Of Years and Ghosts

Father Time II

Anomalistic, Tropical, Sidereal, Eclipse, Gregorian.

Those are five different systems for calculating a complete year.  Huh. Just one more thing I learned somewhere along the way that I’d completely forgotten until now. Oh, well. I hope you’ll have a delightful year as it goes along, no matter which method you use for counting it out.

Here it is Day Six of 2008 and I’ve already experienced in it a fantastic holiday with Hubs, which was immediately followed by freezing winds, a rain deluge and a power outage that lasted 36 hours and will probably occur again, as the storms here worsen. Just an aside for those who might be interested - we residents of California are plagued by a utility monopoly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, whose upper management is as greedy and inept as the government of any third world country. I mean it. PG&E merits a post in itself. And if I wrote it,  it would be riddled with disgust. Anyway, with such opposing experiences of fun and frustration only five days in, it makes me wonder what kind of a year I’ll be having in its entirety.

2007 for me personally, was a year of adventure in many ways. One thing about it that I liked in particular was discovering VOX. My neighbourhood here is terrific and growing better by the day. Apart from all the intriguing things my neighbours posted and talked about, they even helped me with the development of my new novel. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about and might like to, you’re welcome to have a look at this previous post. )

The responses I received to my questions were unique and thought-provoking. From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone who took the time to write to me. Some neighbours even wrote whole entries of their answers on their own blogs.  (You can see these, too, if you like. I have links to them at the end of this post.)   As a result of  everything that was written,  I was able to flesh out the motivations of my main characters, three of whom happen to be ghosts.

Ghosts by Innontheriver on Flickr

Yeah, that’s right - I’ve gone from zany, sometimes sarcastic non-fiction, to frivolous fiction. After spending three gruelling years on a memoir, Harlot’s Sauce, which is now - at last - in its last editing stage and should (fingers crossed, touch wood,) be published sometime early this year, I decided to write something light-hearted and fun.

And believe it or not, something happened this past October that made me wonder if I should consider the possibility that perhaps…just maybe, mind…ghosts, or spirits, or whatever you want to call them, really do exist.   And if they do exist, they surely exist on the Queen Mary, a ship which is now docked permanently in Long Beach, California and is used as an historic hotel and museum. What I didn’t know when I booked the Queen Mary, was that it's known for its ‘speculative spectre’ population. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

I stayed on the Queen Mary for several days when I attended the California Women’s Conference. I’d been given the exciting task of taking production notes for the film crew of the convention and was very focussed on doing a good job. And when I’m focussed on work, I tell you, I am not thinking about anything else. Especially not the paranormal.  But I received this assignment last minute and there were no other hotels available near the Long Beach Convention Centre. My main concern about the ship was that they didn’t have readily-accessible cell phone or internet service. And considering that I was in Long Beach to work, that was my worry, not whether or not there was a ghost in my cabin. 

Nonetheless, I think there was. Some unusual events took place in my cabin while my mind was on work emails and cell phone reception. Like some of my things ending up in places I hadn’t left them. For example, my reading glasses. I’m sure I left them right next to my contact lens case on the vanity, not on my pillow.  I know that seems like nothing more than a busy woman being forgetful, but you know, I’m very organised when I work. And when I moved my specs back, wondering how they got on my pillow, but still not thinking ‘ghosts’ nor even ‘intruder,’ they somehow were moved right back onto my pillow again within five minutes.

Now, those who read my blog know that peri-menopause and all the symptoms thereof, figure big time in my life these days. So at first, I thought this was all just me being hormonally-challenged and absent-minded as a result. 

Until I heard the giggle. In my cabin. It sounded like a child’s giggle, perhaps a little girl.  And that’s when it occurred to me that there might,…just might, be a spirit and a playful one at that, on board.

Well, after leaving the ship and doing some research on its history, it does turn out that there is- allegedly- a little girl haunting that ship. More research and interviews with several historians and, though I can’t believe I’m writing this- a ghost hunter - taught me all about her. She is, supposedly, one of several dozen ghosts who make their presence known aboard the Queen Mary.

