Day Ten - Citrus
It’s a gloomy day today, the sky is a drab shade of grey and the house is quiet. My cup of earl grey tea is steaming away and I’m perched at our front counter still reading my blue book. Most days I sit here waiting for someone to arrive. But since we’ve got a full house these days, I’m not expecting anyone new.
I take of sip of my tea, enjoying its citrus and floral taste when Mary appears in front of me. I’ve been seeing more of her than ever before since we all went moon gazing together.
Mary is the same age as me, in fact, we even went to the same school together. She was never mean to me, and kept to herself. Always focused on her studies. Then, many years later, I read in our towns paper and obituary announcing her death. And days later, she showed up here. A surprise to me, as I thought she had another life in a new city. But just like everyone else who arrives here, I welcomed her warmly even if I was sad to see her.
As soon as she checked in that day, she had been sitting quietly in her room, not wanting to be bothered. I could only guess that she was trying to come to terms with her own passing and the end of her life as she knew it.
“Is there something I can do?” Mary asks me, eyes looking around the room.
“Something you can I do?” I ask back, not entirely sure what she means.
“Something fun, something I never had the time for in life.” Her face falls a little. “Now is the time to experience things, isn’t it? They always say you can rest when you’re dead!” she laughs shallowly but the fake smile immediately falls from her face.
I put my book and tea down and stand up. I do have a closet just for this type of request.
Tucked away under our main staircase is a closet full of different things. Illuminated by a single light bulb, there’s art supplies, board games, tools, toys, random objects left behind by ghosts that have never been dealt with. I’m sure that it has something for everyone.
I tell Mary to take whatever she’d like from the closet to give it try. She takes her time, looking into every shelf, I see her take out a few things and then immediately put them back.
“How much time do I have left?” she asks me as she continues to look through everything in the room.
“Time? You can have as much time as you like!” I say to her.
“No,” she pauses, “I mean, how much time do I have like this,” she says and waves towards her form.
“Oh, I don’t know the specifics, but I believe that’s up to you to decide. I think most ghosts know when they’ve had enough.”
She turns away from me and I see her nod her head once, before looking back to the shelf. She floats to the top of the closet and brings down a dusty box.
“I think I’ll start with this.” She says and holds the box out to me, as if seeking my approval. It’s an old puzzle of a bunch of slices of oranges, lemons, and limes, with small white flowers scattered throughout.
“That’s great! There’s space in the sitting room, dining room, or if you wanted to do the puzzle in your bedroom-“
“The sitting room is perfect, thank you.” She says quickly and darts past me with the puzzle in hand.
I spend a few moments straightening up the room, reminding myself I should come in here to dust it sometime. As I’m heading back to my post at the front desk, I walk by the sitting room and peer in through the slightly open door.
Mary is carefully examining each piece of her puzzle in the centre of the room while William is off to the side measuring and marking up the walls. He’s got a blueprint with him and other various tools. Teddy must have put him up to it I think to myself. I see him glance over his shoulder at Mary and her puzzle.
And just as I’m about to stop spying on them, I take one last look to see that William has gone over to Mary and is holding puzzle pieces with her. Suggesting that she start by figuring out the edges of the puzzle piece first. Both of them smiling.
I head back to my desk with a smile on my face too.