Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story

Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story
Lighter Than Air

Jamie was exhausted when he completed his hunting jobs but remembered to set his alarm. He did not want to oversleep and miss out on breakfast with Bekka. The alarms blast awakens him and he slaps it to stop the noise. Jumping out of bed with a smile on his face as he anticipates seeing her this morning. He showers, stuffs his books and clothes into his duffel, and checks out at the front desk. It's snowing again, so he carefully navigates the mountain roads on his motorcycle to Bekka's home. As much as he loves his motorcycle, Jamie realizes if he stays in Hidden Springs which is his intention to be with Bekka, he will need safer and warmer transportation during the winter months.
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Bekka greets him at the door with a smile on her cheerful face. He removes his riding gear and hangs it up to dry from the snow. “Come in and warm up.” she tells him.
He looks at her face and smiles quizzically. He can see only happiness in her face this morning. Her eyes shine, sparkling in the morning light with mischief and happiness. The sorrowful eyes from the last weeks are gone. He hopes never to see them that way again.
“Jamie, you have the most intense gaze when you look at me like that.”
“You are different this morning. I can see a change in your eyes and face. Does it make you nervous when I look at your beautiful face?”
Laughing, she looks up at him. “It does make me a little nervous sometimes, but I also feel very cared for. I feel lighter than air this morning. If I had wings, I would be flying. I slept well and woke up excited about the day. I’m glad you came for breakfast. Oh...you think I’m beautiful!” she exclaims blushing as she realizes what he had said.
“You are beautiful and very much cared for!”
She ducks her head unsure how to respond, never being very good at flirtations.
“Thank you, Jamie. Before I forget I need to give you this. My Godfather gave me this book for you to look at. He thinks it might have some information that will help Mary. She picks the book up off the shelf and hands it to him.”
“Thank you, and I will thank Renauld later.” He places the book carefully in his backpack.
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They sit down for breakfast, and Jamie is surprised and delighted to see Fried Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches served. “I love these!” he exclaims happily, clapping his hands, his mouth watering in anticipation.
Bekka grins, excited at this obvious delight.
“I never told you my secret love for these sandwiches. How did you know?” he asks her.
“A little help from a friend.”
“Damien told you? We swore a blood oath to keep each other’s secrets!”
“No, not Damien. He would never reveal your secret to me.”
“That sneak Mary told you! I knew I shouldn’t have told her! Well, it was worth it! These are the best I’ve ever had. Thank you so much! But, you can’t reveal it to anyone else, ever!” He chomps happily on his sandwich and reaches for another when he finishes the first.
Bekka watches him eat as she finishes her meal. She appreciates Jamie’s enthusiasm for whatever comes his way. He seems to look on the bright side of things. He's done so much for her that she's delighted that preparing these for him for breakfast makes him happy.
When she finishes cleaning the kitchen after Jamie left, she takes some time and jots in her journal. Light...flying...happy.
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When Jamie arrives home, Damien greets him with a hearty hug. Mary comes out of the kitchen asking Jamie with a wink, “Did you enjoy your breakfast this morning?”
“Very much so, thank you very much for spilling my secret to Bekka. She is a marvelous cook.” He hugs her as well.
Lia demands a hug too and Jamie picks up the meowing cat, petting her and giving her smoochies.
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Jamie places the book from the Vanderburg’s on the table. “I’m meeting with Emmaline this morning to talk to her about finding a witch skilled in resurrections. Perhaps you could go through this book to see if you can discover anything that would help Mary. Renauld left a bookmark on the pages he thought would interest us. I did look at those and would want to talk with the witch or wizard about those passages. See if you can find anything else in it."
He hands Mary another smaller volume that he just started going through. “This is a diary of a ghost hunter that I found in an old book shop years ago. I’ve not finished reviewing it so if you could start from where I put the marker I would appreciate it."
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Emmaline asked Jamie to meet her at the junkyard and is there when he arrives. He explains his need for a highly skilled witch for Mary's situation. She reminds him resurrection is a form of necromancy and is an exceedingly perilous undertaking. Only very experienced and well trained witches and wizards will attempt to perform resurrections. She gives him the name of two that he can contact.
She also informs him about a concoction that can be prepared and eaten that will extend life. It is rumored to restore life to one who has lost theirs. She hopes the experienced witch can help with more information about the recipe, whether it works and if they can resurrect her.
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Damien reviews the book reading the marked passages, as well as looking through other sections. He finds several pages with drawings of plants and animals and recipes for potions and elixirs. Several are marked as life potions. He bookmarks those for Jamie to look at when he returns.

Mary reclines on the couch reading the diary and finds a chapter that deals with resurrection of ghosts rather than escorting them to the light. According to this the hunter must work with a magic user to concoct the appropriate spell or potion. Resurrection requires a soul otherwise they are raising the dead that will become zombies or rampaging skeletons. Most good witches will not do that.

