Easy To Believe

People and places may live on. 300 words

Easy To Believe

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Amelia asked Carson.

“Don’t know, I’ve never met any.”

“Would you know one if you did?”

“I would think so, since they’re all see through and ethereal.”

“I see,” Amelia said waving her ivory fan slowly.

“Do you like my outfit,” Carson asked as he made a leg to show his satin coat and breeches to their best advantage.

“Very fashionable.”

“Your dress is lovely as well,” Carson said to return the compliment.

She curtsied deeply. Laying one gloved hand on his satin sleeve, she smiled.

Taking the hint, Carson led her into the ballroom to join the dancing. They twirled, swirled and made all the stylized movements of the dance. As they danced, they began to fade; as did the rest of the dancers and the orchestra.

Next the room melted to an old, tattered, ballroom; part of a half-destroyed villa. But Amelia and Carson seemed oblivious to the changes in the room or the house. But it was when Amelia began to grow mor and more transparent, that Carson stopped dancing.

“Where are you going, my dear,” he asked anxiously.

“I am a ghost, and I cannot stay,” cried Amelia in despair. Carson watched her disappear.

“This always happens to me! Why can’t I meet a woman that’s alive?” he said to the heavens.

He stamped his foot and floated up in the air to get back into the painting of a ball that was still on the wall of the ruined villa. His roar of frustration echoed through the ruins as the moon rose like a galleon in the sky overhead.

The ruins disappeared all at once until the next full moon. The vacant lot, overgrown, forlorn and lonely seemed to wait for it with its breath held expectantly.