Out of the Mist by EvergreenWritersGroup Page B

what happened,” he kept saying.
“What happened?”
    William’s daughter,
her husband, and little Kirstey had stumbled down the stairs in
their night things. Neighbours rushed to keep both families warm
with blankets.
    The fire chief told
them, “It’s mostly in the shed. Some of the siding on the houses
caught fire, but we’ll put it out without too much
damage.”
    As the shock began to
wear off, young Jackie and Kirstey climbed excitedly on the fire
engine. Kirstey rang the engine’s bell, and Jackie blew the horn
repeatedly, a loud blasting blare, more like a freight train blast
than an ordinary car horn.
    Wrapped in blankets,
the parents began to heave sighs of relief. The shed fire was
easily put out, the nearby homes sprayed with water to prevent them
from igniting. Steam rose from the remains of the shed.
    “ Marty, what are you
doing?” William’s daughter cried to her teenage son. Marty, upon
discovering the fire was out, had sneaked back among the smoking
wreckage of the shed.
    “ Nothing,” he said.
“I was just seeing that the fire was out.”
    The fire chief told
his parents, “We’ll stay until everything is completely out. Then
tomorrow the inspector will come to see if he can find what caused
the fire. Do any of you smoke?”
    “ Oh, no!” said
William’s daughter. “We’re a smoke-free house. My husband gave it
up years ago.”
    Marty, holding
something under the blanket draped over his shoulders, moved off a
little ways down the street, and dropped it into a neighbour’s
trash can.
    William, who had
hovered with Frank over the scene, once their service at the belfry
was no longer needed, scrutinized his grandson. Now he knew what
Marty had been doing out in the shed before going to bed. Sure
enough, when William peered into the neighbour’s trashcan, a pack
had been discarded there, open, revealing a jumble of cigarettes
falling out.
    People were beginning
to disperse. A couple of firemen and a police officer were assigned
to stay on site and secure the scene. A reporter from William’s old
newspaper was interviewing Frank’s family and the bystanders to
find out what they had seen.
    “ But who rang the
bell?” said Frank’s son. “That’s the person who should be
interviewed. He gave the alarm and saved us all.”
    But no one seemed to
know who gave the alarm. The policeman went up to the town hall to
see if the alert citizen was still there.
    “ The door was locked
from the outside,” he reported. “Who had the key?” But no one
except the janitor and the mayor had keys. They were among the
crowd, and denied being the ones who rang the bell. Who could have
gotten in?
    “ It must have been an
angel,” William’s daughter said. And that’s what was to appear in
the paper the next day: “Mysterious Angel Rings Alarm Bell, Saves
Families from Fire!”
    “ Well, I never
thought I was an angel,” said Frank.
    “ Me neither,” replied
William. “Do I look like an angel?” The two floated their way back
to the graveyard, the excitement over, the crowd gone
home.
    As they slipped into
their familiar graves, Frank said, “Well, at least one good thing
about being dead is there’s no one to holler at you for being out
all night.”
    A grumbling voice
came from the next grave plot. “Will you guys please shut up? I’m
trying to get some rest.”
    “ Old Crowley,” said
William.
    “ I take back that
last remark,” said Frank.
    Silence settled over
Union Church Cemetery.
     
    ~~~***~~~

 
    The Once and
Future Ghost
    Janet
McGinity
     
    The clock struck 11
with a dull bong. Vera methodically wiped down the counter around
the sink with a rag. With a weary sigh, she pushed hair off her
face where it had come loose from her greying ponytail.
    Vera rinsed the rag
under hot water, wrung it out, and hung the damp cloth on the stove
door handle. Then she opened the cabinet drawer to get a clean rag
for tomorrow. The cloth resisted. It caught on a lump at the back.
Vera