Ghost in the Moonlight

STILL I'm in the plague-infested doctor's office waiting room, drawing from my imagination.

However, this is something I had seen the two nights before. It affected me so much I wanted to draw it to remember it...and forget it.

My sister's house is on a steep hill. From her back deck I can see into the neighbor's backyard through a break in the trees. The neighbors have a swimming pool and all the accoutrement that goes along with a pool.

I was out on the deck and saw what looked like a little girl in a hooded robe standing on the edge of the pool. Her left hand was raised as if she were holding a book.

It scared me at first since it was late at night and a child shouldn't have been out there. Danger Will Robinson! I peered intently though the trees trying to get a better focus on her in the moonlight.

She was motionless there by the pool, or was she? It looked as though the book was starting to droop down ever so slightly, or was it? I stared, then looked away. I looked back. She was still there. Is she leaning over the water now? What do I do if she falls in??? There would be no way to get to her in time.

When my logical brain finally vetoed what my eyes were seeing I realized it was just an elaborate play of light and shadow among the pool furniture and pool toys. It just had to be. It still creeped me out in the worst way.

The next morning I went back out on the deck to see what had made such a spectre. Nothing. There was nothing on the pool deck anywhere near the edge of the pool. Perhaps the owners had come out early and moved things around.

The next night she was there again. Dang it! I knew it was just my imagination but she looked so real! I had to draw her to get her out of my head. Otherwise she would haunt my brain like a ghost.

I told my brother-in-law this tale and showed him my sketch. He laughed and said I had an overactive imagination. That may be true, but I drug him out onto the deck for a look-see. He was stunned. He said it did look just like a little girl in a robe, but he saw her holding a basket.

"See! See! I *told* you she was there!" I exclaim. "I'm not making this stuff up!"

He said she was the ghost of little girl who had drowned looking for Easter eggs.

Oh, ha ha, jolly joker.

As we looked at the little Easter egg ghost girl, I was creeped out once again. I couldn't bear to look, but couldn't bear to turn away. She is still stuck in my brain.

Dang.