Tiko the friendly ghost
Friday, Sept. 12, 2003 10:39pm
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It started when she was a baby, about ten months old. I was rocking her to sleep one night and her little blue eyes fixated on the blank wall above my head. I asked her what she was looking at and she said "a baby." A few months later, I began to hear her whispering to herself when I passed her room. If I went in she would immediately stop talking.

Then one night, when she was around a year and a half, she was laying in bed with me and she looked up at the ceiling and said "There is a little boy up there"

She began talking about a little boy more and more often. And to top it all off, my friend Suzie, lived upstairs, and her daughter was talking about a little boy too!

***I should mention that we lived in a reconverted mill that had been built in 1812, so it sort of makes sense that the kids were seeing little kid ghosties, since factories employed children back then!

After that, we moved to another apartment, next door to Mich. One night, after I put her to sleep, I heard her giggling. I yelled at her, and told her to get to sleep. She said "I can't Momma, the ghost is tickling my feet..." This became her favorite excuse for not going to bed.

I thought she was telling tales, until one night, when Mich and I were sitting on the roof, talking with the witchling.

The subject turned to ghosts, and Mich told me a story about one in her apartment. Her boyfriend was laying down taking a nap, and Mich grabbed his foot as she walked past, waking him up.

He yelled "Why did you do that?"

And Mich came out of the kitchen, where she had been making dinner for the past half hour.

That was the first of many encounters with the ghost, and all of which involved feet. I then remembered the witchling's bedtime excuse. I told Mich about it and we decided to ask her what the ghosts name was.

She said "Lewis" right away. We don't know anyone named Lewis, so its very unlikely that she would know that name, and seeing as she was only two, it was kind of surprising.

The biggest surprise though, was Mich's reaction to that name... See that was the name of the old landlord!

I wonder if he had a foot fetish?

Apparently, Mich hasn't heard or felt hide nor hair of Lewis since we moved out. And Hani still sees him occasionally, so I assume he came with us when we moved!

So tonight, a little while ago, I went in to check on her one last time. She was still awake and talking to herself.

"Hani, who are you talking to?"

"I made a new imaginary friend, Momma."

(Now, she has one named Peaches, who has been around for about two years. So this is nothng new)

"Oh really, what's his name?"

"His name is Tiko and he is two years old."

"Tiko huh?" I thought that was kind of a weird name. "What does Tiko look like?" Peaches has purple skin and pink hair, so I was expecting something along those lines.

"He has black hair and his skin is a little darker than mine."

Hmm...

"Is he from around here?"

"He is an Indian Momma, and he is going to sleep in my bed tonight."

"Well, that's nice."

Methinks the child has collected another ghostie!

Artwork © Jessica Galbreth