Ghostly Echoes
5 – Maud & Norma
Norma was offended. The salutation included her by name and
the letter did end, “Hope you are both well”, but the envelope
was addressed only to Maud – why not also to her. Wasn’t she
supposed to open it? Maud was unsympathetic, always expecting
to come first and get her own way because she was older by
seven years. Even though they had now reached their fifties
Norma fretted, Maud was still dictatorial and controlled both
their lives, never allowing that Norma’s wishes might differ from
her own. It had been worse since Norma became interested in
ESP. Maud would never scoff at anyone else for claiming an
extra sense, but in her own sister? No way! She said Norma was
being silly!
Why couldn’t Maud acknowledge Norma’s flashes of
second sight? Last year, she had warned against investing in new
shares but Maud did so anyway and within months, as Norma
had predicted, their value fell. Maud was cuttingly sarcastic; they
probably featured in a financial advice column that Norma
remembered, albeit sub-consciously. Sometimes when the
telephone rang she knew who it was and said so, but Maud just
sniffed and muttered, “Intelligent guess”. Only last week after
wasting hours in a futile search for her address book Maud
eventually asked Norma if she had seen it. Norma immediately
visualised the book, wedged behind the writing desk and when
they moved the furniture, the book fell to the floor, but did Maud
thank her? No!
Irritated, Norma couldn’t resist reminding Maud that only
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