Chapter 7: A Reality Check

Three years into my dream life something happened that would change everything!

I was in Memphis when I had to slam on my brakes to avoid being hit by a car that ran a red light. What if I had been killed? What would happen to the house and farm? Would the ‘residents’ be back in the same situation they were in before I came along? I needed to figure something out.

At first, I thought about setting up a trust at some bank. But how was I going to explain it was for a group of spirits? I’ll end up in a nut house. There has to be a way! I just need to figure it out.

One night while Grandma and Aunt Lottie watched Lanny dance in the living room I walked out on the front porch and sat looking at the moon come up across the road. Scarlett came out and sat down beside me.

“Look at me, Joe?”

I looked into those green eyes. She grinned; she knows!

“It’s time. Come into the living room.”

She took my hand as we walked back into the house.

“Lanny, cut off your music and go and get Pauline off the computer. We all need to talk.”

When everyone was seated, Scarlett stood and spoke.

“Joe is worried that if something happens to him, we will again be in danger of losing our home. He is right. I think the time has come to put the second part of our plan into effect.

“What is this about a ‘second part of your plan’. I never heard about...”

“Calm down Joe, you are going to like it, I promise.”

I looked around the room and everyone was smiling. I asked her to explain what this plan is.

“I am going to find you a wife so that you can have a family.”

“You’re going to find me a wife? Why can’t I find one for myself?”

“No, she has to be able to live here with us. That means she needs to be able to see and talk to us.”

“I would think that her and I being in love with each other would be important also!”

“I’ll handle that part. Don’t worry, I’ll find us the perfect girl.”

“She needs to like sex. Don’t find some prude!” Pauline was right. Whoever lives here needs to enjoy all kinds of things.

“Find a young one who likes music and loves to dance. We’ll have so much fun together!”

“Grandma and I will enjoy having little ones running around the house again. I have missed that the most these last years.”

It was settled, Scarlett would go on the hunt for me a wife! This time it would be without Wilma, who was doing 5 years in the state pen for fraud. It seems that the District Attorney took offense when Wilma had charged his mother $10,000 to talk to his dead father! I became the designated driver.

We started at the place where she had found me. I parked in front and Scarlett went in. An hour later she reappeared in the front seat. No luck. I drove her over to another hospital and waited in the parking lot while she ‘looked’ for a potential mate for me. After she looked through two more hospitals with no luck, we decided to call it a day.

We were on the way home when suddenly we were in a long line of slowmoving cars. There was no oncoming traffic, so I said there was probably a wreck up ahead. As we got closer, I saw I was right. On the other side of the road was a car sitting in a ditch on its top. There was an ambulance, police cars and a firetruck there. We watched as some person was cut out of the car and loaded into the back of the ambulance.

“Turn around and follow that ambulance. I’ll meet you at the hospital,” Scarlett shouted as she literally floated up and through the roof of my truck. I eased on down passed the wreck. I saw that there was only one car involved. A little further down the highway I turned around and again passed the site of the accident. There was a fireman standing on the side of the road.

“What hospital did they take the person driving the car?”

“St. Francis,” he shouted.

I drove over to St. Francis Hospital in east Memphis and parked in the emergency room parking lot. I went in and found a seat in the waiting room. My thoughts were that Scarlett would find me sooner or later. I waited 30 minutes then bought a soft drink from the vending machine. Another thirty minutes passed. I was coming out of the restroom when I heard a nurse calling my name.

“I’m Joe Keene.”

“Your fiancé is asking for you.”

“How is she?”

“The doctor says she is going to be fine. Which is a miracle. The EMT’s had to shock her three times to get her heart beating again. But now she seems to be fine. The doctor says he thinks she was in shock and her heart stopped. Whatever happened, she is a very lucky girl.”

I followed this nurse down the hall and into a room. Sitting up in a bed was a young girl I had never seen before in my life. When she saw me, she opened her arms and shouted, “Joe, my darling, I have been so worried about you.” She was starting to cry so I leaned over the bed and she held me in her arms. Then, with her hands on my head, she pulled back. I looked into her green eyes!

“Joe, I was so scared. I knew you would pass by where I had the accident, and you would see my car. You would think I was dead!”

“I did see your car. It was upside down. I’m afraid it is totaled. But thank God you are all right.” I was hugging and kissing her when a doctor came into the room.

“I need to ask you some questions. I just want to make sure you are okay.” He was looking at a chart.

“What is your name?”

“Betty Ann Looper.”

“Where do you live?”

“1028 North Elm, Apartment number 105.”

“When and where did you graduate high school?”