Dolce Giardino

"Oh thank you. Actually it's like a robe."

"Did you sleep well?"

"I really did, but...was it windy during the night?"

I was awake once or twice, and I don't remember hearing any wind, why?"

"Well like you, I woke during the night, and the moonlight was coming in through that big window, and I thought I saw the sheer curtains moving like maybe the windows are old and they were being moved by infiltrating air."

"I'll have to check and make sure there's no problem with that window."

"It must have been a very pretty night, but I didn't care enough to get up."

He smiled and said, "Same here. I was warm and comfortable so why spoil that."

She smiled and told him, "Exactly," and she picked up her cup as Carrie joined them.

"It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. The sun coming through the windows feels so warm and nice. Oh, and Dell, did you notice? The portrait over the fireplace is hanging perfectly."

He smiled and said, "See, the house was rejecting that other picture."

"Oh I'm just sure that's it."

Linda put her cup down and asked, "What kind of air freshener do you use Carrie?"

"I don't use one why?"

"I told Dell about me waking up during the night and the sheer curtains moving, and I noticed the nicest subtle aroma. Sort of a lavender and yet different. Very soft."

"Sounds nice, but I don't even use anything special in the laundry."

"Must be something outside that's blooming."

"That could be it."

Dell stood up and said, "Honey, while you two talk and tour the grounds, I'm going to run to the market and get the few things we need. I'll be back within an hour I'm sure."

"Okay honey and thank you."

Taking a fresh cup of coffee with him, he made the five mile drive to Kroger's and went in, picking up a cart along the way. As soon as he was nicely away from the entrance a woman appeared next to him and she said, "Are you the one that moved into the old brick mansion?"

He smiled and said, "Well it's well short of a mansion, but it is big, and you're right. I'm Dell Philips."

"It's nice to meet you Dell, I'm Joyce Harper."

"Hi, now how did you know I belong to that old house?"

She smiled and said, "I cheated. You pulled out as I was coming down the road, and we both just happened to be coming here."

He leaned over his cart, and with his right foot propped on it like a brass rail in a bar, he said, "So you are you one of our neighbors?"

"Only after a fashion, I live about a mile down from you. My great grandfather was a gardener at your place many years ago."

"You're great grandfather? Could his name have been Elmer?"

She stared at him and then asked, "How did you know that?"

"I heard about an Elmer that was the gardener when I was looking into something else." That wasn't quite accurate, but it was close enough to the truth for him.

She smiled and looked down almost bashfully before she said, "Our family has a long but very humble history in this area. For example, I was told once that Elmer lived in a one room...well the family called it a cabin."

"Was he married?"

"When he was quite young, but she died during childbirth. She and the baby died."

"That's very sad."

"He raised two children in that humble place, and fortunately, they went on to do fairly well for themselves. Elmer was murdered in nineteen...I can't remember now."

"He was murdered?"

"Yes, he was hit in the head with something and he died the next day.

"Now I'm curious to hear more. We'll have to connect and share tales of the past one day soon."

"I'd like that. Nice to meet you Dell."

"You too Joyce," and sharing one more smile she was gone.

When Dell got home he put the few groceries away, and then found Carrie and Linda standing on the patio talking. He also found Linda's curves, because the late morning sun was cutting through her gown or whatever it was she called it. No detail, but her silhouette was obvious, and especially so when she would shift her weight to her other leg, or point toward something and pull the diaphanous material close to her backside. Dell decided he'd just stand there and watch rather than join them. Then he'd confess to Carrie later as he tried to hide his smile.

"You know," Linda said after they had walked around outside, "Whatever that fragrance was last night, it's gone now."

"And the curtain moved you said?"

"Yes. Just very slightly, or at least while I was awake."

"Well at least you said you slept well."

"And I did."

Dell visited with Linda a little more, but she wasn't a mile down the road before he told Carrie about seeing through Linda's bright colored robe. Her hand went to her mouth, but then when she took it away she was smiling and he added, "It looked like she was naked."

"My god Dell, she was naked under that thing."

"Oh shit."

"I know, because as we walked around, she commented on being a little chilly, and then she told me why that was. So you saw...god, if she knew."

