Day Twenty Five - Coral

This morning over breakfast, Calvin has something to announce to all of us. All of us being myself and Teddy who are in the middle of eating breakfast when he abruptly stands up.

“It is time for me to learn about something new!” he says. “I’ve learned so much about space it’s time for me to learn about what is under the sea.”

I let Teddy know this and he laughs. “Calvin, are you saying that you’ve had enough of all my space updates for you?”

Calvin nods, very seriously. “After I do a bit more research, I will be departing from here.”

This causes me to drop the fork I was using to eat my breakfast.

“Calvin, are you sure? There isn’t more you can learn here?” I ask.

Calvin smiles brightly at me. Since Teddy’s been around he’s been a lot more cheerful. I know that there comes a time when every ghost has to leave, but I thought that Calvin would be spending more time with us and learning more.

Calvin nods. “With Teddy’s help I’ve learned so much about space, more than I ever thought I could. There’s so much I don’t know about the ocean, and there’s no ocean here. I want to go see a coral reef!” he then pauses and looks between me and Teddy. “And besides, there’s too much lovey dovey stuff going on here.”

“Well, if you’re sure, there’s no rush.” I say to him.

“I am.” Calvin says with a smile and starts to drift out of the room, “I’ll be reading in the sitting room if you need me.”

“What’s going on?” Teddy asks.

“Calvin said that he’ll be leaving us once he does some more research. He wants to learn more about the ocean, coral and all that.”

Teddy looks a bit sullen but he quickly picks himself up again. “And I’m guessing he’d like to see it too, and there’s no ocean near here.”

I nod.

“So, how does that work? What happens to ghost after they check out?” He leans back in his chair, seemingly no longer interested in eating breakfast for the moment.

“It depends on the ghost, for those that find closure and want to move on from this world… they do. They move onto whatever they believe in. But for those that want to stay, but to experience more in our world, they can move on to another hotel.”

“Interesting,” Teddy says and touches his chin in thought, “Are ghosts only able to go to different hotels?”

“Yes, and no. I’ve found that they can only appear in places they’re connected to, or to people they’re connected with. Like how Mrs Thompson can go visit her family, or how Billy was able to travel here with you. But with all these hotels, it’s almost like we can give ghosts a place to stay even if they have no connections here.”

“You know so much about ghosts, how do you keep track of it all?”

I shrug and take a sip of my tea, “I guess I’ve just learned over time. Maybe I should write it down someday.”

Teddy smiles at me and reaches out for my hand, which I gladly slip into his.

“And if you wrote it all down, then I could stand a chance of retaining all the knowledge.”

“All the more reason for me to do it!” We share a laugh together.

Teddy glances at the clock and realises that he needs to go to work now.

As he’s heading out the door, he stops to ask me one more question.

“Calvin’s not leaving now, is he? I’d like to say goodbye before he goes.”

I shake my head, “No, he isn’t leaving yet. I’m sure he’d like to say goodbye too.”

Teddy nods and leans in for our now customary good-bye kiss and we both part to start our days.