The Summer We Got Free by McKenzie Mia

Author:McKenzie, Mia [McKenzie, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: BGD Press
Published: 2012-11-27T13:00:00+00:00

Mother Haley had been dead four years, but she stood in the kitchen, by the stove, wearing the hat and dress she had been buried in. Regina had been at the refrigerator, taking the meat out for dinner, when the ghost appeared. Startled, she had dropped the package of ground beef onto the floor. “What in the world are you doing here?” Regina asked her.

Mother Haley glared at her and the white feather in her white hat trembled.

Regina squinted at the apparition. “Don’t look at me like that, old woman.” She was trying to sound unafraid, but really she was terrified. Ghosts in general didn’t scare her. But this one was glowing almost red and Regina could feel a fury rising into the air, the temperature in the kitchen rising with it. “You got something to say, say it.”

Mother Haley took a quick step towards Regina and just as Regina screamed, the spirit disappeared. Hurried footsteps came from every direction and Sarah, Ava, and Helena all burst into the kitchen.

“Mama, what’s wrong?” Sarah asked her.

“That old woman,” Regina said. “She was here.”

“Who?” Ava asked. “Mama, who are you talking about?”

“Mother Haley.”

Helena looked at Ava. “Your grandmother?”

“She was right there,” Regina said, pointing at the stove. “She came at me.”

“I saw Kenny,” Sarah said.

They all turned and looked at her.

“A few days ago. He was there when I woke up.”

“I saw Miss Maddy,” Ava told them. She had seen the ghost of Maddy Duggard on the night she had almost wet herself laughing and she had been too embarrassed by that entire incident to want to refer back to it later. Miss Maddy had been standing at the top of the steps when Ava had come out of the bathroom.

Helena peered at her, frowning, and Ava could tell that she didn’t believe in ghosts.

Ava picked up the ground beef from the floor and put it back into the refrigerator. They all sat down at the table and, for a little while, nobody spoke. Then Helena asked Ava, “Who was that man with your father?”

“Chuck Ellis. He used to live down the street.”

Regina paused in lighting a cigarette. “What about Chuck Ellis?”

“He was here,” Ava told her.

“What you mean, here?”

“I mean here, Mama, in this house.”

“Deacon Ellis was here?” Sarah asked.

Regina leaned forward in her chair. “When was this?”

“A little while ago. Before you got home.”

“He’s a friend of Mr. Delaney’s?” Helena asked.

“He was,” Sarah said. “When we were little we called him Uncle Chuck. They was always together. Then he stopped coming around.”

“Because of Pastor Goode?”

Sarah shook her head. “It was years before that. Wasn’t it, Mama?”

“Well, what was he doing here?” Regina asked.

Ava shrugged. “I have no idea. They came in while we were out back.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Sarah asked. “I mean, one of them coming into this house, and not even to start no trouble? I know he don’t live on this block no more, but he still go to church there. For him to come in this house at all, that must mean something.

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