DAD’S SPIRIT
is the secret of our happy marriage
Iwas sitting on the sofa when my husband, Adam, called in a shaky voice: ‘Vicky, come here, quick!’ Rushing into the kitchen, I thought he was going to apologise for the row we’d just had, but instead he looked totally freaked out.
‘Look behind me,’ he croaked. I did – and jumped in shock. The broom was standing totally upright on its bristles in the middle of the room.
‘I left it propped by the counter and came back to find it like this!’ Adam said.
We both knew it was Adam’s dad, Lenny, messing with us.
He’d died when Adam was 16 but had only begun making his presence known when we’d met in 2016. When we’d moved into our latest house, in Grays, Essex, in November 2019, Lenny had come along, too, but lately things had stepped up a gear.
I hadn’t mentioned anything to our kids but our youngest, Bobby, then two, had already noticed a scary old man in his room. He matched the description of the shadowy figure Adam had seen looking out of one of the windows when he was gardening.
It’s just Adam’s dad, we told ourselves.
But around the time Covid lockdown began it all got a bit sinister. One morning, Adam had just got out of the shower when I noticed a huge scratch on his bum cheeks. ‘How did you get that?’ I asked him.
It certainly hadn’t been me. The previous evening we’d had a tiff after Adam told the kids off for not putting away their colouring-in bits and I’d defended them. We certainly hadn’t felt like getting frisky afterwards, that was for sure!
Then, in January, we were sitting on the sofa arguing. Adam was telling me off for leaving the baby gate open which stopped Bobby from crawling into the kitchen.
‘It was a mistake!’ I snapped – before something made us both stop in our tracks.
‘I can feel burning on my arm!’ Adam said, rolling up his sleeve. Sure enough, there were claw marks on him.
We stared at each other. Lenny wouldn’t do this… surely?
Not long after, Adam bumped into Candice, a medium from our local spiritual centre.
‘Dad was never a violent person,’ Adam told her. ‘Why would he be doing this?’ ‘He’s not trying to hurt you,’ she soothed. ‘He’s trying to get your attention. Is anyone arguing in the house?’
Suddenly it clicked. Lenny was doing all these spooky things to stop us bickering. Like most other couples in lockdown, we’d had the odd tiff because we were under each other’s feet all the time. When things like the broom hadn’t got our attention, he’d resorted to more drastic measures.
I thought back to a reading we’d had a few years earlier in which Lenny came through to remind Adam to take time out in his shed if he felt stressed.
Bless him! Lenny just wanted everyone to live in harmony.
Now we’ve just had a new baby, Poppy, things are more hectic. But we’re making sure we’re on our best behaviour – we’re too scared not to!