When The Spirit Moves You

by Thomas DePrima

  Amelia and her friends were introduced to Beverly and Patricia Burton, Anne's cousins on her mother's side, when they arrived for breakfast with Nancy Connors, Barbara Pierce, and June Smyth. The latter three women were friends from the preparatory academy that Anne attended before Miss Peterson's Finishing School. Following their meal, Anne escorted the nine women on a tour of the house.

  Amelia, Roberta, Martha, and Elizabeth learned that original plans had called for them to share two rooms, but following the accident it was decided to give them each a separate bedroom; at least until they recovered from their ordeal. If the weather didn't improve, they would stay as they were, but if other guests arrived, they might be asked to double up. Amelia told Anne that they would naturally be happy to consolidate should the rooms be needed.

  From first floor to top, the women covered the entire mansion, with the exception of Mr. Westfield's study, occupied guest bedrooms, the servant quarters, and attic space. Although the new home had no history associated with it, Anne managed to keep up a running commentary on the building and decorating of the mansion, and on the history of furniture pieces in various rooms.

  The centerpiece of the music room was a beautiful harpsichord. The instrument's exquisite design incorporated an exterior shell made primarily of mahogany with inlaid patterns of various accent woods. Affixed just above the double keyboard was a nameplate identifying it as being a 'Johannes Broadwood Londini Fecit 1793.'

  Anne's cousin Beverly, an accomplished pianist, offered to provide musical entertainment for the group, so it was to the music room that the ten young women withdrew following the tour. They listened quietly as Beverly coaxed delightful music from the piano-like instrument that produced sounds reminiscent of both a harp and a piano. A tall brunette with a pinched look to her face, Beverly appeared cold and serious while she played, but her music was as warm as her generous nature. She was quite the opposite of her sister Patricia, whose fair looks and desire for superior social position seemed to encourage her to be far less kind than those around her.

  Beverly's occasional breaks from playing provided an opportunity to learn a little about the other members of the small group. Anne's delightfully outgoing personality provided the four girls with facts about themselves as well. If they were the least bit slow in answering questions about themselves, she responded for them. She regaled her cousins and local friends with stories of their escapades at Miss Peterson's. To hear her tell it, the five of them gave the faculty nightmares on a regular basis. She told of one incident, organized by Amelia, in which the energetic quintette snuck out of the dormitory one very warm spring night for a moonlight frolic in a nearby stream. They were having so much fun that they quite forgot themselves and awoke the headmistress, their raucous noise easily carrying back to the school in the stillness of the evening. On another occasion, Amelia organized a late-night wine-making party. Crates of grapes were purchased through a local produce tradesman and surreptitiously delivered to the school with the regular food shipment. The five girls were caught red-handed and purple-footed as they crushed the juicy fruit in a dormitory bathtub.

  When lunch was announced, the women moved as a group to the dining room. The four young women, welcomed so warmly by Anne and the others, were beginning to feel comfortable in their situation.

  Anne and Amelia, engaged in conversation, were walking together at the front of the party when a great bear of a man came hurrying out of the dining room and bumped into them. After very nearly knocking them over, he quickly stretched out his hands to grab their arms and help them remain on their feet.

  "I'm so terribly sorry, ladies," he said with sincerest apology. "I've been rushing around all morning and I haven't slowed down yet. There's so much to do."

  "It's alright, Daddy," Anne said, "no harm done. Are you all right, Amelia?"

  The calm expression on Amelia's face belied what she was feeling as she said evenly, "Yes, of course, dear."

  "I'd like to introduce you to my father, William Westfield. Daddy, this is my very dear friend, Amelia Turner." Stepping aside she gestured to the others as she said, "And these are my dear friends Martha Fuller, Elizabeth Reese, and Roberta Johnson. You know everyone else."

  "How do you do, ladies?" Mr. Westfield said. To the four young women, he said, "I welcome you to our home and can't tell you how happy I am that you're all so healthy after being caught out in this terrible storm."

  His boots having been left in the kitchen near the outside door, Mr. Westfield stood in front of them now in his stocking feet. His full beard was wet with melting snow, as were the shoulders of his heavy woolen greatcoat, and he was dripping water onto the floor. Although his nose, cheeks, and forehead presently appeared cherry red from having been outside in the cold for much of the morning, it was obvious where Anne got her fair looks. Standing over six-feet tall, and weighing perhaps two-hundred-fifty pounds, Amelia could easily imagine Mr. Westfield at the helm of a whaling ship, barking commands at a brutish crew as they pursued a pod of whales. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he excused himself to clean up in preparation for joining them at lunch.

  The women continued on into the dining room and took seats that effectively monopolized one end of the table. Other guests arrived a few minutes later and began to take seats close to the seated group. When the two young men whom the girls had met at breakfast arrived, the nearby seats were all occupied. The boys looked so forlorn that Amelia was almost sorry she hadn't saved seats for them, but it wouldn't have been proper to do so, having just met the young men at breakfast.

