When I arrived at my friend Pilar's for a visit sometime in the 1980s, the phone rang. It was a woman looking for Pilar and calling herself Helen, and she wouldn't give a last name. Since Pilar was out, I asked if she'd leave a message or number. The caller said she just wanted to say goodbye to Pilar and the kids. When I asked if she was going or moving somewhere, the line was cut off.
When Pilar arrived, I relayed the message. "You know," she replied,"our neighbor's maid Helen died and the body is at the funeral parlor downtown. She got a malignant growth in her uterus after all those abortions."
"That must've been another Helen on the phone, or someone's pulling a prank," I concluded.
A half-hour later, the phone rang again. Pilar answered it and while she was listening, she got this sober and serious look on her face, but did not say a word. "It was Helen, all right," she mumbled."The dead one. She was telling about how she wouldn't be able to be in touch with us anymore in a year from now."
Everyone in the room froze. After a few moments, the housemaid Neneng remarked, "I don't think I'll go to the funeral this Saturday. It will be at Mandaue and the traffic makes it a long trip."
The phone rang a third time and Pilar said, "It's for you, Neng."
On the phone, a goggle-eyed Neneng listened a few seconds and then put it down. She said it was Helen's voice asking her to change her mind and attend the burial. Saturday, Neneng was up early to leave for Mandaue.
This was the only time I had a phone conversation with a ghost. She might have called the others after my visit. This confirms that a spirit hangs around its neighborhood for some time after it leaves its body, and is present at its own funeral as well!
0 comments