Little Lost Ghosts

RDP Sunday: TEMPTATION

Artist Unknown

The front door isn’t locked, the key is rusted under the moldy green welcome mat.

The windows aren’t latched, the curtains hanging in the remaining crusty windows look like cobwebs and when the wind

blows the dust from the panes little chunks of dried out bugs and bleached peach colored  threads drift into the rooms and aimlessly float like little lost ghosts.

 

There’s mail in the mailbox at the end of the drive, some of the mail is addressed to occupant

some it  says above the house number and the street name, the city and the state: ” are

you still alive? “

There’s a swing under the tree and a dog bowl covered with weeds

by the picnic table turned upside down by the walkway out back.

A headless garden gnome and half of a terracotta frog are under a rose bush at the side door.

 The gnome’s head is

eyeless and it’s on the back porch starring up at the porch light, his eyebrows are arched in surprise.

The frog’s legs next to the Gnome’s head are torn and mangled and they are slowly turning to dust. But sometimes, when it rains they twitch. Just a little bit.

Every day I go a little closer to the house.

I know where the key is, I know the door isn’t locked.

And I’ve seen those letters in the mail box, addressed to ” Are You Still Alive “

I know it’s just a matter of time, before I go in.

Faceless

Title: Figures
Creator: Magdalena Abakanowicz
Date Created: 1970s

When people had to wear masks during  the height of the Pandemic, they got creative with the masks.

I’m not talking about the smart asses who wore those stupid covers that didn’t do a damn bit of good, but the ones that had designs and patterns and looked  like  animal muzzles.

It was a way of showing your face without showing your face.

Now that most people aren’t wearing masks anymore, I’ve picked up on something.

When I ride the train to work, or I’m in a crowd of commuters somewhere- I feel faceless and nameless.

A body in a crowd, that’s me.

Magdalena Abakanowicz
“Unrecognized”

It’s a VERY Happy Caturday!

All but one of my cats would have thought this was a fun game and they would have played along.

The one that would not have been amused would have ripped the heads off  the slippers and if he was in a good mood, my feet wouldn’t have been in them at the time.

Is it me or does this cat look like you’re interrupting an important conversation?

Photographer Unknown

My cat Wolfie did this once.

After he wiped out his entire stash of catnip, he never wanted it again.

Cypriano

Everyone in my Mom’s hometown of Honokaʻa , Hawaii knows that the Wapi’o valley is full of ghosts
and nobody knew that better then my Grandfather, Cypriano.

Once upon a time
my Grandpa told me a story about the time
he stopped for a lady walking up the Valley road, late at night.

It wasn’t totally dark because the moon was full and the stars were shinning and the
headlights on his Jeep lit the dirt road up and he could see as he pulled up to her that
she was having trouble walking.

He said he said hello, did she need a ride
and when she looked up at him he saw that her eyes were black, black as the sky if
the were no moon or stars above.

He looked away from her face, he looked down to the ground
because those dark, black eyes of her’s had a life of their own
and he didn’t trust them to not bite or growl at him, he didn’t trust them to stay in her
face.

That’s when he looked down and saw that her feet
were turned around backwards and that he could see her smooth
heels instead of the place where her toes should be.

” If you leave me here, you’ll dream about me for the rest of your life. You’ll see me
every time you close your eyes.”

He dropped his hand to the clutch, he put his Jeep back into drive
and he drove as fast as he could up the broken road
from from the beach on that late dark night.

When he finished I asked him:
Do you see her, I asked him, when you close your eyes?
My Grandfather shook his head and pointed over my shoulder and he said, ” Not
anymore.

Waipio Valley Road

“31 Writing Prompts For January: PRICE

Article: : Hawaii destination Waipio Valley closes indefinitely
From Wikipedia:
In Hawaiian religion, Lua-o-Milu is the land of the dead, ruled by Milu. Entrance to Lua-o-Milu is from the top of a valley wall or sea cliff where the soul departs via a tree. It is reported that each Hawaiian island has at least one leaping place. According to natives of the land, the entrance located in Waipio Valley has since been covered in sand and is now hidden from the sight of upper areas