Friday 29 May 2020

Visiting Ghosts

I was home alone. You know how when you're alone you hear all sorts of sounds you'd never noticed before? Floorboards creaking for no reason. Window rattling at the wind outside. Silence that sounds louder than a whole thunderstorm. Echoing the storms from your past.

Poetic don't you think? I'm such a good writer I often surprise myself. Anyway ... let's move on.

I was so frightened that I hid under the bed. And that's when he appeared.

It was a ghost. I knew because he said so. He said, "I am the ghost of Christmas past!"

"It's not Christmas," I replied, looking from under my bed.

"Shut up and don't interrupt," he said, "get out of there. What are you doing under the bed?"

"Looking for monsters," I hesitated a response.

"Don't be an idiot. Get out," he commanded, "We're going on a journey! We will visit your past and I'll show you what you did, in case you forgot!"

He then took me right back to my late teen years. "Do you know who she is?" he asked.

"It's Melba," I said, "she was my girl-friend at college. We were nineteen. We grew very fond of each other. I remember taking her out for a meal when we were young. We went to a fast-food restaurant and bought burgers and milkshakes which we ate at the back by the bicycle shed. How romantic it was. I wonder what happened to her?"

"You just grew apart," said the ghost from my past, "she grew and grew and grew, mainly on burgers and French fries. She married another friend of yours, remember Peter? Then she became a heavyweight wrestler."
"Poor Peter," I thought. He was always a great thinker. I wonder what's pressing on his mind right now.

The ghost then took me to my early twenties when I worked for a big firm in London. He took me to a scene in an elevator in our headquarters.
"Do you remember what happened then?" he asked.

I blushed.

"You broke wind in a crowded elevator," he reprimanded, "now I know you were poor at the time and ate a lot of baked beans. But farting in an elevator is wrong on so many levels. What is worse, you blamed it on poor Miss Valentine standing next to you. Remember her? An elderly secretary looking forward to retirement. You kept pointing at her surreptitiously so that the other passengers would think it was she who created the stench from hell. Because of you, she was known as Stinky Valentine from that day!"

I felt ashamed at my behaviour ... poor Stinky Valentine. She was sent a rotten fish as a present on Valentine's Day. All because of me.

The ghost then took me back to my wedding day. "Remember that night in your hotel room?" he asked, "You and your new wife. Remember how you behaved?"

I blushed again. I certainly did not want to see that again.

"All that banging against the wall," he said, "non-stop banging ... and the continuous shouting 'Oh Lord ... Oh Lord ... Is any one there? Is any one there? I have fallen once again? Is there anyone there?' "

I held my hands over my eyes, peeking a little not wanting to see what I should not see, yet giving way to temptation.

"And you ignored her," the ghost said harshly, "you did not care. And it was not until the next morning that you discovered that poor old woman in the room next door had fallen and was crying for help!"

The ghost then left and handed me over to another ghost.
"I am the ghost of Christmas present!" he said.

"Will you give me presents?" I asked in anticipation.

"Don't be an idiot," he said, "the other ghost told me about you. A bit stupid I think. I shall show you what you have now become after all these years."

"I know who I am!" I said proudly, "I am a model citizen!"

"Only if the model is a still life, or an inanimate object," he said, "you certainly are no Adonis!"

"Who?" I asked.

"Adonis," he repeated, "the Greek god of beauty and desire. You're nothing like that. You're more like a badly drawn Picasso. The only one who'd desire you is a woman who does not care. Someone easily pleased!"

"You don't have to be insulting," I said, "I'll tell my wife about you when she gets home."

But there was no pulling back from the insults. The ghost continued, "you look like an overweight David by Michelangelo."
"You're so fat, at the zoo elephants throw peanuts at you." he continued, "So heavy you broke your family tree. You need group insurance; rather than insure for one. You're so large people jump over you rather than go round. So big that when your cell-phone goes off people think you're backing up. You really are overweight, I bet your blood type is Ragu. Or is it Mayonnaise? And you're so stupid as well. So dumb that blondes tell jokes about you."

"Why are you being so insulting?" I asked, holding back the tears in a big tub I was carrying at the time.

He smiled and said, "I know it's all an exaggeration," as his grin grew larger. "But it is for your own good really. If I said good things about you, about your kindness, your generosity and all that, your head would grow too big. So I'm deflating you a bit. Only because the tide is waiting to come in ..."

