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She pointed to the woman beside him and gave him a big thumbs-up. “What?” A man walked by passing right through Mandy. He looked a little startled, took a suspicious glance around, looked behind him not seeing her, then shrugged and went on.

Seeing Ryan’s puzzlement, Mandy pointed at him, then at the woman beside him. She made a big hoop with her arms then made exaggerated kissing motions.

“Oh!” Ryan mouthed a silent ‘thanks’. He resolved right then to use some of his new money to help Mandy… or at least girls like her that were still living. He turned back to the woman who bumped into him. Well she was cute and Mandy seemed to know about these things.

“Something wrong?”

He took a long look at her and grinned. “Something very right, I hope.”


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were now at his disposal—not even counting all the property he owned in New York.

But the one thing he thought he had, that had made him so happy, was now gone forever. He couldn’t just take Mandy’s word about Linda, even though she’d been right about Uncle Al and the money. So the same day the money was transferred to his bank he told Linda that he was giving it all to charity. She’d stalked out in a huff and he probably still had the imprint of her hand on his face. But at least he knew how shallow, or nonexistent, her feelings for him had really been. He grinned. She would be so pissed when she found he lied. But even if everything Linda had said to him had been a big lie, it still left a huge void in his life. He was right back where he started, without anyone.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” The woman who bumped into him was practically breathless from hurrying. She was cute if not the beauty Linda was. She took deep breaths to catch up, catching his eye even more, and seemed torn between continuing on and stopping to apologize. “I’m just really in a hurry.” Then she took another look at him, seeming to like what she saw. “Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so, but…” Ryan almost stumbled into a lamppost. The ghost girl Mandy stood about ten feet away.


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Mandy shrugged. “I just know. The longer I’m here the more things come to me.”
Frustrated and unsure of what to do, he snapped, “Why are you still here? Aren’t ghosts supposed to move on? Sixty years seems like a long time to still be hanging around.”

Instantly he was sorry he’d spoken so harshly. Her eyes filled with tears that ran down her cheeks and soaked into her ragged nightgown as they dripped. She looked so real and so very sad and forlorn. More gently he asked, “Wouldn’t you be happier if you didn’t have to be reminded of a life you can’t have?”

She nodded then whispered, “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“To leave here I have to forgive my Father.” Her tearful blue eyes locked with Ryan’s in an appeal for understanding. “I can’t. Not yet.”

* * *

Ryan pushed through the glass doors of the bank, blinking back the bright sunlight as he moved onto the crowded sidewalk. He felt like whistling and he felt like crying all at the same time. His uncle Albert hadn’t been merely wealthy… he was obscenely rich. 500 million dollars


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estate. And how, if he went through with his rushed marriage plans next week, Ryan would be bilked out of the inherited fortune by Linda before a year had passed. Mandy said Linda had learned about this through a friend with some intermittent psychic abilities.

Stunned, he could only stare at Mandy as she floated up to perch back on the bureau. What she was saying wasn’t fantasy. He did have a rich Uncle Al who lived in New York. He remembered that his Mother used to talk about him once in a while. But… “Why would he leave me money? I’ve never even met the man!”

“Your Mother and he were—close—at one time.”

His Mother and Uncle Al? “You mean…” Mandy’s disapproving look seemed totally out of place on a six year old girl. But, then, she wasn’t really six exactly, he thought, remembering the older woman who represented how much time had passed for her in the ghostly realm. Head spinning, he remembered something else she’d said. “I need to warn him!” The clock numbers on the ceiling told him it was now 8:42. If the heart attack wasn’t supposed to happen until after three he should have plenty of time to call Albert so he could get to a doctor.

“No. There is nothing you can do. It’s his time.”

“How do you know that?”


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“You are trying my patience, young man,” she said icily. “You can have no inkling yet of what this existence is like. I am trying to help you if you will just let me continue.”

Ryan still felt confused and put upon. “Why the little girl act?”

“It is my natural form. When you die like I did, you are forever stuck as you were. This is what I would look like now if my father hadn’t raped me and smothered me with a pillow when I was six.” The matron melted in front of his eyes and the little girl was back in her ragged gown, ghostly tears running down her cheeks. “Please let me help you. It’s the only thing I can do now.”

Ryan couldn’t help it: He put his arms around the little ghost girl and tried to give her a hug. He could feel—something—but he knew it could never be a real hug. She accepted what she could get from it, though, and smiled up at him. “I’m so very sorry.” He took a long breath. “Please continue.”

Before he could interrupt again, Mandy quickly told him a tale of his reclusive tycoon Uncle Albert who lived alone in a Manhattan penthouse. His ninety seven year old heart would cease beating today at 3:35 PM and two days later Ryan would be named sole inheritor of Albert’s


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wall, hitting his head. He sank to his knees, holding his head. By the time he could get up, Mandy was floating out of Linda settling to her feet on the floor. She looked solid as a real person now. “What did you do to her?” he demanded. He flipped on the bright overhead light, yanked off the covers and examined Linda anxiously. The skimpy nightgown she insisted on wearing concealed very little. She looked a little pale but she was breathing regularly and seemed to be sleeping normally. When he turned back to Mandy he was facing an elegant matron in her middle sixties. “Who…”

“We weren’t getting anywhere as we were. I have enough energy to hold this form for a short time. I assure you I did her no permanent injury. I merely borrowed some of her energy so that we could continue our conversation. If you will listen I will finish quickly and it won’t be necessary to do it again.”