  Lunch, like breakfast, was delicious. To Amelia, food in this era seemed to have so much greater flavor than the processed and preserved foodstuffs of the future. Towards the end of the meal, Mr. Westfield entered, accompanied by three young men. The others at the table had met them last night, but the four girls had naturally missed the previous round of introductions. As Mr. Westfield introduced each young man in turn, the individual immediately stepped forward to present a card to each of the girls.

  The first to be introduced was Jeremy Westfield. Standing over six feet tall, like his father, his thick, light-blond hair, blond moustache, and fair skin, gave him the appearance of a Norse god. Amelia immediately recognized him as one of the two men that had been holding her arms when she had first awoken the previous evening; the one that later had to be herded out of the room by the housekeeper. She had naturally been too distressed at that time to think about matters of the heart, but her pulse quickened now as she looked up into his deep-blue eyes. And as he presented his card to her, he smiled as though he knew her mind and heart.

  The other young men were Donald Blaisdell and Harry Millar. Both shorter than Jeremy by inches, they were nonetheless both handsome. Donald Blaisdell, with black hair and brown eyes, had an acutely serious look, while Harry Millar, with his brown hair, soft blue eyes, friendly face, and bright smile instantly put you at ease. Harry was the other young man who had been in her room. Amelia smiled, took their cards as they were introduced, and exchanged greetings, while Jeremy just stood there staring intently at her until the introductions were complete.

  As the new arrivals found seats around the table, Amelia remembered Anne's words from the previous evening about her brother having invited eight of his friends from college. So far the girls had met four, and Amelia had to admit that Anne had been correct in her statement that each of his friends was more handsome than the next. But for Amelia, none of them held a candle to Jeremy. The instant attraction seemed mutual as Jeremy hardly looked anywhere else except in Amelia's direction while they were at the table. She naturally avoided making eye contact, but she could see from the corner of her eye where he was staring.

  Outside, plump flakes of snow continued to fall with abandon, giving the impression that it would never cease. The girls withdrew to the music room following lunch, while the boys went out to help with the snow removal efforts. They were just trying to keep up with new accumulations for the p
resent. The girls watched from the warmth and comfort of the house as the men, armed with shovels for weapons, did battle with Mother Nature. As girls do everywhere, regardless of the era, talk eventually turned to discussion of the merits of the different young men that they were observing, and before long the talk degenerated to a discussion of their physical attributes. Amelia was at first amazed at the conversation that ensued. While it would be entirely normal, perhaps even mild, for the twenty-first century, it was hardly the type of talk that she expected from young ladies of this period. But after a few minutes she decided that girls must be the same everywhere, regardless of where or when.

  What surprised Amelia most was that Martha overcame her initial shyness and joined into the conversation with her opinions of the physical attributes of Tad, while Elizabeth stated her preferences for both Donald and Harry. Roberta had instantly been attracted to Charles, and only talked about him. Amelia decided to participate in the lighthearted banter and voiced her own preference for Anne's brother, Jeremy.

  Anne listened to Amelia's observations with an amused smile, then said, "I knew that you'd like him. He's the type that you always describe as your dream man. What's more, he has been very impressed with your features and figure."

  "My features and figure? Why, we only just met at lunch."

  "Jeremy, Tad, Donald, Charles, and Harry were the men that found the four of you. I understand that Jeremy cradled you on his lap during the entire trip back to the estate, then carried you into the house, refusing to allow anyone to relieve him. He set you down when you awoke in the entrance hall last night, and then caught you again when you fainted. It was he that carried you upstairs to your bedroom and put you on your bed. So you see, dear, he's already familiar with your figure after handling it so much."

  Amelia couldn't think of anything appropriate to say. Her reaction to the revelation was to blush slightly, although she was secretly pleased at hearing the story.

  When the others giggled, Anne said, "Don't be so quick to laugh at Amelia's plight. Just remember the serious nature of yesterday's events. Martha, Elizabeth, and Roberta shouldn't be amused at all since they too were carried to their beds by the boys."

  "Who held me on the trip, Anne?" Martha immediately asked. "I do hope it was Tad."

  "I don't remember, but I'll ask Jeremy when he comes in, if you wish. Does anyone else wish to know who carried them?"

  Neither Elizabeth nor Roberta spoke up, but Amelia saw them smile and nod their heads slightly when Anne looked at them.

  Although the other girls had giggled at their embarrassment and discomfort, they expressed their jealousy over the four girls having been handled by such good looking young men, and Barbara Pierce wondered aloud if it was now too late for her to faint in front of the men, tonight. The remark started them all giggling.

  In the northeastern United States, January is perhaps the darkest and dreariest of all months. The holidays are over and the most intemperate months of winter are still ahead. Solid masses of cumulus nimbus clouds frequently fill the sky, eager to cover the ground with fresh, thick blankets of frozen white crystals. Despite the lengthening days it's not unusual for the sky to be completely dark by 4 p.m. The afternoon passed so quickly that the ladies didn't realize the hour until the last of the daylight slipped silently away. As they returned to their rooms to change for the evening meal and subsequent festivities, Amelia, Martha, Roberta, and Elizabeth, anxious to compare notes, took a few minutes to hold a conference in Amelia's bedroom.

