The Ghost of Velasco Water Front.
Bobby’s first day was an adjustment that he did not want. He had to move in with his grandmother that he had rarely visited over the years. He knew no one. Bobby missed his parents and just wanted to go home. He looks around the room at all the other children smiling and acting up in the classroom. Bobby turns to the sound of chalk tapping on the black board.
Mrs. Weller, the 5th grade teacher, begins to speak, “Class, I would like you to meet Bobby Small. His parents are in the military and have been sent overseas. Bobby is from Florida and will be with us for awhile. Boys and girls, welcome Bobby to our class.”
Bobbies, eyes grew big. He wanted to crawl in a hole and hide. He could not believe she said his name in front of the whole class. He looks down in fear. He hears the other children saying, “Hello”. There was no way he was going to look around. His face was beat red.
As the class put their attention back to Mrs.Weller, Bobby feels a tap on his shoulder, causing his whole body to tense up.
“Hey” A boy behind him says in a whisper.
Bobby turns his head to look at him. “You live on Front Street?” the boy asked wide eyes.
“Yes” Bobby answers in curiosity.
“Oh, No! Have you heard the ghost that calls for Mary Flanagan at night?”
Bobby gives the boy a terrified look, “Ghost?...No.” Bobby turns back to listen to the teacher in fear of getting yelled at in front of the class. The day drags on. Bobby pretty much kept to himself throughout the day. No matter how hard he tried he could not get the word, “Ghost” out of his head.
The final school bell rang, releasing the hundreds of hyper children to their routes home. It took Bobby a few minutes to find the door that led to his way home. He stepped out into the hot sun looking toward the water front dam. He only had a few blocks to walk. Bobby just wants to get home and see if there was a call from his mom and dad. Nothing felt right. He missed his old school and friends.
Bobby crossed the busy street at the red light. He sees a few boys from his class in front of the local convenient store. Bobby lowers his head and marches forward, until he hears multiple footsteps running behind him. “Hey wait up!” one of the boys yelp.
Bobby stops and waits for the boy that was sitting behind him in class. “My Name is Jake, this is Brian and Mack.”
Bobby gave a slight smile and introduces himself.
Jake, with his blond hair blowing in the sea breeze says, “We know. Why are you so quiet?”
Bobby shrugs his shoulders.
Brian the brown haired boy says, “So you really live on Front Street?”
Bobby nods his head yes.
“Tell us, have you heard anything strange at night?” says Mack the full faced boy with freckles and auburn hair.
Bobby shakes his head in disbelief and replies, “Why do ya’ll keep asking me about Ghost?”
Mack puts his hand on Bobby’s back, “Well, there is a scary story about Front Street. See there was a fisherman that died a long time ago and comes back every Halloween to walk the docks on the water front looking for his wife Mary Flanagan.”
This shook Bobby up a bit. He had never heard this story. His mom and dad would of never of left him here if this was true. But, was it?
As they got closer to his house the three boys said “goodbye” and headed back toward the convenient store. Mack yells from across the street, “Remember not to say three times, ‘I have seen your bride Mary Flanagan.’ or the ghost of will appear at your window.” They all three started to laugh as they ran off.
Bobby watched them disappear. He was for certain they were just trying to scare him. He did not think they were funny at all. He entered his grandma’s house. The screen door slammed behind him, giving his nerves an extra jump. Looking a little shell shocked he entered the kitchen where his grandma was making a snack for him. She smiles at him, “How was your first day of school?”
Bobby shrugs his shoulders and sits at the round kitchen table in front of the window that faces the water front. Bobby looks out at the shrimp boats.
“Bobby you look sad.”
“No, Grandma. I heard there was a ghost who comes out on the docks and calls for a Mary Flanagan.” he does not look at his grandma he just watches the seagulls sit on light poles along the boardwalk waiting for the left over scrapes they can find.
His grandma laughs with a smile, “Oh, my Bobby that old legend. It changes from time to time. I think they call them ‘Urban legends now.”
Bobby turns to face her, “What is an Urban legend?”
Bobby’ Grandma places a fresh made brownie and a cup of milk on the table in front of him, and continues “Just a story kids tell to scare each other. I have lived here on the docks for over 70 years and I have heard this tale over and over. Even have heard grownup’s say they have seen the fisherman. The truth is Bobby, I have never seen him or heard him.”
Bobby ate his brownie and drank his milk as he watched out the window.
Over the next few weeks the three boys at school kept reminding Bobby of the ghost story, and he was starting to get scared. Even though, he really did not believe it all. Every night when it was dark he would look over his head board that leaned against the window that faced the docks, looking for a ghost. He never saw one. It was beginning to wear on his nerves.
Finally one day at school he got the nerve to raise his hand and ask Mrs. Weller about the ghost of the water front.
