Perdita by Hilary Scharper

Author:Hilary Scharper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebook, Inc.
Published: 2014-11-03T05:00:00+00:00

Ten

“Garth!”

I jumped—it was Edna hurrying up the stairs behind me.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t see Marged. She’s not up to a visit today.”

I let her catch her breath. “Is everything all right?” I asked anxiously.

“She’s been complaining about an owl hooting in the backyard and keeping her up nights, so we gave her a sleeping pill. She’s very eager to see you, though.”

Edna leaned against me heavily as I helped her back down the stairs. “I’m glad I caught you, Garth. I’ve been so busy, but I wanted to ask you how it’s been going with that birth certificate.”

“I’m still working on it.”

“What do you think? Could she be the same Marged Brice?”

“I’m certainly not saying she is,” I replied evasively.

“I know, I know,” she grumbled. “But you’re not saying she absolutely isn’t, are you?”

I said nothing.

“Good!” Edna exclaimed. “Then we’re still in the game as far as the Longevity Project is concerned.” She paused on the bottom step. “Wait a minute. Take this before I forget.”

She handed me a large manila envelope, then eyed me curiously, trying to peek inside as I opened it. “What is it?” she asked.

“Just something Miss Brice wants me to take a look at.”

“Oh? I wonder what it could be?”

I hesitated for a split second. “Actually, it’s one of Marged’s diaries. She’s asked me to read some of them.”

Edna gave me a shrewd look. “Marged mentioned she’d given you her journals. In fact, it was sort of my idea.”

I reminded myself never to try to deceive Edna.

“By the way—” She stopped me as I opened the front door. “Since you’re already here, would you mind saying hello to Walter Graham? We’re having a bit of a crisis today.”

“What’s he been up to?” Walt happened to be my favorite veteran at the Clarkson.

“He’s been upsetting the residents with some nonsense about a ghost in the home,” she said disapprovingly.

“A what!”

Edna laughed. “Believe me, this isn’t the first one he’s seen!”

I found Walt dozing in a lawn chair out under the trees by the front porch. I coughed a few times and then waited patiently for him to wake up. After a minute or so, I stepped closer and gently shook him.

A breeze suddenly pushed a branch forward, and it grazed the back of my shoulder, making me wince as its needles pierced through my shirt and pressed uncomfortably against my scar.

“Perfessor, is that you?” Walt sat up and blinked at me from behind an enormous pair of sunglasses. “Where the heck you been? I’ve been waitin’ to finish that story about Perugia.”

I apologized, saying that I had been busy doing something for Edna.

Walt took off his glasses and rubbed his chin. “She sent you to read me the Riot Act, didn’t she?”

I smiled. “What’s all this about a ghost?”

“Is it my fault we got a new ghost?”

“A new ghost?”

“Yep. I been here eight years, but this one—it’s a doozy!”

I tried to keep a straight face. “Tell me about it.”

Walt looked at me hard. “Yer not pullin’ my leg, are you?”

“No, Walt.

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