the little ghost in the closet

[Sundaymom]

I guess the ghost story started because there were no blinds on her windows. She got scared at night. I never realized how much. It was also true that the room got cold, especially the back corner where the bed fit best. Maybe it was just being up against two outside cement block walls or the orientation of the room or a drafty window. On the plus side, the room had an east-facing window and was the only room in the house that got the direct morning sunshine. Anyway, Jaime insisted there was a little girl in her room that somehow got centered on the closet. Her older brother was such a chicken that he would never stay in that room.

Jaime moved into that bedroom the day we moved into this house in 1985. We sold the crib set that she had slept in much too long and found a used antique white bedroom set with a yellow stripe along the edges. There was a desk, dresser and a canopy bed. We put a beautiful net canopy on it. When I finally could afford it, I put in a pale yellow striped wall paper with a pink heart border around the top. I thought it was charming, but by that time, Jaime HATED it. As she got older, she sold the first bedroom set and used the proceeds to redecorate her own room. She redecorated several times after that, each time using the proceeds from selling the previous furnishings.

Over the years, the back "kid's room" was redecorated and repurposed many times. When Jaime's little boy Jonah was born, he and his mom and dad stayed at my house and the kid's room became a nursery. I have many happy pictures of Jonah in that little room with the sun shining in. Jaime painted the walls a deep blue and decorated it with an ocean theme. The (expensive) baby comforter and bumper pads and wall border she just had to have were called "Sweet Harmony" or something like that. Jonah was a very happy baby and he loved his room. In fact, he would sometimes cry to go to bed rather than to stay up as my own children had done. That was because he always went to sleep with a video, a gentle Baby Einstein playing classical music or a video like Peter Pan (to which I have memorized every word of dialogue, every nuance of voice or music and the clang of Big Ben as the children fly to Neverland.)

The next ghost incident that I recall occurred when Jonah was around two years old. He and I were lying on the bed trying to watch TV. The old TV was acting up and scrolling through the channels as it sometimes did. As I was working with the remote, Jonah opened the blinds above the bed. It was dark outside and I ordered him to close the blinds since I was feeling a little creeped out. "There's a ghos out there," he told me. "Jonah, stop that!" I commanded. "He talks!" Jonah responded. Well, that creeped me out for sure, but I pretended it was nothing because I didn't want Jonah to be scared. Jaime reminded me that he often mixed up his pronouns when he was that age, meaning it was the same little girl and not a he.

I am often surprised by adult reactions to this story. One day when I was on the phone to my boyfriend, now my husband, Jonah came running up very excited and asked me to come see what was in the closet. When I came back to the phone, Roger asked me what was there. "What do you think was there?," I asked. "NOTHING!"

My neighbor, Sylvia, immediately asked if anything had ever "happened" in that back bedroom. The house was built in the mid-fifties and my neighbors have filled me in on most of the house's history. A high school principal was the first owner. As far as I can tell, nothing bad or unusual has ever happened in that room.

Over the years, the back bedroom has been a refuge for my grandchildren. I believe they are comforted when they stay there. They know just where the toys are and feel right at home. Jill has stayed there many times and is the only one who has never even hinted at anything wrong with the room. Now that Jonah is older, I give the evil eye to him or my own children if they start to joke about the ghost. I don't want her to be afraid. She was already afraid of swing sets for a very long time after the swing in the park was moving from the wind. She became convinced it was a ghost even though Jonah vehemently denies any blame for that.

I should also mention that we replaced the sliding closet doors years ago with folding shutter-type doors tthat never seem to stay closed properly. Once I was staying at the house alone while we had a hurricane scare. I arrived home after spending the day with friends. The electricity was out. I opened the windows to get some air moving and lit candles. I confess to double-checking the closet doors a few times. I vowed that if the doors were suddenly open, I would leave immediately. Nothing happened.

That brings me to last week. Jaime brought the baby to our house and little Mia went running back saying, "Bedroom!" She turned on the TV, pulled out some toys and threw the decorative pillows off the bed the way she likes it. All was well when later in the day she suddenly pointed at the closet doors and said, "Bueno. Bueno." I did not know what to think or what she wanted. I opened the doors so Mia could reach the toy chest inside the closet, but she lost interest. This did puzzle me a little bit, but I forgot about it until she did the same exact thing yesterday!

I called Jaime to tell her about it. She pointed out that "bueno" means good. I said I knew what it meant, but why would Mia be saying it? She does watch a lot of Dora and counts in Spanish now. The saga goes on. I do believe that there are many mysteries in this world, but I do not seriously believe there is a ghost in that closet. If there were such a ghost, I believe she would approve of the happy, comfortable little room with lots of sunshine and many happy memories for a mom and a grandma.

[goatmom4]

May. 2, 2009 at 6:55 PM

how weird   !!   hope everything stay good cuz ghosts are scary