

  ‘Come and tell me when this machine has finished washing Sister Chantel.’ She ordered and left the other sister working, something Sister Chantel rarely did when she had Waif to do it all.

  Waif lay on the bed it was a hard bed but it was still better than her cot in the cellar. She could see a window which is something she had never been near in the upstairs of the school before and longed to look out of it. In the end she forced herself out of the bed and staggered over to the window. When she looked out she was pleased to see her mother’s grave below by the corner of the garden. There were footmarks on it where Ursula had stomped all over the last lot of wild flowers she had picked to put on there and it made Waif cry. She had to put more flowers on so that Tim knew where it was but how in her state?

  Tim wound up the extension leads and put them back where he found them before the men arrived to start work and with nothing better to do he thought he would go and see Waif again; he liked her. He walked across the garden soon after the men started work and sat on the gate to the lane for a while before walking on. He passed the gate which led into the paddock where the boys played football and carried on until he came to the convent.

  He passed through the gate again and then headed for the shower but it was empty so he went directly to the cellar and found Sister Chantel working and no sign of Waif. He looked around and saw blood on her little cot. That worried him. Had they beaten her? Was she dead? Now he searched everywhere and in a hurry but he made sure he did not pass through anyone while he was doing it. He was worried about Waif as it was his idea for her to refuse to work.

  In one room which was a classroom he saw the girl he had walked into, in the shower and stopped to look at her. He thought the she was just as pretty in the school uniform as she was naked and stood looking at her as she worked and was annoyed when Ursula walked by and hit her for no reason. The sister teaching the class did not say anything about the attack so Tim followed her; not to freeze her but to try to show her up. As she went to sit in her chair at the back of the room he pulled it from under her so that she landed on the floor heavily causing several girls to snigger. Ursula stood up swearing as she did so. She looked accusingly at her two friends who sat nearby but they looked up from their work innocently and with no one else near she replaced the chair again and sat down. Tim pulled it away again and she fell again. This time everyone laughed except the sister in charge who did not look up from the book she was reading. Ursula ranted and raved then sat down holding the chair in position as she did so. With both her hands on the chair to stop it moving and her head leaning forward Tim opened her desk with as much power as his little arms could muster and slammed it into her face.

  ‘What are you doing Ursula?’ The sister asked finally taking notice of the noise.

  Ursula sat there with blood dripping out of her mouth and holding one of her teeth in her right hand.

  Tim left and hurried on to find Waif but could not find her downstairs. He went upstairs and moved from room to room until she saw a thin little girl standing naked by the window of the room she was in. She had bandages on her to signify that she had been beaten and some of the bandages had blood on them.

  ‘What happened to you?’ Tim asked making Waif jump.

  ‘Where did you come from?’ Waif asked.

  ‘Through the door.’ Tim answered honestly, as he had just passed through the door.

  ‘I didn’t hear it open.’ Waif replied and slipped into bed to cover up her nakedness. ‘You can’t stay here or Sister Angela will catch you.’

  ‘Let me worry about that. Did they beat you?

  ‘Yes Sister Chantel hit me with a ruler because I refused to work until I had put some more flowers on my mother’s grave. I also told her that I would go out and replace them if Ursula stomped on them again so she kept hitting me and then told Sister Angela who brought me up here and bandaged my wounds.’

  ‘Did you put flowers on the grave?’

  ‘No not yet I am hardly in any shape to go outside apart from being beaten I am naked or didn’t you notice?’

  ‘I noticed. You are very thin shall I bring you some food?’

  ‘Can you?’

  ‘I can do anything for you Waif.’

  ‘Are you Super Boy or something then?’ Waif asked with her first smile since her beating.

  ‘No, not quite Super Boy but I don’t do bad; besides if I give you food you will get stronger and then you can put flowers on the grave so that I will know where it is.’

  Waif climbed back out of bed.

  ‘A gentleman would look away.’ She declared when she saw him looking at her.

  ‘Sorry.’ Tim replied and looked away.

  Waif walked over to the window.

  ‘Do you see that patch or bare ground with the foot marks on it?’ She asked pointing out of the window.

  ‘I’m looking away remember?’ Tim declared.

  ‘Well look back but don’t stare at me like that.’

  Tim looked out of the window.

  ‘What over by that wall?’ He asked.

  ‘Yes. That is my mother’s unmarked grave Mother Superior told me where it was when I wanted to put flowers on her grave on my birthday.’

  ‘So we don’t need to wait for the flowers now then?’ Tim declared.

  ‘No.’ Waif answered and climbed back into the bed. When she looked up Tim was no longer there. ‘He sure is quick.’ Waif declared.

  ‘Who is?’ Sister Angela asked as she op
ened the door.

  Waif had no time to think and answered immediately.

  ‘Jesus. I asked him to come and take me away from here and I think he is going to.’

  ‘Not for a while I hope.’ Sister Angela declared. ‘I hope he waits until you have eaten this soup first.’

  Waif smiled at the thought of soup.

  ‘So do I.’ she answered.

  Tim hurried outside to the grave this could tell them who the father was and he moved through the soil to find the coffin with Waif’s mother’s remains in it but all he found was soil and lower down it was undisturbed. He tried further over and eventually the whole bed before he gave up looking and returned to the hall to await a visit from Stevey and Stuart. The longer he waited and thought about what he had found, or rather had not found, the more agitated he became. In the end he started walking towards the paddock hoping to find either boy alone. He saw no one until he neared Stuart’s house and there he found all the boys dotted about in the conservatory. He hovered nearby waiting for one of them to move or come out but nothing happened and the picture of Waif bandaged up made him go inside.

  ‘So what exactly are we waiting for again?’ Toby asked.

  ‘For our undercover operator to find out who Waif’s father is so that we can go and ask him why he doesn’t want his daughter to live with him!’ Stuart answered.

  ‘And how is he going to do that?’ Simon asked. ‘I thought Waif didn’t know who her father was?’

  ‘She doesn’t but my representative thought he could find out in some other way.’ Stuart answered candidly.

  ‘How?’ Ben asked.

  ‘If you must know Waif was going to put flowers on her mother’s grave, so that Tim knew where it was and then he was going into the grave, because he said he could make contact with her mother and ask just who the father was!’ Stuart declared a little irately.

  ‘I only asked.’ Ben exclaimed.

  ‘I only answered.’ Stuart replied.

  ‘When do we find out what happened?’ Sherman asked.

  ‘Now.’ Tim answered from the only vacant chair.