Free Underbelly by G. Johanson Page A

since 12,” Grey said, looking to Germaine.
    “ I’ll start on a meal straight away,” Shirley said. “You three go through to the sitting room and I’ll call you when it’s ready. It might take a while, James. I’m sorry, but we didn’t know you were coming.”
    “ That’s all right. We’ll join you through there in a second, Dad, we’ll just take our case upstairs first and I’ll show Germaine our room.”
    Abner shook his head. “I’ll take your case up and leave it in your room. You’ve been gone so long we’ve been storing things in there and I’ll have to sort it out,” he said, sounding weary at the prospect, like it was too much of an effort. He heard how crotchety he sounded and he said, “It’s your room, James, and you’re always welcome, but a little bit of notice would have been thoughtful then it would have been sorted already and your mother would have been prepared.”
    “ Abner, it’s a nice surprise!” Shirley said, trying to keep the peace.
    “ We got lucky getting passage so soon and we only found out we were coming back on the morning of the ship’s departure. When I wrote about the wedding I did say we’d be coming over as soon as we could. I appreciate a date would have been better. Sorry,” Grey said, taking umbrage and then backtracking and trying to be agreeable.
    “ I wasn’t looking for an apology,” Abner said, “just some consideration.”
    “ Do you want me to move the stuff?” Grey asked calmly.
    “ You don’t know where it belongs. Sit down with your wife, you must have had a long trip,” Abner said.
    “ We need to get changed anyway – we got caught in a shower before.”
    “ Well just leave the boxes – I’ll come up after,” Abner ordered as he left them to it and returned to the sitting room.
    “ So lovely to see you both,” Shirley said over-excitedly and more than a little skittish, banging her shoulder off the door frame as she walked away from them and into the kitchen.
    Grey led Germaine up to his bedroom and said quietly, “The scary thing is so far this is going better than I expected.” She could tell he was joking and while he had appeared uptight for a moment before, he was now calm. The room was not as cluttered as Abner had made out, with 4 boxes on the floor being the only notable difference from the room he had left behind 18 months ago. He had not been particularly nostalgic for his old life but being back in his room, his sanctuary, certain feelings were triggered.
    “ It’s been fine. Should I offer to give your mother a hand?”
    “ She’ll be all right. I need you to stay with me and help me relax!” Grey said, his intention being to help her relax, noticing how nervous she was. Grey felt a little awkward, but for him it was home once and not wholly uncomfortable while for Germaine it was far more daunting.
    As they undressed and unpacked Grey recounted the full tale of Ollie and Doreen Seddon to her (he had been unable to tell her much with the police able to overhear their conversation). Now that they were married there were few secrets between them (though the grisly tales of some spirits were edited or completely omitted), and he was keen for her to know where his wandering head was at to better understand him. At one time he would have been less candid and thought of this as a betrayal of the confidences of his spirit visitors but Germaine was so compassionate and sympathetic that he had no reservations. She could relate to Ollie’s loss and understood his drastic action and promised Grey that he would be in her prayers.
    While Germaine had little choice but to find something in their suitcase to wear, Grey had a full wardrobe to choose from (and had already found his favourite hat which he had put on) and held a canary yellow shirt in front of his chest and said, “Any idea what I was thinking?”
    “ I’d soon find you in a crowd,” Germaine said, unable to be critical of him even in jest, even when he set