― Margaret Atwood
I wasn't sure if Nat Cohen really believed I carved Lillian's and my initials into The Boulders a hundred years ago, but he knew I believed it and my sense of adventure was contagious and he readily caught it.
He promised me he'd research the names I gave him and so, for the moment, there was nothing for me to do but go home, go for a jog and spend the evening reading my Jack Finney novel by the fire.
It was late spring but the nights were cool and I appreciated the cozy warmth of my den.
By ten pm I was pleasantly tired and decided to turn in early and call it a night.
As I was getting into bed I heard the tic of rain against the windowpane and the familiar distant sound of a train's air horn somewhere off in the dark.
It would be a good night for sleep and perchance to dream, as Hamlet would say. It might also be another opportunity to be with Lillian in this same village but in a different time.
I fell into a deep sleep and found myself standing with Lillian on a hill at Sleepy Hollow looking down at a steam locomotive approaching.
It was trailing a good head of steam as it clacked over the rails about 40 feet below us.
The ground actually trembled at it passed. It was glorious!
Lillian shouted over the rumble of the engine, "I think this was the same train Uncle Isaac took when he came home from the asylum in Guelph."
"Yeah, Edna was pretty upset about his death," I shouted back.
"You mean his suicide?" she replied. "Don't be afraid to call it what it is, Paul."
"I don't know why Edna is so scared I'll divulge that. I would never reveal a secret that's so damaging to the family."
Lillian wrapped her arms around me and kissed me tenderly on the lips.
"I know you would never hurt anyone, Paul Thickett, and I think even Edna knows that. She's just being controlling but some things can't be concealed forever, especially in West Harbour."
I awoke to the sound of a train's horn in the distance and the blue flare of lightning trembling like moonlight in the room.
Lillian stood again at the foot of my bed gazing at me with such a sad stare it tore my heart.
"What do you want?" I cried out in anguish, tears streaming down my face.
"I want you, Love," she whispered and slowly faded from sight.
I began shaking violently as uncontrollable spasms wracked my body.
I felt ill but somehow managed to get up and sit on the edge of the bed.
It took several minutes for the tremors to subside and when they did I felt cold as death and chilled to the bone.
I stumbled to the closet and found a wool cardigan sweater and put that on over my pyjama top.
I was still shivering so I pulled on some wool track pants and returned to bed, hoping the layers of clothing and bed covers would warm me.
And crouched in a fetal position I lay staring at the lightning outside the window, hoping Lillian's apparition would return again.