Ghost House

Copyright 2016 by Carol Colbert

All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be transmitted or reproduced in any form without written permission
from the author, except for brief quoted passages for review
purposes.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination,
or collective memories of people she has known in general, put
together to form various single characters, and thus, resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, unless explicitly noted, are
entirely coincidental.

Cover by
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How naïve we were.

Paying money each month to occupy a space
does not necessary mean that you can claim it as your own. In our
case, it did not even mean that we were alone.

“I don’t want to go! You can’t make me!”
Suzanne screamed, slipping away from her father’s grip and running
back into her bedroom and crawling under her bed.

“Suzanne!” Jim called, walking into his
younger daughter’s bedroom. “Suzanne, where did you go?” He thought
he heard a shuffling sound and got down on his knees to look under
her bed. “What are you doing under there?” Suzanne quickly shut her
big blue eyes, believing in her five year old mind, that if she
could not see him, then he could not see her.

“Suzanne!”

Suzanne opened one eye to try and determine
just how much trouble she was in this time. When she saw her
father’s arm reaching for her she gave a little squeal and shimmied
to the far side of the bed, out of the reach of her father’s big
hand. Jim then went to the other side of her bed and tried again,
but Suzanne had already scooted back to her original spot, right in
the middle.

Jim Gaunter gave up. He found his wife in the
kitchen. “Suzanne wouldn’t put her shoes on, she is under the bed
again.”

“I have a lot of running around to do today,
Jim.” Sarah told her husband. “Are you going to be home long enough
to watch her while I get things done?”

“No, I have to go into the office and finish
up some paperwork before the transfer.”

“Let’s give her ten more minutes and then we
will have to figure out something. Riley isn’t home yet anyway.
Suzanne will get tired of hiding and come out eventually.” Sarah
said. “When are the moving people coming?”

“Wednesday, sometime in the morning.” Jim
answered.

“We should be ready by then. Is everything
all set on the other end?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, rental agreement faxed over, the
utilities turned on. Are the kids all set up with the school in
Michigan?”

“No, not yet. I know which school the girls
will be attending there, but they just got out for the summer, so
we have a lot of time to enroll them for September.”

Jim put his arms around his wife’s waist.
“Are you sure you are really on board with this move, Sarah?”

“I am. It will be hard to leave here. I’ve
grown to love Tennessee, both children born her, but it will be
nice moving back home too. Riley is the one we have to worry
about.”

Jim looked at his wife “Suzanne is not
exactly ready to leave either.”

“Suzanne is so young, she will find new
friends quickly. Besides, after Wednesday she won’t have a bed to
hide under.” Sarah smiled. “It’s Riley who is taking this transfer
hard.”

“She is young too, she will adjust.” “There
is a big difference between five and thirteen, Jim. Riley will be
O.K., but I am not counting on a smooth location transfer with
her.”

Suzanne was getting tired of laying still.
She saw Mr. Pickles laying on the floor by the door and slowly
crawled out from under her bed. She picked up the big rabbit with
the plastic white face and long ears and legs and hugged him to her
chest and whispered to her favorite toy. “Don’t worry, Mr. Pickles,
they can’t move without us.”

Suzanne jumped when she heard the front
screen door slam. She peeked down the stairs and saw her sister
taking off her shoes.

“Riley, leave your shoes on, honey, we have
some running around to do. I want to get you and Suzanne some
shorts and t-shirts.” Sarah told her older daughter. Noticing
Suzanne half hiding behind the upstairs banister she added “I
thought we would also stop and get an ice cream cone, what do you
think?”

“I want ice cream, mommy!” Suzanne said,
rushing down the stairs.

“I don’t know, Suzanne, daddy said you
wouldn’t put your shoes on and wouldn’t let him help you put them
on, either. Be careful, Mr. Pickles is almost as big as you are,
don’t trip. Go back upstairs and get your shoes on and we will
go.”

Suzanne wondered why daddy hadn’t told her
that they were going for ice cream. She had thought they were going
to that Michigan place today. Suzanne didn’t know what Michigan
was. Riley said that it was far away and that when they went there
they would never be back to their house. Right after Riley had told
her that, Suzanne asked her father to put Mr. Pickles in the car
for her. She was afraid that when they went to Michigan, Mr.
Pickles might get left behind. That only lasted until bedtime,
however, since Suzanne could not fall asleep without Mr. Pickles in
her arms.

Sarah had been able to get everything done
she needed to do today. She put in the change of address at the
post office, cancelled a dental appointment for Jim that he would
not have time to get to and finished the shopping for the kids that
she wanted to do. Sarah was thankful that Riley wasn’t as difficult
as some teenagers could be as far as picking out clothes that were
suitable for a thirteen year old girl. Sarah did not consider
herself overly strict, but she still insisted on final say to
anything that her girls wanted to wear. Suzanne was easy, anything
in pink or purple, sparkling or had a princess on it was instantly
on her approval list.

Sarah pulled up to the ice cream shop and
they all went inside to partake in their favorite treat. They were
sitting there eating their ice cream when a horrible thought
crossed Suzanne’s mind. “Mommy, is there ice cream in Michigan?”
She asked, a worried look on her ice cream dotted face.

“There is ice cream everywhere, silly, all
over the world!” Riley said. Suzanne was happy, but still looked up
at her mother for confirmation. “Yes, honey, there is plenty of ice
cream in Michigan. They have everything there that we have here.
Did you know that mommy and daddy were both born there?”

Suzanne pondered that bit of news and Riley
said “I think I heard that before. You and dad came here years ago,
but why?”

