Free Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 04 - Ghosted by Patricia Rockwell Page B

figure out by default what the remaining word might be, but to no avail.  She stared and stared.  If I stare at it long enough, I’ll surely figure it out!  
    The puzzle squares again suddenly morphed into the face of her dead husband.  Essie froze.  She slammed the clipboard back on her end table. 
    This is weird , she thought.  I don’t think I’m dreaming.  Maybe I should put some water on my face.   Carefully, Essie extracted herself from her recliner and used her walker to rise from the cushion.  She rolled cautiously into her small bathroom where she stared at her face in the mirror.  Everything seemed fine.  She removed her glasses and bent over and turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face, giving herself a nice brisk shiver.
    “ Now, what?” she asked out loud.  “Should I go on to breakfast?  Or dare I take one more try at my puzzle?”  As she continued to stare at her round, pink face in the mirror, she contemplated the possibilities.  People did “see” things from time to time.  They had daydreams—just like real dreams.  It might just be that simple.  Of course, it could be something bad.  She might be going crazy—something she dreaded. 
    She’d often thought that if she started to lose her faculties, she’d rather just not go on.  And so far, she was sharp as a tack.  She had her puzzles to prove that.  And all of the many mysteries that she’d solved at Happy Haven.  If she got physically sick but was still able to think properly, she reasoned, she would be all right.  But , she thought, if I lose my mind, if I start imagining things that aren’t really there, they’d put me in a facility where I wouldn’t have the independence that I do here at Happy Haven.  I just couldn’t stand that .
    She dried off her face and replaced her glasses.  Heading back to the living room, she sat back in the recliner.  Grabbing the clipboard, she carefully lifted her pen and placed it on the unfinished segment of the puzzle.  Checking the clue which said ‘meek’ she suddenly was struck by an answer that fit perfectly into the appropriate squares.  Humble! She quickly wrote the word into the puzzle.  “It’s done!” she said, smiling to herself.  She continued to stare at the completed puzzle.  None of the squares morphed into John’s face.
    It was probably just a fluke , she mused.  I was worried over nothing.  And I completed another puzzle.  Hardly an indication of someone losing her mind!   She rocked back in her recliner and smiled.  Then, glancing down at her watch, she realized that the breakfast hour was passing quickly.  Oh, my!  I’d better get going if I want to get any waffles today!   She pushed down on her footrest and scooted herself out of the chair.  Taking her walker, she drove herself through her front door and down the hallway to the dining hall.
    Seeing other residents, Essie greeted each by name as she usually did every day.  She prided herself on knowing all of the residents and when a new person moved into Happy Haven, Essie would make it her duty to meet them.  Before heading into the dining hall, she stopped at her mailbox.  There were no items in her box on the lower level, but as she was standing up and turning around toward the dining hall, she saw someone heading down the side hall behind the mailboxes towards the kitchen.  She didn’t know the man’s name but she did recognize him as the new resident who had told the wonderful war story at Fright Night. 
    “Now, what’s he doing going back there?” she asked herself.

CHAPTER TEN
     
    “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
                                              ––Albert Einstein
     
    Quickly, Essie rolled her walker down the side hallway following the new resident as he slipped quietly past the kitchen entrance and out the back entrance to Happy Haven.