Grave Expectations

“Clunk!” Sounds like Marabella’s mother has arrived. “Am I in trouble again?” The details behind how her mother can make the ghostly journey is complicated, but her appearance seems to herald dire events. “No, it's Sam. Go check on Sam.” Sam, her seventy-year-old neighbor, had been a nice companion for Marabella’s mother before she got sick and in many ways a substitute father.