With a name like Ramsey Growslayte,  Garnet Growslayte’s  Great Grandfather used to say he was either going to become a Funeral Director or a Magician.

Ramsey chose to do both.

At the very end he was  only none of those things.

 

Garnet Growslayte,  went to visit her Grandad Ramsey on the last day of his life.

He had moved his bedroom out to the Greenhouse in the back of his house and in the very middle of his glasshouse was his hospital bed. He was surrounded by his exotic flowers, his herbs and his Bonsai Trees. The floor was a little damp. His quilt was covered with bits and pieces of dried flower petals and a few ladybugs. His breathing was a little rough and Garnet heard little whooshes of air that sounded like water working it’s way down a drain.

There was wooden chair next to his bed and Garnet took a seat. She reached for his hand and he opened his eyes. She looked into them and she flinched. Just a little.

” How are you doing Granddad?” she asked quietly.

” It’s almost time for me to leave. ”

She nodded.

” I called you today, after my visit with the Priest because,  I wanted to tell you about that day. About the day my car went into the river. I wanted to tell you how it changed my life.’

Garnet sat back in her chair. She folded her hands and put them in her lap.

” It was snowing. In April. Can you imagine? But there was a cold snap. It came on pretty fast and when my car hit that turn on Oxford it was covered with ice and me and the hearse and Mr. Brody all ended up in the River. They found us hours later-but by then it was too late you know. Mr. Brody and Ramsey were dead.”

Garnet looked into her Granddad’s eyes- which had been blue and were now a dull yellow with a deep black stripe running sideways in each of his pupils.

” I had been there, in that oak tree for so long Garnet. I was so- lost and when I saw Ramsey’s hearse plunge off the bridge and into the river I sat up there for awhile, because I suppose,  I couldn’t believe my luck. ”

” Luck of the Devil, right Granddad?” Garnet reached back for her Grandfather’s hand and she covered it with hers.

“Ramsey’s blood wasn’t warm when I took possession.. His flesh was cold. But those memories of his. They burned so bright I could see them all the way to where I was in the tree and they were so-” her Granddad closed his eyes ” oh Garnet they were so warm. Those memories were bright- they shimmered like stars Garnet.”

Garnet said, ” I understand.”

” They pulled me out of the car and were they surprised when I  opened my-when I opened Ramsey’s eyes! After a few seconds, they were my eyes and so were all of Ramsey’s memories.”

” Ramsey’s life was easy to slip into after the day at the River- those memories like I said were etched into every fiber of his being. The only thing I couldn’t do were his magic tricks. The timing, you know. I could copy the tricks but my timing was off. Everyone assumed it was because of the accident and I went with that. So I bought the Funeral Home because I couldn’t perform any more from Mr King and  went to work there full time.”

” That’s probably why some of you were good Magicians and some of  you- mine, the ones who were born after Ramsey passed in the River weren’t. That was okay. Felicity was the real talent in the family. Ramsey knew that. She loved that store. She was a lovely woman.”

Garnet sighed. ” It’s the family business, the Magic store, the shows. I really love that store.”

” You have your talents Garnet, you know that.”

Garnet watched a lady bug crawl across her Granddad’s check. ” Am I …you know,  are we- like you.”

One of Ramsey’s blue eyes and his yellow goat’s eyes closed together and when they opened he asked her, ” Would that be so bad Garnet?”

Garnet asked him. ” Did you, before, you know did  you have horns?”

” Wings. I had wings too” he said a little defensively.

” And where you came from- was it was it hot?”

” That’s a myth Garnet. It’s cold there. It’s so cold. ”

Garnet looked up and then she asked, ” am I – you know. Am I like  you.”

She looked  into her  Granddad’s face, straight down into  the face of the man who taught her how to ride a bike and train her dog and to climb trees and bought her comic  books and candy every Friday and took her to carnivals and to the movies and dressed up in a fancy suit for her birthday parties- and she decided it might not be such a bad thing if she turned out to be exactly like him.