This is the month for ghost stories and Ning and Milo have one to tell!
I ran into Milo on my way home from the village the other evening. He had just finished his voluntary work at the cat shelter and asked whether I would like to go for a walk since it was a lovely evening. It must have been around seven and as we walked, we talked about all things under the sun.
After strolling for some time, we realised that we had come to the area where old Mr. Grumpy (who died last Christmas) lived.
We paused in front of his house and were surprised to see a light in the front window. Milo cried excitedly, "Ning, there's a candle in the window! Do you think his ghost has returned? This is the "Ghost month", is it not?"
I laughed and said, "Milo, I didn't know you believe in ghosts! Mr. Grumpy is probably resting in peace in heaven or wherever humans go when they die."
He ignored what I said and ran to the window and peeped inside, then turned back and said, "It's too dark, I can't see anything."
"Come on, Milo," I said. "Let's go! Enough of ghost busting for tonight!"
We were about to leave when suddenly, we saw the shadowy figure of a woman approach the house and vanish inside. I thought it strange that we hadn't seen her coming up the road.
Then we heard footsteps behind us and a voice said, "Hello, are you two looking for someone?"
We turned round to see an old man smiling at us.
"Oh, hello, Uncle Ko," said Milo. "Ning, remember Uncle? We sang at his house last Christmas."
"Aah, yes, of course, you're the cat carollers from the village!" said the old man. "Can I help you both?"
Milo told him that we were passing by, saw the light in Mr. Grumpy's window and a woman entering the house.
"Is someone living there now?" asked Milo curiously.
A strange look came over the old man 's face, then he said, "Why don't you two come over to my house for a cup of tea? I shall share with you a little story."
Uncle Ko very kindly served us fragrant jasmine tea and biscuits in his kitchen and we settled down to hear his story.
"Even though I live so close to him, your "Mr. Grumpy" never talked to me or even paid me a visit," began Uncle Ko. "From what I heard, his wife died many years ago and left him to raise their daughter. Unfortunately, when she grew up, they had a terrible fight, over what I don't know, and she left him to go to the States to work. She never came back, not even for a brief visit. He was devastated and that's why he became more and more withdrawn."
"Then just a few days before last Christmas, I was surprised when Mr. Grumpy invited me to his house. He had a strange request. He said that should anything happen to him, I am to light a candle and put it in his front window every Friday night. When I asked him why, I saw tears well up in his eyes and he whispered, "To guide my daughter home." I was puzzled by what he said but seeing how sad he was, I didn't have the heart to ask any more questions and promised him I would do as he requested. As you know, he died on Christmas night or was it Christmas Eve? And that's not all. Later, I learnt that his daughter had been killed in a road accident in the States just a week or so before Christmas."
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Milo.
Uncle Ko stopped to brush a tear from his eye, then continued.
"Apparently, in the last one or two years, his daughter had regretted her rash action and she started calling him from the States every week. They reunited over the phone and she was supposed to return home on a Friday if she hadn't been killed in that accident ..... that's why he wanted me to light a candle every Friday to "guide her home"....."
"So the woman we saw was his daughter?" I asked.
Uncle Ko nodded. "I've seen her several times, she appears only on Friday nights to have a rendezvous with her father and today is Friday."
After listening to Uncle Ko's story, we felt so sorry for poor Mr. Grumpy. We had no idea he suffered so much. Everyone thought of him as a senile old man who didn't like people and nobody really bothered about him.
"But for how long are you going to light the candle?" asked Milo.
Uncle Ko smiled and said, "Until he tells me to stop."
We were both strangely silent when we walked home. I was not surprised when Milo asked whether he could spend the night with me. I knew the story he just heard touched his heart deeply and he didn't want to be alone for the night.
Before I fell asleep, I wondered what Da would say when I tell him the story.
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| Fragrant jasmine tea and biscuits for us |
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