The Gift of the Ghost

The Unknown Person

A few minutes later, the dinner was delivered by the same waiter. "Alright, let's say the prayer," mom said. We all bowed our heads as she began, "Dear God, we thank you for this day. May you guide us through our trip to the new house. We love you and continue to follow in your steps each day. Thank you for all the blessings you have given us. In Jesus' name, Amen." We looked up and began eating. As I picked up a fry, I saw the waiter staring at me from the table diagonally across from us. Hmm... I thought. What does this dude want? I gave him a rude look and mouthed at him, "What, stop staring at me." He looked away, he must've read my lips. When he glanced back at me he looked extremely sad. I started to feel guilty. Maybe he's not a psycho, maybe he knows me or something, I thought. We all ate our dinner. I started to feel safer ever since I saw how sad he looked. Thirty minutes passed and the waiter came back to our table. "Well, it looks like the ice cream machine is broken," he says. "Sorry guys, no dessert tonight." "Excuse me for a second," my dad says as he stands up. He grabs the waiters arm and pulls him to the side. I didn't hear their full conversation, but I did hear a few words. "He gave me a" ..... "Well, I don't care" ..... "They did well on the" ...... "Well, I don't think he" ....... "Alright, fine" ... "You need to teach"... "I have for the past"... "And where have you been" ......

Why were they still talking about me? Once again, I got frustrated. But, that one last thing I heard my dad say, "And where have you been," stuck with me. What did he mean by that? Do I know this guy? Dad came back to the table and said, "alright, let's go". The waiter still looked extremely sad. "Bye, you guys, have a nice night," the cashier said to us as we headed out. We got in the car. "Now, what was that," I said to my dad. "You got to explain to me what just happened," I say to him with a strict tone. My dad glared at me in a mad manner. "Fine," he said. "Look, Emma doesn't know this but before she was born. When Brian was three years old, mom didn't live with us. She left for a tour and came back when he was five," he paused. "And then we had you," he said looking at Emma. "The tour was something I had to do. I had no choice. I was a singer when Brian was younger. I quit and retired from singing when Brian was five. That's why I work online," mom said to us. Wow, they couldn't explain this to us before. They wait until I am twelve to tell me this. I mean, I obviously knew that mom was gone until I was five, but I never knew it was for that reason. "I had to move to Canada, but I came back after I had retired," mom adds on. "And, the guy in there," dad says, but pauses. "I don't think I knew him, did I," my mom asks my dad. "You met him once," my dad responds to her. "Well, he's your godfather, Brian," my dad says to me. What? How the heck? "He used to live with us and left once your mom came back." I don't remember him... "How come I don't remember him," I ask. "You were young, he looked a lot different. He knew Emma's name because he knew that I was expecting a daughter. I called him a few days before Emma was born." "Wow, and how did we come across him," I asked. "We stopped at the restaurant when you were still sleeping and I saw him inside, I told mom and Emma that I was going to be back. I went inside and told him that we needed dinner and icecream for dessert. Which was going to be the treat I was talking about. But, he said you mouthed a rude comment at him, so he wasn't going to give us any for free. The ice cream here is very expensive, it costs thirty dollars a pint. It's only expensive because that is the restaurant's signature dish and they make it special." "Wow," I say. "Why don't you want us around him," Emma asked. "It's not good," he says in return. "I used to be best friends with him, we were like brothers. But, you see, he had a son and the son he had wi-," he paused. Mom was looking at him with a frustrated and worried expression. She whispers something to him. "Nevermind," dad says. I started thinking about what he was going to say. I know mom wouldn't have had another kid with anyone. My dad and she have been dating since high school, they are in love. I have no idea. I started thinking about it more and more.