Haunted With Love

“Did you hear that?” Bella asked her best friend and cousin, Ethel.

“What?” I didn’t hear anything. Ethel said, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.

“You can’t tell me that you didn’t hear that loud noise. It sounded like a big bang. Like someone was banging on the door.” 

“Bella, I honestly didn’t hear anything. I think that you are just creeped out because we are here.” Ethel responded

The house on 1620 Josephina Avenue. Now sat empty with the exception of the girls being there now. It was once a home filled with love, laughter, family, friends and fun. Lot’s of fun was had at that house. There were many parties, Anniversaries, Birthday’s, Graduation, Weddings, Christmas, Halloween, Easter. You name it there was probably a celebration of some kind had in that house.  The house was painted yellow and green. Everyone thought that Bella’s grandmother was crazy for choosing those colors to paint a house. After all, whoever heard of those color combinations for a house this big and this grand in the middle of a neighborhood surrounded by old houses and old cars and generations of families sometimes living in the same house. Bella’s grandmother, Edith, didn’t care. She and her husband, Jimmy had saved for years and years to buy a house on that block. When they first tried to buy the house they were turned away. They weren’t turned away because they couldn’t afford it, they were turned away because  of the color of their skin. In the 1950’s the neighbors didn’t want anyone who didn’t look like them owning anything in their neighborhood or even driving through the neighborhood. Jimmy had an idea: he had one of his White friends pretend to be the buyer of the house and Jimmy had to go through the back door and pretend he was a worker to even see the inside of the house. In reality Jimmy was a young lawyer. He swallowed his pride and pretended he was working for his friend and that he was going to look at the wiring. 

After all was said and done they purchased the house and the neighbors were not too pleased about that, to say the least. But, Ethel was a strong Black woman who came from generations of strong women and she stood up to all the hate filled neighbors and told them they can hate her all they wanted but she had just as much right to be there as they did. Eventually, her next door neighbor, a woman around her age came over and introduced herself and they became friends over the years and over several decades the haters moved out, times changed and the yellow and green house became known as the house to go to if you ever needed anything. 

Now, decades later, the house stood empty. All the people who went to the parties and celebrations there were mostly gone, either to heaven, or moved away. After Ethel and Jimmy passed away the house stood there empty. Bella was not sure why but rumor had it that the spirits of Ethel and Jimmy still remained in the house and they didn’t want anyone else to live there and anyone who attempted to buy the house would be cursed. Several people attempted to buy it but when they were shown the house many of them said they saw ghosts and lights turned off and on and they heard strange noises and voices of Ethel and Jimmy talking in the parlor.  The house was not kept up and the backyard was void of flowers that Ethel used to plan every Spring. It was a jungle of old trees and fences barely standing in the dry dirt which had become the backyard now and the weeds that were almost as high as the old fences.  The basement was filled with spiderwebs and old toys and lawn furniture and other nicknacks from the 1970’s and 1980’s. Nobody ever went down there or in the attic. 

“I’m a little scared. But I swear I heard something.” Bella said again to Ethel.

“I am too but am thinking that we really don’t have anything to be sacred of. Jimmy and Edith loved us. They would protect us now. I think of them like angels. Our personal angels watching over us.”

“That’s a good way to think about it, Ethel, but what if you are wrong? What if there is some entity here that is evil and drove Jimmy and Edith out of the house.”

“You do remember your grandmother don’t you? We are talking about your grandmother after all. She wasn’t scared of nothing.” Ethel laughed. 

“I’m sure you are right.” Bella said, pulling the covers to her chest.

“Ethel?” Bella said from her bed.

“What now?”

“What if the ghosts are trying to tell us something?” 

“Bella, there are no ghosts, spirits or whatever else you think there might be in here. The only thing we are going to hear tomorrow is the real estate lady tell us what the house is worth and when we can put it on the market. That is something that someone should have done a long time ago.”

“But, Ethel, you know that someone tried. My aunt Danny tried. My uncle  Mark tried. My great aunt even tried. They all tried but it wouldn’t sell because of the ghosts.”

“Bella, would you please stop talking about ghosts. You have worked yourself up to hearing sounds that aren’t there. Just please go to sleep. Good night.” Ethel said adjusting her pillow and closing her eyes.

Mrs. Mulberry, the real estate agent arrived right on time. She was an older lady with hair which looked like it was rinsed in blue water or something. She was barely five feet tall and wore thick glasses which were on a chain hanging from her neck. She had on pearl earrings and a blue flowered dress to match her blue rinse hair. Mrs. Mulberry closed her car door a little harder than she had liked and stood outside just a far enough distance to give the house a look over from the outside. She remembered this house well. Her grandmother was always over for various parties and get togethers back in the day. She looked at the door and shook her head thinking that the first thing to go would have to be the door. It was old and the paint was peeling off it and it reminded her of an over ripe banana. The house would need to also be painted another color than this faded greenish color. She thought some flowers would be nice to put in the front yard too. She rang the doorbell and stood back waiting for one of the girls to answer it.

“Hello, Mrs. Mulberry.” Ethel said opening the screen door wide  and gesturing for Mrs. Mulberry to come inside.

“Hello. Where’s Bella?” She questioned looking around the living room.

“Oh she is on the deck. We made some coffee and got some donuts. We thought we would talk out there since everything is so old and dusty in here.” Ethel replied.

