Don't see ghosts, but I hear them knocking!

My name is Usha Suyin and I’m a character in Elizabeth’s book. At least, that’s what she thinks. But, it’s really the other way around. I’m creating Elizabeth.

I hardly think she knows more about me than I do. Really. I have to tell her everything. After all, I’m fourteen. And on top of that I’m an old soul. My grandmother says so and that translates into I’ve been here before. And that means I know a lot more than Elizabeth.

I see things most people miss or dismiss as unimportant. But, one thing I don’t see are ghosts. Oh, I know they’re there. I feel them. For me, the whole world seems colored with spirits and magic. It’s all there for everyone to experience but most don’t believe.

Take my grandmother’s daily ritual for example. In the late afternoons she will take two bowls of rice to the back porch and in front of a small family altar, she will light incense. Then she will sit, eat and talk with a ghost. The ghost being her dead husband and she will do this as if it was the most normal thing to do. Of course, it is in our family. Ghosts are so a part of our life. I guess it’s not unusual when your family is Chinese.

Every Saturday, my father takes me to visit relatives at the cemetery. Yes, the dead ones. But, you couldn’t tell that by my father. We usually bring something to eat and drink to share with them. I think that’s the only time in the week when I have a can of soda. It was one of my aunt’s favorite drinks. I didn’t know her too well when she was alive but I’m getting to know her as a spirit. One day we had a plate of Chinese dumplings and buns, like Ear, Okole and Manapua. A tall man carrying a bouquet of flowers passed by us and stopped to look at the food we had laid out. He asked my father when our people would show up to eat the food. My father replied, “The same time your people show up to smell the flowers you’re bringing them.”

That’s my life or at least a part of it. I was wondering do you see or believe in spirits?

Love,
Usha