Dad, In Spirit Chapters 14-15

Recommended for ages 8 and up. Ebon used to wish he wasn't the boring member of the Jones family until his father fell into a coma, but his spirit returned to the house and Ebon was the only one who can hear and see him. Now it's up to Ebon to find a way to get his Dad's spirit and his body back together. Can he do it?

Transcript

Hello,

This is Ailifeh of Sylvan Ously with the next few chapters of Dead in Spirit.

Before we begin I'd like you to take a deep breath and let it out slowly.

That's a wonderful way to start to relax,

To slow down your mind,

To open the door to your imagination,

To listen and allow yourself to be there in the moment with the characters in the story,

To travel with them as they discover new things.

Now let's begin the story where we left off with the chapter called Dad the Living Ghost.

The ghost of a living person.

What a cuckoo idea!

But so is seeing and hearing someone who slept in a hospital miles away.

Looney tunes.

Mom took us home and tucked us into bed,

But I snuck right out and went straight to BJ's tree house.

The sun hadn't come up yet,

So I got the flashlight out of a kitchen drawer.

When I shone it on her bedroom window,

She poked her head out.

I flashed the light on the grass in front of her.

She crawled out of the window then ran up to the tree house.

What happened?

I heard you guys leave.

Dad really did speak.

What?

I heard him.

When he was in the study,

Dad told me Pop started out as cough syrup.

Then the hospital called,

A nurse heard him say cough syrup.

Really?

It's like your grandmother said,

No matter what,

Dad will find a way home.

Utterly unbelievable.

BJ slid down the wall.

But it doesn't surprise me with your dad.

What are you going to do?

He showed up when I needed some help.

He told me how to get through Hamilton Hall.

Then last night,

When I was looking for answers on the internet,

I got stuck and he came to help me out.

Wow.

So I need to find something else he can help me out with.

Like what?

I don't know.

I know,

I know.

BJ waved her arms around as if they'd become dancing snakes.

What's the name of a male singer who sings higher than a tenor?

I heard that one on the radio the other day.

We sat staring at the walls,

Waiting for Dad to show up.

A male singer who sings higher than her tenor,

Dad.

I repeated her question in case Dad didn't hear her.

Nothing.

Maybe it's because he doesn't know,

BJ suggested.

Okay.

I stood up,

Thinking Dad could hear me better.

Tell me,

Dad,

Why did Attila the Hun die?

Why did he die?

BJ asked.

I can't tell you.

Then Dad will know I know.

Now he does anyway,

BJ shrugged.

I slumped to the floor in exhaustion.

BJ and I kept it up until we fell asleep.

Her mom found us there a few hours later.

Belinda,

Jane!

BJ and I both jumped.

BJ's hair hung in her face.

Mom?

Rita turned around to shout over the edge.

I found them!

Looking at us,

She asked,

What are you two doing sleeping up here?

Ummm,

Ummm,

BJ fumbled.

Her mind,

Rita laughed.

Just tell somebody where you're going next time.

We've been hunting all over for you.

And you,

She pointed at me.

Doesn't your mother have enough to worry about without you running off in the middle of the night?

BJ's mom sure could be mean when she got mad.

Sorry,

Ma'am.

Don't sorry me.

Apologize to your mother.

She shooed me to the stairs.

Get on home.

As I took the first step,

She kissed me on top of the head.

Love you,

Kiddo.

See you soon,

Eben!

BJ shouted over the edge.

I dragged myself down to the ground,

My muscles tight and sore.

It felt like I'd slept on a pile of old toy trucks.

As I came into the kitchen,

Mom stood by the sink washing dishes.

Samuel sat at the table digging through a new box of cereal for the prize inside.

Dad always got out the big popcorn bowl and dumped the cereal into it to hunt for the prize.

But Samuel preferred to have destroyed the box by sticking his arm down inside to root around.

Mom bellowed like a drill sergeant.

Get over here,

Boy!

Yes,

Ma'am.

I hurried to her side.

Hugging me and giving me a shake,

Mom asked,

Where have you been?

I spent the night in BJ's treehouse.

You go a-wom-munk one more time and I'm putting a tracking device in your oatmeal.

You'll swallow that sucker and I'll never lose track of you.

Aw,

Womp.

Was Mom speak for absent without Mom's knowledge?

I'm sorry I didn't let you know where I was.

Mom deposited a blob of suds on my nose.

That's just it,

Rubbing boy.

I know your escape routes.

I heard you leave last night.

That door makes a creak only a mother can hear.

I laughed.

Then Mrs.

Guilford called to tell me you'd cut school.

You knew about that?

Mom raised her eyebrows.

I have spies.

I'm just trying to find a way to make Dad come back.

Mom pulled me close.

I know,

Eben.

That's why I've given you a little room to roam.

But don't abuse the privilege.

I won't.

Good.

And do one more thing for me.

Leaning over,

Mom added in a whisper.

Don't tell anyone what you saw,

Eben.

They'll think I'm nuts,

I mumbled,

Resting my head on Mom's arm.

I saw her close her eyes as she said,

No.

