Jacey's Sight

I have been quiet lately as I have been engaged in some deep thoughts. I still come and read through stories. Think about my own stories, but it's been a while since I sat down to put my stories into words again. Today I felt ready to talk again about Jacey. (Again, not her real name.) When we moved from Louisiana to Utah (my husband was military at the time), Jacey had a couple more experiences before whatever she used to see faded. I would say her ability to "see" whatever is gone. It seemed to disappear right around second grade. There were a couple small things that I keep thinking about.

First, I would pick her up from school (when she was in first grade and I wasn't working at the time) and she would be frantic that we get home so she could use the bathroom. So we had a discussion about why are you not using the bathroom at school. Being a former teacher myself I knew that bathroom time was something I always gave students. I questioned her on it. She told me that there was a problem with getting to the bathroom. There were people in the hallway. I said there are always people in the hallway, walk around them. I knew where the bathrooms were in the school. She said the problem were the people. She said her friend Sophie (not her real name either) did not see the people. The people were in the hall and they always looked at her. She also told me she couldn't play in the field because they were sometimes in the field too, and they were the same people. She said they were women, and they wore long dresses and had hats on. It made me think of pioneers. I did eventually work at that school for seven years. I went and asked the secretary what was the land used for before it was our school. I found out it used to be farm land. Even more interesting the school wasn't supposed to be built where it was. It was actually intended to be built across the road, and a block down closer to the city building. No one knew why it ended up where it did. I would like to say I didn't have any experiences there but I kind of did. When my grandma passed, I started seeing a dark shadow that I hadn't seen before sometimes move across my room when I was alone. I didn't feel anything coming from it, and I referred to it as grandma because she had been a teacher. She was so proud of me becoming a teacher. So sometimes I talked to it. I would say, "Grandma I hope you can give me some strength today because it's going to be a hard day..." I would tell her why it was going to be a hard day. Changing schools, I occasionally saw the shadow in my new room but only when I said a prayer and had included something for grandma.

Back to Jacey - second, we were driving by a cemetery, and this happened more than one time. Jacey from the back of the car says, "mom why are all those people standing there?" We were at a stop light at the time and I said, "People where?" She says, "there" and points to the cemetery. I figured there was a grave side service or people visiting, but saw no one. I told her, "baby, I don't see anyone but that's a cemetery where people are buried when they die." She then said, "Why are they standing by the rocks?" I don't remember replying to her, but I still saw no one. That wasn't the first time she asked me about people by the rocks when driving by a cemetery. Once she said, "Most of the people are by that one rock over there." I never saw anything.

Jacey is older and doesn't seem to see anything anymore. Maybe that's best. I might have one more story about her but have to look through my past stories to see if I have told it before. I do have others as I never did write about my experiences in my Louisiana house.