The Sighting - Part Two

By Cayce B. Shelton

Joe told me that the first time he saw the ghost really scared the hell out of him. I know now those boys really must have seen a ghost or something. Joe had a strange look when he told of the second time they were visited by the vision.

"Did you tell anyone?" Dan asked.

Joe did not look into Dan's eyes as he replied, "Well, I mentioned it to my old lady and she brushed it off. Said there wasn't no such thing as a real ghost you could see."

Dan said, "I started to tell my Mom, but then Dad came in and I hightailed it to my room. I didn't want him to start in on me again." Dan began walking toward the road that crossed Frog Creek a quarter mile away.

As Dan and Joe emerged from the tunnel into the clearing, they were not surprised to see Bob. The surprise came when they realized that their chubby friend was sitting cross-legged in the carpet of leaves looking across the creek. He did not look toward the call Joe made.

"Hey, Bobby, whatcha doing, man?" Joe looked across the creek toward the spot where Bob seemed stuck and sucked in his breath. Suddenly, "Oh, hell, let me out of here."

Dan grabbed his friend as he tried to run past. "What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong?" he demanded.

"Bob. He's looking at the ghost. I'm gone, man," Joe cried out, struggling to get free of his friend.

Dan let loose of Joe and turned to look across the creek. He saw the golden glow that surrounded the ghost.

"Bob? Has she said anything?" Dan carefully moved close to his big friend and stared across the creek. The ghost smiled broadly as Dan waved at it.

"I guess she can see us. I wonder if she can talk. How long have you been here, anyhow?" Dan asked, poking Bob on the shoulder.

Bob did not reply to Dan's questions or make a move that he had heard his friend speak. Dan looked back across the creek.

The ghost was still smiling. As Dan spoke to the form across the creek, he noticed that Joe was crawling back into the clearing, slowly as if stalking an animal.

"Can you talk?" Dan asked, looking at the ghost. The smiling girl form did not change expression nor move. Dan tried again.

"I see you and I know you see me. Can you hear me?" The ghost remained as before.

Joe had crawled on his belly around the edge of the brush. Dan tried not to glance at this friend, seemingly about two feet from the golden cloud surrounding the ghost.

"Nod your head if you understand what I am saying," Dan spoke slowly and clearly. Just as he saw the ghost nod her head Dan saw Joe leap toward the ball of light. When Joe hit the ball of golden light, his body vanished only to reappear on the opposite side of the glow. Dan jumped to his feet, his heart in his throat, as he saw Joe hit the ground and roll over.

"Are you all right?" Dan watched Joe get to his feet. There was no reply. Dan saw Joe look his way and then at the ghost. Suddenly, Joe collapsed to a sitting position, his hands in his lap, as still as Bob who had not moved. Dan looked from Joe to Bob and back to the ghost. Almost without thought, Dan dropped to a sitting position on the leaves and crossed his legs. Looking directly at the smiling form across the creek,

Dan folded his arms and spoke as if to himself. "My name is Daniel P. Freeman. I am twelve years old, well, nearly thirteen, to tell the truth, which I guess I better do seeing as how I really don't know just where you are from. I haven't ever seen a ghost before. I guess you are a ghost." Pausing in his one-sided conversation, he looked for some sign from the girl. Not recognizing anything out of the ordinary, as if visiting with a ghost was ordinary, Daniel P. Freeman continued.

"I, uh, I and my buddies, that is, want to know why we can see you. And why are they sitting there like stone? I'd like to know that if you can tell me." There was no reaction from the shimmering form.

"Well, I guess you're not gonna talk to me at all. Can you make any noise?" he asked. A pause of watching, and then, "Shake your head like this if you can't make any noise."

Dan shook his head from side to side and gasped when the girl form nodded her head up and down. Suddenly the clearing seemed to be filled with the sound of tinkling bells. Dan looked around. The birds darted after the insects in the air within the clearing and the frogs hopped and moved over the mud.

As the multitude of chiming beat against Dan eardrums, he put his hands to his ears and closed his eyes. Immediately, the bell sounds ceased. The boy opened his eyes to see Joe lying on his back across the creek. The golden cloud was gone.

The long thin black hair on Dan's head flew as if touched by the wind as he moved to get to his feet, his eyes turning to Bob whom he found on his back, his eyes closed.

Anxiously, Dan tried to pull the heavyset boy to his feet. Unable to get Bob to respond, he cried out and leaped across the creek. At once the frail body was tugging at Joe and screaming, "Come on, Joe, get up, wake up, damn it, wake up." Dan let go of the limp body and jumped to his feet as Joe opened his eyes.

"Oh, Christ, you're alive. Jesus, I thought you guys were dead." Without waiting for his friend to rise, the Dan turned and sprang across the creek, again. In a quick movement he was repeating his demands to wake up his heavy friend.

"Get up, Bob. I know you're not dead, now. Open your eyes and get up. God, you guys are driving me nuts." Daniel P. Freeman let loose of the shirt he had been pulling on and turned toward the tunnel.

Bob rose from the ground and stood watching as Joe staggered to his feet. Together the two boys left the clearing. They could barely see Dan running across the golden field.

Joe looked down at the yellow weeds and dry gray dirt. His voice was soft as he spoke, "Did you tell anyone we saw a ghost?"

"Nah, I didn't tell anyone because I ain't sure just what we saw." Bob did not look at his friend.

"Well, I ain't sure what I saw either, but it scared hell out of me." Joe watched Dan's head above the tall grass as the skinny boy neared the barbed wire fence surrounding the large field.