“The same reason we are moving back there
now, because of your father’s job. Riley, I was actually pregnant
with you when we moved here.”

“Who are you going to be pregnant with when
we move there?” Suzanne said with all the innocence of a five year
old. Riley rolled her eyes and Sarah laughed and moved Suzanne’s
long blonde hair away from her mouth, out of the path of the
ice-cream. “No one honey, it will just be daddy, mommy, Riley and
you moving to Michigan.”

“And Mr. Pickles!” Suzanne shouted loud
enough to turn heads.

“And Mr. Pickles” her mother agreed.

“Can Brianna come stay with us after we
move?” This from Riley. Sarah did not want to promise anything she
was unsure of. She knew that both of her daughters had very long
memories and were not afraid to call her on any promises that
looked to them as if they were about to be broken. “I don’t know,
let’s just get there first and get settled. Brianna’s parents might
not like her going so far from home and she can’t travel that far
by herself.”

This did nothing to appease Riley. “Are there
any girls my age in our new neighborhood? She asked. “I have no way
of knowing, Riley.” Her mother answered. “I am sure there must be
some, and if not, you will make new friends at your new
school.”

“Is our new house pretty, momma?” Suzanne
asked. “The picture I saw of it looked very nice. Daddy arranged
for us to rent the house for one year. After that, we can move to
somewhere more to our liking or decided to stay there.”

“I like it just fine right here where we are,
mommy.” Suzanne said, licking the last of her ice cream off of her
lips.

“I know, honey. It won’t be easy for any of
us, but we have to move so daddy can keep his job. Look at it as an
adventure. The house has a big backyard.”

“Can we get a dog?” Riley asked. Suzanne’s
eyes got big and she looked up at her mom, eagerly awaiting her
answer. “Let’s just get there and get settled first, girls. We are
renting the house and sometimes the owners do not allow pets.”

“Momma! We can’t go if Michigan don’t allow
pets! I’m not leaving Mr. Pickles here when we go!” Suzanne said
with a determined look on her little face.

“I am sure Mr. Pickles will be happy in
Michigan, we all will.” Sarah smiled.

The next couple of days went quickly. Sarah
and Riley cleaned the house from top to bottom and Suzanne packed
her favorite books and toys into a box her mother told her would go
on a truck and be delivered to their new house in Michigan. Any
toys that Suzanne had grown out of or no longer wished to keep,
they would give to the Good Will for some other child to enjoy her
mother told her.

Suzanne packed with great deliberation. At
the last minute she pulled out her little boy doll, Freddie. She
didn’t want Mr. Pickles to be all alone in the car when they
stopped at places daddy wouldn’t let her take him in. Daddy had
gotten angry with her the last time Suzanne had carried Mr. Pickles
into the restaurant with her and then cried and insisted he be
given a baby high chair to sit in. Suzanne was given a booster
seat, but she did not want Mr. Pickles to slide on the floor while
they ate. After that, Mr. Pickles had to stay in the car and wait
for the rest of them to come back.

Riley had been allowed to spend the night at
her friend Brianna’s house and Suzanne sat on the stairs with her
elbows on her knees. She was looking at everything within her range
of vision, trying to take mental pictures so she would never forget
her house. Momma had told her that tomorrow night they were going
to have a camp out in their living room and get to sleep in their
sleeping bags. Suzanne liked that they were all going to be
sleeping in the same room and mom said they would even have a
lantern for light like they do when they would go camping out in
the woods. Suzanne figured this would be better than camping in the
woods, no bugs! Mommy told her that tonight she had to take her
bath and go to bed very early because they were coming to get the
furniture early in the morning to take to their new house in
Michigan. Suzanne fell asleep holding Freddie and Mr. Pickles
tightly in her arms.

It seemed to Suzanne like she had just fallen
asleep when there was her big sister shaking her awake. “Go to bed,
Riley!”

“You have to get up now, Suzanne, mommy said
so. Do you want them to carry your bed out to the truck with you
still on it?” She asked. Suzanne jumped out of bed. She did not
want to be put into some big truck.

Sarah walked into the bedroom smiling. “Good
morning, sunshine.” She gave Suzanne a hug, brushed her hair out of
her eyes and sat on the bed.

“Good morning, mommy, what is that?” She
pointed to something that her mom was holding that had three
princesses on it. “This is your new travel bag. Put these clothes
on and put the pajamas you are wearing into the bag. Do that now
and brush your teeth and I will help you comb your hair. We are
going to go out to breakfast this morning.”

“Can I get pancakes and bacon?” Suzanne
asked, holding her hands together as if in a prayer. “Of course!”
Her mother told her. Suzanne jumped off of her bed and ran down the
hall into the bathroom to change. Sarah took the bedding off of
Suzanne’s bed, folded it and placed it into a duffle bag. As she
was taking the bag downstairs with the bedding from the other beds
for Jim to put into the van, she passed the moving men on the
stairs. She took Mr. Pickles and Freddie and placed them in a
corner of the living room on top of the sleeping bags they would
use that night.

Suzanne changed into her clothes and put her
pajamas into the new princess bag like her mother had asked her to.
She was still sleepy, but she finally finished getting dressed and
brushing her teeth. Suzanne then climbed onto the closed toilet
lid. She knew she was not supposed to do that, but she liked
looking out the bathroom window into the backyard. Suzanne stood
there for a while looking out at her backyard. She looked at the
pool she loved to splash around in and the tree she liked to sit
under when the sun was too hot and she needed a break from whatever
she was doing. She probably would have felt sad if she had realized
that was her last look at her favorite old tree and yard, but she
didn’t. She brushed her very long hair the best she could and then
ran back into her bedroom.