Damien receives a call from the investigator at the insurance company that handled Betty’s estate. They were able to recover the money paid out in claims to Betty’s husband for her death once it was proved he murdered her. Because Damien was the principal investigator and uncovered the fraud and murder, he will receive a one-time payment from the company. The standard in the industry is 15 % of the total recovered. When Damien heard the amount, he sat down at his desk since his legs would no longer hold him up. They recovered the full 10 million that Betty's husband insured her for. His check will be 1.5 million Simoleons.
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Mary has completed the diary and has highlighted the parts she wants Jamie to review. Standing up and stretching she glances at the notes and pictures Damien left open on the table. As she reads the combination of those ingredients, she places her hand over her mouth. “That is disgusting,” she exclaims spontaneously!
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Walking in the house Jamie overhears her comment. “What is disgusting?”
“Come here and look,” she tells him and points to the book.
Jamie’s eyes bug out and he agrees with her assessment. "I've read about deathfish. That has to be one of the ugliest creatures I've seen."
Mary nods in agreement. "Why would anyone voluntarily eat something called a deathfish. I kinda think the name itself is an omen."
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Damien tucks his phone back in his pocket. He is still in shock from his conversation with the investigator. He walks over to Jamie and Mary and tells them about the conversation with the investigator. He shakes his head in disbelief.
“The money was deposited in my account as we spoke. I checked my bank app! Jamie! I can pay you back and provide you and Mary a salary for helping with the investigations and have plenty left over for the renovations and fund the investigations for the other ghosts.”
Jamie punches Damien's arm and grins, “Congratulations man! This is awesome! I was thinking about buying a truck.”
Damien tells him the amount of the check.
Jamie blinks and grabs Damien's arm. "I think I'm going to buy a really big truck!"

They all laugh at Jamie's enthusiasm and sit back down and marvel at how their fortune changed in an instance with one phone call.
Jamie hopes they will soon get the information they need to save Mary. He looks through the pages they marked. “I believe the next thing we need to do is push finding a witch to help with this. Emmaline is not the one we need, but she gave me two names and I will contact them. The oracle should be showing up anytime now too."
“Damien, can I use your computer for a bit? I want to do a quick search on these names and add all the information we’ve found to my documents.”
“Of course.”
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Jamie sits down at the computer and starts searches on the names from Emmaline. He opens his cloud documents and types in the information discovered from the two books to his previous documents. He studies all the information he has collected. Realizing there is a lot of similarity about the question of plants and foods that can extend life or even restore life in much of the documentation. If this works why is it not more commonly known? With an exact recipe as well. This may be a question for the oracle as well. She’s been around for a long time and might know the answers. He does not want to attempt anything on Mary that might injure her or place her life as it is in jeopardy. He knows Damien and Mary would rather her stay a ghost than return permanently to the netherworld. He does not think that is her fate but doesn't want to cause it. He hopes the oracle will confirm his suspicions.
The search completes and he needs to narrow it down a bit further. The search produced too many similar names. He launches another program to narrow the field of names down to a manageable number. The doorbell rings and he looks up. Bekka has arrived.
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Bekka is on time for the appointment. Mary and Damien welcome her. Jamie, at the computer, calls out to them. "I’ll be with you in a few minutes. I need to complete this search."
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Mary and Damien begin looking through the sketches and information in Bekka’s proposal on the renovation of their home. Damien is impressed with how close she comes to what he envisioned and the improvements she made to his vision. He loves it. He appreciates how she has incorporated Mary and Jamie’s suggestions into his original ideas.
He looks at the proposed budget and notices that she has separated it into several sections since he had originally told her the renovations would have to be done as he earned the money for each part. He figures up the total and is delighted to see the total is not as bad as he originally expected. With the reward money he can get it all done much quicker.
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Bekka answers their questions and explains some design choices and how to maximize the available space without having to rebuild the exterior. Damien wanted the front facade of the home to remain the same, only repairing any areas from storm damage over the years. Jamie sits down next to Bekka and looks through her sketches as she is talking with Damien and Mary. He asks a couple of questions as Damien and Mary whisper together. He can see Mary nodding her head excitedly agreeing with whatever Damien just said. He has a feeling that Bekka is going to be hired.

Damien picks up the proposal and signs his name to it. "I know this is not the official contract but we want to hire you to do the renovations. You can start whenever you are ready. We are very happy with your proposal and your sketches are perfect. I would like for you to start with the main living area and work your way up if that would be acceptable."
Bekka is thrilled. "I have a formal contract ready for you to sign. I look forward to working with you to complete the renovations to Spring Manor and help to make it the home you want. Yes, we can start down here but I recommend we do all the floors last so they will not get scuffed or marred from the construction."
"That will be perfect. I've gotten used to my funny floors, but I expect they will look worse once the rest starts looking better. Bekka we plan to go out to dinner tonight and would love to have you join us. Jamie, are you caught up on your computer work and able to join us as well?"
"Sure thing. I've got a few ghost hunting jobs later tonight but good for now."
Everyone turns and looks at Bekka. Mary is nodding her head up and down and mouthing 'say yes'.
Bekka giggles at Mary "Yes, I'd love to join you."
While the others get ready to leave, Bekka takes out her scrap of paper and writes happy...happy...happy on it.
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The group take a taxi to town and decide on the diner which they all love for the good home cooking style food served there. Mary and Damien both notice how attentive and comfortable Jamie and Bekka seem with each other. They also notice that Bekka seems to smile a lot more and her eyes are not sad any longer. Damien says a silent prayer thanking the Fates and asking for further blessings for Mary and Jamie and Bekka.
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