Family Fued
There was something oddly satisfying about telling my mother I told you so. More often than not, I was on the other end of it, so I relished these few times I got to be on this side.
“It’s my house now! She left it to me. I can do whatever I want with it.” Agitation made her voice a little higher than normal.
“I warned you before you took the putty knife to the wallpaper she would come back and that it wasn’t going to be pretty. You know remodeling stirs up the dead.” Finding my coffee cup empty, I pulled an energy drink out of my mini fridge. My parents had moved into the family home to take care of Grandma Eleanor after Grandpa Charles passed away. Shortly thereafter, Grandma Eleanor passed away while walking around her gardens. Six months after she had passed, mom decided it was time to update the house. My grandparents had built a grand colonial house complete with a portico in the mid-eighties. Other than routine maintenance, they hadn’t updated anything. Mom chose to start the remodel by stripping the orange, avocado, and brown flower wallpaper in the kitchen. The moment she started peeling it off, I’d felt a disturbance in the force. My mother and grandmother had been at each other’s throats ever since.
“Why can’t she be like daddy? He pops in every once in a while. All he does is nod in approval and then pop back out. But no! She has to stand over my shoulder telling me how much it cost to have that wallpaper put in and how long it took to find that pattern. When I took down the paneling in the salon she literally shrieked in my ear.”
“Tell her to leave my cabinets alone.” Grandma came through the wall giving orders. I briefly wondered if she was referring to the kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, or the built ins. I knew mom planned on updating all of them.
“Tell her to go back to her fiery pit and leave the living alone!” My mother hung up the phone. It was going to be one of these days. Oh yeah. I put down the receiver before I acknowledged my ghostly visitor.
“Well, that wasn’t very nice of her. She didn’t get that meanness from me.” She seemed out of place in the office wearing jeans and an orange plaid button up under an orange puffy vest. Her orange medium heeled boots went a little better with the business casual dress code. I’d always been grateful she hadn’t died in a hospital gown with her ass showing. Doubly glad since she currently had her back to me. She had moved to the hutch where I had my Bluetooth speakers that were connected to my phone. I couldn’t be sure, but I would put money on she was trying to turn off the music. She’d never cared for music. No matter the genre, it annoyed her. Giving up on turning off the music she glowered at the Funko Pop collection on display. She felt I was too old for dolls. So far, I had been unable to get her to understand collectibles came in other forms than dishware.
“Aren’t you the one that taught me that this world belongs to the living and the dead are just visiting?” I took a big gulp of my drink. I was going to need as much caffeine as I could get if I was going to get drug into the middle of this. A handful of M&M’s from the candy jar was needed too.
“Don’t get sassy with me young lady! Your mother is destroying our family home. You should care about that. It’ll be yours one day. I know how much you always loved that wallpaper.” I kept my face carefully blank. If the horror I felt at the thought of that hideous paper showed on my face, I’d get a guilt trip that I did not have time to go on. “Just go to her and tell her how you want her to keep the house in its original condition.”
“I’m not getting in the middle of this.” I gave her a stern look. “I need to get back to work so, why don’t you go talk to your daughter.”
“Instead of working in a man’s world, you should be at home taking care of your family. That daughter of yours wears too provocative of clothing. You should be there to teach her how to behave like a lady.” A delighted look flashed across her face. “You could go to cooking classes together.”
I pointed at the wall she had come through. “Get out. “ She started making her hurt/shocked sounds. I knew she wasn’t offended, but I didn’t have time to smooth her ruffled feathers. “Don’t make me get the salt.”
“HMPH.” She dissipated after giving me a look that promised I would pay for not immediately taking up for her. I tossed my empty can in the recycling bin, grabbed a new can, and then settled into the thrill of mining information from spreadsheets. What felt like moments later, but was actually hours according to the clock, my boss moseyed in my door to tell me goodnight.
“Just wanted to tell you bye before I left. Any plans for tonight?” Veronica had the appearance of a sweet little old grandmother with her white curly hair tumbling just below the shoulders and intelligent hazel eyes highlighted with her ever-present blue eyeshadow. I knew her to be five feet of pure fire and sci fi references. She was one of my favorite people around here.
“Heading over to Grapevine to investigate a house.” She knew about and accepted my ability to communicate with the dead. Another reason I liked her. Sceptics could get so tedious.
“OOOOH. Exciting. Do you know what they are experiencing?” Her eyes had lit up like Christmas trees. It was only a matter of time until she asked to tag along on an investigation.
“Not a clue. I like to meet the spirits unbiased.” I saw myself as a kind of therapist to the dead. Most just needed an interpreter, someone to pass messages between the living and the dead. The rest were either lost, unwilling to move on, or people who were malicious in life and continue to be so in death.
“Let me know tomorrow how it goes. Good night!” I waved goodbye as an alarm on my phone went off.
Shoot. I was late. Quickly I sent Jesse a text to let him know I wouldn’t have time to stop by the house before heading to Grapevine. 114 was going to be a nightmare this time of day. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, I took the stairs as quickly as I could. The three flights of stairs left me winded by the time I got to the parking lot. Might be time to join the gym.