Chapter Six

The sun was setting when Becker and Mel made their way back toward Mrs. F’s house. Mel had no idea what she thought she might find, but she did have the new ghost in the back seat, just in case anything looked familiar to her. Dougal had come along, too, and the dog. She and Becker were going to have to get a bigger car eventually, just to haul everyone around.

It was amazing, she thought as they travelled the road, to think of how her life was a year ago compared to now. She’d hardly ever left the junkyard. Had very little to do with anyone unless it involved ghost business, even if they were unaware it involved ghost business. And she went grocery shopping. That had been the extent of her life outside the house, then. She did have an extensive network of friends online, but it was a lot different from interacting with people in real time and having those people or ghosts ride in cars with you. These days, even the ghosts were hanging out more in the house and around the porch, coming in to say hi and ask how her day was. And it was all because of Becker.

Not that they hadn’t interacted with her before, but then it was business and glancing contact. Now it was like they were her family. And she loved it. They’d fought through some bad guys together, and together they’d figure this one out for the girl who looked lonely and lost.

“Does anything look familiar?” Mel asked from the passenger seat of her small car.

The ghost hadn’t yet been able to remember her name, but that could come. It was part of the awakening, from what Mel had finally been told. Sometimes they remembered everything, and sometimes they only remembered bits and pieces. They’d see what bits and pieces might come back to this one.

Driving the long way around town still didn’t take much time, and nothing was sparking for her. The ghost looked avidly at everything, but nothing new came out. They pulled up in front of Mrs. F’s house to idle for a few moments, since that was where the ghost had first appeared. Mel hoped something would jar a memory.

Mrs. F flicked the curtain to see who was out there, as Mel had expected her to.

Nothing had come of any of the obits online. No missing person reports or runaways over the last month that had sounded like the girl in the back seat. It did break Mel’s heart to see how many children were currently missing, though. She wondered if she might be able to tap the ghosts to see about following the invisible trails of sadness and anxiety of the children, just to see if they could reunite some of them. If they could find them…

That would have to wait until after they found this one, and either put her to rest or let her go. It would be her choice, as always. However, until they found out who she was, Mel wouldn’t be able to do much. Names meant something in the other world. It bound you and gave you definition to have a name, no matter what you called yourself. But the girl hadn’t been able to come up with more than a few fragments of who she used to be.

They’d finally sat there long enough to have Mrs. F come out in her housecoat. She waved from the small porch.

“Can I help you with something?” she called out. “I’m not dressed to come into the yard, but if I can help you find something, I’ll try.”

The ghost girl in the back squeaked, then squeaked again. Maybe they needed to keep Mrs. F talking. Was there something here that could bring it all back for the ghost? Still, there was a part of Mel that felt bad for forcing it on her.

“We were just looking around. Showing Becker some of the places I like to visit, that kind of thing. I especially like your house because of how wonderfully it’s done inside and out.”

“Thank you, honey. That’s so nice to hear. And thank you for coming over this afternoon. I felt so much freer after you left. And your adorable dog! He made me smile, and he wasn’t naughty at all.”

The squeaking escalated, and apparently Mel was the only one alive who could hear it. Until she looked at Becker and realized he was also flinching. She tried to halt her own discomfort. Reaching into the back seat, she petted Mumford to cover the fact she was also talking to ghosts. “Dougal, can you help her? I don’t know what to do, and I don’t want to hurt her. Is she in distress?”

The girl’s face was a mask of concentration even with the small squeaks from her mouth.

“I don’t think she’s in pain, but something seems to be going on,” Dougal answered.

“Becker, let’s go. I don’t think this is the right place for this to happen.”

“Got it,” he said. “Wave and smile as we leave, so Mrs. F doesn’t think there’s anything wrong.”

“I’m on it. See you, Mrs. Featherworth.”

The woman waved from the porch. “Come back, and don’t forget that book you borrowed. I don’t want to have to charge you a late fee.” She laughed and pulled her housecoat more firmly around her curvy figure.

And just like that, the squeaking turned to the scream of an awakening. Could one spirit go through two different awakenings?

“Home now,” Mel said. No other words were necessary as Becker threw the car into gear and pulled away from the curb.

****

They made it back to the junkyard in record time. Mel was thankful the police were not out checking the roads today, and there were no strays to stop for. Right as they turned into the driveway, the girl ghost flew out of the car to sit on the side of the road. Dougal went after her as Becker jerked the car to a stop.

“What now?” he asked.

“Now we give Dougal a couple of minutes, and then we go see if we can help. I’ll be honest—this is all very new to me. I’ve been around this place for years and have never had this happen before.”

“Well, this is all new to me in total, so I’m not sure what to do. I’ll tell you I don’t particularly relish that feeling.”

