Mr Finkenstankle was waiting in his car, this time he had the cat with him. It wasn’t long until we arrived at my great aunt’s estate. Now I say estate but, I use it in the loosest term. It was a nice patch of land, but the house…

     The house while rather large in size, containing twelve known rooms, was dilapidated. It had a large porch that went all the way around the house. A porch swing hung to the door’s right side, a table and chairs on the left. The house was actually only a few steps away from being condemned. You see my great aunt was living in a nursing home for many, many years before she died. At least, that’s the way they explain it to me. But you’ll find out, people much like Mr. Finkenstankle, are not likely to tell the whole truth about my great aunt. In fact he was only so gracious as to hand me the keys to the door and drop us off. Then he sped off on his way. So, the cat and I walked up the stairs to the porch. I opened up our new-old house.

     The smell of musk and mildew came pouring out on us. It actually drove us both to the side. I sat on the porch swing, “Thanks a lot, Mr. Finkenstankle.”

     “You mean Mr. Stinky Ankle…”. Tabitha the cat replied as if she could talk the whole time, and I should know about it. She then jumped up on the swing and sat by me. Tabitha began cleaning the dust off her fur.

     I half chuckled after a while. Was my aunt eccentric? Am I?

     “We’ll have this place clean in no time.”, Tabitha said after cleaning herself.

     “Are you really talking?” I faced the cat. “I see your mouth moving and all that, but I mean. Is it that I’m crazy? Or maybe something else?”

     “Generally the most obvious answer is the correct one.” Tabitha said in a bored tone. “I can see I’m going to be the one to get everything done.” She jumped off the porch swing and started off to the back of the house.

I know what you are saying, so what did any of this have to do with hauntches. I didn’t get to that part that yet, sit down and wait a few.

     I followed Tabitha on the porch as she walked around the rickety old house. I watched as she stopped near an old straw broom and bucket.

     She glanced in the bucket and called out, “Belvedere.”

     The word echoed back at her as if she just yelled it into a deep chasm.

     She bellowed even louder, “BELVEDERE!”

     A translucent man appeared to right of the broom. He was dressed like an old farmhand. His clothes were frayed, as if he’d been working in them out in the field all that time. His eyes were clenched shut and he had his fingers in his ears. He looked as if he was trying to pry the ringing out of them. “Aww come on, Tabitha. I’m not deaf you know. But if you keep that up a bit I’m sure to be before next November.” He opened his eyes and noticed me, “She looks just like Grace.” All motion on his part stopped, as he stared at me.

     “Yes the spitting image of her mother.” Tabitha said unmoved. “And for a grounds keeper I should have you expelled.” She swatted at his ankle with her claws out.

     As her claws passed through him, the grounds keeper looked down at her.

     “What is it you’ve been doing all this time?”, Tabitha glanced back in the bucket. “Do I need to go down there?” She glanced back up at Belvedere.

     For a ghost, he turned a suspicious shade lighter of white. Belvedere slowly shook his head from side to side.

     “I see.”, Tabitha walked away from the bucket with her tail in the air. “One hour Belvedere.” After that she walked back around to the porch swing, and jumped up on it. After picking a sunny warm spot, she curled up and went to sleep.

     I walked back around to where I had seen Belvedere last. There was no one there, but the back door was open and there was much bustling inside the house. When I walked through the back door, I was taken aback. There was a sheer army of ghost like servants hard at work. Belvedere appeared in front of me. He startled me and caused me to jump backwards, back outside the house.

     “May I help you, Miss?” he inquired in a much more polished tone that earlier. I noticed as we stood, his clothes were becoming a lot less ratty.

     “What is going on here?” I motioned towards the inside of the house.

     “Yes of course, Miss. You could inquire. However I would like to say, on our own behalf.” he continued shifting his weight to and fro and he spoke. It looked as if he was trying to keep me from seeing the servants inside. I could clearly see straight through him though. “We did not know, that the Mistress would be home so soon. We thought Gileda’s old ticker had at least another three good years… Ozmort says it’s just he forgot to wind it is all.” He glanced at the floor with extreme guilt and said the last part rather small. “But we wont let that happen to you.” He looked at me as if trying to regain my confidence.

