Page 154 of Ghost
“Good morning, Lizzie,” Ellen greeted the woman warmly.“Thank you so much for coming.”Ellen looked at the others who were standing along the steps up to the house.“Thank you all.”
There were murmurs of greetings.
“Where’s mah Frankie?”Lizzie asked.
Francis walked through the front door as if on cue.“Good morning, Lizzie.I am very happy to see you.”
Ellen could see that only a few of the cousins hadthe giftand the others must become accustomed to their relatives speaking into thin air.
“This is a happy day but also a sad day,” Lizzie spoke, turning to the others.“A great man who was robbed of his life by his own momma is finally going to be put to rest and have some peace.”She turned back to Francis, then glanced at Mason.“There is a lot of pain to be shared here today, but also a reason to rejoice.You see, there is a lot of love here, too.If there is one thing that I have learned in my long life is that with love, there will always be some pain, but we must hold onto the love, which makes it only that much sweeter.”
Lizzie took Mason’s hand.“It’s that love that will carry you through.”She glanced at Ellen.“All y’all.It’s the love that will carry us all forward into this lifeandthe next.It won’t do no one no good to try and hold on to what is the past.”She looked at Francis.“Mah white chil’, you are the past and have no more business here.It is time for you to go into the light and find eternal peace and rejoice with your kin that’s done gone from this veil of tears we call life.Ain’t no good to try and hold onto it.You hearing me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Francis muttered.He swallowed hard.“May I have a moment alone with Mason?”
Lizzie nodded, and patted Mason’s shoulder as he crossed the threshold of the antebellum home.
“In here,” Francis said as he entered the parlor where his casket was.“It truly is a beautiful sight.”He looked at the wooden coffin and the floral arrangements.“I doubt that there are many who can attend their own funeral.”
Mason couldn’t help but laugh.“I’d say you’re probably right on that count.By the way...what’s with the new suit?You look so handsome.”
Francis looked down at himself.“I am sure I do not know.I was walking through the rose garden and...it was quite odd.It was as if I had just bathed and when I looked down I had on this, my favorite suit.”He looked into Mason’s eyes.“You like?”
“Yes.I like very much.”Mason felt as if he were very slowly being strangled.His throat feeling more and more constricted.
“My love,” Francis turned to face Mason.“There are so many things I would like to say to you, but the time is drawing every nearer for me to depart.We both knew that we would have to say goodbye, and that moment is now upon us.I can feel a pull from the light.I have never felt a force as strong as this before.”Francis looked around the room once more, his gaze focused on a spot near the corner of the room.
“I love you, Francis.”Mason swallowed hard.“I thought I knew what love was, but you showed me what it’s really all about.I will never forget you.”
“Nor I you.”Francis stepped closer.“I want to say our goodbyes in this room.”He looked around.“I always enjoyed this room in the mornings.So, it is here and now that I would like us to be together for the last time.”
Mason couldn’t hold them back any longer.The tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Hush now, please do not weep for me.I only want you to have a happy and long life.Enjoy all the things that this great world has to offer.”Francis leaned down and lightly brushed his lips against Mason’s, causing Mason to tremble.
“Francis—" Mason croaked, his voice tight.He felt as if he couldn’t breathe.
“Goodbye Mason Montgomery, my true love.My only true love.You gave me more joy after my death than I had in my life in a very short period of time and for that, I will be forever grateful.I love you so very much.”
Francis slowly faded away, and unlike any other time, there was a faint wisp of what looked like smoke, but it was more like seeing your own breath on a cold morning, only it was brighter, almost too bright.Deep down in Mason’s chest, he could feel that Francis was well and truly gone and would never come back.
Mason let out a hard sob, his hands clenched into fists, tight against his chest.It felt as if there was a ton of weight sitting on his heart.It was Sharon who would embrace him, wrapping her arms around him, enveloping him, while Mason sobbed against her shoulder.
He had no idea how long they stood there.Sharon held him until he got the hiccups, at which point they both had a bit of a laugh.
Lizzie, with the help of Ellen entered the room, coming to stand in front of Mason.
“Young man,” Lizzie reached out and took Mason’s hand.“I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am.You gave mah Frankie something that he never had in this life.A true love which he will carry in his soul for all eternity.”
Ellen wiped away a tear from Mason’s face with her handkerchief.She then laid her hand upon the hands of both Lizzie and Mason.“I second that sentiment.”
“You not only gave Frankie the best gift a human being can give, but you will also save his legacy.As shor as I’m a living and breathing, and you can’t see it yet, but you will be a very great man in your own right.You have a powerful light inside of you that you can’t see.May never see but others will.You are a kind and gentle man who has great love inside you.Don’t you ever doubt that.”
Sharon, who had her arm around Mason’s waist said, “She is right, Mason.You have the brightest and most glorious aura around you that I have ever seen.”
After that, people started filing into the room.It wasn’t long till the room was full of people and some still standing in the hallway and some out on the veranda looking in through the open windows.
Ellen, as usual, took charge in her quiet ladylike manner.“As most of you know, I was but a young girl when my cousin, Francis Watson, disappeared.”Ellen reached for Lizzie’s hand.“His disappearance was felt very deeply by many people.We now know for certain that it was his mother who basically buried him alive.I cannot think of a more horrendous death.”