  Once ensconced in the privacy of the room, Amelia recounted the information that they had amassed. "Well, we haven't found a way out of this situation yet, but we've learned a lot. We know what our names are, and where our families reside. We've learned that we're all nineteen years old, and we also know a little about our past lives, at least that part of it which was spent at school with Anne. We've met all of the guests that have arrived so far, plus Anne, her father, and her brother Jeremy. We've learned that Anne's mother is deceased, as are both sets of grandparents. And we've met her cousins, leastways those that have come early. More cousins and their parents will be coming for the engagement party next weekend, along with a great many other guests, if the weather clears. That pretty much sums up what we've learned, except for the most important fact of all."

  "Which is?" Roberta asked.

  "I'm sure you haven't forgotten the spirit that we were running from last night, just before we found ourselves here?"

  Martha and Elizabeth both shook their heads.

  "Not hardly," Roberta said, with an exaggerated expression on her face. "How could we have forgotten that wonderful experience?"

  "Did any of you get a good look at it?"

  "I was too scared," Martha said meekly. "I hid behind you and shut my eyes."

  The others shook their heads to indicate that they hadn't gotten a good look at it either.

  "Well, I saw it clearly. Just before we fainted, the spirit took on the appearance of our host, Mr. Westfield; Anne's father."

  * * *

  Chapter Six

  The three girls stared at Amelia in astonishment, their mouths slightly agape. The silence was expected.

  Finally, Roberta said, "You're absolutely sure?"

  "As positive as I could be. The spirit was right in front of me when it changed from a spectre into human form. Or at least what appeared to be human form. Although we've begun to make certain assumptions about our situation, we still don't know for sure if this is reality, an altered reality, hallucination, death, or if we've been drugged or hypnotized. But the image of the spirit that I see when I close my eyes is identical to Anne's father. I recognized him immediately when he bumped into Anne and me outside the dining room and extended his arms to keep us from falling. It's what he did last night as he approached."

  "What does that mean?" Martha asked, wide-eyed. "I don't understand. Is her father a ghost?"

  "Well, if we're not dead, and if we really went back to 1883, then I don't think that he could be. Not in this time at least."

  "I've been thinking about it a great deal," Roberta said, "since agreeing that we're not just dreaming. If we were drugged, I don't think that our minds would be functioning as well as they appear to be. Drugs are supposed to confuse the mind, but everything, even the smallest details, are sharp and clear. So I'm ready to concede that 'drugged' is extremely unlikely, along with hypnotized. I'm not completely ruling out hallucination or death yet, but I think we should concentrate first on altered reality."

  "Okay," Amelia said, "let's assume for the moment that we're not dead, and not just caught up in some fantastic hallucination imposed by the spirit. Let's think only about both forms of reality. Everything here appears totally real, and our senses appear to be fully active, but we know that in the real world, as Roberta has said, time travel is not practicable; at least not for humans. Most people don't really believe in spirits, yet what we saw certainly seems to fit the definition that we all accept. It was when the apparition cornered us in the front hallway and metamorphosed into a human that everything altered. It was at that point that we appeared to move into these bodies, that the house became lived in again, and that time appeared to shift to 1883. So this would seem to either be an altered reality in our normal time, or we've really been transported through time somehow to an earlier reality. Now to the second-most important question; 'Why have we been brought here?' I have a possible theory, but I'd like to hear your ideas before I give mine, because mine is so far out. Martha?"

  "Because it's what ghosts do. It wants to scare us. And it has scared me, I can tell you."

  "Elizabeth?"

  "It wants us out of its house, and wants to frighten us so badly that we never consider returning. I reached that point last night, before it did whatever it did to us."

  "Roberta?"

  "It might be feeding from us," Roberta said thoughtfully. "Whether we've somehow been transported back in time, or we're simply unconscious on the entranc
e foyer floor, it might be sucking some kind of life force from our bodies through our fears. You know, draining energy from us."

  "All good thoughts," Amelia said. "My opinion is that it's a little more complex than any of your speculations. And let me emphasize that I have no facts to support it. But as crazy as my idea sounds, to me it seems to be the only possibility which supports all the particulars as I understand them.

  "First, I believe that this is all very real. In other words, reality rather than altered reality. I feel that our minds— or perhaps our souls— really have been transported back through time. Let's review what we know about the events. A girl is having a gala event to announce her engagement of marriage and she has invited four of her best friends from school to attend. On the way to her house, they're caught in a severe blizzard and are stranded miles from the house in sub-freezing temperatures for the better part of a day. We've been told that when we were found— rather, when these bodies were found, the girls were believed to have expired from exposure to the elements. If that remained true, what would it do to the event? Put yourself in Anne's place. Your four best friends have died because of your invitation. Not directly of course, but people in grief often blame themselves when in fact they are completely blameless. Anne may have had a breakdown, or even committed suicide. We've all seen what a 'people' person she is. She may not have been able to handle the grief in a rational way, and died as a result."