Mai Griffin
not really able to believe...
Irma frowned and made reassuring gestures, not
towards Margaret, but as if to someone else in the room
with them.
“Shush now... don’t be frightened. Tell me your name?
Yes – Olive ...and you have a message for Meggy? ...”
“Good God! How incredible ...is it really Olive? She is the
only one who ever called me Meggy!”
“Yes – she wants you to know how much she missed
you when you were sent off to school ... she was barely
nine years older than yourself and you used to help with
her chores so that she would be able to play with you ... a
game on a board ... Chess? No, I see black and white discs!”
“Draughts, it was draughts!” Margaret cried, almost
bursting with excitement. I beat her most of the time and
...”
“No, no – please don’t tell me anything. If you do, you
won’t know, later, how much I really saw and heard and
how much information you gave me yourself! “... Irma
sighed and gave a small shudder before lapsing into
stillness. Her eyes closed and a few minutes later opened
again with a brightness they had previously lacked. “Well?
How was that? She has gone now, but you did know her
didn’t you?”
There was absolutely no shadow of doubt in the mind
of Mrs Heywood-Dunn. Irma had been in contact with ‘The
Other Side’ and was making it possible for her to relive
those far-off days of her early childhood ...the only time,
apart from her too few years with poor dear Martin, when
she had been truly happy.
It must have been a benevolent fate that brought Irma
Rigby into her life when she was in a state of depression,
having so recently lost her only close friend, Jean.
Jean Webb had been with her, more like a sister than
an employee, for over fifteen years – ever since
Margaret’s husband had died. Because he suffered a long
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