Chapter 3

I was sleeping in the camper parked near Eliza's cabin when something woke me.

There was some noise outside. I thought at first that it was the dogs, but the sound was more like feet shuffling, feet trying not to make noise. Without making a sound, I rolled over to look outside. Clouds hid the moon, so it was pretty dark outside.

There it was. I saw a figure. It was looking at the truck. The figure went all around the truck, looking at everything, but not touching anything. It must have sensed me watching since it kept looking up at the windows next to the bed. I watched as the figure reached down and petted the dogs before walking off in the direction of the other side of the mountain. That was interesting. At least, I thought, the ghost wasn't dangerous, just curious.

My body clock told me to get up. My wristwatch said it was five thirty. I started the generator and used some of the water I brought in to make some coffee. While that was perking, I washed my face, shaved with some heated water, and dressed. I wore jeans and a nice shirt instead of fatigues this morning. That should be fine to conduct business around here.

I was just about to pour a cup of coffee when there was a knock on the door. I opened it and found Eliza holding a ceramic cup. "What does a person have to do to get a cup of coffee around here?" she asked.

I invited her in and had her sit at the little table. We had drunk our coffee before she said, "I'm not going to make you breakfast. We're going into town to the Kitchen. I'm sure you saw it, as it is right when you drive into town."

I did remember a place with a sign that said 'Kitchen'.

"What about the animals, Eliza? Don't we need to feed and water them? Don't we need to gather the eggs?"

She smiled, "Naw, Ben will be up here in a little while to milk the cow and do the feeding. He'll probably keep all the eggs today, as we haven't been gathering any lately. He knows not to take the marked eggs."

"What does Ben do with the milk?"

Eliza made a circling motion with her hands. "We make butter and buttermilk with it. We keep the evening milk for drinking, but the morning milk is full of the yellow curds of butterfat. If you want some good ice cream this summer, have Ben make some for you from our milk. It is just about the best you can get."

As we finished our coffee and I was putting things away to travel, Eliza cautiously asked, "Did you hear our visitor last night?"

I looked at Eliza to see if she was spoofing me. "I saw it. The ghost looked all around my truck, but didn't try to get in it. I think it was more curious than anything else."

"You know, Mike, you might want to leave some things out for the ghost every once in a while. I leave some bread from time to time. I know it likes any meats I leave, especially bacon when I have it fresh. You know that I have that smokehouse that I do hams and bacon in, and that ghost has never taken anything. I leave something on the porch, and it's gone in the morning. You'll need to do that now that I'll be gone."

There was the question, "How come the dogs don't get upset with the ghost visiting at night?"

Eliza smiled, "I'd almost bet the ghost led me to those pups when they were motherless. They have never barked at it, or as I think, her. The way it walks and acts, it almost has to be a girl."

I carried Eliza's bags to the truck as she stood in front of the house and stared. With tears streaming down her face, she softly spoke, "Take care of this place, Mike. I've lived here a lifetime, and I'm now leaving it to you. You have a big responsibility up here. You know that you could invite me back up here and come get me. I think I'll need to visit here every once in a while."

As I opened the door to my truck, Eliza took my arm. "I forgot to tell you. I like to leave soap and shampoo once a month for the ghost. I've left dresses, pants, tops, and coats for her, and they are always gone. I think she makes clothes from hides, but I'm not sure. There's a Goodwill place in Stanton that you can get stuff to leave out. You know, I leave books for her too. The books are gone for a while, then reappear on the porch. I know she likes to read at night, since the candles are always gone. I know that she needs more candles when she leaves a candle stub on the porch. Take care of the ghost, Mike."

This woman had a relationship with a person she's never met, a person that sneaks around at night looking at everything. I'd almost bet that when Eliza watched television, the ghost would be outside her window, watching with her. Strange stuff, but it was all part of the mountain's mystique.

On the drive to Stanton, out of curiosity, I asked Eliza, "I understand there used to be a family that lived on the property you own on the other side of the mountain. Benson told me their name was Finnerty."

Eliza elaborated, "They were decent folk, but had a boy who wasn't all there. Their elders came from Atlanta during the Civil War. Their luck wasn't any good at all, as the folks died off from the flu, then a fire took the boy. The girl showed up dead at the bottom of the mountain a few years later. Some say hunters killed her, but I don't really know."

I asked Eliza, "Do you think your ghost is related to the Finnertys? Maybe it is another child that no one knew about?"

The old woman didn't pause to think about it, "No, there was a good while between when the girl showed up dead and people began seeing a ghost. At first, hunters thought there might be more than one, maybe even three, but no one knows. If there is more than one, I think they are all females."

