She looked deeply into his eyes. He was seated across the table from her, a sputtering candle chaperoning between them.
“Is this your first time?” she asked kindly.
“How did you know?”
“You look nervous. ”
“I am. I’ve never done this before.”
“It’s alright,” she said. “It’s easy and I’m here to take care of you.”
“Thank you. But I don’t need taking care of.”
“Oh, I know. It’s just that – the first time you don’t know what to expect. And I’ve done this……well a lot.”
“You must think I’m so incredibly naive.”
“Not at all. I think you are sweet. It was kind of you to come at such short notice. ”
“No one ever asked before,” he said with a little embarrassed laugh. “I guess I’m not very suited to this, this, er….performance?”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You will be wonderful – I can tell.”
“So – what happens next?” he asked.
“Myra!” a strident voice interrupted them. “What is he saying? I know he’s here, you are obviously talking to someone!”
She turned to the rather large woman sitting to her right. “He is asking what we want to know, Mrs. Hamilton.
“Well!” huffed the other woman. “Clearly we want to know if he can contact my husband! Is this personage a dolt?”
Myra cringed and shot a quick glance across the table to see if Charles was offended. He sat calmly, hands folded in front of him.
“Can you hear her?” she whispered.
“No. Is she talking?”
She tried not to allow the relief to show in her voice. “She is asking if you can contact her husband.”
“And I am supposed to know her husband? Because all dead people know all other dead people?” he said.
She couldn’t help laughing. “I shall inquire.”
“Mrs. Hamilton it will help my Spirit Guide if you could tell us something about your husband,” she said. The other woman smiled.
“Well, he was very handsome……and very successful……and left us all too soon,” she murmured. “Also I’d like to know where he left the will? His children – my step-children – are going to contest my ability to inherit anything and it would be such a help if Ernest could just let me know where the will is. He promised me I would inherit everything, you see.”
“She wants to know where Ernest left the will.”
“Ernest?” Charles asked. “Ernest have a last name?”
“Hamilton.”
“Ernest Hamilton. I’ll just ring him up, shall I?”
“Look, Charles, I don’t know how to tell you to find….”
“The will was never written.” Charles intoned in his best sonorous voice.
“What?”
“He never wrote a will. He lied to her.”
“How do you know?”
“Trust me. I know. Tell her.”
“There is no will, Mrs. Hamilton. Apparently your husband made that up.”
“I KNEW IT!” the other woman shreiked. “BASTARD!”
A long silence settled on the room.
“How we doing so far?” Charles asked
“Ummmm, good, really good. You’re a natural at this.”
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Written for the Yeah Write fiction challenge number 183 . Go to Yeah Write Fiction/Poetry to read all the other awesome entries!
This is spectacular. I’ve already read it three times and I’m going to have to go back for more!
Thank you Thom. I love hearing that you liked it enough to read more than once 🙂
Oh, there are such great lines in this! “Because all dead people know all other dead people?” This is a wonderfully imaginative take on the prompt too. Never thought of a newbie spirit guide having to adjust to circumstances. Your dialogue is also fun, Spendid.
Thank you, Meg. I really appreciate your opinion and your comments make me feel like I hit where I was aiming 🙂
I love this story! You are very sly, to lead us along like that, and the twist is fantastic. Really well done.
Thank you so much, Christine. I was afraid the lead in could be trite so I’m very glad to hear your choice of “sly” instead 🙂 Appreciate all of your comments – thanks.
Love it! Very imaginative! And a whole story made of dialog is hard to pull off but you did it well!
Thank you, Jen. I appreciate hearing that the dialogue worked for you 🙂
Oh absolutely enjoyable. Left me with a big grin. I have to say it again, I really, really like your writing. 🙂
Oh, I also meant to say, your starting was filled with misdirection/innuendo (not quite the word I am looking for) but because I saw the picture I knew what to expect. Now, if you had put the picture at the bottom I would have been wondering! 😉
I’m glad you liked it, Claudette. And actually I DID put the picture on the bottom when I published it – and for exactly that reason 🙂 I bet WordPress moved the pic to the top when including it in the “Blogs You Follow” feed. Ah well – you grinned and that’s all that matters.
Oh, I didn’t know they could do that. That’s kinda sneaky.
Haha, this was cute. Though I certainly was thinking of speeding dating or some sort of…other interaction. But I feel like this could be a piece in a larger story.
Thanks, Renada – yes I must admit to leading the reader on at the beginning…..glad you liked it 🙂
I’m so into Long Island Medium, so you know I dug this. I love how you laughed at the situation. Really well done, Empress! PS. you never responded to my notes on your other story. Could you, please? So I know I didn’t tick you off. I hope I didn’t.
You’ve got mail! I sent you a private message a few days ago, Nate – or I thought I did. Let me know if you got it. No you did not tick me off, you offered much valuable advice which I was seeking. I’ve done another rewrite and will give it another look-see this afternoon then update my story. The message said THANK YOU which I will reiterate here 🙂 Your help was much appreciated 🙂 Very glad you liked this one, thanks for the comments!
I thought you were going in a whole different direction at the start. Very clever. 🙂
Thank you, Michael. Receiving “clever” as feedback from you is a prize!
I love how the beginning doesn’t hint what to expect, and then the séance becomes clear. Good job at making Mrs. Hamilton so unlikable. 😉
Thank you, Katy. Nice to hear that my approach to Mrs. Hamilton worked 🙂
Hope you got to see my “editor’s pick” comment on your piece. I loved this.
I did see it, Meg and have been meaning to post a huge THANK YOU but already this week is getting away from me……
But really, thank you. Such an honor, especially coming from you!
No thanks needed — you earned it!
Reblogged this on hocuspocus13 and commented:
jinxx xoxo