Free Ghost Time by Courtney Eldridge Page A

looking at her. And you know what she said? Before I even had a chance to say hello, she goes, I love your hair . That was the very first thing she said to me. Like I walked right into her voice, saying, I love your hair , and I stared at her, agog. Because I was like, You’re the prettiest girl in the whole world and you love my hair? Ohmygod, I love you.
    And then, before I could even say thank you, I realized who she reminded me of. I said, Ohmygod, you know who you look like? I turned to Knox, and I go, You know who she looks like? Melody said, Who? And I said, Brooke Shields in the movie Pretty Baby . Except for the way Melody was dressed. I really don’t mean to be mean, but Melody was wearing this pink knit shirtand velour sweatpants, kind of like Juicy Couture but more like Cheapy Couture, and I was like, What’s up with that? Also, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, like a six-year-old—I didn’t get it at all.
    So I said, If you did your hair, you’d look just her, and she goes, Pretty Baby? I’ve never seen it. We’ll have to rent it, I said, because she’s gorgeous . Your eyebrows are thinner, and your hair’s lighter, but otherwise, you could be twins. I didn’t say it, but I was just like, Wow, I can’t believe she doesn’t know who Brooke Shields is , and she goes, I want to get my hair cut like yours , and I go, You should—you’d look great with a bob. Or maybe with bangs, like Siouxsie Sioux in “Spellbound”? And she smiled and she goes, Who’s that? I looked at Knox, and then I looked back and said, You’re kidding, right? I mean, I’m standing there, thinking, Knox, you dress your teenage daughter like she’s five, and you have someone babysit her, and she doesn’t know who Siouxsie Sioux is? What sort of parent are you? I felt something behind me, and just as I turned, I saw Knox’s jaw drop like a bowling ball.
    All of a sudden, looking at him, it’s like the whole scene replayed from when we got to Knox’s house. I mean, we got there, and we went inside, and he introduced me to his babysitter, who gave me this weird look, like what were we doing together, right? But then she didn’t have time, running out the door, and Knox sighed this heavy sigh, then he said, I’ll take you upstairs to meet Melody. So I followed him upstairs, and their place is nice enough, but it’s not my style at all; it’s very cozy, all these frilly touches, whatever. Anyhow, I followed him upstairs, and Knoxknocked on Melody’s door, and I heard her voice say, Come in , and we walked in, and that’s the first thing I remember: so beautiful, and, I love your hair .
    Then Knox goes, Thea, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Melody, and then he turns to her and says, Mel, this is Thea. I’m working with her—it’s business. And I said, You didn’t need to put it like that. Excuse me, he said, it’s for work. Then I remembered that I hadn’t even acknowledged her, so I said, Thank you, smiling at Melody, and Knox goes, Sorry? I said, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Melody, and he looked at me. I don’t understand, he said, and I go, I said thank you, because she said she liked my hair. That’s when I realized Melody looks exactly like Brooke Shields, and I told her so, then everything stopped moving, and Knox stared at me with his mouth open.
    It was getting weird at that point, and I was losing my patience. It’d been a long, long week, and I didn’t have time to play Who’s on First? So I said, Knox, what did you want me to say? She said she liked my hair, and I said thank you, and Knox looked at her, then he looked at me, and then I saw her, Melody, as she really is. Melody was a different girl than the girl I saw at first, and that girl, the girl he sees, she was sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of her bedroom. Detective Knox’s daughter in a wheelchair.
    The whole thing replays in my head; exact same scene, only not with the perfect girl, with the girl Melody