We stopped at the Kitchen for breakfast. Eliza introduced me to so many people that I would have had to be a genius to remember all of their names. A couple of the men asked if they could still hunt on the land, and one even said he'd show me some great fishing places in the valley.

In town, I used my cell phone to call Byron. When I told him his aunt was going to be on her way, with a smile in his voice, he said, "Bring her on. I just knew you two would hit it off. Did you give her the amount I told her she needed?"

"Yes Sir, I'm giving her all of that and more. I think it will be fair for her, but still a good deal for me."

There was no receptionist when we entered Benson's office. Benson was in his office with the door open. He yelled, "Come on in, Denise isn't in until after one, so I have to do both duties. Eliza, let me show you all of the contracts."

Benson was a good attorney. He had all of the appropriate paperwork in stacks so he could show it to us before we signed. He went through each stack and began having both of us sign documents. He looked at me, "Do you have a cashier's check, or can you transfer the money to Eliza's account?"

When I nodded yes, I sat my laptop on his desk and searched for a Wi-Fi connection. There was an open one, so I logged in to the bank and began entering the information. I went to Benson's printer and looked at it for a second, then went back and made a wireless printer connection. I made the transaction and printed out all of the information. When I handed a copy to Eliza, she asked Benson, "Can I use that phone on your desk? I'd like to call the bank and make sure the money is there."

Eliza made the call and asked her questions. She turned to me and hugged me. The next thing she did was to pull my cheek down to kiss it, and said, "You're the first man I've kissed since I married my man way back when. You've been a good man to me."

We all went to the courthouse where I paid all of the taxes for the year and Benson filed the land transfer papers. I stood back and was almost in shock when I realized I was now a property owner.

After handshakes all around, Eliza and I began the trip up to Lexington. It really didn't take that long, but it was long enough for Eliza to ask me about every question she could think of. She even got a small spiral notebook from her purse and wrote down the names of some unmarried women. This included some spinsters, widows, and grass widows, you know, women who were now divorced. Eliza told me that the best place to meet women was at church on Sunday. She said they will all pray with you in the morning, and bed you at night if you let them. She did caution me that I could get a bad reputation if I decided to bed all of them too quickly. Eliza was a jewel.

When we arrived at the RV park, Byron rushed out to embrace his aunt. When I asked where I should put her bags, Byron pointed at a brand new manufactured home, and said, "There you go, Aunt Eliza, a home for you forever. Let's take these things to your place so you can start getting used to the newness of it. I think Shirley and I have everything you'll need. I'm so happy that you've finally come to live with us. Let's go take a look."

The place felt twice as big as what she was leaving. Totally modern and full of furniture, as well as kitchen stuff. Eliza stood amazed at what she was looking at. With a smile she raised her arms. "Thank you, Lord, this is a dream come true. I didn't think I could leave the mountain, but this has made it a good thing."

When the excitement settled down, I excused myself to return back to what was now my mountain. I had a lot to learn about the place, and a lot of work in front of me.

I stopped at the REA building in Stanton. I used one of Eliza's old bills to show where the power was to be turned on. The lady said that she would radio a truck to come out this afternoon so I would have power this evening.

As I traveled up the mountain for my third time, I saw more of the scenery and road markers as I went. When I came to the 'Goat's Milk' sign, I stopped to say hi to Ben. He came out and said, "Eliza wrote me a letter and left it on the porch, but I don't read too good. Would you read it to me?"

I read it for Ben:

"Dear Ben,

I've sold the place to Mike Grayson, as you can guess by now. I'm sure he's reading this to you. Ben, Mike is a good man and you should treat him the same as you treated me. He knows about the ghost and all of the superstitions, so teach him the way of the mountain. If you can, take him to the back side so he can see that area too. You know Bud planted a lot of apple trees back there and started another vineyard there as well. There are a couple of meadows that would make a good growing garden area if you can figure out how to get the tractor back there.

Ben, I'll miss you, and you should come to Lexington to visit sometime. I'm sure Mike would take care of your stock for you while you visit, so plan on it. You've been a good neighbor, Ben, and if you need anything, I'm sure Mike will help you.

Eliza

Ben was staring at the writing over my shoulder as I finished. He sighed, "I'm going to miss that mean old woman. There ain't many like her, that's for sure."

He changed instantly. "Do you need some butter? That cow gave a lot of milk this morning, and I made a lot of butter. If you don't need any, I might go down to the market and do some trading. There was enough last night for almost a gallon of pure cream. The Kitchen eatin' place always buys the cream for their coffee."

There was a lot to learn.

Ben looked at me sort of sideways. "If you stayed there last night, did you meet the ghost?"

