Page 19 of Ghost
“I was with that old woman who came at me, but no, not really.”Mason shrugged.“I don’t know, it’s like they either don’t notice me or don’t seem to be...I don’t know how to explain it exactly.”
“Have you...like...always...?”
“No.Just here.”Mason shrugged again.“I don’t know why.”
Paul snapped his fingers.“Your fall.You hit your head pretty damn hard from what Mitch said.
“You know, I’d not thought of that.”Mason thought a moment.“That could be it.Maybe?”
“I’ve heard of some people who’ve had head trauma waking up and being able to speak another language or some other thing or ‘nother,” Paul offered.
“I don’t have any idea,” Mason said.“I just figure there isn’t anything I can do about it, so why over think it?”
Paul shook his head.“I think it’d freak me the hell out.”He visibly shivered.“Yeah, I don’t want to know about shit like that.”
“Ahoy, mateys.”
Paul and Mason looked out the back door, seeing Mitch carrying a case of beer.
“We’re not on a damn ship,” Mason answered.“You’re a damn fool sometimes, Mitch.”
Mitch was grinning ear to ear.“I said that because we’re gonna have a big ol’ seafood dinner.”
“From where?”Mason asked, stepping aside to let Mitch come through the back door.
“That guy at that store said he’d cook us up a fish dinner.Said to give him about half an hour and it’d be ready.”Mitch walked past Paul and set the beer down in the dining room, next to their cooler.
Paul took a beer right out of Mitch’s hand.
“Hey...”Mitch looked at Paul a bit miffed but reached into the case for another one.
“Cool.”Mason held out his hand for a beer.
Mitch huffed.“Damn, I have to go and fetch it and then I’m the last to get one.”
“Did he say how much?”Mason asked after having swallowed a mouthful.
“Yeah, thirty bucks is all.”Mitch twisted off the cap of the beer bottle and chugged at least a third of it.“I thought that was pretty good and don’t worry, Mason.I went ahead and paid for it.”
Mason frowned.“That wasn’t the deal.I was supposed to be buying all the meals and beer.”
“Yeah, well, sue me then.”Mitch took another long swig of beer and then smiled.
“Mason said he was sure he saw ghosts,” Paul said, a little too loudly.
Mitch looked at Paul and then Mason.“Ghosts?As in plural?More than one?”
Mason sighed.“Yeah.All total, three.”
Mitch looked at Mason closely and then back to Paul.“You’re dead serious, aren’t you?”
Mason only nodded, then drank more of his beer.
“Fuck me,” Mitch said, almost a whisper.
“That would be a big fat no,” Mason said, trying to keep a straight face.
Mitch blinked and then looked at Paul.