“Borrowed energy? As in, you are going to give it back?”

She had the good grace to look embarrassed. “Well no. It is a fact of death that one can no longer sustain oneself by eating, so other means must be resorted to.

“So you are a vampire ghost then, sucking the life out of others so that you may live?”


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He couldn’t help interrupting. “But she’s the best thing that ever happened to me! She’s so beautiful and nice to me. I know she sleeps a lot and she’s not always that good in bed… her attention wanders, you know, lots of people have ADD of some sort these days…”

The little girl floated two feet off the floor and she now had her hand through his vocal cords. His lips were moving but not a word was coming out. Ryan jerked back but she followed along like a balloon tethered to his throat.

“As I was saying, Linda is bad news. She knows you will be very wealthy shortly and… Oh, bother!”

The little girl was fading out rapidly. Her form had nearly obscured the room behind her but now she was becoming a pale shadow. She released his throat and floated out through the closed bathroom door. Ryan opened it and followed close behind.

“Tell me more about getting wealthy…” As he stood watching, the little girl’s feet rose to be even with her head as she floated above the bed. Then she sank slowly down until she disappeared entirely into Linda’s sleeping form.

“Mandy? Linda!” Ryan rushed forward to shake her awake. It was like running full tilt into a trampoline. He bounced off the air, and rebounded backward into the


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She shrugged. “Okay.”

“I’m naked.”

The little ghost girl looked blank for a minute. “I know.”

“Whatever.” Ryan slipped out of bed and quickly into the bathroom closing the door behind him. Maybe she would be gone by the time he got back. He felt blissful relief as his stream splashed noisily into the bowl.

“Men are funny.”

He jerked, splashing an arc on the wall before he could get re-aimed. “You…”

She snickered, and then sobered quickly. “I don’t have a lot of time I can spend here so just do what you need to do and listen. I’m your great aunt and I’d like to keep you from making a terrible mistake.”

“Great aunt! You can’t be more than seven. What mistake?”

Mandy glared at him.

“Sorry. Go ahead, I’m listening.” He felt really silly apologizing to a ghost. Next thing he knew he’d probably be stopping dogs on the street and having extended conversations with them.

“You must not marry this woman Linda. She…”


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Linda one last vigorous shake, not taking his eyes off the little girl. Her feet had now disappeared entirely into the woodwork.

“Jus’ play with it yourself. ‘M sleepy.” Linda rolled away from him onto her back.

“She won’t see me anyway.”

He thought the little girl sounded impatient. What she’d just said didn’t make sense. He didn’t want it to make sense. Then she walked over to him and put her arm through his chest. That was hard to ignore; it felt like cold fog and made it harder to breathe.

“Are you getting it now?”

He didn’t want to say it. “You’re a… ghost.”

“Good!” She smiled at him brightly, removing her arm from his lung. “That was easy, wasn’t it?”

“Uh huh.” He wished it was Monday. He could make a 9AM appointment with Linda’s shrink. He’d been pretty scattered lately with all the wedding preparations but this…

“Now we need to have a talk about Linda.”

“Look, uh… what’s your name?”

“Mandy.”

“Mandy, I’d love to chat with you,” not really but it didn’t look like he had a choice, “but right now I have to use the bathroom.” He waited.



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“How did you get in here?” he choked out, and then hastily threw the covers back over himself.
She thought about it for a minute. “Walked, mostly.”

“I mean, how did you get in the house?” Ryan knew he had locked both doors and it was too cold now for any of the windows to be open.

“Through the door.”

Ryan was about to kick himself for sleep-walking through his nightly rounds when he noticed that, although her bare legs were kicking vigorously, there was no thumping noise as her heels struck the bureau. In fact he thought, with a chill creeping up his spine, it looked like her heels were sinking into the bureau. He watched, fascinated, for a moment.

“Linda. Linda, wake up!” He shook her creamy smooth shoulder. Women should deal with little girls, after all, he thought. Maybe she wouldn’t be too mad when she saw he had good reason to wake her. They would have to figure out where this little girl came from and get her home as soon as possible.

“No. Don’t wake her. We need to talk.”

Her voice had changed. The mature tones seemed totally out of place coming from what appeared to be a six year old girl. It was unquestionably a command. He gave


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Matchmaker
by Don
(copyright 2009)

Ryan yawned and stared bleary-eyed at the time projected on the ceiling in foot-high numbers by the nightstand clock: 3:13 AM. He sighed. The bathroom called—even if it was Saturday and no other earthly reason to get up. Linda’s arm was across his chest and her soft warmth pressed against his nakedness. He patted her pert bottom fondly. He had already risen to the occasion… but he knew that any attempt to rouse her before 10, for any reason, would meet with a chilly reception.

Gently he slid her arm off his chest, threw back the covers, and clicked on the night light. Its feeble single watt of illumination was enough to show his way clearly to the bathroom… and reveal the night-gowned little girl perched across the room on the bureau. She gave him a cheerful wave.


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