"Did we see a ghost today?" Bob asked, also looking toward Dan.

Joe replied, still watching Dan. "I saw a big gold cloud. I tried to grab it and went right through the damn thing. Nearly broke my nose when I landed. I don't remember anything after that until I heard Dan screaming his bloody head off."

"Me neither," Bob said. "I saw that cloud just as I got into the clearing this morning. The next thing I remember is Dan screaming and jerking my shirt. I wonder what caused him to act like that?"

Joe waited a few seconds before answering. "I don't know. One minute he was pulling on my shirt hollering for me to get up. Then he was doing the same to you. Then he just left."

Bob kicked at a tumblebug as he spoke, "You know, I don't think that cloud was there when I saw Dan standing over me, come to think of it. I wonder what happened?" He looked up in time to see Daniel bounce off of the three barbed wire strands of the fence. "Damn fool," he exclaimed and started running. Joe bounded after the big guy.

Bob screamed anxiously, "What in the name of Jesus do you think you're doing, Dan? Are you out of your mind?" Bob was pulling his friend to his feet as Joe grabbed Dan also.

"Hey, man, what in the world is wrong with you?" Joe shook the dirt from the thin black hair on Dan's head as Bob beat the dust from Dan's pants. Then, like a couple of doctors, the two boys inspected their friend's legs and chest for cuts.

"Pull that shirt off and let's take a look. And drop them pants, you're cut on both legs, I think." Bob was issuing orders like a commander. Joe and Dan obeyed as if it were the natural thing to do. Six hands were busy stripping the torn clothes from the twelve-year-old male frame, which revealed a skeleton barely covered with skin.

"Boy, you're too thin. We got to put some meat on them bones. Another ground slam like that might break something." Joe was not smiling as he rubbed the blood off one of the red marks on Dan's legs.

"I know you ain't got the best at home, but you gotta eat more, Dan. You and Joe are the only friends I got, 'cepting old Tag and he's just a dog. Damn, I don't want to see you up and die on me. Skinny as you are, don't get out in no strong wind, boy." All three boys laughed at Bob's joke.

Dan held his arms over the shoulders of his friends as they pulled his baggy trousers back on. Joe picked up the torn shirt as Bob stepped to the fence.

The question Dan asked immobilized his friends, "Did you guys see the ghost? I guess you did, you were staring at it so long. And what made you both act like statues anyhow? I got worried about you. Like a couple of those angel things on those big stones over in Hill's Graveyard."

Joe asked, "Statues? We were like statues? What do you mean, like statues?"

"Well, I guess you went into a trance, maybe. I don't know," Dan replied.

"I don't remember being in no trance," Bob spoke, a tremble in his voice.

"Well, you were out of it when we got there, boy," Dan grinned, "Old Joe, he ups and runs away when he saw the ghost. I swear, I thought he was gonna croak, right there. Skittered off 'fore I got a look anyhow."

Joe became defensive, "I wasn't scared. And I don't remember running away. I remember you taking off though." Joe turned away angrily and walked away a few steps.

"Yeah, Dan, you left without a word. What made you do that, I'd like to know?" Bob was turning the problem over to Dan to solve.

"Shit, I had to get out of there. Both of you looking like dummies and bells ringing all over the place. Hell, that's enough to drive anyone crazy." Dan exclaimed.

Joe and Bob spoke together. "Bells, what bells?" Dan answered their questions, "While you guys were sitting there sleeping with your eyes open, I tried talking to that girl and all of a sudden the whole world exploded in the sound of little bells. I thought my head would explode."

"I think he's finally gone and done it," Joe said with a lop-sided grin.

Bob kept it up, "Yeah, poor guy. And he was such a good old soul, you know. He'd do anything for a friend, I tell you. I'm sure gonna miss him, poor old soul."

Dan exploded, "Poor old soul? Who's a poor old soul? If you're talking about me you can just stick it, cause I ain't crazy yet. 'Course hanging 'round you two bums could drive anyone crazy, I swear." Dan frowned at his two friends as he stepped through the space between the two barbed wire strands being held by Bob. When his mouth closed on the last word, Dan stopped, watching something a few feet in front of him. Joe and Bob stopped and looked at their friend.

Bob shook his head as he said, "There he goes again. I tell you, that boy has got to get more food in him. Just going along and stopping like this ain't healthy."

Joe agreed as he took hold of Dan's arm and pulled the skinny boy into stepping forward. Dan did not seem to be aware of the action.

Joe stated as he led Dan away, "Yeah, I agree. I don't know what we can do for him though. I give him food sometimes. We never talk about it; I don't expect any thanks but, somehow, he just seems to be fading away."

Bob shook his head as he spoke, "I know. I give him food, too. He just eats it and doesn't say anything. Like he's doing what's natural. I don't know."

The two boys held the skinny boy's arms as they walked toward his home. "What are we gonna do now? We can't leave him here, can we?" Bob said as he looked toward the house where Dan lived. The faded paint and rotted boards testified to the attitude of the family living there.

"I'll take him in. Maybe his Mom is there. Their door is never locked anyhow." Joe opened the small gate and pushed the passive form of his friend through it.

"You think he's gonna be ok, Joe? I don't like the way he looks, you know?" Bob asked, wiping at his eyes.

"He'll be all right, Bob. You go on now, I'll see later." Joe led Dan toward the house.

Bob watched the two boys reach the steps. When Joe turned Dan around and pushed him to sit down, Bob shook his head and walked away, keeping his eyes on his friends until they were out of sight.