Tomorrow's Ghosts Read Online Free Page B

or coffee before you go back to the Rectory? You seem distracted and I don’t want you driving alone down these country lanes when you are upset.”
    For a moment Ursula stares rigidly out through the windscreen. Then, her whole body relaxes and, with the first trace of a smile I’ve seen on her face for the past hour, she replies “Yes, I’d like that.”
    As I set about boiling the kettle and organising some mugs, Ursula slumps down into the chintz armchair and lets out a long sigh.
    I bring her a mug of green tea, set it down beside her and ask “Out with it. What happened back there at John’s place that upset you so much. One moment you were rolling your eyes in amusement as we were being told the true significance of Joey the Clown, a character best known for dragging around a string of sausages while Punch chases him with a slapstick shouting ‘That’s the way to do it.’ Then, the next moment you act like you’ve seen a ghost?”
    “You’ve heard the phrase
Someone has stepped on my grave
?” asks Ursula.
    “You mean the sudden, goose-pimples down the back, shuddery feeling we all get from time to time?”
    She nods. “Yeah, except the sensation I had back there was ten times, if not a hundred-fold worse. I just have this awful premonition that we really are entering the End of Times. That our days, or at least my days, are numbered and we are not going to get out of this alive.” She smiles weakly in my direction and shrugs her shoulders. “I’m sorry, that’s part of the baggage that goes with being a priest. We actually do believe in all that stuff in
The Bible
about Hell, Salvation and the Resurrection.”
    Ursula stares into the middle distance as she sips her tea. When she’s finished, she puts down the empty mug and turns towards me. “Lex, I really don’t want to be alone tonight. Can I stay here? Only...”
    “Only what?” I prompt.
    “Only this isn’t a come-on, I just need someone to hold me.”

4. All Along the Ley-Line
    When I wake the next morning, the other side of the bed is empty and Ursula has gone. I do try to contact her but her phone goes straight to voicemail and she doesn’t answer any of my texts or emails. There again, I recall her mentioning she had a lot of parochial visits to catch up on over the next few days so I think nothing more of it.
    About ten days later, I return home from a shopping trip and am just carrying the groceries from the car to the cottage when I catch sight of the ghost leaning out of the upstairs window. As I approach the porch of the house the ghost waves at me but I pay no notice as I’ve seen it so many times before. But then the ghost calls out my name and that certainly grabs my attention.
    “Well that’s a fine thing Lex! I come out of my way on my only free afternoon of the week to see you and you don’t even acknowledge my existence.”
    I do a double-take and look back up at the window. As I do, something else catches my eye. Hidden on the far side of the cottage, where it is not going to be seen by any passers-by, is Ursula’s pale blue Beetle.
    I let myself into the house and head straight upstairs. My bedroom is empty so it can only mean Ursula is in the haunted front bedroom.
    I open the bedroom door. Ursula is lying on the bed, the duvet pulled up to her throat but, when she sees me, she throws back the covers to reveal she is naked. Well, not completely naked, as she’s still wearing a large silver crucifix on a chain around her neck.
    I join Ursula on the bed. She makes no objection to my presence there. Far from it. She kisses me passionately on the lips and begins to unbutton my shirt. “You know you were the perfect gentleman the other night and made no attempt to take advantage of me. I thank you for that. Besides, it just wouldn’t have been right.”
    “But now?” I ask.
    “But now, stop wasting your breath asking me stupid questions.”
    I take the hint.
    Sometime later, I feel something hard and cold digging