"Well I couldn't make out detail, but I saw enough to keep me staring."

"Shame on you," but she couldn't shake off her smile.

Chapter Seven

Carrie didn't work on Mondays, so that was Ula's first day as their new maid, but Dell would have to wait to meet her because he was gone before she arrived, and she was gone before he got home. Carrie told him their first day with their new maid had gone very well, and if that was any indication of how it would be, having her was going to be wonderful. "So, Dell said through a smile, "So not so ugly Ula saw my undies."

Carrie asked him, "Are you sure you're an executive? A high powered business man?"

"I am, and in fact I'll have you know I chaired the monthly mandatory meeting of middle managers, madam."

Carrie laughed and then asked him, "Was I supposed to take that seriously?"

"Of course."

"I don't think I can. Okay, now I have something serious to say, and don't you dare laugh. I think we have a ghost, or ghosts."

He slipped his arm behind her and said, "You're right, this is serious, and not only am I not going to laugh, I agree with you, but tell me more."

"It's just the accumulation of odd little events. Not one of them any big issue at all, and maybe every one of them can be explained, but...like the picture over the fire place being crooked."

"Right."

"And that business with Linda, the moving curtain and the fragrance. There's nothing up there that could possibly explain those things."

"Here's one from last night while I was working in the office, and you were in bed reading. As you know, I sometimes tip back in my chair and close my eyes."

She smiled and said, "Yes, and I accuse you of napping."

"But I never do. If I'm working on...well any document, a speech or whatever, I may stop and think every so often and digest what I have and where I'm trying to go. Anyway, when I'm leaning back like that with eyes closed, I'll get the sensation of very slowly and smoothly turning to my left. I'm not moving at all of course, and I'm sure that you would experience something similar. I think it has something to do with the middle ear. Okay so for me I always feel like I'm turning to the left first. Always to the left, and then slowly to the right. It's always like that. Well last night, as I just described, my mind told me I was turning to the left and I just went on with my eyes closed and mentally working on my mess. Then I realized I had stopped turning. Now this is where it get's weird honey. I opened my eyes and I really had turned, and I was looking straight at naked Kathryn. That's something like a sixty or seventy degree turn."

After Dell said here's where it gets weird, Carrie barely blinked or breathed, but then said, "Now that one really gets my attention. Did that happen again?"

"No. If you go in there later, just tip back and close your eyes and see if you even get the sensation of turning. You may not experience anything, I don't know. Maybe my middle ear is a little screwed up."

"So maybe you should put Kathryn's other portrait back up...not in place of the other one, but in addition to it."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Well probably not as a permanent thing, but I'd be curious to see what, if anything, happens.

"And with Linda having her curious experiences, that tells us that it isn't just you and me and that maybe we're going nuts."

"Honey here's one more thing to add to all of this. Linda confided in me that she was enjoying wandering around outdoors with very little on. I asked her if that was something she enjoyed often, and her response was she never had and would have never considered doing anything like that before."

"Oh damn."

"Oh damn is right. Okay so what do you think of this idea? Ask Sharon and Mike to spend a night here with us. After we tell them our story of course, and if they aren't spooked by the idea, maybe they'll stay here and experience something and...well I don't know where any of this might take us. It just may be that we'll end up with nothing more than a little collection of oddities and a resident ghost."

"An attractive naked ghost maybe, but what about Charles? Wouldn't he be here too?"

"Maybe he is. Maybe he's the one that moved the picture because he wanted a painting of her over the mantle."

"That could be true. I can't believe we're calmly sitting here talking about ghosts in our house. Oh, and why don't I get the urge to go naked, or nearly so?"

"Honey, all we can do is trade questions, because we have no answers."

Then when Dell got home Friday, Carrie said, "Honey, Ula was still here when I got home and told me that twice now when she was dusting upstairs, she has felt something brush across her arm."

"She what? I'll bet she freaked."

"Apparently not, but she was concerned enough to wait and talk to me. I suggested air currents, but I didn't expect her to buy that and she didn't. She said she'd be here Monday morning though, so I guess she'll stick with us, at least for now. If I tell her we have a ghost, she might never come back."

