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Detention

‘Are you just going to sit here?’

“Mom, you weren’t welcome when you were alive. I’m not about to bring you in as a ghost.”

‘Fine, be that way.’ Her mom waved a hand dramatically. ‘How’s this?’

A scintillating blizzard blinded Holly for a moment. She found herself on a familiar sofa.

‘Better?’

“No. I don’t want to go to your house, either. Why are you bugging me?”

‘We didn’t really get to talk after you married Frank.’ She produced a tea service.

“And you’re just figuring out that it was on purpose?”

‘At first, I blamed Frank for keeping you occupied.’ She poured a cup of tea for each of them. ‘Eventually, I realized the truth.’

“So, you’re playing hooky from Heaven to come have some closure with me?”

‘Heaven?’ Her mother scoffed as she handed her a cup of tea. ‘I wish.’

“Wait.” Holly took the teacup and saucer. “What are you saying?”

Her mother sighed. ‘Clearly, Ivy got the brains and you got the looks. Think, Holly. What’s the alternative?’

“You mean, you’re in…”

‘Detention. Don’t look so surprised. I’m sure you assumed I’d wind up here.’

Holly looked around the living room she grew up in. It was pristine, as always. Her mother was pointlessly fastidious. Everything was kept in museum condition. “So, where’s the brimstone and pitchforks?”

‘That’s the Supermax facility.’

“Oh, so you’re in the white collar Country Club penitentiary?”

‘You always had a smart mouth, Holly.’

“Is this some kind of parole? Are you near the end of your sentence?”

‘It doesn’t really work like that.’

“Oh, sorry.” Holly finished her tea and set the cup and saucer back on her mother’s trolley. “All things considered, it’s not that bad here.”

‘I’m here by myself, just like I was before I died. Sitting alone in this house, all day, every day. All by myself. How nice does that sound?’

“You brought that on yourself, being such a-”

Her mother slapped her hard across the mouth. ‘Not in my house. It’s bad enough without you making it worse.’

“So, what am I doing here?” Holly rubbed her face angrily. “I didn’t realize-”

‘Detention.’

“Didn’t realize there were visitation rights here.”

‘There usually aren’t, but you had a close call tonight.’

“What do you mean?” Holly jumped up off of the sofa.

‘That man had you in his sights, Holly. If he had pulled the trigger, you’d be taking up residence next door.’

“Next door? What did I do?”

‘Same thing as me.’

“I’m nothing like you, Mom.”

‘Actually, you’re worse. At least, I meant well. I got too caught up in the details and drove both of you away. In the end, all I had was myself. Apparently, that’s all I’ll ever have.’

“What are you saying?” Holly ran to the front door. “I don’t belong here.”

‘No.’ She sipped her tea. ‘Not here. Next door. I have four walls. You’ll probably be able to see in here from your place. You’ll see how miserable and lonely I am and there won’t be a single thing you can do about it. You’ll be miserable and lonely, too. They come up with some interesting ways of punishing people in here.’

“This isn’t real!” Holly grabbed the doorknob and shook it. It was locked. “I’m having a bad dream! That’s all!”

‘Keep your voice down.’ Her mother hissed. ‘I’m not supposed to have visitors. I could only bring you here on a technicality. Be quiet.’

“So what? You’ll get in worse trouble?” Holly stormed over from the door to face her mother. “You deserve Supermax, Mom. I hope they throw you into a flaming bottomless pit for this. For everything you did to Ivy and me.”

‘It doesn’t work like that, Holly. This is what I’ve got. This is all I’m going to have. Trust me. It’s more than enough.’

“So, what? Is this how ghosts get their kicks? You told me I’m coming here when I die so I can live in a panic for the rest of my life?”

‘Yeah, Ivy is the smart one. I should have told her instead.’

“Told her what? What is your point, Mom?”

‘The same thing I told you, Holly. I just wanted the best for you. I still do. Even in this place.’

“What are you saying?”

‘I’m saying you don’t have to come here.’

“Really? If you know how to steer clear, how did you wind up here?”

‘20/20 hindsight, as they say. Don’t worry about that. You need to change direction, Holly.’

“How?”

‘You need to get your head straight and clean up your act.’

“Could you be a bit more vague?”

‘First, get a grip on that temper of yours. Try some anger management therapy.’

“This is just a bad dream, isn’t it? Ivy said that I should see a shrink.”

‘That’s only one piece, Holly. A good therapist will help you deal with the pain you’re in, but you need to reconcile with your family before it’s too late. It almost was tonight.’

“So you said.” Holly poured herself another cup of tea. “What do you mean by reconcile?”

‘There’s bad blood between you and pretty much everyone you know. Most of it is of your own making. That’s why moving next door is going to be so much worse for you.’

“So, what do you propose?” Holly slurped her tea. She knew the noise irritated her mother. “Am I getting three spirits to walk me back to the straight and narrow like Mr. Scrooge?”

‘I propose that you reconcile with your family. You’re not going to see me again, Holly. Not unless you take up residence here permanently. Don’t you want to clear the air before we part company?’

“That’s classically you, Mom. Even in… detention, you can only think about yourself and how you feel.”

‘That’s not true, Holly. I wanted to give you the gift of everything you could be. You were a princess from the time you could stand on your own two feet. I wanted you to live a charmed life.’

“Great job, Mom.”

‘Thanks.’

“I was being facetious.”

‘So was I. You’re being unbearably dense, Holly. Even though I spent all that time, money and effort taking you to all of those pageants, what I really wanted was for you to feel special. I got caught up in the drama. I was so furious that Ivy didn’t want to be part of that. She wanted to be a boring houseplant like Grammy.’

“You don’t get to say that!” Holly slammed her teacup onto her mother’s pristine white carpet. “Grammy was wonderful.”

‘Grammy was senile. I was afraid to leave you with her.’

“She wouldn’t have hurt us, Mom. Not ever.”

‘That’s not what I was worried about. I saw the welts you left on Ivy after you stayed over. I kept you in the pageants to get you away from her. You’re not a good person, Holly. That’s why you’ve got the spot next door. Unless you shape up, you’re going to be in detention, too.’

“Okay, you’ve sold me on therapy. Clearly, I need serious meds and lots of therapy.”

‘That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said. Shame you don’t mean it.’ Her mother poured herself another cup of tea. ‘Just the same, you have to be aware of a problem in order to fix it.’