Maudie rubbed her arms again and shivered.She shook her head.“I ain’t never seen a ghost here before, but I think others have seen her and dey are a little leery of her.There’s been talk for years about this ghost.But she doesn’t bother nobody, she doesn’t haunt anybody either.”Maudie looked distracted as she remembered something.She turned to look into the swamp.“In fact, ole Fred Wingman said something a few years ago about this ghost.He fell and hurt his leg one summer a few years back.He’d been tending his garden then his hoe missed and it clipped his foot.His foot was bleeding bad and he passed out before he made it to his house.Next thing he knew he woke up in his own bed.Someone had wrapped his foot and left him water beside his bed.He laid there healing for a couple of days before he got up and when he thought about his garden again he limped out to find someone had cleared the weeds for him."She shook her head.“He came to see me about his foot and when I looked I found his cut had been stitched properly and it was clean, healing already.He didn’t know who or what had done it for him but he said a day later he found a rabbit, cleaned and ready for cooking on his doorstep.”She looked out into the brush.“He told me whoever cared for him must be a ghost or an angel.”
Mickey got a funny feeling in his chest.He wasn’t sure he believed in ghosts but he’d talked to her and she talked back to him.She was real enough.“But can ghosts talk?”
Maudie shook her head.“Maybe?But dey usually don’t talk a lot.Just a few words.”
“Then she isn’t a ghost at all,” Mickey stated gruffly.“We had a whole conversation.”He stomped away and headed toward the Hogan house.Since he and his brothers had come home they’d been staying with their cousins until they could clean up their own houses not far from their cousin’s place.
Chapter Two
Maudie stood on thesteps and watched him go.
King found her a little while later.“Bae, are you okay?”
Maudie turned to him and shook her head.“No boo, I be troubled right now.”
“How come?”he asked her softly.“We got the riffraff settled.Dale, his boys and Leroy are all sitting in jail right now.Shay is working on catching the rest of the Chosen, we should be good for now.What’s got you all upset?”
Maudie rubbed her arms a bit and looked up at King.“I had a dream last night and Mickey told me today he spoke to someone who claimed she was a ghost here.Something came back to my mind that happened years ago when Ole Fred got hurt.It’s just all unsettled now.”
King paused and asked, “Unsettled good or unsettled bad?”
Maudie shook her head and shivered.“I ain’t sure just yet.I ain’t sure I believe in ghosts either.I hear stuff that don’t seem right all the time but people that do believe in ghosts have said stuff over the years.They ain’t so much afraid of this ghost but they are leery about her.And ole Fred seems to think she’s an angel.She helped him into his own bed and cared for his foot when his hoe slipped and cut him bad.He could have bled to death right there at his door but he was taken inside and cared for.”She shook her head.“It was spooky enough, that’s for sure.Then there were other stories.Ole Della, she fell and hit her head and the same thing happened.Her being fixed up and dinner had been left next to her bed.”
King just stared at her for a long moment then asked, “What brought all this on?”
“Mickey said he spoke to someone out there that said she was a ghost.Now I do realize they can exist but why would one talk to Mickey out of da blue?”
King just shook his head.“I don’t know, baby.But you know everyone in these parts.You ever seen this ghost yourself?”
Maudie shook her head.“In my dreams yes, but you hear things, you know?I ain’t ever heard of anyone else seeing her either.All I ever heard of were whispers about her.But she doesn’t ever hurt anyone, at least not that I know of.”Then her eyes widened.“Oh, dear.”
“What?”King asked her sharply.
Maudie never answered him, she just grabbed his hand and turned toward the house.She scurried inside and went directly to her medical room.
King followed her but just watched her as she went through her file cabinet.
