Calgary, April 2022
Diana was a young woman leading a normal, some would say boring life. At high school she was an average student and, like most of the girls of her age, wanted to be a singer. That dream never realized and Diana ended up working as a medical assistant for a local family doctor. The pay wasn’t great, but she lived with parents, so she could save most of her money towards buying a house. But living with parents had its disadvantages. There was no privacy, she couldn’t bring a man to her room without mom knowing it, and Diana felt to be under constant scrutiny. “Where are you going? When will you be back? Who is that man I saw you with?” There was no end to mom’s questions. The need to move became urgent and Diana started in earnest to shop for a house. The problem was, all the houses were too expensive, beyond her financial means, except one. When Diana asked about it, they told her that it is an old house, now empty, and that it has been on the market for a long time. She wanted to see it, the real estate agent drove her there, they inspected it and Diana didn’t see anything wrong. They were just about to leave when a woman approached her.
“Do you want to buy the house?” the woman asked
“I am thinking about it.”
“Do you know that the house is haunted?”
“The house is haunted? How come?”
“It was owned by an old couple. He was a writer and died under suspicious circumstances. People say that his ghost is wandering through the house, murmuring something about being murdered.”
“Well, I don’t believe in ghosts,” Diana said and that was the ended the conversation.
Diana indeed didn’t believe in ghosts. She signed the purchase agreement, negotiated the mortgage, and became the owner of a haunted house. Sometimes she was thinking about the ghost of the dead writer and wondered if he will haunt her. Probably not, but you never know, all kinds of strange things can happen.
One evening Diana saw a light flickering under the door of the basement. There was only old junk down there, but when she opened the door, she saw a man sitting on the floor, staring into a flame of a candle.
“What are you doing here?” Diana yelled at him.
The man got startled. “I am sorry, I mean no harm. I will be leaving right away.”
“What are you doing in my house?” she repeated.
“I am trying to contact the ghost of the dead writer.”
“The ghost of the dead writer? Why?”
“I want to know if I have talent for writing. I also want to be a writer.”
Diana was quiet for a while and then she asked: “How did you get here?”
“There is a back door, it was open.”
It was very strange. “How did you know the house was haunted?”
“People told me. But please, let me stay here for a while, I wouldn’t disturb you in any way.”
There was no reason to throw him out right away. “OK. When you are done, let me know.” Diana left the man to his psychic activity and went to the kitchen to make herself a dinner. In a short while the man reappeared.
“Dow did it go? Did you contact the ghost?”
“No. By the way, my name is Martin.”
“Diana. I am not sure if I can say ‘please to meet you', we met under weird circumstances.”
“Yes, you are right. But please, will you allow me to try again? This was my first time.”
Diana was passing her evenings alone and having somebody to talk to wouldn’t be bad.
“OK, a week from now, same day, same time. But not through the back door. You ring the bell like any other visitor.”
Next week Martin came again, spent about an hour down in the basement and when he came up, his face was not smiling.
“Did it work?” asked Diana.
“No, it didn’t.”
“When you come next time, you want me to help you?”
“But you don’t believe in ghosts.”
“That is true, but I could be convinced. We can make a séance. Come next week, I will set it up.”
Martin was happy to accept. Diana didn’t believe in ghosts, for her the whole thing was rather silly, but she felt sorry for Martin. He wanted to be a writer and perhaps needed a bit of help.
To prepare the séance, Diana had to learn something about the dead writer. She got his name from the real estate agency, did a search on internet, and found his photo and a short biography on Wikipedia. Then she cleaned the basement, put a table and two chair in the middle and decorated the table with a candle, the picture of the writer and a small bowl of cinnamon. The Web says that ghosts like cinnamon. When Martin came, Diana told him what to do: “We will go down and I will light the candle. We will meditate for a while and then, holding hands, concentrate our mind to contact the ghost of the writer. We will ask him to announce his presence by flickering the light of the candle. If that happens, be ready with your question.”
They went to the basement and did all what Diana said, but the candlelight didn’t move.
“Perhaps we need a psychic medium for our séance. Do you want me to do organize it?” asked Diana.
“Yes please, it would be great.”
Diana contacted the medium, explained to her the purpose of the séance, and then they all meet at Diana's house. They went to the basement and Martin told the medium the question he wanted to ask. To start the séance, they all held hands, stared into the flame of the candle and the medium said: “The ghost of this house, please announce your presence by flickering the light.” This time the flame did move. Then the medium continued: “Please answer the question Martin wants to know: Does he have talent for writing?” After a long silence a voice from the grave said: “Martin will be a great writer.”
That was all what was needed from the séance. Medium left, and Diana invited Martin to celebrate. She opened a bottle of wine and when they were nicely relaxed, Martin said:
“You blew into the candle. I saw you.”
“Yes.”
“And the medium was your friend.”
“True.”
“And you told her what to say.”
“Also correct.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I wanted to make you happy.”
Martin smiled, leaned to her, and gave her a nice, long kiss.