Day Five - Sprig
I'm in the garden cutting sprigs of lavender and rosemary to set up in the house when Teddy’s van pulls up in the driveway. I glance down at my watch, it’s only four o’clock, he must have gotten off work early today. I wave at him and he waves back, a big grin spreading across his face.
Teddy hops out of his truck and to my surprise, I see William leave the truck too. So that’s where he’s been disappearing to during the day. They both make their way over to me and I can’t help but notice that William is somewhat hunched forward.
“How was work?” I ask, removing my gardening gloves.
“Surprisingly easy,” Teddy says, “We had a whole bunch of tasks set up for us to do today, and it was like we had an extra pair of hands helping us behind the scenes. I can’t explain it, it’s like we’d be working on one thing, turn around, and all of a sudden, it’d be done! The crew says it wasn’t them and Gale swears up and down it wasn’t her. I don’t know what it was.”
I glance over Teddy’s shoulder to look at William who looks exhausted, his whole body droops forward. I think I know exactly who made Teddy’s day at work so easy and I don’t think it was very good for him.
“Sounds like you might have had a pair of ghost hands around you today.” I smile at him and can feel William’s eyes boring into me at the mention of it.
“Is that a thing?” Teddy asks, his eyes wide. “I know they could move things around, but to that extent?”
I purse my lips together. “They can do it, it’s just not wise to do so, or so I’ve heard.” I look over at William again, “You know how when you hear about a ghost haunting, there’s big movements? Whole pieces of furniture floating around, all the cabinets in a kitchen being thrown open, that kind of thing?”
Teddy nods, “Whole rooms of furniture being lifted too.”
“Right,” I say, “Well, imagine if a human were to make that happen and the amount of effort it would take. From what I understand, if a ghost pushes themselves too hard like that, they tend to disappear. Sometimes it’s for a few hours, days, or sometimes they completely disappear, and no one sees them again.”
“Huh,” Teddy says, “well, to whoever was helping me out today, you have to take it easy,” Teddy says into the air, “can’t have you disappear after you were such a help!”
“I hear you,” William says and drifts off towards the house.
“Why don’t you head back inside?” I say to Teddy, “I’ve got a few things to finish up out here and then I can get started on dinner.”
Teddy shakes his head, “How about I make dinner tonight? I feel like I’ve barely worked today!”
“That would be lovely,” I say to him and he smiles at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
Teddy skips back to the house and I turn my attention back to trimming the lavender bush, a task I’ve been putting off for the past couple of weeks. I suppose having more hands around to help isn’t a bad thing.