How Not to Sell a Haunted House

              How Not to Sell a Haunted House


     “It’s still a very beautiful place after all of these
years,” said Helen as she stopped just before going onto the
grounds of that extremely old house. “You have done a great
job keeping it up.”

     William bowed toward Helen. “I have tried. But it has
not been easy.”

     “Too bad you can’t live on the outside of it,” said
Helen. “It would be a whole lot easier to sell this place if
you could do that.”

     “That’s what I figured,” said William. “You only come
around here when you are trying to sell my house.”

     Helen opened the squeaky fence gate and headed for the
front door of that house. “After all of these years, you
still haven’t fixed that squeak.”

     “It’s kind of hard for me to do that at my age,” said
William. He quickly walked to catch up to Helen. “I have
trouble concentrating long enough to do things like that.”

     “I know that it’s not easy for you to do things like
that,” said Helen. “But it needs to be done.”

     Helen took the first steps up toward the front door and
sighed. They more moaned than they did squeak. “You haven’t
had the time to fix this either. How am I supposed to sell
this place if you don’t corporate?”

     “You don’t,” answered William. William walked past
Helen and walked through that door as only ghosts can do.

                             #

     “Now that you have seen the place, what do you think
of it?” Helen asked Mitch as they walked down the stairs.

     At the bottom of those steps, Helen turned with Mitch
as they walked into the living room. “I like it a lot. But
I do have a few questions about it.”

     “Of course, you do. What else do you want to know
about it?” Helen asked.

     Just then William and his family appeared in front of
the fireplace there. “I don’t like him.”

     Helen looked at William. But Mitch didn’t. I do like
him, thought Helen. Once again, Mitch didn’t react to
hearing either one of them.

     “What else would you like to know about this place?”
Helen repeated her question.

     Mitch pointed at William. “I still have quite a few
questions. But right now, what I would like to know is who
they are?”

     Does he know about William and his family? Can he see
them too? Helen thought. “What do you mean by that?

     “The pictures on the fireplace. Are they the original
owners of this place?” Mitch asked.

     Helen and Mitch walked up until they were face to face
with William. They leaned in to get a better look at the
pictures of William and his family. Mitch goes right through
William when he did it. “Yes,” said Helen. “Those are the
original owners of this place.”

     Mitch pointed at one of the pictures. “There’s a door
next to this fireplace too. I don’t remember you showing me
what’s behind it.”

     “That’s because I didn’t,” replied Helen. She looked at
that door too. “Because that leads to the basement of this
place. And there hasn’t been one of them in centuries.”

     “So, that’s where you want us to live forever. That
isn’t going to happen,” said William.

                             #

     Mitch walked over to the door next to the fireplace.
“What happened to it?”

     “Since it wasn’t being used very much, except to store
a few things, it got sealed up. First with dirt and mud.
Then with cement,” said Helen.

     “Too bad, my three kids would have loved going down
there. Especially, my son James. He’s eight. And he likes to
explore. Grace and Robin also like to do that. But not as
much now that they are ten and eleven.”

     Helen looked at William with a worried look on her face
and saw that he had one too. “I didn’t realize you had any
children. Especially, ones so young.”

     “I have a wife, three kids, and two dogs,” said Mitch.
“Is that a problem?”

     “Of course, it isn’t. I just didn’t remember it being
on your application for this place,” answered Helen.

     Mitch looked at Helen. “I came here early for my new
job orientation. The rest of my family aren’t coming here
until later tonight.” Mitch looked out the window. “Night is
here now. So, they should be showing up here at any time.”

                             #

     “It sounds like there is a problem with me having a
family,” said Mitch. “And I want to know what it is.”

     William smiled. “I can’t wait to see how you get out
of this one.”

     “It’s not that I object to you having a family,” said
Helen. “I was just concerned about how old your children
are and your two dogs.”

     “After all, there are some cliffs behind this place.
And I was worried about your children and dogs,” continued
Helen. “I don’t think that this is the right place for you
after all.”

     William’s smile got even bigger. “I don’t either.”

     “I don’t know what you are trying to do. Maybe you’re
looking for more money. Whatever it is, it’s not going to
work with me. If I want this place, then I’m going to get
it,” said Mitch.

     Just then Mitch and Helen looked toward the front of
the house at the sound of a car pulling in there. “If my
family likes this place as much as I do, we will get it.
And at the price that we already agreed on.”

     As soon as Mitch left, Helen went over to William and
his family. “You have to leave before they get back here.”

     "No, we don’t. This is our house,” said William. “And
we aren’t leaving it, ever.”

     “You know what will happen if those kids and dogs see
you,” said Helen. “The two girls may not see you. But the
boy and the dogs sure will.”

     William smiled. “I’m sure they will too.”

                             #

     Helen came out of that house just as Mitch pointed to
the top of its roof. The rest of his family looked up there
too. Even the two dogs appeared to be doing it. “Look at
that lighthouse,” said Mitch.

     “It’s in the middle of the house. Why is it there?”
Allison asked.

     “I was wondering that too,” said Mitch. “So, I did some
research on this place. And I found out that the couple who
ran it started to have a family. I discovered that instead of
leaving there and their jobs they decided to just build this
house around it.”

     Helen walked up to them. And Mitch introduced his family
to her. “I can understand why you don’t want to live here.
That’s why it has been so hard to sell this place.”

     “You are doing it again,” said Mitch. “For some reason,
she doesn’t want to sell us this house anymore.”

     Mitch started walking toward the house with his family.
“After you have looked at this place, I’m sure you will love
it as much as I do.”

     Just after they entered the living room, James pointed
at William and his family. “Maybe they are the reason why she
doesn’t want to sell this place to us.”

                             #

     “What are you talking about, James?” Mitch asked.

     Grace pointed at William and his family too. “He’s
talking about them.”

     “I see them too,” said Robin. The two dogs were also
barking. “And the way our dogs are reacting, they must also
see them.”

     William smiled. “What are you going to do now, Helen?”

     “Didn’t you just hear that mom and dad?” Grace asked.

     “I didn’t hear anything,” answered Allison. “What is
going on here?”

     William’s smile got even bigger. “That’s a very good
question. Isn’t it, Helen?”

     “Okay, I give up. What your kids and dogs are talking
about are William and his family,” said Helen. “They are the
original owners of this house. This house is haunted.”

     Mitch’s smiled. “Oh, that.”

     Allison was also smiling. “Mitch already told me all
about it after he researched this place. It doesn’t bother us
that it’s haunted.”

     “It bothers me,” said William. Suddenly, some windy
weather started blowing about that room. Causing a lot of
trouble for everyone there. Especially, blowing them toward
the entrance there.

     Mitch used his hands and legs to block the entrance out
of there. Soon the rest of the family and Helen joined him.
It was hard for him to hold them in there. But he did it. He
shouted above the wind. “If this is the best that you can do,
it’s not going to work.” Mitch looked at Helen. “But I do
think that we need to talk about the price of this place. I
think it’s way too high.”

                     Word Count = 1,448