Her mother's words ring in her head that night as she gets ready for bed. She washes her face and all she can think about are those two words, your child, over and over again. They replay in her head like a broken record. She flips off the bathroom light, and heads into her room. She enters her room, and flips on the light. She crawls into bed, and tries to read. She finds herself too tired, and too restless to read. She flips out the light, and attempts to fall asleep. She tosses, and turns for over an hour before sleep finally envelopes her.
She finds herself exiting the house into the backyard. She hears laughing, and the sound of swinging. She moves towards the old, sturdy tree at the corner of the yard. She peeks around the trunk of the tree. She finds a wooden string attached to the branch with nylon rope. The swing blows back and fourth in the wind.
"Casper?" Ingrid calls out.
A little girl jumps out of the tree onto the ground, in front of Ingrid. She smiles, and says, "Boo." She laughs hysterically. Ingrid stares at the girl of seven with long waves of thick hair that stops midway down her back. Her hair is the color of autumn a golden, brown, with the faintest hint of orange.
"Mommy why do you always call me Casper? You know that's not my name."
"One day you'll understand," Ingrid insists.
"One day? You always say that. When will one day be?"
"When you're older," Ingrid answers.
"I am older. I am older than I was yesterday. I am older than I was the last time you told me to wait until I was older."
"Sometimes I think that you're too smart for your own good."
She just smiles back at Ingrid. Ingrid looks past her at the yard full of leaves. She exhales, and studies the little girl's face. A sweet, and ornery looking girl with one of her front teeth missing. A wide smile, and big brown eyes.
"I thought that you were going to rake the leaves."
"I did."
"What happened?"
"I started jumping in the piles, and I couldn't stop."
"I suggest that you get to work if you want to be done by dinnertime."
"I lost the rake in the pile can I just..."
"No."
"But Aunt Wendy said..."
When she comes down the stairs into the kitchen for breakfast she finds that she is the last to arrive. Everyone else is already seated. She takes a seat, and stares blankly at her stack of pancakes. She pushes them towards the center of the table. She looks across the table at her sister. Ingrid furrows her brow.
"Why is everyone being so quiet?" Ingrid turns to Joanna who sits at the head of the table.
"Late night," Wendy fibs.
Ingrid shoots her a look, "You were in bed before I was last night."
Freya passes Wendy something under the table hoping that Ingrid won't notice, but she does.
"What are the two of you doing?"
"Nothing," Wendy shakes her head.
"Something. Why don't the three of you just tell me what's going on?"
Wendy nods, and pulls out the piece of paper that is in her lap. She hands the black and white image to Ingrid.
"Why are the two of you passing this around? Am I missing something?"
"Nope," Freya insists.
"Please just tell me what's going on. I can't take anymore surprises."
Joanna nods, and Freya pushes her chair away from the table. She walks around the table to the other side, she stops next to her sister's chair. She slips the sonogram picture out of her hand.
"What do you see?" Freya queries.
Ingrid looks at the picture, "Casper," she almost smirks.
"Exactly," Freya nods.
Ingrid furrows her brow, and looks up at Freya, who stands next to her.
"What do you mean, exactly?"
Freya points to a part of the picture, "See, Casper."
Ingrid squints to look at the picture. She sees nothing new, or different from the previous day. She turns to her sister.
"I know that you joked and said it was Casper, but last night I dreamed that..."
Freya cuts her off, "There is a shadow."
Ingrid takes the picture from her hands, and examines it again. She shakes her head.
"It can't be a shadow. There is no light in there."
"Exactly," Wendy nods."
"Exactly what? What am I supposed to be seeing?"
"You know what girls, let's clean up these dishes, and let her figure it out on her own," Joanna chimes in.
That night as she lies in bed she tosses and turns trying to figure out what her family was trying to tell her earlier in the day. She flips the light on again, and examines the picture for seemingly the hundredth time. She sees the quote on quote shadow her sister was referring to, but she has no idea what it means. She pulls open the drawer of her bedside stand, and shoves the picture inside. She turns off the lamp, and pulls the covers over her head.
Downstairs the other three women who live in the house sit around the dining room table. Joanna, as per usual sits at the head of the table. Freya sits to her right, and Wendy sits to her left. Wendy, and Freya watch Joanna intently as she shuffles the cards. After what seems like an eternity Joanna deals the cards. She lays them out on the surface of the table. They study the cards carefully. Freya furrows her brow.
"It is the same as the last time you dealt them," she points out.
"Jo," Wendy points to one of the cards.
Joanna shakes her head, "I misread it. I should have seen this before."
"But what does it mean?" Freya quizzes.
"That you were right," Wendy answers.
"What does it mean for Ingrid?"
"I don't know," Joanna shrugs.
"Should we tell her?" Freya wonders.
"No. We'll let her figure it out in her own time."