Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side by Barbara Parks (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📗

an apparition. He had been shaking my bed and waking me at

night. Although the bed shaking had been unnerving, I knew

Gary 39

that Gary wasn’t trying to frighten me. He was just desperate

to let his family know that he had survived his bodily death.

As you can imagine, having mediumistic abilities can place

you in some fairly compromising situations, and this was cer-

tainly the case with Gary. If a spirit goes to great lengths to make themselves known to me, I feel I owe it to them to find

out what they want and help them. I know that if I were in a

situation like Gary’s, I would seize whatever means I could to try and comfort my family. I knew that Gary wasn’t trying to

frighten me; I could sympathise with his predicament.

The problem lies in the fact that approaching someone

with the claim of being in contact with their deceased loved

one, can be met with all manner of responses. It’s impossible to gauge whether the revelation will be welcomed or rejected.

As a medium, this situation can make you very vulnerable.

There is the chance that you will be dredging up pain-

ful memories, or perhaps be dismissed as a fraud or a crank.

There is a lot to be fearful of when preparing to disclose this type of information.

Although Matilda and Callum were no longer dating, they

had maintained their relationship as friends. I asked Matilda

if she would consider broaching the subject with him. I just

couldn’t think of any other way to initiate contact with Gary’s family.

Although Matilda was worried about how Callum would

react to being told his brother was hanging out at the local

podiatrist’s house, she reasoned that she had no choice but to tell him. After all the effort Gary had gone to in order to make himself known to me, it wouldn’t have been fair for his visits to go unacknowledged. It took Matilda a couple of weeks to

summon up the courage to call Callum.

40Gary

When my phone woke me at one in the morning, I

expected the worst. As Matilda’s name flashed urgently on the

touch screen, my first thought was that she was calling me in

a panic because Gary had paid her a visit. Why else would she be calling me in the middle of the night? I fleetingly wondered whether Gary had been shaking her bed.

“Barbie,” she said excitedly.”I’ve done it … I’ve told Cal-

lum!”

Relief washed over me as Matilda continued chattering at

a mile a minute.

“I told him everything. From that first day we met when

Gary was sitting next to me, to how he was shaking your bed.

I told him that Gary wants him to know he’s OK …”

“And?” I asked hesitatingly. “How did it go down?”

“He believes us!” she said happily. “Callum reckons he

thought Gary was around anyway. This just goes towards

proving it all the more …”

I could almost feel Gary grinning at me in the darkness, I

just knew he’d be delighted that he had finally managed to get through to his family.

“And …” continued Matilda, “Callum wants to meet you!

He’s going to leave it until after Christmas and then he’s going to call you. He just needs to work out what he’s going to tell his parents.”

I finally felt as though Gary and I had made some headway

and it made me feel inordinately relieved. By the time I got

off the phone, I knew that regardless of what happened from

hereon, Matilda and I had honoured Gary’s visits as best we

could. Gary had reached out to me and I had in turn reached

out to his family. Matilda had been the catalyst and she’d fulfilled her role as mediator with aplomb.

Gary 41

As I write this, it’s been over a month since Matilda told

Callum about Gary’s visits. I’ve yet to hear from Callum and

his family and part of me suspects I may never do so. Regard-

less of whether or not Gary’s family contacts me, I feel as

though my job is done. Perhaps that’s as far as Gary wanted to take things, to simply pass on the message that he’s fine.

But if they do call, I’ll be ready and waiting; and I’m sure

Gary will be too. I have no doubt Gary will put his vibrant

energy to good use and physically prove his presence to his

family. But something tells me they might not need any fur-

ther proof; I suspect they’ve felt their beautiful son and brother beside them all along.

chapter six

L o v e r g i r l

It wasn’t long before I was presented with another opportu-

nity to try table-tipping. My best friend, Lou’s grandmother

had passed away the previous week, after numerous bouts

of pneumonia over the course of her last four years. The

last years of Ivy’s life were spent in a fog of senility and poor health. In light of this, her death came as a bittersweet release for both Ivy and her family.

For those imprisoned within the state of dementia, memo-

ries and lucidity fade to the point where loved ones are some-

times thought to be strangers. Although Ivy’s senility had

taken a firm hold, there were however two faces Ivy still rec-

ognised; those of her daughter, Valerie and her son-in-law,

John. Ivy’s face would light up whenever they walked into the

room. The rest of the family weren’t quite as lucky, and Ivy

would politely enquire as to their identity whenever they came to see her.

43

44Lover Girl

Seeing Ivy in this state was particularly painful for her

loved ones. In her prime, Ivy could be described as a cheeky

firecracker, whose quick wit and passion for her family were

always readily displayed. She also had a reputation as an incor-rigible flirt, which earned her the nickname of Lover girl. Ivy would laughingly refer to her granddaughters as Lover girls also, and the reciprocal nick names became quite the family

joke.

The way Ivy was in her final years was the antithesis of

how she had once been, and it broke