"There are no ghosts in this world. Save those we make ourselves." - Sherlock Holmes.
If someone were to ask me the question, " do you believe in ghosts?" Instead of offering a YouTube link of captured evidence, a creepy Reddit ghost story or a Facebook group page dedicated to stock piling photos of ghost captures, the only thing I can offer is my personal experience.
Dear Reader,
At twenty two years old, like many at that age, I was extremely irresponsible but only when it came to certain areas of my life. For instance I would go out drinking while I was on call, and show up the following Monday night shift completely hungover. "Make all fair allowance for the mistakes of youth."-Juvenal. On this day I arrived late to work. Arriving late to work, meant you must report to a field supervisor (which is basically my bosses boss). " Mr. Hernandez, so glad you could join us today." as I calmly take a seat, "I'm so sorry, Insert some sorry excuse." I reply. He pulls out a list of absences. "Save it kid, this one has to be a written one!" I hang my head, " yes sir." I acknowledged. He didn't seem to care. "After you sign this, Ill drop you off at the worksite. Your crew is already there."
I learned a lot working for the city but not from the people running the show. Most of the knowledge I obtained was from the old timers, the men with 5 years left to retire. The ones who grew up in the same city they now serve, from gossip to historical facts, trust me when I say I learned a thing or two about a thing or two. Driving in silence which felt like an eternity, we finally arrive at my destination which is considered downtown, the oldest part of the city. The location is in middle of a cul-de-sac, two homes to the right, an old building to the left with a condo style apartment in the back yard of the building. The old building had a construction fence around it, with a large roll-off dumpster on the front yard, the kind used when renovating an old building. My task that day was to help install a new waste water service line. As I stroll to the excavation site in the window of the old building was a man wearing short sleeve coveralls with his arm in the air offering a "hello" type gesture. I politely wave, returning the gesture, and hang my head as I approach my crew, waiting for the ass chewing coming my way, only to hear laughter. I mange to let out, "yeah, yeah let me have it now so we can all finish this stupid day in peace." Trying his best to control his laughter was Mr. M. "Who were you waving at?" he questioned. Turning back to the building and pointing, I grumble, " some worker in the building, he waved at me so I waved back." He laughs again, " there's no one in there..." He trails off about how the crew working on that house doesn't arrive till 10am. I roll my eyes as Mr. M was known for playing games and tricks on fellow employees. "Sure bro, anyways..." and we start our work day.
An hour later at ten o'clock on the dot, the home renovating crew rolls up. " I'll be right back ." M tells me with a wink and heads in the direction of the workers gathering in the front of the old building. As I get ready to leave with a dump truck loaded with asphalt and gravel waste, M signals me to get out of the truck and come talk with him. "What's up bro?" I mumbled. M introduces the foreman of the house. "Hello, I heard you saw someone waving at you in the window." I turn red with embarrassment, "Hey, I believe you," he began "this was an old funeral home owned by the man you saw in the window, he was wearing overalls?" I nod my head and he continues. "You know they say if you see him in the morning it means you will have a stripe of good luck!" Then he lowers his voice. " But if you see him at night, he supposedly follows you home..." he trails off about the legend, offering examples of validity. "So you're saying ill have good luck?" Both M and the foreman laugh at my reply. " Yes, that's what that means, you know, if you believe in stuff like that." he laughs, shakes my hand and pats me on the shoulder. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, we got the job done safety without incident. I clock out that day, and M is waiting for me in the parking lot. "When you gonna see that good luck?" It's six o'clock and the sun is down, its chilling with a wet breeze from the coast. "I have no idea M, maybe someday soon." he laughs at that reply and we end the work day with a ,"later."
I needed fuel for the rest of the work week, so I decided to get it over with and stop at a gas station before I went home to my one bedroom apartment. I'm fueling up and a thought comes to mind. "Good luck." I've never liked to gamble, the way I see it, if I lose money I might as well have ate the cash that I lost. "Good luck." I had a twenty dollar bill in my wallet, I never carrying cash, (that's an entire different story). But today I had that bill from a long weekend, and I was gonna put this good luck theory to the test. The twenty dollar lotto ticket burned a hole in my pocket on the way home. "Good luck." When I got home I wanted my nightly routine lined out before scratching the ticket, so I placed it on the dining table and proceeded with shower, shave, and dinner. With a hot dish consisting of my grandmas left-over cooking from the weekend, I scratch the first number revealing a one hundred dollar sign. "Good luck." The second number, the same. All in all, the numbers revealed five one hundred dollar signs and the game was called Five of Five.
"Good luck." I whispered.
Sincerely Yours,
Timothy.
