“Blissful,” Alice said, worry filling her voice, “what is it?”
I closed my eyes tight until the tidal wave of nausea finally passed. Then I uncurled myself and rose.
“We need a shovel.”
“Can someoneplease explain to me why she’s digging up our basement?” Wallace asked, his tone just one pitch away from exasperated.
“Trust us, Blissful knows what she’s doing,” Ruth said.
Alice leaned over and whispered loudly enough for half the county to hear. “She does?”
Then she said “Ow,” because Ruth probably elbowed her in the ribs.
“I don’t understand what digging has to do with the ghost,” Brownie said.
“Or why she has to dig in our basement,” Wallace said. “You know we’re renovating this entire house.”
Already panting and sweaty, I was not in the mood to explain myself, but what the heck? Since the house actually did belong to these folks, they might like a touch of an explanation.
But I wasn’t going to stop shoveling to do it. “I’m doing this because your basement is actually a cellar, so there’s dirt down here.”
“Yes,” Wallace said, “we can see that.”
“I saw your ghost.”
Brownie gasped. “Already? You already saw her?”
“I did.”
“That was so fast.” Wallace nodded with pride. He wagged a finger at me. “You are good. Brownie said you’d be good, but I’ll admit I didn’t believe her.”
“Few people actually do believe it until they see it. But anyway, your spirit showed me this spot.”
“She showed it to you? Did she bring you here?” Brownie was clearly very mystified by the ins and outs of my work.
“Oh no,” Alice answered. “The spirit didn’t actually bring Blissful here. Blissful kind of shot back like she’d been punched in the head.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Did it hurt?” Brownie said. “I hope it didn’t hurt.”
“It didn’t hurt,” I replied. “I’m fine.”
“I think I might see a cut,” Alice said.
I shot her a look that said,Back off.“I’m fine.”
“But what’s all this digging for?” Wallace said. “I still don’t understand that. Can someone explain to me why you’re creating a pile of dirt?”
“I’m not creating a pile of dirt.” I heaved another mound of packed earth from the hole and tossed it to the side. “There’s a reason I’m doing this.”
“It better be good,” Wallace said. He turned to Brownie. “You said she’d help us solve the ghost problem, but all I see is a woman pretending to be a gravedigger.”
Exasperation filled my voice. “You were just pleased with me!”
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I can be finicky.”
“Anyway.” I rolled my eyes. “Funny you should say gravedigger.” I jumped out of the hole and took a deep breath. “See for yourself.”