"It sounds to me like she's already thinking in that direction. Call Sharon because we need to go talk to them."

"I've already done that and we're to be at their place by seven."

By seven thirty both Mike and Sharon were all but staring at Dell and Carrie.

"You're really serious about this ghost thing then," Mike said.

Dell said, "Serious enough to risk making fools of ourselves as we sit here."

"Well I for one am blown away. I'm not saying I'm buying all of this, but damn, you two do present a lot of circumstantial evidence. So, we'll come spend a night with you two. Hey, that's not a problem at all, so we can get past that much anyway."

Carrie asked him, "So what would you do if, say for example you experienced a fragrance like flowers? Or your curtain moved?"

"With the curtain thing I'd be searching for air infiltration, but the fragrance thing I don't know. Sign us up for tomorrow night."

Chapter Eight

The first thing Mike did after they arrived at Carrie and Dell's, was to go to their office and study the nude portrait of Kathryn. "Very nice, too bad she's a little old for me."

Dell laughed and said, "Well for sure she's just a little too old for you."

"She was pretty nice looking, but I'm still trying to imagine her or any woman enjoying strolling the grounds bare assed."

"Me too."

"And your chair just turned on its own and you ended up looking right at her."

"Amazing as that sounds, that's right."

"Damn, that alone carries a lot of weight for your ghost story."

Carrie and Sharon stayed in the living room, and as Sharon looked at Kathryn's portrait over the mantle she said, "She's attractive enough. But naked in the backyard? Amazing."

"I know."

"While we're on the subject, I want to pull a little trick on the guys if you don't mind."

"I don't, and I can't imagine they would."

"Let's walk out to the patio so we can talk about fear of being overheard."

They barely had time for Sharon to explain her plan before the men joined them with four bottles of beer, and they settled in the padded wicker chairs. Mike tapped his bottle against Dell's and said, "To good times and solving mysteries."

The foursome talked and sipped beer until Mike said, "Assuming there is such a thing as ghosts, I wonder how all of that works. I mean, why is it that whenever anybody dies, they don't all become ghosts, so we end up with them appearing all over the place?"

"Good question, but I had a thought about that the other day. I'm sure I'm clear off base, but here's one concept that seems plausible to me. Multiple realities."

"What?"

"Okay, let me explain it with an analogy. For us in our reality, we occupy space and we have the concept of time. But very often, those that have been critically injured and been clinically dead, but the revived, say where they went and there was no concept of time. Time did not exist."

"That isn't possible."

"I don't know that because it's past my comprehension. Okay so here's my analogy. Say I have transmitters. Two or three, or however many doesn't matter. We only have one reality, so our receiver gets a signal from one transmitter only, so that's all we know. That is the extent of reality for us. But there are many other signals all around us, and even through us. Those other signals aren't even aware that we exist. Other realities could occupy the same space that we're occupying at this very moment."

Mike picked up Dell's beer and put in on his table out of Dell's reach and said, "Yes, okay and..."

Dell ignored what Mike had just done and said, "So just maybe, under certain circumstances, out of the many that die an occasional one will become aware of the other realities, or just the reality they just left. Since they know of the other reality, they move back and forth between them freely and easily. No concept of time, no barriers to changing realities. An existence that we can't even grasp. We see them as we know them, or knew them. We're aware of Kathryn, but only as she looked around the time of her death, so that's how she might appear to us if we were to see her."

"Oh boy, your mind does take some interesting trips."

"I'll take my beer now. At least we know you'll never travel trans realities."

"Nope, Delta or nothing."

Dell just smiled and tipped his bottle up and drained it, and gave up on his improbable ideas.

"So what came of the things that were delivered to you by that kid?"

Carrie said, "Well, we learned that round steak in nineteen twenty six cost thirty five cents a pound and a rib roast was thirty nine cent's a pound, and that's about as helpful as anything else we found. Fun to read about, but no help with what's going on around here." Then she added, "Oh, I forgot, I did learn that Emmy was the name of the maid that Elmer was supposedly having an affair with."

