Page 24 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

We chatted for ages. We didn’t mention my mother, Ruth’s sister, but my thoughts drifted to her from time to time—or more precisely, to her ghost. Should I tell Aunt Ruth about seeing her or not? Aunt Ruth had always been an open-minded and esoteric thinker. She might be more likely to believe me than anyone else. Would she want to know that her sister was still earthbound?

If I kept quiet, I’d be withholding a secret that would gnaw at me every day.

I made my mind up. In a lull in the conversation, I said, ‘I want to tell you something about Mum.’

‘Oh, yes. Go on.’ Aunt Ruth leaned forward.

‘I don’t know how to say this, Aunt Ruth... but Mum came to visit me. After she was dead. As a ghost, I mean.’

‘Froggy farts. I feared this might happen.’ Aunt Ruth scratched her head.

I jerked back in my seat. ‘You what?’

‘She’s tethered here because she’s got unfinished business.’

‘Um... are you sure? How do you know this?’

Her sharp, intelligent blue eyes fixed on me. Despite being in her late sixties and having recently had a serious accident, my aunt had lost none of her smarts. ‘It’s uncommon knowledge. That is to say, it’s common knowledge for uncommon people.’

She was losing me. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’ll explain it all, Heather. Don’t fret. I told your mother she needed to tell you about all this, but it doesn’t surprise me she never did. She didn’t have the abilities herself, you see. For some unknown reason, she missed out on witchy genes.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Heat rose in my cheeks.

‘And she wouldn’t allow me to talk to you about it, either. She had some idea it would interfere with your life, corrupt you somehow. Maybe she hoped you wouldn’t inherit the abilities and you could live a normal life.’

‘Aunt Ruth, I have no idea what you mean.’

‘In our family, Heather, when women reach their mid or late forties, they undergo a change.’

Ah, now it all made sense. ‘I know, Aunt Ruth. Damned headaches, irritability, hot flashes, sweats, all at unpredictable times. The menopause. Mine came early because of my hysterectomy.’

She chuckled. ‘Yes, I remember those days. But I wasn’t talking about all that stuff.’

‘What, then?’

‘We grow into our witchy powers. It’s slow at first. Seeing your mother in ghost form is probably the first sign that you can perceive the supernatural world. Almost all witches can detect ghosts and other supernatural or paranormal creatures. Did your mother speak to you?’

My jaw dropped wide open. Was my aunt for real, or was she having me on? Not only did she believe me when I’d confessed that I’d seen the ghost of my mother, but she even seemed to expect it, and now she’s telling me it’s only the beginning!

‘She spoke to me, but at first, I couldn’t make out what she was saying. Her words didn’t become clear until later.’

Aunt Ruth nodded. ‘Yes, your emerging witchy radar needed time to zone in to the paranormal.’

‘You’re saying I’m a witch?’ I still couldn’t quite grasp this concept. ‘And you’re a witch too? But Mum wasn’t a witch? Is that right?’

‘Exactly.’

I got to my feet and paced up and down the room. ‘This is a lot to take in.’

‘Of course it is. When I first learned this would happen to me, I ran down to the pond in the paddock and hid in the rushes for an hour, bawling. But I was only six.’ She frowned. ‘Sadly, your mother didn’t tell you all this when you were younger, and that must be the reason she can’t move on. She needs to be sure that you’re going to learn what you need to learn.’

‘And then she won’t be tethered anymore? She’ll be able to go—where?’

Aunt Ruth shrugged. ‘I don’t know where. No one does. Possibly ethereal witches and their family members have a get-together in the afterlife. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it myself if that’s where I’m going. I never enjoyed family get-togethers in this life. Having them for eternity would be torture.’

I agreed. My head spun with a hundred questions about all this. It sounded bizarre, but it explained a lot. How Aunt Ruth had reinvented herself in her forties—which would have been when she came into her own witchy powers—and maybe why my mother had emigrated to New Zealand with her family at that time. She wanted to get me away from her sister’s influence.

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