The Hathaway

Shall We Dance?

Andi’s excitement was clear, but it was also clear that she didn’t want the newcomers to know that something was up. We filed calmly up the stairs and then to the third floor landing. Before she opened the door to her room she turned to us and said, “Brace yourselves.”

Sabina was sitting in the middle of the floor giggling. When we walked in she turned to us and smiled, “Emma is being silly.” I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary until I sat down beside her and saw the collection of little ceramic figurines on the floor in front of her. They appeared to be relics from when Andi owned her own house and had a collection of knickknacks.

“What’s Emma doing that’s so silly?” I asked.

“Just watch,” she said as she reached forward and moved two of the figures as if they were dancing with each other. As she began to hum a tune for them to dance to, two of the other figures also began to dance. She giggled again and said, “See?”

I heard Phil gasp behind me. “It seems like you are having fun playing with Emma,” I encouraged her.

“She has always wanted to play with these ever since you moved in,” Sabina said to Andi. “But she was afraid to ask, plus she didn’t want to scare you.”

Why did she think this would scare me?” Andi asked. Indeed she was quite calm and maintained a contented smile as she watched the little statuettes circle each other and spin on their own.

“Because she’s played with things before, back when there were only college students living here. But they always screamed or ran away.” she looked up at Andi with sadness in her eyes, “So she stopped trying to make friends with the people who lived here. At least until Mr. Phipps moved in. He didn’t seem so scared, and when you moved in she figured out that you could tell when she was in your room and you weren’t scared. She started letting the two of you see glimpses of her from time to time, but only when she thought it wouldn’t scare you.”

“It must have been very lonely for her here,” I said.

“It was, but she’s happy now.” Sabina smiled at us as she stopped moving her figures. The other figures continued to dance as she added, “Fairly happy anyways.”

“Why?” I asked. “does she need something we can help with?”

“Not really,” she looked at me and smiled, “She just misses you and Ben.”

“Really?” I looked at Phil and Andi questioningly. “I only ever really felt her presence a few times, and hardly at all over the last two years.”

“But she loved watching you, especially when you were together.” Sabina laughed, “She could tell how much you loved each other. It made her happy to see you show your love to each other.”

“You’re not saying she used to watch us while we were…?”

“She says it was really exciting when you made lots of noise. She says when you did that she could feel your love filling the whole house. She says that it made a light so bright that all the spirits in town could see it, but only a few could bear to look at it. It was so bright it drove away any darkness, and most spirits are still holding onto these shadows from when they were alive.

“But she could look at it? I asked uncomfortably.

“Yes,” Sabina resumed playing with the figures as she said, “Emma is a pure spirit, she holds no hatred or anger. Sometimes she is sad, like when she was alone in the house for so long before Mr. Phipps bought it. But she stays here because she’s happy here.” Turning to address Phil, she added, “But I think she would be happier if she had some dolls to play with.”

The figures being moved by Emma stopped moving and one of them fell over. Sabina whipped around and faced them. “Why not?” she asked the empty space opposite her. “it’s not selfish.” She turned to me and confided, “She didn’t want me to ask, I think she’s afraid that if she asks for anything you’ll stop liking her.”

“Oh, honey,” Phil dropped to his knees on the other side of Sabina and addressed the space opposite her. “Nothing would give me more pleasure than to make a doll for you. What color would you like her dress to be?”

Sabina giggled. “She says she really likes the blue dress you made with the flowers on it.”

“I still have the scraps from that.” Phil smiled. “Blue it is.”

“And you can tell her that she can play with these figures anytime she wants,” Andi added. “Just ask her to try not to break them.” As if in response to this request, one of the figures rose into the air and floated gently to a table by the window and came to rest beside a picture of her late husband.

“She says thank you and she’ll be careful”

“Well, I think it might be time for us to head home,” I said in the silence that followed. “Why don’t we put the rest of these back where they belong and thank Andi for letting us intrude on her privacy.”

Sabina did as I asked and we took our leave. On the walk home she confided in me. “I like it here. You people actually believe me. No one has really taken me seriously before.”

“Well, we’ve all seen spirits before, I suppose that makes a difference.” I considered her for a moment and decided to be a bit more direct. “Is that why you ended up here? Because you could see and hear things others couldn’t?”

