Star: We live in a home that has a lot of spirit activity. But I think my mum’s spirit is the most active of all. Mum passed over a year ago, but she’s always around. In fact, in a romantic-yet-ghostly way, she proves she is.
Duck: If you, like me, are ducking freaked out by spirit activity, you might think twice before pointing your beak-holes at the rest of this post. Star says the following is a sign of their mum’s love. I say it’s more The Conjuring than it is Sarah Waters’ Affinity. Which, by the way, is a brilliantly spooky romance novel that I can only read if I’m on Star’s lap.
Star: Affinity is brilliant.
Duck: And spooky. And romantic. On with the story!
Star: Now, the first thing you need to know about my mum is that she struggled with schizophrenia—to such an extent, in fact, that she believed people controlled her mind. Even when I was a child, she was vehement about the mind control she was experiencing, which she believed—and this is the important bit—was often caused through electrical equipment and the TV.
Anyway, a few months ago, I found myself chatting to Mum inside my mind. I said, “Mum, even though you’ve passed, I feel like I experience you all the time. Can you prove to me, this week, in a really clear way, that you’re here?”
Duck: Never ask this, good people, unless you’re prepared to stay out of the bedroom forever.
Star: Is it still that scary?
Duck: It chills me from beak to flippers. But don’t stop with the story!
Star: *passes Duck his blankie* Well, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Jake and I lost the bedroom TV remote. I mean, we really lost it. This honestly made no sense because we always put it back in the same place. How could it be elsewhere? We searched under the bed, between the pillows, behind the mattress, and even in drawers where we would never think to put it. Nothing. It seemed to have completely disappeared.
It was only when Jake was changing our sheets that the remote finally turned up. He’d stripped right down to the fitted sheet, which on our bed fits very tightly over the mattress. I was in the kitchen at the time, and I heard him cuss in amazement. When I went in, he’d half peeled back the fitted sheet and was pointing at a spot on our bare mattress where the remote was lying perfectly straight, pointing towards the TV. “It was here!” he cried. “The sheet was stretched right over it. How could it possibly have gotten here?“
Duck: The only thing it wouldn’t be spooky to find arranged like this under a fitted sheet would be a duck. Or possibly a pondweed sandwich.
Star: This is one of hundreds of strange and spooky things that have happened in our home over the past year. But of all of them, it’s the most extraordinary. I mean, we’re used to unusual phenomena—strange dark shadows wandering through our kitchen; the TV turning on the middle of the night and playing Agatha Christie’s Poirot, which Dad and I used to watch together when he was alive; toothbrushes jumping out of the mug into the sink while I’m a meter away; a loud whispered gasp of “Ow!” that Jake and I attributed to each other before discovering neither of us gasped. (He was chopping onions at the time, but he had not cut himself.)
Duck: It wasn’t me! I only quacker-gasp, and that’s a very distinctive noise.
Star: But of all the curious things, the remote-tucked-under-the-fitted-sheet incident is perhaps the strangest. I can only say that I believe Mum gave me exactly what I’d asked her for—a super-clear sign that she, in her TV-obsessed way, is always around, always here. For me, that’s what makes this the opposite of spooky—kind of romantic, in a way. (I admit it was spooky until I thought it through!) My mum, who didn’t seem to love me much when she was alive, now proves her presence—and also her love—by arranging remotes under fitted sheets.
Duck: Will you please tell your Mum that when it comes to “signs of her love,” chocolate cake works just as well, if not better?
Anyway, Star, yours truly, a duck who likes to file things correctly, is wondering why this spooky post is part of our ducking romance blog?
Star: Well, I’ve decided to get a little more personal on RomanceyPants. We’re still going to gab about romance stories, films, and shows, but we’re also going to share experiences from our romantic lives.
Duck: Will there be more posts about spirit activity?
Star: Definitely. But I promise I’ll warn you, honey.
Duck: In that case, I’m going to reread Affinity. Just to flex my muscles, you know?
Featured image created by Star Tavares using Canva.
Romancey Pants 