Ghostly Touch

him no harm, but that wasn’t good enough for anyone. Shortly after he became ill, Bella died. She was old and in the natural course of life, death comes to us all. I was the one who discovered her body and went to tell Papa, who notified the doctor.
                  “When the doctor went to look at the body with the undertaker, they found all of her potions and herbs and ran to the sheriff. The whole town was whispering about it behind their fans and some even came right out and said I was responsible for the old woman’s death. A few days later, Edmond died too and that’s all it took. The sheriff came and took your grandmother away to live with my parents, and arrested me on the grounds of witchcraft.
                  “While I was on trial, several more people became ill and began dying and I was blamed for that, too. I sat in that cold, damp jail cell for weeks while the minister came every day to try and get me to confess my sins and repent so my soul would be set free when they hanged me. But I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I wouldn’t admit that I had, so I stood trial.
                  “I was found guilty by everyone in town, except my parents, who were forgiven because I was their only child. I was sentenced to hang and the gallows were built. When they hanged me, something went wrong, or right, I’m not sure which it was, but the rope broke when they released the floor beneath my feet and I landed on the ground unharmed.
                  “You should have seen the crowd run screaming,” Grandma Zula said with a chuckle. “So I was arrested again and tried again, this time for conjuring spirits to release the rope and I was sentenced to drowning. They bound my ankles together, with my hands behind my back and put a gunnysack over my head. Then they led me into the river and tied rocks to my body and when they dropped them into the water, I went down with them.
                  “I was terrified and thought I would truly drown, but for some reason I was able to free my hands and then I simply untied the rope around my waist and came floating to the surface, gasping for breath.
                  “Again, I was thrown in jail and tried once more, this time I was sentenced to burn as a witch and the pyre was built. I was tied to the main post and the whole thing was ignited. There was nothing I could do. I screamed as the heat licked at my feet and my skirts caught fire. The smoke was black and thick. I couldn’t breathe and began to choke.
                  “I was thankful though, because I knew dying from smoke inhalation was preferable to dying from the flames. I inhaled as much as I could and began to feel dizzy. Just I was about to pass out, I saw Connor. He walked toward me with his hand out and smiled. I raised my hand and the ropes no longer held me.  I put my hand in his and stepped from the pyre. When I looked back I saw myself slumped over just as the flames engulfed me.”
                  “Oh, Grandmother,” Zula cried. “How awful. I’m so sorry.”
                  “There now. I’m not telling you this so you can cry for me. Wipe those tears. I’m telling you this because I want you to be happy.
                  “I found out on the night Connor sent me away he’d been threatened by my father and the sheriff. He could either send me away or they would kill him, so he sent me away. He planned to come back later to take me far away, so we could be together. Instead, they laid a trap for him and watched everywhere he went until they found him near here. He had left his horse at our spot and came on foot to get me. When they caught, they beat him to death and dumped his body down the old mining shaft outside of town.
                  “Then they cleaned out his things, sold his horse, and my father told me he accepted one hundred dollars in exchange for leaving me alone. I believed him of course, and that’s why I reluctantly agreed to marry Edmond.
                  “Don’t get me wrong, being married to Edmond gave me a beautiful daughter, a beautiful granddaughter and you, Zula. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
                  “But you didn’t get to watch your daughter grow up or see your granddaughter.”
                  “Yes, I did. I’ve been with all of you, and now I’m here for you,