BUZZon - Ghost Story

When my grandson was about five, he turned to me one day and said “We can’t see ghosts, right, Nana?” I told him I thought that we could see them sometimes and he responded, “Yeah. But we’re not supposed to, right?”

It’s often said that children and animals can see things that adults cannot. And that ability can make things confusing for a while as they sort out what is “real” and what is “imaginary.” A friend once heard two little girls at a memorial service, discussing how hard it was for them to distinguish the living from the dead. At four or five, though, according to theory, most children begin to differentiate one from the other. And then gradually, as those children learn that the spirits aren’t there in any real sense, the ghosts fade away and eventually become invisible. As we grow up, we usually forget about any encounters with the other side. But some of us still remember…

Laurel Smyth recalls a day when she was about four: “I’d been sent to the store, you know the way people would, in those days—send a small child to the store with a quarter and a list.” She was skipping along the sidewalk in her west Toronto neighbourhood, mindful of the cracks (lest, of course, she break her mother’s back). She looked up from the sidewalk to see her grandmother coming towards her, arm-in-arm with her best friend. The two were progressing slowly along, close together, heads inclined toward each other and deep in conversation.

“I remember thinking how nice it was that grandma had such a good friend—you could just see the love between them. It made me feel very happy, as I skipped closer and closer to them. As I passed them I said ‘Hi Grandma!’ She didn’t stop, and she didn’t break stride but she did turn her head and look down at me with the kindest look but, at the same time, admonishing me not to interrupt. It was like ‘Yes, I see you,’ and she smiled into my eyes but then she turned back to her friend and they continued along.”

As Laurel continued along still thinking about how nice it was that Grandma had such a good friend, she suddenly remembered that Grandma’s friend had died some time ago. And as she was absorbing that fact, she recalled that her Grandma, too, had died. Confused, Laurel spun in her tracks—not more than a few seconds after they’d passed on the sidewalk—but there was no sign of the women. No one, in fact, in sight and nowhere that anyone could have gone…

Years later, Laurel was strolling home along Victoria Row and saw Bernice Kenny sitting at a window table in the former Pat’s Rose and Gray. She knew that Mrs. Kenny had been ill and was glad to see she was well enough to join her family in their restaurant for dinner. Laden with packages, Laurel didn’t stop in but just smiled and saw Mrs. Kenny nod in response. Within a day or so, when Laurel learned of Bernice’s death she said, “Oh no! I just saw her at Pat’s the other day.” Wide-eyed, her friend informed her that could not have been the case because the elegant lady had died before then.

Because there was no indication of anything different about her Grandma or Bernice Kenny, Laurel’s wondered, from time to time, whether some of the people encountered in the run of a day might be spirits. “They were just as real as real,” she says. “So how would you know?”

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