“That’s part of it,” she said, “But it’s more because I kept telling them I wasn’t really a girl.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but thought it was better to be awkward than silent. “Do you consider yourself to be a boy?

“No, not that either.’

“So what do you consider yourself to be?” I wasn’t trying to be combative, rather just trying to understand her perspective.

“I’m a me,” she smiled. Some parts of me feel a bit like a boy and some parts like a girl, but most of me just feels like...me. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“I’m glad to know that about you,” I said. “It helps me know how to avoid saying something that might hurt you.” After a moment of silence, I asked, “What pronouns do you want to use?”

She smiled, “You can keep using the feminine for now, it’s just easier, especially at school.”

“Will you let me know when you want us to use something else? I’ll do my best, but I’m sure I will make mistakes from time to time.”

“That’s fine,” she laughed. “An honest slip when a real effort is being made is ok. I can tell when someone is being malicious. I’ll be sure to let you know.”

It was so incongruous talking with her. At times she seemed to be a child, as innocent and young as Emma, and then suddenly she was mature beyond her years. It was clear we could not make any assumptions with Sabina, and while she was still very young, it was also clear that she carried a depth of wisdom and a strength of character that I expected would challenge us all.

Upon arriving home I was surprised to find Ben engrossed in a website on the internet. He hardly seemed to notice when I walked in. I crept up behind him and placed my chin on his shoulder to look at what had him so fascinated, then I kissed him on the back of the neck. “What ya doing?” I asked in a playful tone, but he just responded with an absent-minded grunt. It wasn’t until I had slipped a hand inside his shirt and tweaked one of his nipples hard that he even seemed to notice I was home.

“Ow! What the…?”

“What’s so interesting?” I asked, ignoring his protests.

“Oh, You’re back.” He leaned back and kissed me lightly. “Now that the carriage house is essentially done, I’m finally getting to look for a new job.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Well, right now I’m looking at what it takes to be a forest ranger at one of the national parks or one of the state forests.” He scrolled up to a list he must have looked at before I walked in. “The requirements are fairly minimal, and I certainly have the right education for it. Only thing is it doesn’t pay very well.”

“But it’s essentially a non-profit organization, right? So the goal is to protect the forest, not to exploit it for money, like the paper companies?”

“Exactly!” He started describing the various mission statements he had been reading and they so obviously resonated with his own sense of purpose that I had no doubt he would pursue this no matter how low the salary was.

Watching him get all passionate about this potential career shift raised a bit of passion in me as well. I leaned forward and kissed him, slipping my hand between his legs.

“What, now?” He looked at me incredulously. “It’s just barely lunch time.”

I thought about making some inane statement about having him for lunch, but chose instead to go with another cliche. “So yo think you can tell me about all that wood you’re going to manage without me wanting you to manage some wood right here at home?” I guided his hand to my crotch and placed it on my swiftly stiffening cock.

“I can’t believe you just said that.” He rolled his eyes, but his fingers wrapped themselves around my shaft and squeezed hard. As I allowed my head to drop back a loud moan escaped from my lips. “You know the kids are going to give us all kind of grief as soon as we go downstairs.”

I settled on the floor beside him and dragged him out of his desk chair to lie on top of me. “Let them,” I grinned. “At least we won’t have a nine year old voyeur watching us here.”

He looked at me quizzically. “What?”

“I’ll tell you later. But first I think we need to assess the wood in my pants and make a plan for managing it.”

“Oh my god,” he mumbled as he began to undo my belt. “What’s next? You gonna start calling me Paul Bunyan and asking where Babe the blue ox is hiding?”

“I know where you keep that giant slab of meat,” I grinned and squeezed his crotch only to find that he was already harder than me. “Damn! I need to use forest metaphors more often.”

As he finally managed to slip my pants down past my knees, he smirked and said, “At least this piece of beef isn’t blue, not as long as we keep him secure in that nice warm stable of yours.” With that he flipped me over and began rubbing his raging boner between my cheeks. “Still got a fence or two to get past, but I’d say he’s ready to find his way home.” He slid my underwear down, first caressing my ass with his hands, then with his tongue. Once The barn door was well lubricated with spit, he leaned back and began to undo his own pants.

“I don’t care if he is a bull, I said, “I’d say it’s milking time for Babe.”

“Get ready,” he growled, “I think it’s going to be a stampede.”