Several weeks after meeting the J Crew, we’d settled into a rhythm. The three of us (myself, Annie, and our son Storm–not his real name, but it sounds good) would go to school. Annie and I were teachers at Storm’s high school, where he was a senior. Each day, we’d turn on the bedroom television for the ghosts to have something to do during the day. At first, we alternated between Disney Channel (Little Miss P’s preference) and Nickelodeon (the other kids’ preference), but eventually, the older kids gave up and said “Just let her watch Disney”.
When we arrived home one day, I got the image of a fist bump in my head. I asked, and M confirmed that he was asking if we could do a fist bump.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…”How the heck do you fist bump a GHOST, Ben?” Turns out…pretty easily.
After a few minutes of images in my head, and my seeking clarification via yes/no questions, I figured out that the 5 kids were the ones interested in fist bumps. The parents were more of an “Eh. Whatever” attitude. They were just happy watching their kids be happy.
Eventually, we settled on a process. I would raise both fists and turn my body until the ghosts told me where to stop. I would then do the “down, up, front bump” method. We alternated whether the girls or boys went first. Sometimes, the boys would go first for a few days in a row, and sometimes the girls would go first for a while. There never seemed to be any kind of concern about whose “turn” it was.
I first fist bumped the boys, fist bump the girls, and then leaned down and turn to face Little Miss P. She, it turned out, didn’t want fist bumps. She wanted high-fives, like she’d seen on one of the Disney shows. I suggested the “down, up, front”, but with open palms, and she liked it, so we settled on that.
This became our daily routine. As soon as I put my stuff down, I’d feel the rush of energy that indicated several ghosts moving at once. We usually met in our closet, because it was large enough for me to move around, but small enough for me to not have to roam around trying to find them.
One day, I didn’t immediately do fist bumps. I don’t remember why; my back was hurting or something. I was sitting on the chair in our room, getting my shoes off, when my Apple Watch suddenly started playing music from Apple Music. It was a rap song of some kind, which I never listen to. Besides, I’d been playing the Grease soundtrack on the drive home, so there was no reason to jump to a random rap song.
I grabbed my iPhone and looked at the screen, which was unlocked. The song was called “Get up”, or something very close to that. Annie laughed.
“You didn’t do fist bumps,” she reminded me. “Sounds like somebody is trying to get your attention!”
I asked, and it turned out that M had somehow unlocked my iPhone, gotten into Apple Music, and made that particular song play. I still don’t know how he did it, but that was the moment I realized that M was obsessed with technology and was definitely a really, really smart cookie.
I stopped the song and did the fist bumps, praising M for his cleverness. (That was the first of many times M has proven to be smarter than many adults I’ve met.)
It wasn’t too long after that when M figured out how to harness their energy and tap on the windows. The spirits had already been doing that, but the ghosts hadn’t been able to yet. M, naturally, figured it out.
You ever hear a loud crack or knock on your window, like a tree branch hit it, but that’s not possible? And you dismissed it as “just the house”? Which, to be fair, it can be…but even more often, that is a spirit or ghost trying to get your attention.
M figured out how to tap the windows first, and quickly progressed to the deeper, inside-the-wall thud that sounds like somebody is hitting the wall with a hammer from the inside.
Intrigued, Annie printed out the Morse Code alphabet and hung it up in their little area. They were eager to see if they could pull it off…but that’s another story.