"I didn't meet the ghost, but I saw it as it looked at my truck. I'm going to stay there tonight, and I'm going back to Cincinnati tomorrow to bring the rest of my stuff up here. Depending on my mother, I may stay up there tomorrow night. Thank you for taking care of the stock."

Ben was happy. "It's a good deal for me. Eliza has enough hay for both of us, and I can use the eggs and milk. She always shares her pork and beef with me, so it's fair all around. If you want to spin, I have plenty of wool and llama. That would even us up a little."

I had to smile. "I don't know how to spin thread, Ben, and I may not ever learn. Just learning to farm up here is going to be tough enough."

As I got into the truck to leave, Ben said, "I'll ride back up there with you. It's time for the evening chores. How many eggs do you want for the morning? Oh yeah, did Eliza tell you to get some ducks, geese, and turkeys? Those can be good moneymakers. I have some of those setting and can give you some chicks if you want. You'll have to make a warm, safe place for them."

"Next time, Ben. Let me learn how to take care of what I have."

We rode back to the house and were met by the two huge dogs lunging at me for attention. I parked the truck on a level spot and turned the generator on to keep the fridge cold. Inside the house, I found the spring house door where there was some bacon and ham. There was a refrigerator with the door open a little and a box of baking soda inside so it wouldn't smell bad.

I wasn't even into the bedroom yet when a horn honked and the dogs started going crazy. Outside, the REA truck driver had his window down about two inches. "If you'll put the dogs up, I'll turn your power on. Make sure you throw the breaker off while I hook you up. When you turn everything back on, do it one breaker at a time so you don't start a fire."

I took the dogs to a pen in the barn. They knew what it was for and didn't like it, but easily went in. I watched as the man did the easy hookup and turned the meter around. He told me, "Go ahead and try the main breaker, then flip on the refrigerator breaker and see if it comes on."

The fridge came right on, so I closed the door. I flipped each breaker, one at a time, and went to check what the identification said. As I finished, I saw a breaker for 'washer' and a 220 circuit for 'dryer'. I wonder where that was. There was a breaker that said garage, and a double breaker for 'barn'. I flipped it and ran out to the barn to make sure I didn't start a fire. When I turned the light on, Ben hollered, "Whoopee, let there be light. You have a little gas, so turn the water heater on to wash the milking stuff. That will be nice so I don't have to heat water on the burner or carry the utensils inside all the time."

I was going to have to learn all of the duties involved in taking care of the animals. If Ben can't do it, it still needs to be done.

As I went by the garage, I heard a hum I didn't hear before. It was coming from the back, so I looked back there. There was a huge tank in an attached shed that was being filled by the tank and a pump motor. I suppose it was drawing water from an underground spring somewhere so there would be good water pressure at all of the faucets.

Before Ben left, he cautioned, "When we are going to get a freeze, we have to drain the big tank and the lines. We leave all of the faucets open so the freeze won't burst the pipes. You'll still have running water from the spring flow. I'll watch and tell you the next time the cold is coming."

I was all alone at the house for the first time. I re-inspected the house, looking through closets and drawers. Everything was empty, except where the towels and bed clothes were kept. The kitchen was full of everything you needed to live, so I looked around the big room.

On each side of the big fireplace were bookshelves filled with hard covered books and popular paperbacks. There was a good selection, and there was a bright green card sticking out of the books where a couple had been taken out. That must be the books for the ghost.

I found the washer and dryer in an enclosed lean-to that ran the length of the side of the house. As I stood back there and looked up at the tall cliff behind the house, I realized that the house was built where it was to shelter it from the brutal winter winds. The house faced east and west, so it should always get the sun when it was shining, while the cliff was on the north side, and the valley area was to the south. I pictured Bud deciding how and where to build the house.

I brought the food from the camper into the house for supper, but left the generator on for a while. I decided to use some wood in the fireplace to cook my steak and started a fire with kindling and stove wood. I prepared to nuke some veggies and put the steak on a big swing away grill in the fireplace. You put your meat on the grill then swing it over the fire. You had to watch it or you could burn the meat pretty fast. I pushed the button on the microwave and when it was done, the meat was done. I ate my first meal in my new old house while drinking a beer. Life was good.

I did the cleanup, including the grill. It was cool enough that the small fire in the fireplace took the chill out of the house. I'd bet a fire in the morning would feel nice. I stretched and prepared to go to bed. I turned the TV on and received a couple of channels, but I would still need to have the satellite subscription renewed.

I went to sleep smiling.

Something made me open my eyes. Across from the bed was a window that faced the TV. I had fallen asleep with the TV on, not thinking that it would draw attention. There was a face in the window, intent on watching a commercial program. They were advertising some kind of special cooking oven, and the face was mesmerized by the picture.