The Ghostly Hideaway

by Doris Hale Sanders

  *

  Tears were flowing freely now and Penny could almost feel the hopelessness in the last official words written by the old man. The will was signed but it hadn’t even been witnessed, a testament to his lonely and solitary existence as well as his last wishes. Penny wished fervently that they might have arrived early enough to alleviate some of that loneliness before the end came.

  The next few weeks found the curtain closing on the Coy family. Almost no one came to the funeral but the Wroes’ readings in Clifton Coy’s journal didn’t mention many friends. It seemed that they had pretty much lived as hermits for the last several years, keeping almost exclusively to themselves. Johnny and his dog were about the only visitors that were referred to at all.

  When the monument was set, the little graveyard looked most presentable and Ed and Johnny built a picket fence around the site. Penny made weekly trips up the hill to put fresh flowers on the graves from the flower beds she was sure Aunt Lorraine had made and loved.

  As autumn approached, the fruit in the little orchard began to ripen and Ed carefully picked the apples and peaches and a few pears. They gathered almost two full bushel baskets of apples, carefully wrapped each apple in newspaper and put them into a flat box to store under one of the beds. Those with bad places, she turned into apple jelly. The cool, dark space there should let them keep until Christmas. The peaches were peeled and put into freezer bags with sugar and put into the big freezer in the pantry. The pears they ate as they ripened except they froze a few packages of them in freezer bags. They expected an even better crop by next fall if Ed could take care of them better next spring.

  Occasionally, Chrissy would wake up in the morning to a beautiful little bouquet of flowers and she still didn’t know how they got there; but somehow they always made her think of Johnny. The bouquet was especially pretty this morning. And then she remembered: she was nineteen years old today. With so much going on for the last several weeks, it was entirely possible that no one would remember that it was her birthday. She still couldn’t begin to explain how Johnny got the flowers on her nightstand and maybe it wasn’t even him doing it. She wished she could wake up and catch whoever or whatever was leaving them for her. At any rate, they were beautiful; but she still hadn’t mentioned the flowers to her family. Somehow, they seemed too personal to share with anyone else...

  She went downstairs after she got dressed. It sure was going to be another hot August day. She wondered—.

  “Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Everyone was singing, ‘happy birthday’; even Johnny was there and they had hung the family room with balloons and streamers and a birthday cake was arranged on the coffee table with plates, forks, napkins and everything. Chrissy was truly surprised and extremely pleased. She truly didn’t expect them to remember much less to plan a surprise. She was so touched, she had to turn her head and wipe the tears from her eyes.

  “We didn’t know what to get you for your birthday, but here are your gifts, Chrissy. Open them." Her mother was excited for her.

  “Oh, Mom, the beautiful winter jacket is great and I did need it. Now, what on earth is this big one?" Chrissy began tearing paper and soon revealed the shiny, cedar hope chest her Dad had made for her. It would hold a lot of stuff she thought as she opened it to see inside. A small foldout compartment was fastened into the lid and as she shoved it up to fold into the lid, she saw some things had been placed in the bottom of the chest. She pulled them out and was suddenly crying.

  “Oh, Mom, this is one of the quilts Grandma Langley made, isn’t it? And this is the only one you had that Grandma Gertie made; both of them are completely hand sewn. And where did this one come from? Did I see this among the things in the linen closet? I’ll bet Aunt Lorraine made this one. And there’s still another one. Oh, Mom, this is one you made when I was just a little girl. I must have been about Candy’s age. You can’t imagine just how proud I am of all of them; and Dad the chest is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I never expected to have anything this nice. Thank you so very much." As they were hugging and kissing, the third floor ghosts slammed the doors—not once but three times. “I think that says the ghosts approve, too.”

  “We made you a card, Chrissy." The twins needed some attention, too.

  “Oh, I want to see it; right now! Oh, how wonderful. You even made the envelope, too, didn’t you? Let’s see inside. Did you write all this yourselves? I didn’t know you could do this good! ‘Happy Birthday, Chrissy. We love you so much!’ And it’s signed, ‘Andy and Candy.’ Thanks a bunch. It means much more since you did it yourselves.”

  “Well, of course, Mom helped us but she let us do the writing as she showed us how.”

  “It’s, really special and I’m going to keep it in my hope chest right here in the little top drawer where I’ll keep all my special treasures from now on.”

  Candy and Andy were pleased with themselves as Chrissy hugged and kissed them as she had her folks.

  “Oh! Thank you all for remembering. Thanks for all the work you did to celebrate and to make my gifts and give me a special day. Can you believe I’m nineteen years old?”

  “No, I can’t! It seems it's been no more than a couple of years since I was changing your diapers." Penny was about to cry, too.

  “Oh, Mom, you don’t have to bring up things like that! That’s embarrassing!" Chrissy couldn’t quite look at Johnny; she was too mortified.

