Slow Dance in Purgatory

“Why in the world did you marry Roger Carlton, Aunt Irene?” Maggie couldn’t help but ask, shifting the subject away from wayward mothers. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not my business but….it just seems so…”

“Wrong?” Aunt Irene finished quietly. “I thought I loved him. And there was guilt, pressure from my daddy, pressure from Roger’s momma, people’s expectations, and maybe somewhere in all of that I felt like I owed it to him…like maybe if I’d protected him from himself, if I’d had the courage to do the right thing that night, to speak up, he wouldn’t have had the death of those boys on his conscience. And I wouldn’t have had them on mine. I suppose it was a kind of penance.” Aunt Irene’s voice wobbled a little, and she used her napkin to dab the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, Aunt Irene.” Maggie shook her head and rose to wrap her arms around Irene’s thin shoulders.

“There, there, Miss Honeycutt.” Gus patted Aunt Irene’s hand gently. “I think that’s enough storytellin’ for one night. Thank you very much for that fine supper. Come on, Shadrach. Let's see ourselves out.” Shad and Gus rose from the table, and Gus slung his arm around his grandson's thin shoulders as they ambled toward the door.

“Gus?” Maggie called after him, and Gus turned as he reached out toward the doorknob.

“I’m a little...afraid. If a ghost can turn on music and do…other things,” Maggie still hadn’t confessed that she hadn’t actually mopped that long hallway, “then couldn’t he be dangerous? Couldn’t he actually hurt someone?” Like Me? Maggie didn’t say the last part, but her meaning came out loud and clear.

Shad looked up at his grandfather fearfully, and Gus seemed to consider the question for a moment.

“I suppose maybe he could, but that school’s been filled with people for the last fifty years, and he’s never harmed a soul. I don’t think Johnny Kinross is dangerous, Miss Margaret. I think he’s lonely.”





5


“LONELY BOY”

Paul Anka - 1959





She had seen him. The girl Gus had called Margaret – the girl with the long dark hair who looked so much like Irene Honeycutt. The very first time he noticed her she was dancing alone in the room with mirrors. She had seemed so familiar to him, like he had known her long ago in the time before he had become a ghost of himself. His heart had pounded, and he had cried out to her in recognition, only to have her name elude him and the familiarity fade like he had mistaken her for someone else. Maybe it was just her resemblance to Irene, but the impression had nagged at him still.

He had watched her often since. This time, Johnny had been watching her dance down the hallway. She was caught up in the music he played just for her, and she had obviously forgotten that she was supposed to be mopping floors. She moved effortlessly, almost as if she too could float above the floor or transport herself to other places with a thought. He could do those things, but what he wouldn’t give just to dance with her. He had never admitted it to his friends, but he liked to dance. He had swung his momma around the house to Jerry Lee Lewis more times than he could count. But that was before. Now he wasn’t sure he still could.

“Is someone there?” Margaret had called out, and he had realized suddenly that she was talking to him. She had started walking toward him, and he had panicked. His control slipped, making the music blare loudly, and Margaret had screamed and run down the hallway away from him. She had seen him! Euphoria had quickly replaced the panic. Johnny hoped he hadn’t scared her away for good. He had tried to make it up to her by finishing her floors for her. He hadn’t actually mopped. He didn’t have to. He just instructed the floor to be clean. And it was.

It had taken some practice over the years, but eventually Johnny had figured it out. Anything that was physically connected to the school he could control easily - the floors, the ceilings, the wiring, the walls, the lockers, all of it. He could have maintained the school all on his own, but then the school board wouldn’t have needed to employ Gus. He needed Gus. Gus was the only one who knew he existed. So he left enough work for Gus to do. Plus, he didn’t want people getting scared. Scared people didn’t hang around. Scared people might board up the school or worse, tear it down. So he was careful not to be too obvious.