Ghostly Echoes
knowing shake of her head, “Oh, come now, you really are
pathetic, you saw it over my shoulder!”
Alone in her own room Norma tried to control the hot tears
of frustration that forced their way from her closed eyes. Her
small round face creased with misery and her usually sallow skin
became flushed with unhealthy purple patches. She had never
admitted it before but she detested Maud. When had her
resentment soured to dislike, then hate? As a child she’d
accepted Maud’s superior attitude, she was the big sister, going
on dates with boys. She understood, now, but would never forget
Maud’s irritation with her in their teens. Perhaps she had been a
nuisance – eager to be included when not wanted – but no way
did that excuse Maud’s present meanness.
Maud had married in her early twenties but remained at
home because her husband was a soldier serving abroad. He was
killed in the Malayan Emergency and it was Norma’s opinion
that Maud had positively basked in the awful tragedy of her
widowhood, milking the sympathy of friends. Norma suspected
privately that she was relieved! She certainly hadn’t been eager
to marry again. It was years before she wore anything other than
black and stopped dabbing her eyes sadly whenever the subject
came up.
Norma, on the other hand, w