A Quite Busy Night

            Aspen studied incessantly.

            Odessa did toddler things.

            And I slept. That is, whenever I could pawn my second child onto my first. I needed to increase my earnings somehow; the junker bed the witch gave me was really making it hard to get in enough rest. I never felt fully satisfied when I woke.

            I’m sure having to take care of unruly ghosts most nights did nothing to help.

            Aspen did an alright job holding down the house while I tried to rest. She continued to clean, while adding most of Odessa’s needs to her chore list.

            The only thing I was really needed for was helping Odessa learn her skills. Aspen tried every now and then, but lacked the experience I had suffered for.

            I split my free time between being home and being at the festival, earning tickets. One was much more preferable than the other.

            On my fourth try, I won an eating contest. It put me over the number of tickets I needed to get my snow cone cart. There were no attendants working for me to place my order with though. What sort of luck was that? Perhaps the witch was trying to make me unhappy. “I wouldn’t waste my time with that.”

            Aspen was still at school, so I gave the hired sitter a break when I returned, dejected. The lousy teen had let a stray cat get into the shed. I was not about to touch it and get mange, so I left the door open, hoping it’d get the hint and leave. Instead, it distracted Odessa while I tried to teach her to use words.

            Aspen came back from school with a friend, so she was no help to me.

           I was a bit surprised when I saw the moderately attractive girl with impressive hair. What was she doing hanging around my daughter? Wouldn’t any hard earned popularity plummet being seen with people that look like us?

            The teen girls promised to look after Odessa when I received an emergency phone call. There was a particularly nasty haunting taking place in a family’s home. It seemed as though the whole neighborhood was present to whine about the ghosties.

            I worked throughout the night on that case. When I’d finally captured the last poltergeist, I received yet another call. This one was from Dr. Allison, announcing that I’d won another award. I placed it by the others when I finally got back to the shed.

            In addition to the award, I kept a collected spirit for old time’s sake. This one buzzed violently with a jealous energy. It reminded me of all the other women my age back when I was something to be proud of.

            All my new things set in place, I retired to bed.

            I didn’t even notice that Odessa had celebrated a birthday that night.