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Go Toward the Light, Simone

© Janice Oberding

Shopping with my grandmother meant a bus ride from Seaside to Monterey and on to Pacific Grove. In those days people waited more patiently at the bus stops than they in today's hurry- up-and-get -here world.

People talked to each other while waiting for their bus. Whenever Gran met an affable person the conversation usually centered on the high prices being charged in the department stores and the thick, cold, fog that rolled in off the bay and engulfed the town. Good for petunias and poppies, not for people, she was fond of saying.

One afternoon an elderly gentleman sat down beside us and smiled at Gran.

"This fog reminds me of the weather up north. " He said shyly.

"Oh it's terrible." Gran agreed.

"Yes, but not as bad as the fog up around Mendicino."

Gran's eyes lit up at the mention of the little town where many of her friends lived.

"Are you from there sir?"

The old man smiled happily, "Why yes I am."

All at once they were comparing notes on who they knew, who was doing well and who wasn't.

Finally he looked sadly toward the bay. " I've come down to give my sister in Carmel some very bad news I'm afraid"

Gran nodded, and thus encouraged, the old man continued.

"The death of one's dearest friend is always so difficult…but Suzette's dying…. Well, hopefully it will bring closure to all those rumors about her old Victorian being haunted by her twin sister."

Ghosts? Now he had Gran's attention and that of us children, as well.

"I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of hauntings" Gran said proudly, won't you please tell me about the rumors?"

He took a deep breath. "Stop me anytime I start to bore you."

Gran agreed with a quick nod.

"Suzette and her twin sister, Simone were the daughters of a wealthy widower who lived in a large old mansion overlooking the ocean. Though the girls never wanted for anything material, he ignored them almost completely. He did little else gaze out at the sea with his telescope for hours on end. Some of the servants believed that he blamed his daughters for the death of their mother because the poor woman died a few days after their births.

However he felt toward them, he left the two girls financially secure for life when he died. They were beautiful young women, but they never married. No. They stayed in that great big house with their servants and their cats. The only time the two of them ever argued was when one of their cats fought. It was almost comical to listen to them defend their precious felines. Then the tragedy occurred.

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