"Three cents more a pound than round steak for a rib roast? That sounds like science fiction right there."

"Oh Dell, did you tell Aunt Mary about Kathryn's ghost?"

"I did, in my last e-mail to her, why?"

"You'll have to read her response, but I think you lit a fire under her, and at her age that might not be good."

"Good or bad response?"

"She's just excited that it just might be Kathryn's spirit we're experiencing."

"I'll be sure to read it later and send her something to slow her down."

The last thing that Sharon said before they called it a night was, "If I see Kathryn, I hope I don't scream and scare her."

"There's no reason to fear her."

"But I don't even believe in ghosts, or rather I never have in the past."

Chapter Nine

Dell and Carrie made it a point to be up ahead of Mike and Sharon, and he looked at her and smiled. "That's a very sexy gown you're wearing love."

Smiling she looked down and asked, him, "Do you really think so?"

"Oh yes, I think so."

Carrie just managed to say, "Thank you, I wonder if our guests had any experiences last night," and Mike and Sharon appeared.

"Okay," Sharon said as Carrie poured their coffee. "Okay, we believe Kathryn or somebody is living with you two."

Carrie was anything but casual as she hurriedly gave them their coffee and standing close to Dell, said, "Quick, tell us what happened."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I felt her presence. I didn't see her or hear her, but I was just sure she was standing there watching us."

"I have to say that I'm a believer now too," Mike added. "I say that because no matter where I am, in a motel, at home, here or wherever, I put my glasses on the corner of the dresser where I can find them if I get up during the night. My glasses were moved to the middle of that dresser and folded. I never fold my glasses."

Carrie wasn't even aware she was standing there with her hand over her mouth. Even more surprising was the fact that he watched Sharon from the moment she entered the kitchen until she sat down next to him, and didn't even realize that she too was wearing a long gossamer gown with a tempting long V neckline.

Dell wasn't aware that he was staring at Sharon's chest as he said, "Okay, so now what do we do? We can't communicate with Kathryn or Charles and we don't even know why they're making their presence known to us."

"They must want us to know something, or want us to do something, otherwise what would be the point of all of this? If they wanted us out of here, they certainly could have been doing what they could to scare us, but instead it's almost like they're moving slowly so we aren't frightened."

Sharon smiled at Dell and then said, "Well I certainly wasn't frightened. And another thing. I brought two gowns, this red one Dell is staring at," and she smiled as he quickly diverted his eyes, "And a white one. This red one was moved to cover the white one."

"I wonder if red was her favorite color, because my friend Linda's morning wear was red too. Certainly that could be a coincidence, but then again, maybe not."

Dell smiled guiltily at Sharon and said, "Or maybe red is Charles' favorite color."

"Carrie, you look fantastic this morning," Mike told her while boldly almost staring at her.

"Thank you Mike." Then looking at Sharon for a brief second she added, "Let's take a morning walk around the back garden area."

Dell looked at Carrie and they shared a quick smile and then he said, "Yes, by all means, let's walk the grounds all the way around the back and then we'll have more coffee on the patio."

"Let me just step out onto the patio and make sure it's as warm as they said it would be."

Dell couldn't believe what his wife was up to, and he was certain she knew exactly what she was doing and what would happen.

Even though they had an excellent view of the patio through the large windows, she left the door open and stepped out into the sunshine and stood there with her legs slightly apart. "Sharon, come see if it's going to be warm enough for you too."

Dell said nothing, but he glanced at Mike, and he was too busy staring at Carrie to even notice that Sharon's gown was almost transparent, but Carrie's white one was even more revealing. Finding his voice at last, Mike said, "Oh shit Dell, do you think we should tell them what's happening?"

Smiling Dell stared at both women saying, "No, I think we should wait until they tell us to join them, and then we'll just follow them on our walk. We can tell them our secret later, if that's okay with you."

"Oh I'm good with this if you are."

With the women leading the way, the foursome wandered toward the back of the three acre estate and would make a long loop that would bring them around behind the carriage house. As they walked, Carrie said, "I thought Dell was going to stare a hole through your gown."

"My god Carrie, I feel so naked. I can feel the air on me as though I really am."