Episode summary
Kenneth was absolutely convinced that the garden behind Miss Netherly's house was haunted. Everyone thought it, but he was certain it was true.
T.E.A. Time is hosted by English teacher Tayvin Bayless. Read the full transcript.
Hey there, and welcome to T.E.A. Time with Tayvin Bayless. In today’s episode, I will be reading a story called “The ghost in the garden” by Maren Hansen. This is another great story with a mildly spooky atmosphere. I’m excited to share it with you, so let’s get started.
Kenneth was absolutely convinced that the garden behind Miss Netherly’s house was haunted. Everyone thought it, but he was certain it was true. He was going to prove it. The thought made him shiver with both excitement and dread.
When Kenneth entered the kitchen of the house to eat his breakfast, he overheard Laurence, the butler, and Margaret, the housekeeper, having a whispered conversation in the pantry.
“I saw it again last night,” Laurence said. “Pale as death, coming from the back of the garden. Clear as day, I tell you.”
“You must stop with these foolish stories, Laurence,” Margaret said. “It scares the maids out of their minds. Did you know that Emma refused to rise out of her bed this morning because her nightmares have been so severe?”
“I’m not exaggerating the truth,” Laurence insisted. “It’s real, I tell you. Real as life. It wants something from us.”
“I have no time to worry about what a ghost would want, real or imagined,” said Margaret briskly. “And you should not either.”
Kenneth moved away from the pantry to make sure he was not seen and sat down at the kitchen table. The cook and kitchen maids were busily preparing food for the new day. Molly, a young kitchen maid and his friend, came over to him with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.
“Good morning!” she called with a cheerful smile.
“Laurence saw the ghost again last night,” he told her without preamble.
Molly’s smile turned into a frown. She placed his plate on the table with a firm snap. He knew she thought he was being overly dramatic. “There’s no such thing as ghosts. You’re just making that up.”
Kenneth glanced over his shoulder. “So Laurence is seeing things, is that it?”
Molly flushed. “Laurence is, well…he’s an old man, Ken.”
“But grown ups don’t make up these kinds of things, Molly. I think he’s seen something. And whatever he saw has frightened him.”
“So what?” Molly said, sitting down opposite him.
“I want to see it, too,” said Kenneth, eating his eggs and toast.
Molly pursed her lips. “It’s just so silly!” she exclaimed. “There’s no such thing as ghosts!”
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“I’ll be in the gardens tonight, at midnight,” said Kenneth, standing up. “You can join me if you want to see it for yourself. Unless you’re too scared…” He left the kitchen and Molly scowled after him.
Kenneth spent the day with his father in the gardens. As his father was the chief gardener of Miss Netherly’s gardens, Kenneth spent most of his time there and knew the layout like the veins on the back of his hand. That day, they pruned the bushes near the back of the garden and Kenneth paid special attention to where he was certain Laurence had seen the ghost.
The extensive gardens were bordered by a tall hedge that rose nearly twelve feet in the air. He could just see the tops of the trees of the forest beyond if he craned his neck backwards and squinted. In the back of the garden, there was a door in the hedge wall, a thick wooden door with iron hinges. It was always locked. Being a curious boy, he had attempted to open the door on several occasions, but it never budged. He had also looked through the keyhole to see what was beyond. The forest stretched behind the house for miles and miles, but there seemed something different about the forest that Kenneth glimpsed through the keyhole and the trees that he saw over the hedge. But he never could quite tell what it was that was different.
He was certain that it was here that Laurence had seen the ghost. It was the most mysterious thing about Miss Netherly’s garden. Surely the ghost would be able to tell him more about what lay on the other side of the door!
As he and his father worked through the day, Kenneth plotted out his hiding spot from which to spy the ghost. He found a large lilac bush near the wooden door with low-hanging branches and determined it was perfect. The idea of finding a ghost was exciting to a young boy such as Kenneth. He had no fear of ghosts, though he had never before seen one. His father would think the idea foolish, so he shared none of this with him. There was a part of Kenneth that agreed with Molly. Ghosts couldn’t be real, could they? But the larger part of him argued back. You’ll never know if you don’t try to find it.
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So shortly after midnight, he snuck out of the small cabin that he and his father shared on the edge of the grounds. A lantern under one arm, a thick blanket under the other. When he reached the lilac bush, he arranged his blanket around him and crouched beneath it, waiting for the apparition to appear.
A rustle sounded to his right and he tensed, thinking of the ghost.
“Kenneth, is that you?” Molly’s voice called out of the darkness.
He relaxed. “Over here,” he called back. When she crawled in next to him, he whispered,
“I thought you said ghosts weren’t real.”
“You’re not the only one who’s curious,” she retorted. “Besides, the sooner you prove that this is all in Laurence’s head, the better.”
They huddled together under the blanket for nearly half an hour, not daring to talk. After an hour, however, the excitement began to wear off and his eyes drooped with tiredness. He found he was annoyed. Was the ghost going to appear or not?
Then, as Molly complained that it would be better for them to sleep in their own beds and he was beginning to agree with her, a light appeared in the gloom. They both froze, their breath short and shallow. The light grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the dark flowers and hedges around the back garden door.
A figure turned a corner around a bush and came into view. It was the figure of a young woman, clothed in a simple white dress that radiated white, cold light. Her long dark hair fell around her shoulders, dark as the night around them. As they watched, the young woman stopped and looked at the door that led into the forest. He heard something like crying. He and Molly were frozen to the ground, unable to move, watching the ghostly woman.
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Then she walked away, disappearing into the night as quickly as she appeared. As soon as she was gone, Kenneth and Molly jumped to their feet and ran. They ran all the way through the garden without stopping until they reached the house.
For the next couple of days, Molly refused to talk with Kenneth. He knew she was sulking because he had proved the existence of the ghost. But one important question remained: what did the ghostly woman want? He was determined to find out.
Well, there you have it! Very interesting ending. What do you think the ghost wants, and do you think it’s safe for Kenneth to find out? If you have any questions or comments send me a message through Anchor, on Twitter, or find me on italki and I’ll try to respond as quickly as possible. If you’d like to read along with the audio of this episode, you can find a link to the transcript in the episode description or on my Twitter page. Until next time. Have a wonderful day.
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