Rose and Mrs. Miller sat in the living room enjoying their tea together. Mrs. Miller looked at the face of her gold watch on her left wrist.
“Oh my, I must be going dear… Thank you so much for the tea,” Mrs. Miller stood up and set her cup on the coffee table.
Rose stood up and walked Mrs. Miller to the front door, “You must come and visit again when you have more time.”
“Oh I will dear, don’t you worry about that,” Mrs. Miller walked out the door, and down the steps to her car.
Rose stood on the porch and waved as Mrs. Miller drove away. She looked at the flowerless flower beds on each side of the porch stairs. Well, I could at least pull these weeds, she thought. Down the steps, she trotted. Little by little she pulled out the overgrowth of weeds in both flower beds. While she was on her knees, a Monarch butterfly fluttered near her.
“Is that you grandma?” Rose held out her hand for the butterfly to land.
But the butterfly just fluttered around her head, and suddenly flew off. She smiled and went back to pulling the weeds. When she was done, and two large piles later, she stood back and admired her work.
“Now all I need are flowers,” Rose brushed her knees off and trotted back up the steps.
She walked into the living room and gathered up the cups and tray. As she carried them into the kitchen, Rose thought about what fun Mrs. Miller said she had with her grandma. She only wished that she had seen her grandmother within the last couple of years and not seven years ago. But what’s done is done, and she can’t change that now. I am happy that I spent so many hours here when I was a child, she thought.
Rose washed her hands and then washed up the cups that they used, and placed them on a drying rack. As nighttime was approaching, she had to get her bedroom prepared for her first night in the house. She walked up the stairs to go to her room, but she noticed at the top, in the sitting area a large wooden chest. She didn’t recall seeing that before, in all her visits there. Maybe, grandma had it covered, I’ll look at it tomorrow, she thought.
The bedroom she picked to be her own was the second largest, and it was where she slept many times as a child. It had a large bay window with a sitting nook and cream-colored wallpaper with little pink flowers all over it. She noticed the bed linens on the bed smelled old and dusty, so she pulled them off. Rose dug in one of her boxes and pulled out a full-size sheet set to dress her bed with. She also tossed her favorite blanket on the bed just in case she needed it.
Before calling it a night, she went back downstairs to double-check the doors. The front door was still locked and chained. But when she walked into the kitchen, the back door was slightly ajar. The screen door was closed, but she didn’t recall seeing the back door open at all today. She peeked out the screen and it was very dark outside. She closed the door and pushed it tight before she locked it.
Rose shut the kitchen light off and made her way back up the stairs. She went to the bathroom to wash up a little before going to bed. The advantage of living in the country again was the peace and quiet. All she was hearing was the crickets chirping. At least for now.
Please join me again for more of: Rose’s Ghost.