Ways to See a Ghost

nice,” said Cally, going with Isis into the living room.
    “I mean a proper drink!” Dad said, coming from the kitchen holding two cans of lager. “This calls for a celebration.”
    He opened his beer, slurping it. “Is it loaded yet?” he asked me.
    “Ready to go!”
    We all crowded round the screen.
    “Don’t you think the children should go to bed?” Cally asked.
    Dad laughed. “It’s nearly morning anyway.” He play-punched me. “And it’s the holidays, so who cares?”
    I leaned forwards, clicked the mouse, and the film I’d shot started playing on the screen. It looked really good, better than the last time, and I’d filmed right from the start.
    “Look!” Dad paused the film, pointing at one of the lights I’d close-upped. “Do you see how it’s shifting into red? That’ll be the Doppler effect – they’re probably travelling faster than light.” He clicked the computer again, and the film played on.
    “Faster than light?” said Cally.
    Dad nodded. “This is some kind of travel system. Has to be.”
    “That’s a
spaceship?
” said Cally. On screen, the lights were drawing lines, netting up the sky.
    “It doesn’t have to look like the Starship Enterprise,” said Dad, taking a long drink from his can.
    “But, could it be something else?” asked Isis.
    Actually, when I said everyone was talking at once,Isis wasn’t. But that was like her, you know? Especially when Dad was around, so I didn’t think much of it.
    She’d got his attention now though.
    “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice a bit louder. I knew he was getting ready to argue. He argues a lot with people when he gets on to UFOs.
    Isis sort of shrugged.
    “Are you sure it’s a spaceship? It’s just I thought it didn’t… seem like that.”
    I was going to ask what she meant, but I didn’t get a chance because Dad was straight in there.
    “With more experience, you’ll understand. If we go through the other possibilities you’ll see they can all be ruled out. Firstly, the atmospheric conditions were completely wrong for a storm, and it definitely wasn’t lightning. The same applies for earthlights, because those only appear before earthquakes and we haven’t felt the ground shaking! Now, I know some people say crop circles can be caused by small tornados, but what we witnessed was not a tornado, plus it didn’t leave a simple pattern. And it definitely wasn’t hoaxers because we were right there watching…”
    He went banging on like that for ages. Isis didn’t sayanything much, just hunched up as he went on, nodding sometimes, like she was getting told off.
    “So, you see?” he finished eventually. “It has to be alien technology of some kind!”
    I thought Isis would’ve given in then, because that’s what I usually do with Dad, but she really surprised me by saying, “It just didn’t seem like a spaceship to me.”
    “Well, that’s just where you’re wrong…”
    Dad would have given her another lecture, if Cally hadn’t rescued her.
    “Gil.” She put her hand on his arm. “Maybe Isis means there are other aspects to what we saw.”
    It looked for a moment like Dad was going to start on Cally then, but you could see him getting control of himself. It showed how much he liked her, you know? He didn’t tell her she was talking rubbish, he just asked, “What do you mean?”
    Cally smiled. “Well, I know you have all your equipment, and of course things have to be scientifically examined. But there are other ways to test something; I myself sensed a great deal of spiritual energy out in that field. And, after all, aliens are far more enlightened than we are; they probably use spiritual forces in the way we use electricity…”
    Then they really started on about aliens, spirits and all sorts of weird, completely ignoring me and Isis.
    I went over to her. “Do you want something to eat?”
    She nodded, and we both headed for the kitchen, leaving Dad and Cally. It was a good thing too, because they were starting to get all smoochy.
    I made us some toast and peanut butter. We were both hungry, because it was gone five by then, and the last time I’d eaten was at dinner, which was yesterday!
    Isis sat opposite me at the kitchen table. Chewing slowly, looking really tired, with these big purple circles under her eyes.
    “What did you mean?” I asked her. “What you said to my dad.”
    She stopped chewing. “It just didn’t look like a spaceship, that’s all.” And then she