“Fine.” Mrs. Mulberry said following Ethel to the backyard deck.

“So girls you want to sell this place?” Mrs. Mulberry said, adjusting her glasses on her face.

“Yes, we do.” Bella said sipping some coffee.

“Well, you know that people have tried to sell it in the past and there were no takers after…” 

“We know the rumors and the place is not haunted.” Ethel interrupted. 

“I’m not saying that it is. There is a difference from being a haunted house and a house that just has spirits.” 

“Mrs. Mulberry why do you think this house has spirits?” Bella asked

“Well, girls, you know the history of this house. How hard it was for your grand to buy it right and what they had to do right? Well, let me tell you that  sometimes when a person dies in their own home they’re spirit is still there. The spirit stays for many reasons.” Mrs. Mulberry tried to explain.

“Well, there aren’t any spirits here.” Ethel said again.

“But, I did hear something last night. It sounded like someone was knocking on the door or something.” 

“Bella, I told you that you were hearing things. There wasn’t anything there or anyone knocking on anything.” Ethel said, getting a little irritated with the whole conversation.

“Ok, girls, are we going to sell this place or not?” Mrs. Mulberry asked.

“Yes, we are.” The girls chimed in.

“First of all we have to get rid of these cobwebs, paint the house top to bottom, replace the carpet, and update the appliances. That’s just for starters.” Mrs. Mulberry said to the girls looking around the deck.

“We can do that. I have the money that Nana left for me in my trust. I get it next month when I turn 25.” Bella said, taking a big bite out of her jelly donut.

“Good.  In the meantime I will see if anyone would be interested in this old house. It could be once again a beautiful house with a little hard work.” Mrs. Mulberry said as she got up from the table and walked to the front door.

“I will be in touch. Meanwhile you girls can start cleaning up around here. You know mopping, sweeping and deciding what furniture you are going to keep and what you are going to toss. That sort of stuff. I will call you in a few days.” Mrs. Mulberry said as she closed the front door.

A few months later the house was ready to sell. The girls had hired people to paint, plant, fix, and do everything that needed to be done. 

“Ethel, you know that one of the workers said that he heard weird noises when he was painting the bedrooms.” 

“Bella, here you go again.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Guess who’s coming to look at the house?” Bella asked Ethel.

“Who?”

“Remember Jenny, the girl I went to college with? Well, her job transferred her here and she is looking to buy a house for her and her son, Thatcher,. He’s the cutest little boy. He just turned 2. Anyway, I mentioned that we had a house for sale and she is coming to look at it at 3pm after she gets off of work with Thatcher.” Bella explained.

“Okay, do we need to call Mrs. Mulberry too?” Ethel asked.

“I think we should let her look at it first and than if she is interested we can call Mrs. Mulberry.”

“Ok, Bella. Did you tell her it was haunted?” Ethel laughed.

“No, Miss Smarty Pants, I didn’t tell her anything of the sort.” Bella said laughing.

Jenny knocked on the door holding Thatcher in her arms. She knew that if she let him down he would probably run around and not want to keep still. And she needed him to behave while she looked at the house.

“Come in.” Bella motioned for Jenny and Thatcher to come inside.

Bella and Ethel showed Jenny all the rooms of the house. When they got to the bedroom Thatcher looked up at his mom with his huge blue eyes and said something that shocked all the ladies.

“Mommy the lady said that the house is not for sale.” 

“What?” Jenny asked, not really paying attention to her little boy.

“He said that the lady said not to sell the house.” Bella repeated.

“What lady, Thatcher? There’s nobody here but us ladies and we didn’t say anything like that.” Jenny said, trying to correct him.

“The lady that is standing next to Bella. She’s right there.” Thatcher pointed to an empty space near Bella.

“Honey, there is nobody there.” Jenny said.

“Yes, Mommy, there is. The lady is there. She has long hair and it is curls. She has on glasses too.”

Bella instantly knew that he was talking about her grandmother. But, how can Thatcher know what she looked like? He wasn’t even born when she died. Maybe it is a fluke she thought.

“Mommy, the lady is smiling and she said to tell Bella that she can’t sell the house.” Thatcher continued.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Jenny said scooping up Thatcher in her arms.

“Mommy, don’t you see the lady?” Thatcher said looking over near Bella.

“No, Honey, Mommy can’t see the lady.” 

“Umm, thanks for showing me the house. I think I will take this one home for his nap. Say good-bye Thatcher.” Jenny said as she headed for the front door walking fast.

“See, what I mean?” Bella said to Ethel.

“You know what? I didn’t believe that there were any spirits in this house before Thatcher said he saw your grandmother. I read somewhere that little kids can sometimes see things, spirits, that grown-ups can’t. And maybe if that is the case Nana was trying to tell us something.”

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Bella asked.

“If you are thinking that  perhaps this house was not meant to be sold that all along it was meant for us to keep, to live in and make memories of our own and pass it down from one generation to the next and that is why people thought it was haunted. It wasn’t really haunted, it was just Nana trying to tell us something. She loved this house and she loved us and wanted us to share the love and always have a place for the family to come and gather for parties, celebrations, and just to hang out.” Ethel said.

“Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Now, let’s go and take that for sale sign out of the front yard because this house is definitely not for sale.” Bella said smiling.