Mary Introduces Herself to the Staff

More time passed. The family and employees alike got used to hearing small, unexplained sounds in the house. Some sounds were more obvious such as footsteps on the second floor and the odd slamming door. I recall one day coming in with the groceries to find our employee, Tanya, with her hands in the sink madly washing dishes. I asked how things were going and she nervously turned to me with the warm suds jumping from her shaking hands.

I know you told me about Mary being a ghost and all but I don't think she likes me. Tanya drove her hands back into the hot water and began scrubbing again. She was shaking her head in a way that made the long tendrils of her hair break loose from it's binding and fall to frame her terrified face.

Oh my gosh, Tanya, did you actually get to see her? That is so unfair. I said plunking the groceries down on the baking table. What happened? Tell me everything and don't leave anything out.

Tanya took her hands out of the water and leaned heavily on the counter's edge. The other wet hand went straight for her hip as if to scold a small child.

No, I didn't see her, I don't want to see her, I think that this is scary…and she doesn't like me!

I started laughing (which probably wasn't the best thing to do).What happened?

Tanya stood her full height; enhanced by 4-inch platform shoes, and was two heads taller than me. She explained that Mary had slammed the back kitchen door beside the sink. She then showed me a few times how the door didn't just casually close as if coaxed by the wind.

Besides, Tamara, I don't have any of the other doors open, there is no wind and it just slammed, hard!

I was thrilled. Nothing had happened for months and I feared that Mary had left us. I assured Tanya that Mary wasn't trying to hurt her and that she was simply letting us know that she was still here. I told Tanya about some of the other small happenings that other people had experienced. I also told her that she should be pleased that she got to experience something from the paranormal because it made life more exciting.

Thankfully, Tanya wasn't the only employee graced with Mary's presence. I will forever embrace the look on poor Maura's face. Maura was an organized and persistent student who was in the middle of changing her studies from a psychologist to a nurse practitioner. One day she was keenly waiting for customers to arrive. The salad was made, creams and puddings all set, and warm scones waited on the baking counter. A sound in the front hall entrance immediately set Maura into action. While reaching for menus, she took a quick glance to the front and announced, We have a customer

Moments later she was back in the kitchen, pale-faced and absent of emotion. I know there was someone there - I saw her.

Colour slowly came back to her cheeks as she convinced herself that a woman had been standing in the front hall and must have left quickly (and silently).

I had a pretty good idea about who this had been, and had to ask what the woman was wearing. Maura described a woman wearing a long dark dress with her hair tied up in a tight bun and then stopped and bit her lip.

Like the one in the old picture frame in the front room? I asked with my eyebrows raised. Maura nodded. She couldn't get over how weird she felt. She had checked all around the front room for the person and even looked out the door to see if the woman was walking down the sidewalk. Maura hadn't made the connection until I asked for a description. Cassie, my firstborn who was also working that day, was wiggling her fingers toward each other like a spider quickly creeping up a mirror. She was excited for Maura and nervous at the same time. Much to both of their thanks, nothing more happened that day.

Friday, January 12, 2007, started off hectic. I left the house to attend a networking meeting in Port Elgin along with a few other Paisley business owners. One thing leads to another and before we knew it, a better part of the morning had escaped us. What would our employee, Cathy, think when she arrived for the morning shift? Our van was still in the driveway and I had left no instructions or clues as to where I was. We rolled back into Paisley certain that Cathy would be freaking out with no soup made and no biscuits baking.

While I was still in Port Elgin, Cathy arrived at the tearoom as usual before 10:00 am. After finding the door locked she ran around to the back door and retrieved the key to open the door as I was often upstairs getting ready at that time of day. She returned to the front door and unlocked it. She heard bottles rattling in the back kitchen and called out it's just me and went about getting the front rooms ready for customers by turning on the lights and flipping the sign to open in the front window. Dutifully, she made her way back to the kitchen speculating what the day would bring. She was standing in the middle of the kitchen when she realized she was alone. Cathy searched the back room where the bottles were kept but nobody was there.

She walked towards the gift shop and called out. Tamara?

She was answered with the sound of hard heeled boots walking at the top of the landing on the second floor. She called out again but no answer. Cathy then went to the bottom of the stairs and called up Tamara, is that you?

The footsteps changed to what sounded like slippers padding along the wooden floors. She then decided that I must have been heading for the shower and hadn't heard her calling.

Suddenly the phone rang. It was my daughter, Michelle, looking for her mommy. Cathy told Michelle that she was certain that I was upstairs and went to call me again. No reply. Just as she was telling Michelle how odd it was that I wouldn't answer she realized that it wasn't my footsteps she had heard upstairs.

Cathy confided to Michelle that she was okay and that the ghosts didn't bother her even though she was laughing uneasily on the phone.

I can handle it as long as they are not throwing knives at me or anything, a reference made on Michelle's behalf, but that's another story.

I burst in the front door at 10:17 to find Cathy tidying the kitchen and smiling.

So, you're not upstairs then? She then excitedly told me her story.