Tales to Tell

Tales to Tell

         “Ooooooh.”
         “Quit it.”
         “Ooooooh.”
         “I'm telling you, stop it. You don't scare me.”
         “Why aren't you scared?”
         “You're a ghost. So what, we'll all be ghosts someday.”
         “I'm not just any ghost. I'm THE ghost.”
         “What do you mean THE ghost?”
         “The Gray Ghost.”
         “The Gray Ghost? … John Singleton Mosby? … Of course, I should have figured.”
         “You are in my house.”
         “You're sure right about that. 173 Main Street, Warrenton, Virginia, is certainly your house. There's even a sign out front that says so.”
         “Why are you here? I want you out!”
         “The Virginia Historical Society bought this house, you know.”
         “I care not what it says on paper. This is my house.”
         “Now John, you were a lawyer. You know about property deeds and all that stuff.”
         “Yes. I guess so. But it's still my house, and I intend to stay here.”
         “Listen, you should consider yourself lucky. The house could have gone to some developer who would have knocked it down and put up some cheap apartments.”
         “That would have been terrible.”
         “Anyway, the historical society needs to make a few bucks to cover costs. So, they decided to open the house to tourists for a modest admission price.”
         “What are tourists?”
         “People on vacation who travel around visiting places from history to learn about what happened in the past.”
         “You mean like the pyramids and my house?”
         “That's a stretch, but the right idea.”
         “None of this explains why you are here at night.”
         “Oh, yeah. Well these historic buildings need someone to guide the tourists around and tell them about the place, so the historic society hired me for that job and gave me this upstairs bedroom as part of my pay. Tours start tomorrow.”
         “You mean you’re going to be here every night?”
         “Except on my day off.”
         “Good grief.”
         “John, this will be great. Every night you can tell me about the exploits of your 43^rd Virginia Cavalry, and the next day I can tell the tales to the visitors.”
         “That would be a new and different way to get history straight.”
         “Not many people know that you worked for President Grant after the war.”
         “Everyone around here sure knew it. My life was hell.”
         “Say, do any of your rangers come to visit you?”
         “Once in a while one or two stop by for a visit.”
         “Do they have tales to tell?”
         “Oh yes. When they get started, there's no stopping them. I have to throw them out at dawn.”
         “John, did I tell you how great this is going to be.”
         “Do you snore?”

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Word Count: 434