     “So were all of you in that bucket?” I tried to change the subject. I guess when you become a ghost you loose all reasoning. (Which one would say defeats the purpose of having a conversation, but here we are anyway.)

     “Well, yes, most of us.” Belvedere’s tone became friendlier and less polished. “You see Gregory was playing cards for a chance at the butler post.” he began to explain nonchalantly. “Which of course I won.” he gloated the continued in normal tone. “And Sherill of course was down there serving us drinks, as she always keeps her position in doing so…” He glanced at me in shock. “I bet that swindler Finkenstankle didn’t even tell you about the vacation house you have. Hmmpfh, though what he would do with it I would never know. The servants there would have him dead and serving in the ranks within a week.”

     I took a step backwards from Belvedere.

     “Oh!” he exclaimed reaching for my shoulder as if to comfort me. “But we would never do that to you.”

     “Right!” I exclaimed and moved further away. Not so much because I didn’t feel safe, but that I’d had enough.

     “Oh come on now, Miss.” Belvedere chased after me. “Hadn’t you ever noticed you were different? How many people in the world out there have called you strange or weird? Is any of this really so hard to believe? I mean, Miss. You haven’t run away in terror. You’ve not reached for the phone to call the psychiatrist about medications for a talking cat.” He floated around and faced me.

     I stopped walking to listen to him.

     “You wanted to see where this went, but you knew logically none if it was sound. And you don’t need me to convince you, of what you already know. These things are still left in the world, they haven’t destroyed it all. And you, wanting to turn a blind eye right along with them. You, who must now protect it’s secret.” Belvedere shook his head in shame.

     I wanted to exclaim at the top of my lungs how ridiculous it all was. However exclaiming it to a ghost who was explaining things to me… Well, that only seemed a little more ridiculous. I noticed Belvedere’s clothes were now butlers attire and merely faded out.

     “What have I gotten into?” I glanced at his uniform again in disbelief.

     “We’re sorry.” Belvedere consoled, “You’re the last of the line.”

     “What can you tell me about the cat?”

     Belvedere’s eyes widened as he tried to cover my mouth to silence me. His ghostly hands went straight through my face. “Shh, no! No! Don’t call her that. She’ll have your tongue.” he pulled back. Seeing my disbelief he continued urgently, “No, really, she’ll have your tongue. You’ll wake up with it in a jar next to your bed in the morning.”

     “I thought she was kind of nice of at first.” I was rethinking the whole situation now.

     “Of course she is, very nice. Too nice, in fact, sometimes. But she’s a cat, Miss. You don’t disrespect a cat.”

     “No, I guess not.” I had a lot of cats over the years, and dogs as well. I always liked animals, though I never saw one talk before.

     “And about before, she had every right to be angry with us. Slacking off for so long. We knew when the Mistress passed. She dropped by for a chat and a cup of coffee before heading off to the Light. Like I said, a little too nice sometimes. But we couldn’t have the place looking all spiffied up while Finkenstankle was sniffing about, could we? That’s maybe why she was so lenient, but I’ll tell you we had quite the time while they were away. And one night when you’ve got the time, I’ll have Martha make you up some hot chocolate and I’ll tell you some of the things that went on.” He glanced over his shoulder nervously, “But don’t tell Tabitha, she wont understand.”

     “Of course not.” I said, making a deal with a ghost. Just yesterday I had a normal life, where I had to pay bills and go to a desk and file paperwork. I had to answer phones and make coffee, listen to a boss complain and then drive home alone. Though my apartment was nice, and small, and quiet. I had been very alone, and maybe that’s why I was so willing to listen to a ghost. There should be a reason, there should be a rational reason to everything. I glanced at Belvedere, or more like through him.

     “This is a lot to take in. Gretta made sure to do your bedroom first, it’s already made up for you if you wish to rest.” he urged sympathetically.

     I decided that probably was for the best, and the pathway to the old Victorian bedroom was as clean as if it had been cleaned every day for the past ten years. The bedroom itself was immaculate, comforting, and warm. I have to admit, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.