The Ghostly Hideaway by Doris Hale Sanders Read Free Book Online Page A

picked some sprays of honeysuckle and put in a
vase in the room and it seemed to cheer it up a great deal.
    That evening, Penny was again looking through the
picture album that had been left on Chrissy’s nightstand earlier.
For reasons she couldn’t fathom, she kept returning to the picture
of the older woman, the young man, and the little girl. Her
attention was drawn again to a shadow or something dark on the back
of the young man’s left hand. It looked almost identical to the
mark on her father’s hand but it had been his right hand and this
was a left hand. Oh, now wait a minute. A picture was a mirror
image, wasn’t it? That spot would be on the right hand. Oh, now
that sure is weird, isn’t it? Penny lifted the album to get a
better stream of light and suddenly the picture was shaken loose
from its place in the album and fluttered to the floor landing on
its face. Chrissy saw it drop and went to pick it up for her
mother.
    “Oh, Mom, look! It has writing on the back. It says
‘Gertrude, Jimmy, and Penelope.’ And it’s dated ‘1970.’ Mom, what
is it? You’re as pale as a sheet!"
    Ed had been watching “Law and Order” on the
television but he turned toward the others when he heard the panic
in Chrissy’s voice. “My God, Penny, what’s wrong? Are you
alright?”
    Penny still sat with her eyes glazed and her mouth
hanging open. She didn’t blink or move at all when Ed waved his
hand in front of her face. Ed grabbed her shoulders and shook her,
hard. As she focused her eyes on her husband, she fainted dead
away. Chrissy ran after a washcloth and wet it with cold water and
brought the first aid kit with the smelling salts. After washing
her face and passing the smelling salts under her nose, she
revived, but she didn’t know for a few minutes why she had fainted.
As the memory came back to her, she pointed at the picture that
once again had fluttered to the floor. Chrissy picked it up once
more and Penny whispered, “That’s me,” pointing to the little girl.
And that’s my Dad and my Grandma Gertie. The names and date are on
the back and I had already noticed the birthmark on the back of
Daddy’s hand. The Coys are or were my aunt and uncle."
    “Are you sure, Penny? Are you positive these people
were your relatives? It’s just not reasonable to believe that we
stumbled by accident onto the property that was owned by your
relatives.”
    “It’s true, Eddie. There’s no other possibility. Why
on earth would they have that picture of us if they weren’t
related? Grandma Gertie or Daddy had to have sent the picture to
them. And as far as it being an accident that we found this place,
I’m not sure I believe that it was a coincidence. I felt something
really weird the first time I saw this place. I’m nearly positive
I’ve never been here before and yet things seemed almost familiar
somehow. I can’t explain it; but someway or other I think we were
meant to get ‘lost’ and ‘find’ this farm. I’m thinking the spirits
that seem to inhabit this house actually want us to be here. Oh, I
know I’m not making any sense but there doesn’t seem to be any
other explanation.”
    A couple of nights later, Chrissy, whose room was
next door to the one the Coys had used, was awakened by a commotion
that seemed to come from that room. She hated to admit it but she
was afraid to go see what was happening until morning. When it was
daylight again, Chrissy slipped from her room to the door leading
into the Coys’ bedroom and opened it slowly. She was totally amazed
by what she saw. Some of the clothes they had folded and put away
were once again in a heap on the floor; the rocker had been
re-positioned back to the middle of the floor as it had been. The
bedclothes were mussed and while it had no indentations where it
would appear somebody had slept there, it looked as though it had
been turned down ready for someone to sleep in.
    Chrissy’s gasp of surprise and consternation had
aroused her