Whisper continued to get stronger, as each day went by, and by the middle of December, it was evident that my life was changing forever.
Opening doors was now a daily event and one I encouraged, since it was one of the ways I actually knew where she was. The unfortunate part, was now, she had also learned to close them, often very loudly, which was always followed by Ghost and Spirit running to hide and Whisper apologizing.
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"Sorry Will."
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She was also beginning to move more things. First it was books and my records, but now she was getting more adventurous and was attempting larger and heavier items like bowls, plates and even chairs. More often than not, the attempt was followed by the sound of crashing, the cats running to hide and, once again, Whisper apologizing.
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"Sorry Will."
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I quickly bought a large amount of plastic bowls and the such and put them all together in one of the lower cupboards in my kitchen. I informed Whisper that these were her dishes and she could play with them all she wanted, but she was not to touch the glass dishes any more, unless I was there with her.
Picking up all the plastic dishes and putting them away, quickly became the new part of my morning routine.
But at least the doors were now all closed.
All I had to do now was teach her to put the dishes back when she was finished.
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"Sorry, Will."
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Whisper also learned to change channels on the television which immediately prompted me to put security locks on all channels except her children stations and if I did not want to hear the Beatles singing Get Back at 2am, I had to remember to hide the remote to the stereo system.
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"Sorry, Will."
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It was like having a child that was growing up, but in this case, it was an entity that was discovering herself.
The only sad part about it, at least on my part, was that I could not see her.
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There were brief moments when I thought I could see an outline of a little girl, but they were so brief that I was not certain if it was Whisper or just my desire to actually see this little girl, who by now, had completely stolen my heart.
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"Maybe one day I will be able to be seen, Will. But I can see you and that must mean something."
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At least every day, now I would feel the unmistakeable feather touch that always accompanied the fact that she kissed my cheek or sat next to me holding my hand as we watched cartoons.
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As Christmas neared I started to get excited, for the first time in my life. It was to be my first Christmas, in my new home, with my new family. And the first Christmas that I actually looked forward to the celebration.
My ghosts of Christmas past were always accompanied by heavy drinking and my Christmas dinner was usually a pot of Kraft Dinner or some fish and chips I put in the oven.
I was so happy that part of my life was long behind me.
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But my new Christmas was in front of me and quite honestly, I did not have a clue what to do.
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I went to my new best friend, John Maynard and asked him where I could get a tree. I told him that my living room had 20 foot cathedral ceilings so I would need a nice tree.
He patted me on the back, saying, "don't you be frettin' me son. I will look after your tree fer you."
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Of course I took the time in the store to talk to Sheila and freshen up my lovely red cheeks. She always made me blush.
She invited me to Christmas dinner.
I didn't know what to say, as I had no real plans, except to spend the day with Whisper, but I told her that I would certainly think it over seriously and let her know as soon as I could.
I just wanted to run the idea past Whisper.
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I headed off to Corner Brook and bought every conceivable tree decoration that I could find, including outdoor lights for my veranda and wreaths and such.
When I got back home, there was a large Christmas tree waiting for me on the snow, near my veranda.
I got out of my Rav and stared at the huge tree.
"Shit."
How was I going to get it inside the house?
I thought about trying to find someone to help me, but finally, after a Colt and a drink of scotch, I decided that I could do this alone.
After all, I was a man, right?
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An hour later, the tree was finally laying on the floor in my living room.
And so was I.
I was exhausted.
Like a fool, I decided to do it myself.
My first mistake.
I forgot about my frisky little four legged friends.
My second mistake.
After several times having to chase them around the garden, I locked them in the bathroom.
My third mistake.
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It took me almost a half hour to pull the tree through the front door. Once inside it was a lot easier to move, but in the end, I had a floor full of pine needles and cones and even a bird's nest, left over from the summer.
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I let the cats out of the bathroom. Cleaned up all the shredded toilet tissue and vacuumed my floors.
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All through this ordeal, the one thing that kept me going, was Whisper's excited voice.
"A Christmas tree. Are we going to decorate it right away? Can I help decorate it? Where are we going to put it? Can I help? Where did the bird's nest come from? Can we put the bird's nest on the tree?"
And on and on and on.
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Sigh.
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I attached the tree stand to the bottom and managed to get it upright.
My fourth mistake.
I should have kept the cats in the bathroom.
Within minutes, the cats had toppled the tree.
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"Maybe you should tie it to the walls, Will?"
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"Maybe I should get rid of the cats," I muttered.
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"NOOOOOOOOOO," Whisper shrieked.
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I smiled. "Just kidding."
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I got some rope and after attaching two eye hooklets to my wall, I raised the tree agin, cats in bathroom, and tied it off to the two walls.
I tested it to be sure it was cat proof and let the two monsters out of the bathroom.
I cleaned up the shredded toilet paper, again and pulled the both of them out of the tree, again.
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"Are we going to decorate it now, Will?"
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Honestly, all I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew better.
I did not want to make mistake #5.
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I got a stepladder and put on the lights and tree top.
Then it was Whisper's turn. She had little trouble decorating the top half of the 15 foot tree, while I did the bottom half. It was a good thing I bought as much decorations as I did, because we used every single piece to decorate the massive tree.
Spirit and Ghost were no help as anything put anywhere near the floor was a toy.
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When we finished, I turned on the tree lights and turned off the main lights.
I had a huge fire burning in the fireplace.
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"It is beautiful, Will."
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At that moment, against the silhouette of the tree, I could clearly see the image of a little girl. Shoulder length hair and wearing what looked like a nightgown.
"Don't you think it is beautiful?"
As she spoke, she turned, but she faded and I did not see her face.
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"I do sweetie," I smiled. A tear forming in my eye.
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"I don't know what to get you for Christmas, Will."
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Now, my eyes filled with tears.
I just wanted to hug this little girl and let her know how much I loved her.
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The cats, now almost adult size, now, were doing their dance and I heard Whisper laughing.
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"You have already given me the greatest gift you could," I said, softly. I don't think she heard me.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and joined the cats in their little dance.
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A child's laughter filled the air.