Monday 4/22/24
I think my niece Amelia does not know that I am her uncle.
She has two uncles. The other one is uncle Chris. He has a baby whom Amelia refers to as baby Eloise, like a title. She often pretends to be baby Eloise, and does this weird disembodied voice thing. It's very creepy.
I might be a bit uncommon as an uncle because I talk to Amelia over FaceTime pretty regularly. Do other uncles do that? I think probably not. But I like her.
Anyway, I was told that she made some comment the other day about her uncle, and she didn't specify who, like she only has one. I guess she'd done it a bit. She meant uncle Chris.
My mom said something like, "What about your other uncle?" and this seemed to confuse Amelia. Then my mom asked, "What's Colin?" and Amelia answered her, with this tone as if my mother was a dumbass, by saying, "He's my buddy." Duh.
I think she thinks I'm her friend who lives in Boston. Making matters more confusing, this is where her other uncle lives, too.
I'm actually going to be writing a story about a little ghost girl. It's not just a thing I frighten Amelia with. I'm doing something else. But in the meanwhile I'm having a little fun with her.
She was freaking out the other day over the last installment. I must admit, it amused me. I told my mom to tell Amelia that I was passing by the old school the night before when I heard the piteous moans of the little ghost girl. I looked up in the window and saw her floating there. She asked when Amelia was coming to play with her, and I said August, I think, and she let out some more piteous moans and said that was too long to wait, so I gave her Amelia's address in Illinois--and I actually included the address in the tale/message for believability--so she could visit and to check at Grammie's if Amelia wasn't home because she was over there a lot, too.
I was surprised my mother actually conveyed this message and, what's more, did so faithfully. (That's kind of messed up, right?) At first, Amelia talked all tough. "He's just being silly." But she kept bringing it up throughout the day. They went out to lunch and were coming back to my mom's and as they're getting close Amelia starts asking if the little ghost girl has this address as well.
My mom was like, "He's just joking with you, he's only teasing you," but Amelia doesn't think that's true.
How did all of this start? I was coming home from a Christmas concert at Harvard last year and was talking to Amelia on FaceTime, and she knew I was walking past a school on my street. I told her this silly thing about hearing a ghost (it was a foggy night and everything), and how there was a girl who had been trapped inside one Christmas after everyone left, and now her ghost haunts the hallways, and Amelia was like, "Go check."
I said I can't, I'm scared, and she wouldn't accept that. "I wait." Little wise ass. She was willing to sacrifice me in the name of psychical research. And thus began the ongoing story/saga of the little ghost girl.
