Evelyn

I was looking out the window into the side yard of my grandma’s house while washing dishes. I felt a tingling sensation on the back of my neck, and then goosebumps rushed up my arms as a woman I had never seen before walked casually by the window. She had brown hair neatly styled and was wearing a blue and white checkered blouse. I saw the rouge on her cheeks and her red-stained lips. She was pretty.

I called out to my grandma, “Hey, there’s a lady in the backyard!”
She came into the kitchen, curious about what I was talking about. She pulled the curtain on the door, looked out into the yard, and said, “No, there’s not.”
“Yes, there is! I just saw her…she passed by the window, Grandma!”
Grandma looked again, then turned to me with wide, knowing eyes and shook her head. “What did she look like?” she asked.
I described her in detail, just as I had seen her. My grandma listened and then said, “Oh, that’s just Evelyn, my neighbor.”
I said, “Well, why didn’t you let her in?”
Grandma replied, “She’s not here anymore.”
I said, “I know, but you could have let her in.”
She shook her head and said, “Nope. She’s not here anymore…she passed away. About five years ago now.”

Me & Grandma on the patio.

My goosebumps came screaming back. “What?” I asked, stunned.
“Oh yes,” Grandma said, completely unfazed. “She loved our yard and garden. We used to chat and have tea on the patio. She was a good friend.”

She said it so casually, not yet noticing that my eyes were huge and my mouth was wide open. Then she added, “You saw her because you’re special. You can do that. I can too.”

And just like that, she walked out of the room and went back to whatever she had been doing.
We never spoke of it again.
I was nine.