"That's crazy," Neal said disdainfully. "There’s no such thing as ghosts, and if there were, they wouldn't come out in the daytime, and they wouldn't belong to live people." "This one does," said Megan. Neal, finding the subject too ridiculous to argue about, went off to the kitchen to ransack the refrigerator. As soon as he was gone, I turned on my sister. "Did you really mean that, about seeing this—this ghost person—more than that one time when you thought it was me looking in your window?" "Sure," Megan said. "Sometimes she goes by in the hall. Neal's bed is over against the wall, so he can't see out the door the way I can. She looks in at us, but she doesn't stop. She goes on up the stairs." It was more than I could take. Here I was reaching for Lia—trying with all my strength to make contact—with no success, while my brother and sister and even someone as remote from my life as Jeff Rankin were seeing her everywhere. What could be the reason? Was I trying too hard and in some way establishing a block to communication? Or did Lia simply not want me to find her? If that were the case, why would she be coming here at all? Surely she must mean for me to know of her continued existence, or she would not move where the others could see her. It was as though she were playing some game with me, filling my ears with elusive whispers of her presence, but keeping herself always out of sight. With a sigh, I got up from my seat on the sofa and went over to the window. The sun was low in the sky and shielded by a thin layer of clouds so that the world was awash with cold, gray light. The water looked dull and flat with a metallic cast that gave it 90
"That's crazy," Neal said disdainfully. "There’s no such thing as ghosts, and if there were, they wouldn't come out in the daytime, and they wouldn't belong to live people." "This one does," said Megan. Neal, finding the subject too ridiculous to argue about, went off to the kitchen to ransack the refrigerator. As soon as he was gone, I turned on my sister. "Did you really mean that, about seeing this—this ghost person—more than that one time when you thought it was me looking in your window?" "Sure," Megan said. "Sometimes she goes by in the hall. Neal's bed is over against the wall, so he can't see out the door the way I can. She looks in at us, but she doesn't stop. She goes on up the stairs." It was more than I could take. Here I was reaching for Lia—trying with all my strength to make contact—with no success, while my brother and sister and even someone as remote from my life as Jeff Rankin were seeing her everywhere. What could be the reason? Was I trying too hard and in some way establishing a block to communication? Or did Lia simply not want me to find her? If that were the case, why would she be coming here at all? Surely she must mean for me to know of her continued existence, or she would not move where the others could see her. It was as though she were playing some game with me, filling my ears with elusive whispers of her presence, but keeping herself always out of sight. With a sigh, I got up from my seat on the sofa and went over to the window. The sun was low in the sky and shielded by a thin layer of clouds so that the world was awash with cold, gray light. The water looked dull and flat with a metallic cast that gave it 90
Stranger%20with%20my%20face.docx