  “Well, at least I haven’t brought out the pictures of you without your diaper on the white chenille bedspread." Everybody laughed; Chrissy, too, but it didn’t seem quite as funny to her as it did everybody else. This time she did look sideways at Johnny. He was laughing, too, and Chrissy turned several shades of red.

  “May I help you take your beautiful chest up to your room, Chrissy?" It was apparent that Johnny was feeling somewhat left out, too.

  “Sure, I’ll appreciate it a lot." They got it up to her room and set it at the end of her bed and then Johnny gave her the card he had bought the week before when Ed had mentioned that Chrissy’s birthday was coming up.

  “This isn’t much but I wanted to let you know I was thinking about you on your birthday. Happy Birthday, Christina Marie.”

  Chrissy opened it and the front of the card said, ‘To Someone Very Special, Happy Birthday." Inside it had a tiny bouquet of for-get-me-nots that looked very much like the first flowers he had left for her. It said, “I know this is a special day/When dreams can all come true/But it couldn’t be as super/As extraordinary you." He had signed it: “With Love, Johnny.”

  “Thank you, Johnny. I’ll treasure this, too." She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then she put the card in the little tray in her hope chest where she had said she’d keep all her special keepsakes.

  It did turn out to be a truly special day and everyone enjoyed it very much, especially Chrissy and Johnny.

  The middle of August, Ed and Chrissy went to Fordsville for supplies. While they were there, Ed also arranged for telephone service at the farmhouse. He hadn’t thought there should be a problem since there had been service there before. He went to the post office to check on getting mail service, too, and was told they would bring his mail to the junction where his drive left the main road if he would put up a mailbox. He now had a telephone number and an address.

  His next stop was at the Rural Electric Co-op where he changed the electric bill into his name.

  He used the public pay phone to notify the Social Security Administration that Clifton Calhoun Coy had passed away in order that his social security account could be closed. He had picked up all the mail from the post office that had accumulated since Uncle Cliff’s death and he got his social security number from the bank statement.

  While he was near the phone, he decided to try to find out how things were going in North Carolina. He called the man who had been his employee and friend in North Carolina and talked to him for a few minutes. Ed was anxious to know if his ex-partner had been found and prosecut
ed for the robbery Norman Jones had framed him for. Bill Blass had informed him that the police had received a tip that Jones had been spotted in Chicago, but when they found where the suspect had been living, he had just left. Nevertheless, they were still on his trail. Ed gave him the number where he could be reached at home as soon as it was connected and asked Bill to keep him updated on the situation.

  Chrissy made one stop of her own while her Dad was on the phone. She went into a little gift shop, bought a small vase, and managed to zip it up inside her purse. She wanted something pretty to put her magic flowers in when they mysteriously appeared. They were so special to her that she wanted a vase for them instead of the old, discolored mug.

  When Chrissy and her dad got home that evening, they found Johnny there with JoJo and the twins were having a wonderful time playing with the beautiful dog. Johnny volunteered to help unload the groceries and things they had brought back from town. One of the things he helped unload was a mailbox and post.

  “Hey, Mr. Wroe, are you going to start getting mail service? Do you need help putting this up?" Johnny was anxious to help. It gave him an excuse to see Chrissy more often.

  “Yes, I am and I would sure appreciate your help, Johnny.”

  It rained the next day and it was Friday before they could get the mailbox installed. While they were working on getting it up, a neighbor Ed hadn’t met came by and Johnny introduced them.

  “Mr. Tinsley, I’d like you to meet Edward Wroe. Mr. Wroe, this is Frank Tinsley. The Tinsley Family would be your nearest neighbors on the west. Mr. Wroe is living in the old Coy house.”

  The two men shook hands and liked each other right away. “Did you buy the old Coy place after Cliff died?" Mr. Tinsley asked.

  “No,” Ed explained. “Mr. Coy was my wife’s uncle. After his heart attack, the place passed to her.”

  “Mr. Wroe has been doing a lot of work to the old house. You’d hardly know it was the same place. Right now, he’s putting in new kitchen cabinets. He does beautiful work." Johnny knew Ed was sort of looking for odd jobs to do and he had also heard Frank say that he needed new kitchen cabinets.

  “I’d love to see what you’re doing, Ed. I’ve been wanting some new kitchen cabinets, but I don’t have the tools or the knack for it." Mr. Tinsley took the bait just as Johnny figured he would.

  “Well, why don’t you and your family come over this afternoon and see what I’m doing and stay for supper. We’d love to get to know our neighbors. I think Uncle Cliff was almost a hermit; but we would really enjoy company." He hoped Penny wouldn’t kill him for inviting them without giving her much notice. “You may come, too, Johnny. You won’t let me pay you for your help so the least I should do is feed you." Of course, that suited Johnny just fine. Maybe he and Chrissy could squeeze in some time in the front porch swing.

  Penny was quite pleased to have company and she fixed a delicious meal. She fried some pork chops, made mashed potatoes and gravy, put together a wonderful salad and Chrissy baked a fabulous angel food cake for dessert.