I know that Samuel will believe you.

And Juliet will only get mad.

And the kids at school will call the National Sun Inquirer.

Mom laughed.

Just like your father,

Humor at all times.

I was being serious,

But it didn't pay to tell Mom that.

She was doing damage control.

If I told Samuel he'd be up every night waiting for Dad's ghost to show.

She'd never get him to go to bed.

Juliet would hate me for being so stupid.

Not BJ's grandma,

Helen.

She believed in ghosts.

She lived in a haunted house when she was eight.

She had often played with a neat girl who wore ringlet curls,

But it turned out she'd been dead for thirty years.

The only trouble was,

The ghost would cry in the night.

Then one time the ghost walked into Helen's parents' bedroom to tell them someone had left something on the stove.

They moved out the next week.

Maybe that was it.

Dad had to warn us about something.

No,

That didn't seem right.

Ghosts often came back because they'd left something unfinished.

Maybe he felt like he had to stay around to help Mom raise us kids.

Dad did schedule our lives around his research,

But he always said being a father had to be the best part of his life,

And he couldn't let go of it.

That thought made me feel loved and guilty all at the same time.

I'd gotten lost to my thoughts so Mom had to call me back to the kitchen.

Eben?

Yeah?

You ready to talk things out with Dr.

Ventra?

Is he coming today?

If you'd asked me if I'd rather eat hot nail and Cersei Ventra again,

I'd have to think about it.

Yep.

My moans told her how I really felt,

So she said,

How about a picnic to warm you up to the idea?

A good picnic can prepare you for any event.

Samuel sat up asking,

Did I hear a rumor of a picnic?

Would you like to make it a fact,

Samuel?

Mom turned around to face the table.

Samuel jumped up as he shouted,

Sure,

I'll go get a blanket.

He ran for the back stairs.

Make a whole man on a mission.

He pushed his way past Juliet as she came down.

Can we go see Dad first?

Juliet asked.

No,

Honey.

Dr.

Ventra thinks it would be best.

Juliet cut her off.

Who cares what Dr.

Jerko thinks?

He's my father and I want to see him.

Juliet,

Please.

I know you're upset.

You don't seem to be.

You just keep right on with your life like Dad's off to the dentist.

Juliet moved in closer,

The veins in her neck bulging out.

If I hadn't felt her anger in my chest like a strange source of heat,

I would have laughed at how much she looked like Fred,

Casting his tongue out for a fly.

She almost growled when she asked,

Why,

Mom?

You know something you're not telling us?

What's that supposed to mean,

Juliet?

I think you know.

You know he isn't coming back.

You're not tied in knots waiting for something good to happen.

You're all calm and resolved.

You think he's already dead.

Juliet had it all wrong.

I'd heard Mom crying as she talked to her sister Aunt Rachel.

Seen how she gripped the steering wheel for strength when the parents at school asked how Dad was,

I knew how she jumped whenever the phone rang.

Mom stared at Juliet,

Her eyes looking as glossy as polished stones.

It felt like Dad stood there beside me,

Holding my hand.

He wanted me to tell both of them he was there and everything would be alright.

Lacing her fingers together under her chin as if she wanted to pray,

Mom said,

Promise me this.

You won't guess how I'm feeling,

And I won't pretend to know what you're going through.

Juliet smiled,

But it looked like a backward one to me.

One of those lips curled that means hate,

Not happiness.

She said to Mom,

So you do have feelings.

Mom turned her head as if she was trying to hold herself back.

I'm going to walk outside now,

Juliet.

If you want to know how I really feel,

You'll calm down,

Then come outside and talk to me.

Not at me.

Mom walked out.

I saw Samuel peeking into the kitchen from the main stairs,

But he went back up when the screen door flapped closed.

Juliet just paced the room,

Muttering to herself.

I wanted to say something,

But my emotions had my brain all twisted and noodly.

I felt like yelling at her for being so mean to Mom,

But I saw the tears in Juliet's eyes.

I knew how much she hurt.

There was no way out of the hole our family had fallen into,

Unless Dad came back.

A picnic.

Dad style.

I wanted Dad to come and fix everything so bad.

I could see the outline of him bending over to look out the window as Juliet stepped outside.

I could imagine the wavy lines of his housecoat draping over Samuel's science experiment,

See the spikes of his light brown hair,

A sandpaper haircut as he called it.

If he had really been there,

He would have asked me to open the window so we could hear what they were saying,

So I did.

I had to get all my weight behind a good shove to push the window open.

A pesky fly buzzed around as I leaned toward the screen to hear what they said to each other,

So their words sounded staticky.

Mom stood by Castle Rook,

Playing with the frayed edges of our family flag which hung down from the roof.

Juliet must have been sitting next to the house.

I couldn't see her,

And her voice sounded like she was speaking up from a tunnel in the ground.

I didn't mean to hurt you.

Yes,

You did.

Mom faced the castle.

You wanted to see the pain,

No I hurt as much as you do.

You make me sound awful.

I make you sound human,

Julie.

It's no fun hurting alone.

Mom put her back to the castle wall then slid to the ground.

