David Bowie had just died and I was devastated.
I don’t usually care about famous people, but he was one who I feel played a part in who I am today. I cried off and on for a week or so after it happened.
Anyways, it’s evening and I’m getting my girls ready for bed. My youngest daughter was brushing her teeth when she suddenly stopped looked at me and said, "I died in bed, but now I'm a spaceman." English accent. Spot on for a 3 year old. I tried to ask her more but she just said,"I'm not going to be silly," and went on brushing her teeth.
I have another longer one:
Back in the early 80’s, we lived in a tiny two story house in the suburbs of Chicago, on Elm Street (no joke.) I remember this house as the house with the giant elm tree in the front… Where girls would leave notes for my brothers… And the kind elderly couple next door would give us things like bags of apples, or a doll here and there.
I would get up some evenings and want water. And since I was three I would wake my mom up. She would wait for me at the bottom of the stairs because I was 3 and still afraid of navigating the house in the dark.
I would always pause at the top of the stairs, because a transparent man in a plaid shirt would be sitting on the banister that overlooked the stairs, looking what I realize now must have been bored or sad. He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on one hand. My mom would remind me she was waiting and I would say, “I have to say hi to the man!” I would say hi and wave. He would lift his head and give a sad, halfhearted wave. Almost as if to say, “Great, another little kid sees me.”
Fast forward to last year.
I’m talking to my oldest brother, and he recalls a conversation with the elderly couple next door. Apparently our house was built by a man and his wife. They lived their entire lives in it to the end. He asked them if the man ever wore plaid shirts. They said that’s all he ever wore.
I have a strange obsession with this house to this day. And am always tempted to buy it, just to keep it safe for the man ghost. Although now I live in the Pacific Northwest, so that’s a bit of a stretch.
I wonder if he is still there, or has moved on?
(A Demon Story Episode)