“That man is a ghost,” said the old woman.1
She was always doing this, when I was a girl—a sort of linguistic trickery, setting up the object of interest and applying some unexpected shade to it. Like something you’d expect from an amateur writer, except she knew exactly what she was doing. She was a professional. A Queen.2
“What do you mean by that, mam-mam?” I would coo, all stars-in-eyes and admiration.3
“Well,” mam-mam would say. “He is old. That much is obvious from the wrinkled skin, the tree bark face, the fact that he still dresses like it’s the 1890s when it is clearly the 1920s. But becoming a ghost comes not merely with age.4
“He has had a long, varied life, some would say a full life. But this is not so. There has been nothing full about his life, nothing fulfilling, nothing completed. You can tell it by the lines in his face, the expression beaten into his brow. He has had children die, his wife grow weary and leave, his dreams and expectations peter out for no reason at all to become unfulfilled, unattainable. He has let this happen, but he will not admit so even to himself.5
“And when the specters of the past, the dead dreams and the dead faces and all the burst bubbles come back to him, as they do with more and more recurrence at this stage of his life, they take some part of his mortal frame with them each time they depart. Soon he will be all spirit. He is a ghost. I am a ghost.”6
I am at about the age now she was when she told me that. I did not understand then. But now, when I remember the two men I’ve outlived and the children I’ve seen buried, the campaign I thought would change the world that went down in flames—the philosophical answers I’d hoped for burn up in a fire of their own reason—now that I see all this, I know exactly what she means. I, too, am a ghost.
Author notes
Contest: Option 1.e, I guess.
A contest entry
- Option Mania!!! by Forgotten Anomaly.
175 points, ended August 23, 33 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest - Say no to "Generalization"!!!!! by Trendster.
450 points, ended October 2, 21 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Interesting
We do seem to fade into the wood work as we grow older. A younger genration think tey know what we did know at their age but all is up to them, our experiences do not matter at all to them.
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I think it works well enough for the depression option, its very original and interesting. I love the last paragraph. I think many of us are ghosts, some at a younger age than others. You put a lot of metaphor and thought into this story. Its very well constructed. Thank you for entering my contest and good luck.
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Oh. My. God. That story made goosebumps race all up and down my entire body. Your AMAZING! I was begining to forget how much talent is racing through this site. Where ever did you come up with this idea? I'm in utter awe. Outstanding.
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Haha, thank you very much. I think... I was told to write a story about ghosts, and this is what happened.
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An original idea, a fresh view of a life experience. A strong short story.
beginning: 4, language: 3, plot: 3, ending: 4, dialog: 4, characters: 4.
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