Tina Mcelroy Ansa by The Hand I Fan With

Author:The Hand I Fan With [With, The Hand I Fan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

20

CHINABERRY

With Herman around and in love with her, Lena felt for the first time in her adult life that she was truly lucky.

And if Herman’s presence on her property was a haunting, then it was the sweetest and gentlest one she had ever experienced.

Most of the ghosts from her past had appeared in terrifying forms: wolves, cats and wild dogs; headless, footless bodies; decaying bodies with heads facing one way, torsos the other; babies who turned into ghouls. They controlled her in her sleep and drew her into dark and dangerous situations to frighten her. They spoke through her mouth, scaring her and getting her into trouble with her friends and teachers. They tried to pull her into their world.

The worst that Herman did was he wouldn’t hardly let Lena conduct any business. All through May and past June, after the wisteria had disappeared and the small white flowers on the jasmine vines had taken over, Herman really got in the way of her duties.

It was not that he forbade her to conduct her regular voluminous business dealings. It was just that his “being” got in the way. His laughter got in the way. His invitations to explore her land got in the way. His way of life, so to speak, got in the way. Herman’s yearning for Lena got in the way. And Lena’s love for Herman got in the way.

The first few days after he appeared, all Lena had to do was think of Herman with his cheekbones like chiseled Georgia granite for him to appear to her.

She would feel the breeze on her neck and then look over to see Herman sitting on the sofa across the room from her. Or she would feel a tickle on the bottom of her bare feet, and he would be lying in bed next to her. Or she’d see a wisp of smoke escape from a late-night fire he had laid and lit for her, and he would be standing there by the fireplace in her bedroom carving the box for a kalemba.

But after a while, Herman did not wait for Lena to evoke him. He’d come sauntering into her bedroom first thing in the morning or be lying next to her when she awoke, watching her, waiting.

Adjusted to living alone, unaccustomed to another body—even a ghostly one—in bed with her, Lena would jump, startled at his presence. But she got used to it.

He didn’t seem to need any sleep.

“I don’t need no sleep, baby. Other than to run through yo’ dreams every now and then so you won’t forget ’bout me while you restin’.”

“How am I ever gonna forget about you, Herman?” Lena asked sincerely. He was making her so bold.

“I just wanted to hear you say it, Lena, baby.”

It still surprised her when she and Herman went out walking on the property and came up on Mr. Renfroe or a stable hand who would look up and wave at her and speak as if she were there all alone.

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