  Frank and DeDe (her name was Cordelia but she insisted on the shorter version) were delightful guests. Penny remembered seeing them at the graveside service for Uncle Cliff but they hadn’t stayed around after the service was over. Their son, Devon, was eight and while somewhat boisterous, was still nice. Two-year-old Maria was absolutely a joy. Her sweet personality made everyone fall in love with her.

  Frank fell in love with Ed’s cabinetry, too, as did DeDe.

  “Ed, do you think we could get you to give us a bid on fixing some cabinets for us?" The Tinsley’s seemed extremely excited about the possibility.

  “I’d be glad to,” Ed told them. He was excited, too. He had made a good-sized dent in the funds from selling their house in North Carolina and he needed to make some money.

  “What type of wood do you want your cabinets made from?" Ed knew that would have to be part of the bid estimate.

  “How about if I furnish the materials and you provide the labor and expertise? I work as a logger. I could get some lumber sawed and planed for the project and you have the tools to do the rest. It would likely be oak or walnut. We’re working virgin woodland, right now, so it could probably be my choice.”

  “That would be perfect.”

  “Hey, you know what? I could get some lumber for you pretty cheap, too, at least compared to lumberyard prices. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”

  “Of course. There are still several projects around here that need to be done. I could use some good lumber.”

  While the men talked business and drank coffee in the dining room, the women went into the family room and Johnny and Chrissy wandered out to the front porch swing.

  “I enjoy listening to the way you talk, Johnny. Is that an Irish brogue?”

  “My father was Irish. He met my mother, Janet Thorne, when he came through here with a crew working on electric lines. They stayed in this area a little over six months and when it was time to move on, he found he couldn’t leave my mom. He asked her to marry him and when her folks said, ‘no’ they eloped. They came back a couple of years later to see Grandmother when Great-grandpapa died but she had become terribly bitter at Mom. So they left again and went back to Ireland. I was born there and that's where I grew up. A couple of years ago, I decided I would come back and see if I could mend some fences with Grandmother. She tolerates me but she still can’t forgive my mother. When things got too unpleasant up there at Grandmama’s, I’d come down and visit with Mr. and Mrs. Coy. I’m still trying, though. Maybe one day before it’s too late she’ll ask them to come for a visit.”

  “Oh. I don’t know what to say, Johnny. That’s too sad and sweet at the same time.”

  “You’re sweet, too." He had already stretched his arm across the back of the swing behind her and while he was talking he let it drop across her shoulders. Now he pulled her around to face him and brushed his lips tentatively across hers. She hadn’t objected so he deepened the kiss until he felt her hand come up to tangle softly in his hair. The tickling sensation in her stomach startled her and made her draw away slightly; but then she was kissing him back and wishing the moment would never end.

  “Oh, here you are!" It was Devon. “I wondered where you’d gone. I thought maybe you’d want to play a game with me. The babies don’t know how to play anything,” he said disgustedly.

  Chrissy and Johnny looked into each other’s eyes and sighed but went on into the living room and Chrissy got out a game called “Aggravation” which she thought Johnny would recognize as her way of saying Devon was an aggravation and they could continue their experiments later on. They hadn’t played long when Mr. and Mrs. Tinsley decided it was time to go. Maria was already asleep and Devon had school the next day. It had been a nice evening, though, especially for Chrissy. She had stayed awake looking at the ceiling and daydreaming far into the night still feeling the thrill of Johnny’s lips on hers. As she was finally dropping off to sleep, she thought she heard something on the third floor, but she still drifted off into deep sleep. Ghosts didn’t scare her much anyway these days.

  The following week, Ed and Penny took the documentation Penny had found in the old roll top desk and gave it to a lawyer. After Attorney Horace Lee had looked at all the paperwork, he asked the Wroes how he could help them.

  “We’d like to be able to have the property in our name so that we would be responsible for the taxes, the insurance, and all that. The only problem is I haven’t discovered a way to actually prove I am Uncle Cliff’s niece. The will says ‘Penelope Langley.’ Parsons was the last name of my Aunt Genevieve who raised me after my parents died. They adopted me in order for me to have insurance coverage under Uncle Jack’s work insurance. I don’t have anything to show that ‘Langley’ was ever my last name. I go by ‘Penny’ now rather than Penelope, too, and that makes it even more difficult. If that gets to be too much of a problem, of course, we can simply let things remain as they are, pay the taxes and othe
r obligations, and leave it in Uncle Cliff’s name. We’re hoping you can advise us the best way to handle this.”

  “What I would advise is to go ahead to probate with the will. If someone else should appear and register a claim for the property, we’ll start worrying about proof at that point. If they don’t, the records will show that you inherited the property from your uncle.”

  “That sounds wonderful Attorney Lee. Can you give us an idea how long this will take?”

  “Anywhere between ninety and one hundred eighty days. With no complications, you should have a deed in your name within the next three months.”