Mel patted his hand, then held it for her comfort and his. “You and me both. I appreciate you sticking around. Everything is better when you’re here.”

He held her hand in the car while they both looked in the rearview mirrors. Dougal crouched next to the poor girl. He floated a hand near her face and made a motion as if to wipe away her tears. Did ghosts cry? Mel didn’t know, but she appreciated having Dougal here to help.

Mumford barked in the back seat, then scrambled forward through the gap in the front seats. Because of his girth he got stuck, so Mel maneuvered him through, only to have him plop into Becker’s lap. He sat there pawing at the steering wheel, his tongue hanging out.

“This guy needs to go out, I think,” Becker said.

“You take care of that, if you don’t mind, and then go on up to the house. I’m going to see if it’s time for me to offer some assistance or reassurance or something.”

All three exited the car at the same time. Dougal looked up at Mel as she approached, and his eyes were sad.

“I don’t understand what she’s saying,” he told Mel. “It's something to do with family ties and missing them. I don’t know where her family is, and she can’t seem to find the words to tell me. She just keeps repeating something called Keaton. Do you think that’s her last name?”

“I suppose it’s possible.” Mel crouched down with them. “Sweetie, how can we help you? I know you had a hard time when Mikey asked about someone hurting you. Do you remember what happened?”

“I can’t remember what I ever did before,” the ghost girl said.

Why did that sound so familiar?

“I can’t remember what I ever did before. My family ties. I missed it.”

And still it felt so familiar, but like it should be different. It was almost like she was singing. And then it hit Mel. “Family Ties? The TV show?”

“Family Ties is on tonight. I was so looking forward to it. That Alex Keaton is so dreamy.”

Holy moly. There would be no fresh body for the police to find if this girl thought Alex Keaton was dreamy and was sad she’d missed the episode of a TV show that had run in the 1980s.

“Why don’t we go in, now?” Mel said gently. “I think I might be able to help you more. That’s good information, and we’re close. Are you ready to find out what happened? Who you are?”

The ghost girl looked up with tears standing in her eyes. Ghosts could actually cry. Interesting. “I want to know.”

“And I promise, once we’re done, I’ll get you all the Family Ties episodes you want. You can watch them for hours on end.”

She perked up at that. “But how? Do you have them all on tape? I hope you have a good VCR. They’re expensive, so we couldn’t have one, and when I was babysitting I didn’t like to watch TV, so I had to miss my favorite shows on those nights. It was okay, though. I had to help my mom and dad make money.”

Poor girl. “Let’s get inside where we can talk about the rest of this.” There might be very little traffic on the main road connected to her house, but there were still farmers who drove by with their tractors and wagons. Mel didn’t want to look any stranger than normal, standing at the end of her driveway, crouched and talking to the post her father had put in years ago to hold the mailbox.

****

“What’s the plan?” Becker and Mumford met Mel on the porch. “Do we have more info?”

“Oh, yeah, but this is going to be a weird one. I might have to do some more research. The things she’s talking about are from decades ago.”

He shrugged. “You talk about things from decades ago, too. How is that weird?”

“Because I think the last thing she remembers is a TV show she wanted to watch in nineteen-eighty-something.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“What can I do to help?”

Mel pulled on her bottom lip, then tapped on her chin with one rounded fingernail painted with purple sparkle nail polish. “I think what you can do is go download every episode of Family Ties you can find. Then get ready for some binge watching like you’ve never seen before.”

After entering the house, Mel opened the downstairs parlor doors. They didn’t often use this room, since it held all her mother’s china and a pretty extensive collection of antiques, and Mel didn’t want anything disturbed. While Mel liked her history, she liked it a little more current in her own house than couches stuffed with horse hair. But she loathed the thought of changing anything, because it had been her mother’s favorite room before she died.

Mel had decided not to use the living room as they normally did, because she needed an area where they could ask questions. Mel’s mom had recommended this room because it was bigger, just in case anything unusual happened. What her mom thought would happen, Mel didn’t know, but she took the recommendation. Plus, the ghost they were asking to help wanted a more formal setting for what he had planned.

Once Mel readied the room for visitors, she went back out to the drive, where Dougal and the girl ghost sat.

“You guys want to come in? I have to make a few phone calls, and then hopefully I’ll be back with some more information. No thought on what your name might be?” she asked the girl.

“Eileen. My name is Eileen.” And then she started to cry again. Dougal kept his hand on her head while she bowed it. Mikey, the recluse, came out of the junkyard, probably the first time in thirty years that he’d been this far away from his sinks, and joined the two of them to sit on the ground next to her. Or at least he looked like he was sitting on the ground, though being a ghost he really wasn’t.

“We’ll be up in a few minutes,” he said to Mel, then turned away again to talk between the three of them quietly.