One Shot Wednesday - Ghost tails.....

It seems so harmless sitting in the warmth of the fire,
That quiet summer eve so long ago.
You were getting married in the fall
and were home for the summer,
I was entering my junior year in high school....
We decided to go for a walk, having just finished dinner
You grabbed your camera "just in case"
We meandered down the highway
and turned right on the over grown road.

Many times as children we came down here with adults
to swim on the rocky shores of Lake Superior.
We even gave the place our own name "Max Beach".
The legend was this land was owned by DuPont. It was
a place for guests to stay and the only building that was
left still held a broken player piano. As children we
never ventured inside, but now we were older and decided
to take an overdue look.

I crept over the broken glass into
the deserted kitchen while
you stayed in the main room.
I was imagining all the parties
when this place was in full swing.
The fabulous 40's and 50's
must have seen a lot of action.
Now just broken furniture, dirt, and
animal nests provided the only form of movement around.

You asked me a question
and since I didn't hear it, I went to
where you were standing.
The summer sun had sunk to dusk and our light
was quickly fading.
I opened my mouth to ask you what you had said
when we both felt it.
A presence, a shadow, a movement, piano keys.

Neither of us said a word as we tore out of there as fast as we could.
Running all the way down the highway.
We fell to the grass in grandma's
backyard. Panting and out of breath.
Eyes wide at what had happened or
did it really happen?
Was the dusk of day playing tricks on us? Either
way we never spoke of it until now.
Funny, it was probably some animal
just spooked from their hiding place...
and yet why do I
have goose bumps on my arms.........


This really happened to my oldest brother and I. The spot sits on rocky cliffs overlooking Lake Superior. The land has been sold and now a beautiful home sits on it. We never brought this story up for years, and then one summer night while sitting around the fire at the cottage we remembered, and both of us still had goose bumps....