Mrs.Weller smiles real big. “Oh, thank you for asking Bobby. I love this old legend. Since it is Halloween tonight this is a great time to tell it.” All the children face her in anticipation of the story. “Well somewhere around the late 1800's a very young couple got married in Ireland. They got a small dowry of money from their family. Larry Flanagan had read in his local paper of Ireland, that he could come to America and make a better life for his young bride. Larry and his young bride Mary moved here to what was then called Velasco and bought a small piece of land on Front Street and built a tiny house. The backdoor faced the river docks. Larry Flanagan purchased a small shrimp boat with what was left of their money, and he kept it right behind the house at the dock. Mary his young bride made pies for the local fisherman. They were all set for their new life. Every day when Larry got home he would get off his boat. He stood on the dock and called for his young bride Mary Flanagan. She would run out the back door with a big smile on her face to greet him.”
All the children leaned forward to listen, not wanting to miss a single word.
Mrs. Weller smiled at them. “Now this is what the legend says.” she leans in closer to the children lowering her voice. “One night in late October as Larry Flanagan was out to sea in his shrimp boat. A mighty storm over took the Gulf of Mexico. The winds picked up and the rain poured hard. Mary stood on the docs under a white scarf, wearing a white cotton dress and apron in her bare feet. Her hand was above her eyes trying to see through the rain down the river. The day seemed to be night. It rained so hard. As each shrimp boat arrived. Mary would run to them and ask if they had seen Larry Flanagan. Each fisherman would shake their head and head home. It got later and later. The storm became fierce. The worst they had ever seen. Mary stood on the docks taking a beating from the rain and winds. Waiting for her husband, Larry Flanagan to arrive.”
Mrs. Weller looked around the room. The children sat quiet and intrigued. That tickled her. “People have said it was such a bad storm that you could not see your hand right in front of your face. The next morning Larry Flanagan’s boat arrived. He stood on the docks calling for his young bride Mary Flanagan. But, she never came out of the house. Larry Flanagan went to his house to see why? She was not there. He went house to house down the water front asking if anyone had seen Mary. The fishermen told Larry they had seen Mary on the docks waiting for him. Larry Flanagan hunted for her. The only thing he ever found of Mary was the white scarf she was wearing. It was down on the water front end on the jagged rocks. He never found Mary. Until the day he died, he walked the water front docks day and night as he called out for the love of his life, Mary Flanagan.”
Bobby raised his hand eagerly.
“Yes, Bobby.”
“Then why do they call him a ghost?”
Mrs. Weller smiles, “That is the Urban legend part. They say on some nights in late October, you can see a fisherman in an old hat and black slicker standing on the docks swinging a kerosene lamp calling to the houses on Front street for his bride Mary Flanagan. They say if you say “I have seen your bride Mary Flanagan three times. He will come to your house to retrieve her.”
All the children, “awe and oooh”
A little boy in the back of the room raises his hand, “What does he look like?”
Mrs. Weller gets a serious face, “Well supposedly very scary. One eye is patched and the other eye the skin is rotted around it, so it sticks out and has large red veins. He has stringy white hair, his lips are rotted off as well as his teeth. His cloths are old and worn. The gloves he wears that Mary made for him are worn off at his bone ridden knuckles. His fingers have long finger nails which he holds his lantern with.” She smiles.
The children move uncomfortable in their chairs as some mumble “gross, ewwwwww, how sick.”
Mrs.Weller smiles. “It is only something people say to scare children at Halloween, so do not fall for it. It is all silly.”
Bobby feels relief for the first time in weeks.
As Bobby lays in bed on his back watching the lights dance on the ceiling from the board walk lights as they hit the water, hoping to the hear the phone ring. It had been a week since his parents called. He wanted to tell them all about tricker treating and the ghost outfit grandma had made him. The sheer curtains would rise and fall with each breath of the wind. Bobby rolls over and looks at the shrimp boats. He could hear them tapping up against the docks. Bobby wondered if he had enough nerve to do it. He shut his eyes and said it three times, “I have seen your bride Mary Flanagan.” His eyes open real fast looking around. Nothing. Nothing at all. Just shrimp boats and the sound of them hitting the docks. He rolled back on his back and laughed. Bobby got up to tell his grandma what a fool he was. As he got to the door the wind picked up and a hard rain fell. Bobby looked back toward the window. The sheer curtains were flopping and tangling in the air as if they were dancing. He thought he could he see someone near the boats. He moves closer to the window. There. A man in black shrimping gear and swinging a lantern. Bobby moves closer to the window to listen to what the man was saying. He puts his ear to the screen.
“Have you seen me young bride Mary Flanagan?” The voice screams
Bobby jumps back not for sure if he really heard it. The man was going up and down the board walk. Repeating something. All the sudden the man stops and looks at him.
Bobby ran and hid down behind the end of his bed hoping the man did not see him. All of the sudden the wind with drew. The rain stops. All was quiet. Bobby laughs at himself. He stood up and looks toward the window. Through the sheer curtain was the scariest face he had ever seen with a lantern next to his rotted eye he says, “Where is me wife Mary Flanagan?”
Bobby screams a blood curtailing scream. His grandma opens the door at full swing. “What Bobby, What is it?”
“Grandma the ghost is real. He is at my window” he yells as he runs to her.
His grandma looks out the window. “Bobby, look nothing is out there, you had a bad dream.”
Bobby looks and all he could see were the shrimp boats bouncing against the board walk and a calm river.
By Lesa Trapp