It was the first Saturday of April. After saying goodbye to Heather and Brian at Pier Café, Walt had driven Danielle to the grocery store in the Ford Flex. Danielle wanted to buy baking supplies. Her plan was to stock up on all their favorite homemade treats before the babies arrived next month. She didn’t imagine she would have much time to bake with newborn twins in the house. Last week, they’d had a new freezer delivered, which Walt had easily moved to the basement using his telekinetic gift.
Initially, Walt had discouraged Danielle’s plan, not wanting her on her feet for that long. She soon explained Marie had offered to help her, which would allow Danielle to remain seated during the process. Walt found Marie’s offer generous, as Marie had not been fond of cooking during her lifetime, aside from her legendary Christmas divinity and peanut brittle. He doubted she had developed a love of baking during her death.
Just as Walt pulled into the grocery store parking lot, Danielle’s cellphone rang. She answered the call. Walt pulled into a parking spot, turned off the ignition, and waited silently for Danielle to finish her call.
“That was Lily,” Danielle explained as she returned the phone to her purse.
“That’s what I assumed.”
“She’s planning a bon voyage party for Laura on Tuesday night.”
Walt arched his brows. “Bon voyage party?”
“It’s a going-away party. Basically, it’s just dinner at a restaurant. Lily and Ian are treating. She wanted to make sure we can go. It’s a surprise. Laura thinks she’s going out Tuesday night with Kelly. Kelly will bring her to the restaurant.”
“Rather late notice.” Walt opened his car door.
“Lily said with all that’s been going on the last few months, she didn’t think about doing something special for Laura until this morning.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, Danielle pushed a shopping cart down the cereal aisle en route to the baking section. Walt trailed alongside her. Halfway down the aisle, they spied Evan MacDonald, the police chief’s youngest son and fellow medium. He was also one of the few people in Frederickport who knew the truth about Walt and his fellow mediums.
Ten-year-old Evan failed to notice Walt and Danielle’s approach. So focused on a box of cereal on the top shelf, he stood on tiptoes and reached upwards. Despite his efforts, the box of cereal remained out of reach. Just as he was about to give up, the box floated off the shelf, hovering a moment above Evan’s head before moving downward, within Evan’s grasp.
Instead of freaking out about a flying box of cereal, Evan snatched the box in midair and swung around and faced Walt and Danielle. He grinned broadly. “I knew it was you!”
Danielle chuckled while Walt smiled at the boy, who ran to them with his box of cereal.
“Most people would scream if they saw food literally flying off the shelf,” Danielle teased.
Evan shrugged. “I just figured it was Walt. I suppose it could have been Marie, but ghosts don’t usually go grocery shopping.”
“You here with your dad?” Walt asked.
Before Evan answered the question, a familiar voice called out, “Hey, what did I tell you about talking to strangers?”
The three looked over to the voice and saw a smiling Police Chief MacDonald walking in their direction, pushing a half-filled shopping cart.
“Hey, Chief,” Danielle greeted.
“Edward,” Walt said with a nod.
The adults chatted for a few minutes while Evan dropped his box of cereal in his father’s shopping cart. The chief explained his older son, Eddy, hadn’t wanted to go grocery shopping, so he stayed home. They discussed the reason for Walt and Danielle’s shopping trip, and the chief teased he would need to stop over and help taste test Danielle’s baked goods.
When they ended their brief visit, Evan and the chief headed in one direction, with Evan pushing the shopping cart, and Walt and Danielle went in the opposite direction, with Walt pushing their cart.
Just as Walt and Danielle were about to leave the aisle, they heard a frantic Evan call out, “Dad!”
Walt and Danielle quickly turned and saw the chief sprawled on the floor, his son crouching by his side.
Walt sprinted toward the chief and Evan, while Danielle followed at a slower pace, now pushing their cart.
“What happened?” Walt asked when he reached them.
The chief sat on the floor, rubbing his right knee, and grimaced before saying, “This damn knee gave out.”
Walt stood over the chief. “You think you can stand up?”
Danielle pulled up beside them, parking her cart next to the chief’s. “What happened?”
“Dad’s knee went out again.”
“Again?” Walt offered the chief a hand.
Danielle looked down at the chief as he took hold of Walt’s hand. “I didn’t realize you were having problems with your knee.”
Instead of answering Danielle, Edward struggled to stand up, but found the task impossible.
Walt saw the chief couldn’t stand with a hand up alone, so he focused his energy on the fallen man and telepathically lifted him to his feet.
“Whoa!” the chief blurted when he first felt his body lifting from the floor.
“It’s just Walt, Dad,” Evan told his father.
No longer struggling, the chief passively allowed Walt’s energy to lift him to his feet. Applying most of his weight on his good leg, Edward held onto his nearby shopping cart. He let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Walt.”
“What’s going on with your knee?” Danielle asked.
“It’s been bothering me lately.” The chief reached down and rubbed his right knee.
“Have you seen a doctor?” Danielle asked.
“No, but I have an appointment on Monday.”
“He fell at home last week,” Evan told them.
* * *
Not long after Walt and Danielle arrived at Marlow House with their groceries and started putting them away, rose petals fell from the kitchen ceiling, disappearing as they reached the floor.
Danielle paused for a moment and glanced upwards. “Hi, Eva. What happened to snowflakes?”