She looked like a kid with her hands stuck between her legs,

Her shoulders below her kneecaps.

What's the deal,

Mom?

Why this stone-faced act?

Mom closed her eyes and lifted her brows.

Her I'm an idiot look.

I listened to Dr.

Ventro.

He said keeping up appearances would help you kids.

Laughing,

Juliet said,

Dweeb.

Mom shouted,

Benzel-dog.

That's our family word for real jerk.

It means the person's stupid,

Ugly,

Boring,

Cruel,

And probably smells bad.

I would have bet a year's supply of s'mores that declaring him a Benzel-dog meant Mom would call off the meeting and we'd be rid of that guy.

Pork-bellied fool,

Juliet yelled.

Mom laughed.

Her whole body started to jiggle.

Her laughter started out all crisp and bouncy,

Like the sound fall leaves make when you run through a pile of them.

It grew deeper and her jiggle turned into a shake.

She started crying,

Juliet too.

She crawled over to Mom.

They snuckled up together,

Bawling.

All it took was seeing one tear and I began spouting water.

Mom halted all the waterworks when she stormed inside shouting,

Knights and ladies!

Opening the laundry chute door,

She bellowed,

Knights,

Prepare for battle upon picnic-glade!

Samuel came thundering down the back stairs.

Juliet went to the fridge to hunt down sandwich stock.

Over-grained bread,

Pickles,

Peanut butter,

Jelly,

Salami,

Tuna with mayo,

Lettuce,

Mustard,

Bananas,

Potato chips.

I went for the small ladder to retrieve our new picnic basket.

Our kitchen cupboards go all the way up to the ten-floor ceiling on one wall,

So it was a big climb.

Mom got started on a pasta salad and together we were well stocked and out the door in an hour.

Picnic-glade was a spot on a hill in the park behind our place.

We went out the gate in our backyard,

Ran up a hill,

And we were at the picnic-glade.

But Samuel had to go first,

His sword blazing toward off any lurking thieves or sandwich-hungry dragons.

I'd done that when I was his age,

Too,

But I thought it was silly,

Especially without Dad there to be the dragon.

Maybe it was wishful thinking.

Whenever we went on a picnic,

Dad would always find a way to disappear before we got outside.

He'd be waiting somewhere on the hill,

Ready to pounce.

That was how our old picnic basket met its end.

Dad jumped out of a juniper bush and tackled Mom.

They went tumbling down into the valley with the picnic basket and rolled to a stop,

Just feet from the creek.

Dad had potato salads mashed in his hair and spotting his shirt.

Mom looked like she'd tie-dyed her white shirt with grape juice.

They laughed,

But that old picnic basket had been reduced to tatters.

As I sat on picnic-glade with Evan and our family but Dad,

I remember how we'd had to skip the picnic and take a trip through the drive-thru at Burger Chef.

Dad refused to go get the car,

So we walked through.

I was so embarrassed.

Drellie refused to join us and waited at the picnic table in the park.

The drive-thru dude put all our food into Kid's Meal sandpales because he thought Dad was so goopy-cool.

We ate in a sandbox and built a colony for the ants that came to eat the chunks we dropped.

The meal turned out to be pretty fun all around,

But I got sand in my underwear,

And there's nothing worse than sandbutt.

Watching Samuel mush his ring macaroni salad into the shape of a fish instead of eating it,

I thought about how Dad did everything in a really good fashion.

We'd start out in one place with a plan,

A picnic.

He'd do something goofy,

Go tumbling down a hill with Mom.

We ended up twisting and turning,

Walking through a drive-thru,

Through a whole new destination,

Like dinner in a sandbox with a colony of ants.

Dad was a classic.

I had the best rib muscles of any kid in kindergarten because I laughed so much at my Dad.

No,

Not at my Dad,

But with my Dad.

He was totally serious when he was alone,

So you'd have to be with him for him to do anything funny.

The closer I got to being a teenager,

The more I thought about how totally against the world my Dad was.

He did everything his own way.

After Dad put Christmas ornaments up in June because he wanted the Christmas spirit to last all year,

Mr.

Taggart said Dad would paint his house pink just to be different from his neighbors.

Mr.

Taggart might have been on to something there,

But a plain old picnic did not seem right.

So does your family have any unusual traditions?

My family fondued on New Year's Eve.

If you don't know what making fondue is,

You might want to look it up.

It's kind of fun.

Does your family have an unusual tradition?

If it doesn't,

Maybe you could think one up.

You never know.

It might be fun.

Thank you so much for joining me for another few chapters of Dad in Spirit.

This has been A.

LeFay of Sylvanosity.

I invite you to check out my other books.

You can find out more about me and them on my website at alefay.

Com.

Or you could visit me at Sylvanosity on Facebook,

Instagram,

Or Twitter.

Sylvanosity is spelled S-Y-L-V-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.

Sylvanosity.

Thank you.

Reviews

Excellent, I don't always see the announcement, so I always go check on your site for any new chapters & honestly get happy like a kid when I find one 🤭🌜 they are my favorite bedtime stories 🙏🌎🕊
Thank You Much