This is a story about an encounter with a ghost. It was a Sunday morning. A very gloomy day. My parents went out somewhere for an important thing, and wouldn’t be back until night. I was left all alone. I have never been left alone in my house before, so I didn’t know what it was like. Well, it seems as if there’s a first time for everything!
The dawn was brisk and sunlit, but it grew darker and darker by the minute. After such a hot day, it was finally going to rain. I became very happy. But sometimes, happiness doesn’t last much longer. The rain began, and I could hear the pitter-patter everywhere. And something else too. Footsteps. It felt odd to me. As if, someone was following me. But I thought I was imagining things because of exhaustion, so I let it go out of my mind. But it was quite impossible to do so, as unusual things began happening to me, like the sounds of doors shutting, spilt water on the floor, and weird things like those which I had never done. Then, when the footsteps grew louder and louder, I slowly turned around and saw a little white ghost with a happy face, but which seemed creepy to me at that time! I screamed as loud as possible! But the ghost consoled me and assured me that she would cause no harm.
I led the ghost into the living room, and that’s when she started telling stories of her early life as Adelaide Schmidt, a little eleven-year-old Jewish girl of Germany. Her stories included funny parts, where we laughed our heads off, and tragic parts, where we cried our hearts out. Let me tell you some parts of her story too.
“I was born in Berlin on 20th May 1930. I had one little brother and an older sister. We lived together happily with mother and father. My brother was very funny, always coming up with some jokes or pranks. My older sister wasn’t whom you might call ‘humorous’ but she was always nice to everyone. ‘Very prim and proper’ as father used to say! My father taught me to speak English, as he loved that language. He was a teacher at a German school. But after Adolf Hitler became the chancellor, he was dismissed from the school for being a Jew. My siblings and I had to go to Jewish schools. Our days became unbearable. All the Jews had to wear yellow stars so that people could identify them as Jews. Jews were even not allowed to ride in cars. And, there were fixed timings for doing everything! We were even not allowed to go to the theatres and pantomimes! I don’t like to talk about it. But I can just say that the Jews were not allowed to do most things.
Things began getting worse. My father died of an illness. Then, we were sent to concentration camps. We weren’t given much to eat there. We had to work hard every day. Suddenly, I caught the flu, and my health deteriorated. That’s when I died.” And there was a slight tremble in her voice. I felt really sad for her.
I began feeling warmed when she was around, so, I asked her why she came here, and she said,
“I have travelled to the most distant parts of the world. But no one seemed to care. Sometimes, they couldn’t feel my presence either. So, I came to you. You are very different from them.” She smiled. “I had almost given up hope. By the way, can you do me a favour?”
I nodded.
“Well, my father loved reading books of different authors – Karl Marx, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, and many more. But those books were burned. So, my father built an underground library! He often used to spend his free time there, and sometimes I used to accompany him. And the library is still there. My father’s biggest wish was to donate these books to poor kids in Germany. I want you to donate these for him by going to Germany! Can you do it?”
I couldn’t believe it! Was my Ghost friend just asking me to go to Germany? I had never gone to a Foreign country before! Oh, I know what to do!
“I am going to tell my parents about going to Germany, Adelaide.” and so I did. And they agreed!
One week later, we took a flight to Berlin. There my parents, Adelaide, and I tried to track down the hidden library. It seemed as if Adelaide’s home was now a bakery. The baker seemed quite nice. We quietly crept into the room where the hidden library door was. And sure enough, it was still there. Thank goodness!
My parents and I couldn’t believe our eyes; we had never seen an underground library before! The next day, some archaeological experts came to inspect the things, and one of them claimed,
“These are truly astonishing! This underground cellar is certainly going to be preserved. And as you said, we are going to donate these books to libraries. Most surprisingly, these books don’t look old at all! The builder of this library must have been careful about all these. Very impressive!” And then he inquired, “But one thing, how did you come to know about it?”
“You see, Sir…” said my father
“It’s very complicated Sir! Extremely hard to explain!” I piped in, and the experts nodded.
And so, all the books were contributed to several libraries in Germany. Adelaide was really happy. And so was I. After all this hard work, we still had time until the date of the flight back home. Thus I said, why not explore some places in Germany? It seemed like an amazing country!
You wouldn’t have believed it earlier, and I wouldn’t have either, that the ghost of whom I was scared at first, actually became my “Best Ghost Friend Ever’! I can never forget her, and all the fun we both had! I am really glad that I encountered such a friend!
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