Free Haunted Tales by Terri Reid

asked.
    “They are wonderful stories that teach lessons,” he said.
“The most well-known was about a race between a tortoise and a hare.”
    “Oh, I know that one,” Clarissa replied with an excited
smile. “I just didn’t know it was a… a sop fable.”
    Aesop’s Fable,” the man replied gently.
    “I’d like to hear you tell us one,” Maggie said. “But we
don’t have much time. My mom has a lot to do today.”
    He nodded. “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done
today,” he said. “You never know what the future will bring.”
    “What does that mean?” Clarissa asked.
    He stepped away from the window and pulled out two of the
chairs at the desk.   “Would you join me
for a few moments?” he asked.
    Clarissa slipped up onto the chair, and Maggie climbed onto
the other. As soon as Clarissa let go of Maggie’s hand, she realized the ghost
disappeared, so she quickly reached over and took Maggie’s’ hand once again.
Once the girls were situated, he sat across from them. “So, you want me to
explain my wise words?” he asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
    Clarissa nodded. “Yes sir,” she said. “If
you don’t mind.”
    “Well, leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today
means that you should not put off your responsibilities, but do them right
away,” he explained.
    Clarissa sighed. “I thought you might have meant something
like that,” she said. “That’s something grownups always say.”
    He chuckled softly. “Well, perhaps we say it because we have
put things off ourselves and then regretted it later.”
    “I can’t wait until I become an adult and then I can tell
kids what to do,” Maggie said. “My mom tells us what to do all the time.”
    “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at
a time,” he said.
    “You talk funny,” Clarissa said.
    He laughed out loud and nodded. “Yes, I do believe I do,” he
agreed, and then he leaned forward. “Can I tell you a secret?”
    They nodded eagerly.
    “When I was a little boy, I had a terrible stutter when I
spoke,” he said. “It took me a long time to learn how to speak properly.”
    Clapping her hands over her mouth, Clarissa was immediately
contrite. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said and then quickly grabbed her friend’s
hand so the ghost would reappear. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
    He smiled at her and shook his head. “But, you didn’t,” he
said. “And neither has anyone else who criticized my speech throughout my
life.”   He winked at her. “Because I knew
my secret, and they didn’t.”
    “Thank you for sharing your secret with us,” Clarissa said.
    He nodded. “Well, of course, secrets are not much fun unless
they’re shared.”
    Maggie’s eyes widened, and she nodded eagerly. “That’s what
I think,” she said. “What good’s a secret if you can’t tell someone?”
    He chuckled. “Well, you just have to be sure to share them
with the right people,” he warned.
    “Are you the right people?” Clarissa asked.
    “I believe you can trust me with your secrets,” he replied.
“And I am all ears.”
    Clarissa looked at the side of his face and nodded. “They
are pretty big,” she acknowledged.
    He chuckled again. “Yes, I’ve been told that, too,” he
replied.
    “Maggie is trying to help me see ghosts,” Clarissa said.
    He sat back in his chair and ran his hand over his beard.
“You don’t say,” he said. “Doesn’t that frighten you?   Most children are afraid of death.”
    “My real mommy was a ghost,” Clarissa explained.   “And now she’s an angel.”
    The man nodded and reached across the desk to enfold the
child’s hand. It felt like a cold puff of air around her hand. “I understand
the pain of losing your mother when you are a child,” he said. “All that I was,
or hoped to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
    “I like you,” Clarissa said. “You’re not scary at all.”
    He stood and bowed to her. “I like you, too,” he said.