Day Fourteen - Garden
Saturday afternoon Teddy and I are taking a lunchbreak out in the garden. I’m enjoying the sun while it’s out and have a shawl wrapped around my shoulders to protect myself from the occasional chill.
Teddy has been spending most of his day off tucked away in the sitting room with William. They’ve had power tools going in the room today and they’ve been in and out of the room with different pieces of wood. Calvin has been hovering about watching them throughout the day. I’ve been keeping my distance and have spent most of the day catching up on laundry.
It’s nice to have this moment together even if we’re just sitting here eating sandwiches together.
William looks to be taking a break too, him and Mary are walking in circles around our small garden quietly chatting with each other. I can’t hear what they’re talking about, but they’re both smiling and sharing the occasional laugh. I’m not entirely sure if the ghosts can feel each other when they touch, but William seems to be enjoying that Mary has her arm linked with his.
“Who are you looking at?” Teddy asks me, his mouth half full with sandwich. I’m surprised he could tell.
“Mary and our mysterious guest, they seem to be getting along very well. They’re walking around the garden together, laughing, smiling. It’s cute.”
Teddy swallows his bite, “Can you tell me what they look like?”
Although I can see the ghosts, sometimes my image of them is fuzzy. And I don’t really see them in colour. It’s hard to describe but they’re often lacking in colour but are not in black and white like someone would assume. It’s up to the ghost how they present themselves to me. Sometimes they can look like any other person, in full colour, but they’re still partially see-through and don’t make a lot of noise. I’ve found that it’s often those who don’t know they’re dead appear in the most colour, though I’ve heard that it’s often hard for them to keep that appearance up.
William and Mary exist in muted colour. Though from memory, I remember Mary having blonde hair and from photos, I know that William has the same colouring as Teddy. Brown hair, blue eyes.
“Mary and I are the same age. She’s got long blonde hair and she’s quite a bit taller than me, closer to your height I would say. And our mysterious guest, he looks just like you. The first day I saw him I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things.” I say to him.
Teddy gulps, his eyes go wide and he laughs nervously, “His name isn’t Billy, is it?”
I pause, and nervously laugh too, trying to brush off the question. “No, it’s not.”
Teddy shakes his head, as if shaking the thought out of his head. “Yeah, it would be weird if he was here, wouldn’t it?”
I nod. I don’t think it would be, but until William(or Billy) is ready to say something to Teddy, I won’t push it.
We sit in silence for a moment and I continue to watch as Mary and William walk around the garden.
“I think I ship them.” I say quietly before I take another bite of my sandwich.
“What like you’re going to put them in a box and send them somewhere?” Teddy asks me.
I can’t help but laugh that he had the same thought as I did. As I’m about to explain the concept to him, Mary comes rushing over, dragging William with her.
“He doesn’t know the word too? You two are made for each other.” She says with a laugh.
This makes me burst out into laughter too, leaving Teddy hanging. After I calm down, and with Mary’s interjections, I explain the concept of “shipping” to Teddy.
He takes it in and then nods very slowly.
“It would be nice if they could find a connection in the afterlife together.” He says and stares into the space where they’re standing. “I hope you two are happy together!”
Mary laughs and playfully pushes William’s arm. William has a grin on his face.
We spend a couple more moments in the garden before heading inside together.