Now, you are an intelligent group, so you can dismiss this as nonsense if you like.  I wouldn’t blame you.  However, being a writer, I just couldn’t let this go. I thought and thought about it:

If ghosts exist, why do they exist? Is it the shop-worn “unfinished business” explanation? I'm thinking, hasn’t everyone got unfinished business when they die? And if that is the explanation, it would have to be exceptional unfinished business, wouldn’t it, to keep someone hanging around after they’re dead? I mean, when they’ve got other worlds waiting, that we’ve been told at least, have more to offer a spirit whose flesh-and-blood body is no longer useable?

From all this contemplation and research, came a plot, which features four women, (all corporeal)  who meet three ghosts. The ghosts seek out these women individually to help them solve a problem each has which is keeping them on this plane, rather than ‘moving on.’  By helping the ghosts, the women solve their own conflicts. I know, I know - this is a very ordinary plot, which is why I had to make my ghosts and other main characters extra-ordinary.

And that’s where my VOX neighbours came in. I asked questions about ghosts and unresolved lost love relationships, etc., and got sad, funny, thoughtful and amazing answers. One neighbour even has photos of ghosts to show me, she says. And another gentleman, Paxton, whose posts are always worthy of note, provided a matchless answer regarding a father-son relationship that gave me the sole motivation for one of my ghosts remaining behind. This ghost is here because he has to get a message to his son, before his son, who is already elderly, dies. Paxton gave me the idea for this motivation when he wrote, “My parents divorced when I was eight, and my father never made any attempt to stay in contact with me. He died of a heart attack when I was 19. It seems a shame, and something I feel some small guilt over, though intellectually I know very well that it was his responsibility, being the adult, to be a father to me, not mine to be a child to him.”

As a parent, this guilty feeling Paxton described tore at me. And I, too, had felt undeserved guilt regarding my own parents when I was a child. So then, what would a loving father do if he realised that by his death, he'd abandoned and inadvertently fostered unwarranted self-reproach in his son? The answer to me was that he would try to somehow get a message of love and approval to his child. However, those who know spirit lore know that ghosts are confined to the areas of their death, therefore, my ghost, who dies on a battleship, can only rely on a living person finding his still alive son and delivering his message. A message which is written in a sixty-year-old diary hidden on board.

The live woman to whom the ghost appears to help him deliver his message, has unresolved issues with her grown son, too. So, you see, they share a bond. The motivation for her actions and decisions came with the help of other answers I received from other neighbours.

The other live characters are all derived from women I’ve had the privilege of knowing in my own life. However, one female in the story  is solely her own inspiration. I’ve based my character, Cynthia, on Mrs. Peel,  a feisty, Brazilian woman who lives in the UK and writes on VOX.  Despite her many challenges, which she candidly shares with all of us, she takes the time to reflect on other neighbours’ lives and has a well of compassion, love and humour that I find remarkable for someone who has so much heartache to bear in her own life. She openly admits she is financially-challenged and suffers from ill-health. Other than offering her friendship and a sympathetic ear, I cannot help her with these trials in real life. But on paper I can.  So for my satisfaction and hers, the Cynthia in my story is, to use two clichés, “healthy as a horse and filthy rich.” She has also all the other marvellous qualities of her real counterpart - she’s warm, intelligent and fun-loving. Her actions in the story move events along to some madcap conclusions. 

And I think that’s all I’m going to write about my new story. It’s on hold anyway, as I finished up the editing for Harlot’s Sauce in the next weeks. Writing for a living, rather than a pastime brings with it accountability. I have a contractual obligation to deliver my memoir in the best shape possible. So that’s what I’ll be working on these first few weeks of 2008. I have to put this new project aside for now, though I am very excited about all my characters who have come alive for me thanks to everyone who helped me. I’ve listed and linked my neighbours here to thank them again:

Absatou
Althea Romeo-Mark
Becky
ButterflyBaby
Crowseer 
Foxsydee

Giuseppina
Grrrace
Icarus
Iniysa
IrishLuckyLass
Laurie
Lightchaser
London Yankee
Paxton 

And thank you also to Michelle Solange who created the beautiful new banner for my VOX blog.

Happy, healthy .prosperous 2008 to all.  Let this be the year all conflicts in the world end. It’s something to hope for, at least and better than the usual New Year resolutions…

Image  of Father Time by http://www.embellishments.us/images/mystical