Louis JenkinsGhosts Usually when the dead return uninvited it is to apologize, to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't know, I didn't understand..." The dead want to explain their actions in life, why Mother called you plain, why Father would not allow you to read novels... all the petty cruelties. Only a few of the dead return, most haven't learned anything more than they did in life. And coming back does no good, ghosts can't really speak, they can only bump in the night, moan and grown. They are shy and frightened of returning to this world. They hide in the closet, or under the bed. If you meet a ghost somewhere in the long dark hallway he or she may try to speak, Oooooo... and you go, Iieeeee! The ghost runs in one direction and you run in another, tripping over a footstool as you go. Cornfield Once I spent the night in a cornfield with a beautiful girl, we made a nest of corn stalks and our sleeping bags and drank red wine from the bottle. It was August; a billion stars overhead, and not even the whisper of a breeze. We had only just met and we kissed and made love and told each other our darkest secrets. I could tell that she was not quite as taken with me as I with her, though she liked me, I'm sure. So I told her that I was mad about her, that I had never met anyone like her, that I was deeply in love... her hair, her mouth, her sweet fragrance.... The night was warm and so still that you could hear the corn growing.... Then I realized she was sleeping. |