“She’s eager for spring,” Marie explained when she materialized a moment later. Marie, the image of an elderly woman wearing a floral sundress and straw hat, stood by the sink, waiting for Eva to show herself. “Eva enjoys the color.”
A moment later, the spirit of Eva Thorndike, onetime silent screen star and childhood friend of Walt Marlow from his first life, with an uncanny resemblance to Charles Dana Gibson’s drawing known as the Gibson girl, materialized just as the last rose petal vanished.
Eva looked at the groceries Walt had already removed from the paper sacks and arranged on the kitchen counter. She arched her brows. “That’s a lot of sugar and chocolate chips.”
“Danielle’s doing some baking before the babies arrive, and I’m helping,” Marie said.
Eva turned to Marie. “You loathe baking.”
Marie smiled. “But I enjoy helping Danielle.”
Danielle grinned at the spirits. “And I appreciate it. And hello to both of you.”
As Danielle and Walt finished putting away the groceries, Marie and Eva each took a seat at the kitchen table and listened as Danielle told them about Edward’s fall at the grocery store.
“I did notice Edward was looking a little bowlegged lately,” Marie said.
Danielle frowned. “Bowlegged?”
Marie nodded. “Yes. I was almost going to ask him if he took up horseback riding. But he wouldn’t have heard me, anyway.” Marie gave a shrug.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Danielle said.
Danielle’s cellphone rang. She picked up the phone, looked at it, and before answering, said, “It’s Heather.”
Walt continued putting away the groceries while Danielle answered the call. “Hey, Heather… What?… Eva?” Danielle looked at Eva. “She’s here. Why?… Laura?… No, she’s not here. I don’t expect her back until this evening… Okay, I’ll tell her.” Danielle ended the call and set her phone back on the kitchen counter.
“What was that all about?” Eva asked.
“Heather asked if I knew where she could find you. I told her you were here. She wants you to wait for her. She and Brian are coming over. They need to ask you something. She said it’s important.”
“What was that about Laura?” Marie asked.
“She doesn’t want to talk to Eva with Laura here. That would be awkward,” Danielle said.
* * *
About thirty-five minutes later, Walt, Danielle, Heather, Brian, Marie, and Eva sat in the living room at Marlow House. Heather had just recounted their experience at the hospital. Brian was the only one in the group who could not see and hear Marie or Eva, yet he was aware of their presence.
“That is strange,” Danielle said. She sat on the sofa next to Walt, with her cat, Max, curled up between them, sleeping. Heather and Brian sat on the chairs facing them, while the two spirits sat in imaginary chairs next to the sofa and chairs.
“Are you certain he was conscious when the spirit was talking?” Walt asked.
“They were both talking at the same time,” Heather said. “Obviously, they both can’t be Homer Carter.”
“But didn’t you say he has Alzheimer’s?” Eva asked.
“Yes,” Heather said. “But I’m not sure why that matters.”
“Of course it matters,” Eva insisted. “It makes all the difference in the world.”
“How so?” Danielle asked.
Eva looked at Danielle. “I’m surprised you’ve never encountered this before.”
“Encountered what?” Heather frowned.
With a sigh, Eva leaned back in the imaginary chair. “As you all understand, your body is nothing more than a vessel to hold your spirit.”
Heather shrugged. “Uh… so?”
“When a spirit suffers from memory issues like Alzheimer’s or dementia, it’s not an ailment of the spirit—it’s a defect of the body. The body can no longer process the needs of the spirit in the same way as it did before. For example, defects of the aging body, not of the spirit, suppress memories. The spirit remains whole. When a person who suffers from Alzheimer’s or dementia dies, they are once again able to process—or remember all those memories their failing body suppressed,” Eva explained.
“What does that have to do with the ghost I met?” Heather asked.
“For one thing, he is not a ghost—at least not yet. I suspect who you met was the spirit of Homer Carter, who stepped out of his body, not so different from any out-of-body experience,” Eva said.
“But it is different,” Heather insisted. “Homer’s spirit was still in his body. He was talking to Brian at the same time the ghost rambled on.”
“Ahh, but you see, it’s not unusual for the spirit of a person who struggles with memory issues caused by a deteriorating body to break free from that body and communicate with a medium. Even while the person—in your case, the man in the hospital bed—was talking,” Eva explained.
“What is she saying?” Brian asked.
“It makes little sense to me,” Heather grumbled before repeating all Eva had said to Brian.
“That’s an interesting theory,” Danielle muttered after Heather did her best to retell Eva’s explanation.
Eva looked to Danielle and smiled. “It’s not a theory, and it’s not uncommon. Think of it this way, the vessel holding a spirit has a crack in it. A crack caused from Alzheimer’s. While it continues to hold the spirit, some of it slips out. Just as water might leak out from a cracked vase.”
Brian’s cellphone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and looked at it. “It’s Flora,” he said before answering the call. The others remained quiet. After a moment he said, “He’s dead?”
“Carter’s dead?” Heather whispered.
Brian gave her a nod while still talking on the phone. After he finished the call, he tossed his cellphone on the end table.
“What happened?” Heather asked.
“He had another heart attack, and that was it,” Brian explained.
“Now he’s a ghost,” Eva said. “Unless he’s already moved on.”