He then laughed so loudly as he disappeared from view, followed by yet another ghost.
"I am the ghost of Christmas future," he said.

"Oh yeh?" I replied. "No doubt you too have come to torment me. To tell me how bad I was back then, and how bad I am right now, and how I'll end up in total badness for eternity."

"On the contrary," he said, "I have come to tell you that many people in this world today think that they are good.

They believe that they are perfect even.

That they do no wrong; and that they can justify everything that they do.

They have a clever answer to everything.

They believe that they are always right; and that the present as well as the future is theirs.

"Well, I tell you; they are wrong.

"I have come to warn you not to be like them!"

POINTS TO PONDER: If the ghosts visited you, what would they say?

20 comments:

  1. I don't know what ghosts would say if I were visited but Ii do know that your last ghost left me with something to ponder. Thank you and have a grand weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind compliment, Cathy. Yes, we all have something to ponder. Best wishes.

      God bless.

      Delete
  2. Love the elevator story; too, your being compared to a lift operator backing up. (hee-hee)
    Great conclusion. Oh, were we all fortunate enough to be visited by a Ghost of Christmas future! Pretty sure I could take all the embarrassment dished out by its predecessors, if it meant I could be forewarned by the One wiser than myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you liked this modern fable, Mevely. No matter what our past, or present even, may be like; we all have an opportunity to improve.

      God bless always.

      Delete
  3. I wonder what Charles Dickens would say if he read this, Victor? Lol! Seriously, though, you bring up some great points to ponder as we move into our future. Are we being the people God created us to be, or are we moving in the wrong direction.
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charles Dickens never complimented my writings, so I will not comment on his either.

      You're right, Martha. I feel, and fear, that modern society is going in the wrong direction. Wherever I look I see people not taking personal responsibility, or owning up to what they have done. It is always someone else's fault it seems. The other day, on TV, there was someone complaining that it was her parents' fault she is overweight - because they overfed her. Never mind taking action now; it's sufficient to blame someone else.

      People no longer know right from wrong.

      God bless you and yours Martha.

      Delete
  4. I have no idea what a ghost would say to me. I would be in the state of shock seeing one though. :) Nice points to ponder as we go forward. The bit about the world is right to the point, there are lots who think like that today.
    Have a happy weekend, Victor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanx for your support, Bill. Indeed, there are many people today who do not know right from wrong. Conscience is dead, it seems.

      God bless. Best wishes.

      Delete
  5. I don't know what I would say! I'd get a good report off and on, for the most part, usually. the thing is that I want to be better than I was then and now. They would tell me I did pretty well, but I could/could have do better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good honest response, Susan. I guess we can all do better for the future. I have cut down on baked beans. Otherwise, I am perfect.

      God bless always.

      Delete
  6. Thank you Victor for being a nut...I mean the kind person that you are. Your thoughts are an amazing and complex series of mazes and avenue's that always lead us on an adventure...thank you.

    God's Blessings Victor 👻

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanx for your kind words, Jan. Love your new emoticon. (Is that what they call it?)

      Yes, my past is full of stories to tell ... or not!!! As for the present ... will anyone give me a present?

      God bless, Jan.

      Delete
    2. Victor, if you get a chance, please visit my blog. I posted a big photo of my Egyptian Queen and something about this painting... Jan

      Delete
    3. Going there right now, as fast as I can run!

      God bless, Jan.

      Delete
  7. Don't know what the ghosts would say to me, but your story sure makes you stop and think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's the general idea.

      God bless, Happyone.

      Delete
  8. I think they'd tell me I'm boring! Oh, and they'd remind me of the pumpkin I took from someones porch and smashed and the yoyo I stole from EJ Korvettes. I still feel bad about those things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I doubt very much that you're boring, JoeH. Not from your blog. As for the other things; I'm sure they're forgiven now you feel sorry about them.

      God bless you, JoeH.

      Delete
  9. Gracious, i know i am not perfect, but i would hope they would say i am growing in sanctification and holiness. Of course, on this side, we never quite arrive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope we too, all of us, are growing in sanctification.

      God bless, Mimi.

      Delete

I PRAY FOR ALL WHO COMMENT HERE.

God bless you.