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said.
    He took a tiny step forward, but said nothing.
    This was crazy. I was talking to my hallucination. Dr. White was
going to double my meds after this.
    I held out the earrings to him.
    “Do you want them?” I asked.
    I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was talking to him.
I had to be losing my mind.
    He shook his head.
    Well, at least he understood me.
    He motioned for me to put them up to my own ears. I did like he
suggested and he clapped those huge mitts of his.
    Then he made a motion like I should hook them into the holes in
my ears.
    I groaned as I got up and took them to the mirror. Was I really
going to do this?
    I hooked one of them in and looked at my reflection. They really
were pretty. The silver and emerald actually brought out the green
in my hazel eyes. I remembered when my aunt had given the single
earring to me. It had been my sixteenth birthday, while I was
spending the summer with her in England. I had met a boy then, who
was living with Aunt Marigold. A boy I had tried to forget.
    I was never into jewelry or girly things, but this earring I had
loved. I think it had more to do with the fact it was truly the
first valuable gift I had ever received. Aunt Marigold had given it
to me in private. Joan never knew I had it
    Strangely, I don’t think I had ever put it on. Of course,
with only one, what was I supposed to do with it?
    I hooked the second earring in.
    Then everything went black.

Chapter 5

     
    I woke in the back seat of a car, driving through the city. It
was a new car, from the smell of it, but it wasn’t modern. It
had a tape deck below the radio.
    The driver seemed young, but I couldn’t make out his face
completely from where I was seated. He wore a dark suit that
matched his hair.
    I sat quietly at first, wondering if I should speak. I wanted to
get a closer look, but I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know I
was awake. I leaned a little, hoping not to make a sound. I
didn’t. Then I noticed my hands. I wasn’t solid. I was
giving off a faint golden glow.
    Oh my god, am I dead?
    I leaned over to look in the rear view mirror. My face and hair
also had that golden, translucent glow. The earrings were still
hanging from my ears.
    What the hell was going on?
    The man pulled into a driveway and parked the car. It was the
house I’d grown up in. It wasn’t the same as I
remembered. The windows were old and needed replacing. There was
also a small tree in the front where I remembered a much larger
oak. The roof was in pretty bad need of repair.
    The man got out of the car. As he closed the door, I got a look
at his face. I knew from the photos which had littered the mantle
as a child that the man was my father. Or, Geoff’s father,
anyway.
    I reached to open the car door, but my hand went through the
metal. I gasped. I had to be a ghost.
    How the hell did I die?
    I decided to exit the car then. It seemed easy enough to pass
through the door. Then I followed James to the house. He
didn’t even have to grab his keys. The door swung open and a
younger version of Joan flung herself on him. The joy on her face
I’d not seen in a long time.
    “I have wonderful news!” she exclaimed.
    James’s face lit up. “Don’t tell me,” he
said. “Katherine said her first word! I knew she was a bright
girl!”
    Joan frowned. “That’s ridiculous. She’s only
nine months old. No, I have better news! I’m pregnant!”
She was almost bouncing on the spot and clapping her hands.
    The eyes on James’s face widened. “What? I thought it
was impossible for you to get pregnant.”
    Joan looked a little white. “I thought that too, but
it’s true. The doctor confirmed it this morning! I’m
pregnant!”
    James had that deer in the headlights look. He stuttered. “T-t-t-that’s wonderful!”
He then hugged his wife again and kissed her hard on the lips. He
escorted her inside, closing the door, but not before I slipped in
behind him. Ghost or not, I would rather use the door the
old-fashioned