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This Story is Copyrighted, if in doubt, please read COPYRIGHTS section at TALESetc.com A Change of View by Freda Grieve
The parcel arrived on the day that Kim was coming to stay for a short holiday. A long, wide, flat shape marked 'Fragile' and addressed to Emma. Inside the parcel was a painting of an old house. "Emma it is this house, before it was converted into our Guest House" Her mother had taken the picture and was gazing at it with interest "The old house painted many years ago. There is another wing in the picture and smooth lawns. A girl in a white dress intent on painting. She seems to be about my age" Emma smiled and started searching the wrappings for a note, or a card, but there was nothing else inside the mysterious parcel. "Somebody must have found the picture clearing out a loft, or moving house and recognised it as an old painting of Laurel Guest House. Do wish they had included a note." "Can I put it up in the room Kim is having?" "Might as well. There was only one elderly visitor this month. The residents lounge doesn't need any new pictures. It needs a few more guests!" Kim hardly gave the picture a second glance when she arrived, and it was not till two days after she had settled in that she made a strange remark. "Emma that girl in the white dress has gone from the picture in my room." "She can't have!" "I thought the painting was a bit boring. I like pictures with something happening. Then this morning, when the sun came streaming in the window I opened the curtains and on turning back to the room, I saw something had happened in the picture. The girl had left." "Always ready for a laugh aren't you?" Emma glared at her friend. "The Guest House is a worry, for Mum and Dad, without making mysteries." "Sorry I mentioned it!" "It must have been a trick of the light. I'll come and look." "You might as well. Only way you'll believe me, is to see for yourself." Emma stared at the picture in amazement. "She's gone! What have you done?" "Nothing!" "Did she fade out in strong sun?" "The grass is still green and the chair she was sitting on is still there. The girl has taken her painting and walked!" " We've got to get her back into the picture where she belongs. I don't want her gliding around here doing a bit of haunting in her spare time." "We'd better go round to the back of the house that is painted in the picture." "We'll not find her on any lawn. It is all fruit and vegetable allotment now." "What about the side building, jutting out in the picture?" "Only a ruin, as nothing has been done to it in years." "Could be a good place to start if you wanted to haunt." " The last thing needed around here is a girl, bored with painting on the lawn, stepping out of the beginning of last century, into the beginning of this one." "We must find her!" "The old ruin is the most likely place to look." The girl was standing in the grassy, overgrown centre of the ruin holding her painting and looking upset. "I am tired of the same old view" "I hope you are going to be sensible and not take this the wrong way. Kim and I need to put you back in the picture." Emma, with a bright-determined smile, stood a few yards from the sad ghost. "The problem is that this is a modern guest house and my parents haven't mentioned a ghost on the brochure." " Scary and upsetting for nervous people seeking a quiet holiday." Kim thought that this problem was all her fault, for seeing the scene in the picture as boring so she had to come up with something positive to put matters right. "Emma has just had her latest photos developed. How would you like it if she gave you her prints to take back. You could sit on that lawn with your painting, and our modern-day views, and enjoy a glimpse of our time. The girl smiled. "I would like that very much." A surging feeling of relief swept through the friends as they raced back to find the prints and place them near the picture in Kim's room. "She'll walk back into the frame now that we've promised her a peep into the future." The mysterious parcel was altered from that day. Emma and Kim hoped that nobody would look too closely at the gift, be surprised, and start asking awkward questions. The girl, painting on the lawn, was smiling, enjoying her photos, and sharing the fun of the future. How the parcel had come and who had sent it was a puzzle but even that was about to be solved. The elderly guest sent a postcard from abroad. 'I so enjoyed your peaceful Guest House that I have recommended it to all my friends. Did Emma receive the picture? I am sorry to say that I forgot to put a card inside. I found the painting in an antique shop in the village. The old-fashioned girl on the lawn is about the same age but has such a sad serious expression.' Kim and Emma laughed. "I hope she never comes back and asks us to explain the mystery of the laughing girl!" THE END
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