Linda calls us to say she is coming to town to visit her family and friends. She has this week off from school.
Dad is getting all kinds of special stuff out of boxes that I haven’t seen in years. Out comes Grandma’s set of Earthenware dishes. We haven’t seen those dishes in two years. He also gets out the candlestick holders and is buying new candles. I thought we only use them during power blackouts? And he’s putting placemats on the dinner table too. He’s making a real fuss about Linda’s visit.
It’s early morning and Dad asks, “Hey you guys, I spoke to Linda and she asked if she can stay over here at our house a few nights? She said the spirits at her Mom’s house are driving her crazy. So what do you think? Can she stay in one of your rooms? I’ll sleep on the couch and whoever gives up their room can stay in my room.”
“I got a better idea,” I tell him, “how about you stay on the couch and Linda stays in your room. Jackie and I keep our rooms? Duh!”
Dad replies, “Ok, that sounds good to me, I’ll run it by Linda.”
“Did she say, ‘The spirits in her house are driving her crazy?’” I laugh quietly. “How about introducing us to those spirits? Ha-ha.”
Dad answers, “Yeah Christina, we’ll just walk in there and meet them.”
“Well you have a better idea?”
“I will never get into that house again!” Jackie adds.
Unannounced Linda shows up at the door, earlier than anticipated. Dad is helping her bring in her stuff and puts it in his room.
Linda talks a lot about medical school, how much work it requires and all the time she devotes to it. She says she’s been looking forward to time off and being able to think about something other than school.
Dad told us she would be in and out of the house since she has a lot of people to see and things to do. He said one night she might be here for dinner and the next morning, gone. She will probably sleep over a friend’s house one or two nights, so we might not see her for a couple days. “Who knows?” He concludes at the end of his speech.
I show Linda around a little. She is getting a kick out of our lab in the living room. I tried to clean it up, but it’s obvious something is going on there.
Inquisitively she picks up the EMF meter and looks at it, “What do you guys do with all this stuff anyway?”
Dad answers, “A lot of that equipment is from work. I bring it home to test it. We bring it camping with us and do field tests too.”
“I think there’s something else behind all this?” She picks up another meter and then checks out the thermal infrared camera.
Dad replies, “Well you’ll have to come camping with us sometime and you can see what we do with it.”
Linda brings most of her stuff into Dad’s room, and hugs each of us before she says she will be back later. She drives off in her cute sports car.
***
The week is going by fast. We are sitting down to our last supper with Linda before she goes back to school in the morning. Linda wants to hear more stories about Neewa and our adventures out west. She says I’m a great storyteller. Again I tell her how I got her at the pound and everything. I tell her about the Tribal Historian Meeting and when the little girl asked if I knew Neewa has a spirit?
Linda is all ears and laughs at the jokes I sprinkle in. She wants to hear all about Jackie and I and all about New Jersey and why I want to go back.
Jackie happily adds, “Me too, I miss all my friends and especially Grandma and Grandpa.”
Linda tells us she is going to do her residency in New York City in eighteen months.
Looking at Dad with that twinkle in her blue eyes she inquires, “Are you guys going to be living close to New York City?”
Dad explains, “We’re going to be pretty close to New York City. It’s still quite a trip to travel back and forth every day. A lot depends on the time of day you travel and the traffic. It could take two hours each way.
Dad says, “We’ll be going back East before you start your internship. You can come and stay with us.”
Linda replies, “They have apartments for us at the university hospital, but I want to visit you guys, and you can show me around the city?”
Dad replies, “Yes of course, we will and you must come stay with us, it’s settled.”
It’s been cool having Linda visit. She and Dad got along really well. Linda says we’ll be getting together again soon. I’m going to miss her, though I know she has to go back to school. I hope she visits us. Maybe she will stay with us when we get back East? That would be so cool, as long as she doesn’t mind my ghost hunting.