Dangerous Echoes
illness Jean, a private nurse, ‘lived in’ to tend him for the
final three years of his life. She had been almost as
devastated by his death as Margaret herself. It had seemed
natural for her to stay on as a companion. Jean was ten
years Margaret’s junior and very fit ...it was a terrible blow
when she was killed ...a wicked shame, everyone agreed,
to be mown down by a drunken driver.
The tragedy had happened only three months ago, on
the thirteenth of November. Jean was cycling back from
the village after her Wednesday night choir practice; “The
driver said she fell off in front of him! There was nothing
he could do,” Margaret told everyone ... “Drunken fool!”
She was so upset that she couldn’t contemplate
replacing her. Jean had been more than just a
housekeeper. Then, one morning soon after Christmas
Edna, her daily woman, told her about Irma. “She could
put you in touch with Miss Webb! I’ve had my old granny
come back to me, through Irma, several times. A great
comfort it is, and she is a very nice young woman – not
weird or anything!”
At first, Margaret turned down the suggestion very
firmly. The idea shocked her. She did not believe in life
after death ...except for the way the Bible treated the
subject, of course. Ordinary people didn’t come back as
ghosts – she was quite sure! But the more Edna told her,
the less certain she became. The nagging thought that she
might get in touch with Jean gradually began to intrigue
her, and she finally agreed to meet Edna’s friend.
When Irma arrived at the house, the following morning,
Margaret was already regretting having invited her ...one
heard that it was dangerous to tamper with ‘ouija boards’
and the like. Trying to contact the dead was ‘Courting the
Devil’ but it was too late ...Irma was standing before her,
hand outstretched. This in itself was enough to repel
Margaret ...it was up to her, the senior, to decide whether
or not to shake hands, but she took it anyway, lightly.
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