Cole Swensen
Ghost Stories - Defoe's Story
Ghost Stories - Defoe's Story
It took place in London at the end of the 17th century—a man was spending the evening at home,
thinking often of a friend of his, a woman who was very ill, worrying about her, hoping she would
live, when there was a knock on the door, and she entered, looking fine, thriving in fact, and sat
down in a normal way and began a normal conversation, though she seemed a little more serious
than usual until he began to cry, at which she continued quietly, discussing things of the soul,
aspects of time, and he began to sob, and she continued speaking quietly, as he sobbed and
sobbed, and when he finally looked up she was gone.
This story is not unusual and belongs to a subgenre in which the dead person seems to drop in on
a few old friends on the way out, giving no indication that he or she has died, but stays and
speaks, saying the clear water at the bottom of my hand will make a turn and my hand will go
bottomless like a mirror forgets my face at the slightest glance there was a man standing beside
the clear water pooled in the rock beneath a tree. The bright leaves tore up the light
you would have seen that he was part of the light and asked him to help me climb down