Member-only story
Manuela’s Gift: The Trouble with Ghosts
Manuela could see dead people.
This probably wouldn’t be so much of a problem if she could tell the live ones from the dead. And this probably wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the dead weren’t so thoroughly in denial of their current status.
Manuela lived in a small Mexican town, before the country had been forced to redraw its borders. Initially, her mother, Alma, thought Manuela had a vivid imagination and a lot of imaginary friends. That is, until one imaginary friend turned out to be a late aunt who still held a grudge over a lost bracelet.
“Tell her, if she finds my bracelet that she better not sell it!”
Seeing dead people also translated into seeing dead animals, which, again, isn’t problematic when one’s mother encourages the collection of strays who don’t need fed or attention. But it is, when one such animal turned out to be the neighbor’s recently deceased dog.
One afternoon, her neighbor walked into her backyard and informed her that he didn’t appreciate her insensitivity during such a difficult time. She stopped playing with Bonito and stared at the yapping puppy for a minute. She looked back at her neighbor. “You don’t see a dog there?” She dropped the stick she was holding. “Oh. I just thought he was just bad at fetch.”
