Want It Back

© November 2012 Betty Widerski

All Rights Reserved

—————————————————–

Chapter 4 Part 2

“Hello, dear – do try to stay calm. My name is Yetzi, and this is my grandson Thomas. You’ve had an accident. Now to start off, what is your name?”

“I’m Allie – Allie Hofstradt. What accident?”

“I’m very sorry, Allie – it looks like you somehow fell down these stairs and hit your head. You may have injured your spinal cord as well.”

“Hey!” Tom interjected, “Can’t you tell what’s wrong with her? Like, if you are a ghost can’t you just… I don’t know, see through her, or pass through her body or something?”

Allie cried out, “Who is a ghost? Who ARE you people?!”

 

 

“Thomas Andrew!”

Tom still didn’t understand how this being claiming to be his Grandmother Yetzi even existed, but it was obvious from her use of his given and middle names in that exasperated tone that she knew how his family addressed him when issuing a reprimand.

“Thomas Andrew! How can you be so ignorant after all the training your mother gave you when you came of age? And stop saying things that scare this poor girl! I’m neither a ghost nor omniscient, nor do I possess x-ray vision.”

All of this was getting to be too much for Tom, and now being accused of stupidity about things of which he had no knowledge was pissing him off.

“How can *I* be ignorant? Listen, whoever you are: my grandmother died of old age when I was 10 years old and my mother died in a car accident when I was 15. Besides what every kid learns in school my training is in playing music, and I’m still at conservatory learning that. I’m working this shitty third shift night watchman gig because I can get some sleep most of the time. They don’t pay me enough to deal with finding bodies and getting harassed by ghosts who claim to be my dead granny!

“Now what the hell is this ‘side stepping’ thing and why has it been like what seems 10 or 15 minutes but the cops and ambulance are not yet here? Allie,” he said addressing the seemingly unconscious body, “I don’t know what’s going on here. I’m really sorry you had this accident but I want to hand you off to the professional medical people and get us both back to reality.”

“Oh Thomas!”

Now the Yetzi-being sounded both alarmed and remorseful.

“I knew your mother wasn’t happy about being born into our family with its talents and accompanying obligations. I knew she avoided dealing with those talents and obligations while I was alive to handle them – and perhaps I was mistaken in letting her do so. But I *had* trained her so I knew she had the knowledge. I assumed that once I had moved on she would step up and take my place. I never dreamed that she would fail to pass that training on to you as the eldest child!”

Hearing that gave Tom an idea.

“Hmm… if you are my grandmother, do you remember what happened the day before you died?”

“Well, dear, I was rather busy getting myself in order for the transition that last week. The process is rather like what you young people do when you get a new laptop or phone – yes, I keep up on these things. By that I mean the part where you need to transfer all of your music, phone numbers, and other files to the new system. I wasn’t planning to come back any time soon, so I packed what I thought I’d need and then began shutting down the old system.

“But if you mean was I aware of you sitting with me that last afternoon: yes, I was pleased to have your company. Why do you ask about that now, though?”

“Because my mother was very insistent that I go in there and sit with you – and afterward she asked whether you had given me anything. I thought at the time she was nuts, but from what you just said I’m wondering whether she hoped that somehow you would take that opportunity to ‘train’ me in whatever this is you expected me to know – and when I said no she continued to put off doing it herself.”

Yetzi (he was starting to believe it was some form of his grandmother) groaned.

“Yes, that does sound like something your mother would have done! And that also explains why I’m here when it should have been her!”

“You lost me again with that?” Tom replied.

“I’m sorry – there’s obviously no way you would know to what I’m referring! If your mother had not shirked her obligations, not only would she have trained you she also would have been prepared for that car accident. By which I mean that she could have made her own transition, albeit more rushed than mine, and been situated to be your guardian and advisor as my mother was for me, and I should have been for your mother after I transitioned.

“But as far as I know she never tried to access me in this form after I moved on. And the fact that I wasn’t released from my on call status when she died tells me that she did so totally unprepared and therefore went directly back into the Void. So when the ‘family alarm’ went off it was me who was summoned to pull you out of trouble.”

After a moment Tom said:

“I can tell that there’s a long family saga I need to hear. But right now we are still sitting in the dark on these stairs with Allie, who is injured. Yet we are not expecting help for her any time soon. Shouldn’t we do something about that before we go deeper into family history?”

By this time Allie was over her initial panic, though still feeling confused and alarmed. She was also getting impatient and irritated:

“Yeah – it sounds like you two are having a lovely family reunion, but what about me?”