The ghost stuck

“Busy day, eh?” I asked Linda when I returned to her desk, “Everyone has already gone home.”

“Oh, yeah . . . very busy. But I’m almost done, just need to finish something,” Linda sounded embarrassed, “I’ll just put these pushpins away and that’s it, I’ll be off too.” Suddenly, several pushpins jumped out of the plastic container back onto the desk.

“Not again!” Linda screamed, but when she caught my astonished look, she immediately explained: “I mean, my hands are shaking again. I’ve been so clumsy lately! It’s . . . it’s probably my allergies.”

“Linda,” I spoke firmly, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing! Nothing!” Linda seemed frightened and screamed even louder, “It’s just me, my allergies. I . . . I get them every season and my medication makes me so drowsy and shaky!”

“Stop it, Linda! Something has been going on in the office and you know it! What is it?”

“I don’t know anything!” Linda almost cried, “Please don’t ask me. I can’t…” she did not finish the sentence because all the pushpins in the container exploded in a multicolored fountain, then swung toward the wall like a swarm of bees and stuck into the cork bulletin board.

“A-a-a-a-ah!” Linda yelled at the top of her lungs, “I’m sorry! I have to run! I forgot I have a doctor’s appointment and it’s very urgent!” She grabbed her purse and rushed out of the office slamming the door so hard that the bulletin board flew off the wall onto the floor. Then, everything became quiet. I took a deep breath and made a few steps toward the bulletin board. When I bent down to pick it up, I stopped in bewilderment. The pushpins arranged in a word. It read Debra. 

On Monday, after an unsettling weekend filled with much thinking, I called Judy Maus, the director of human resources.

“Hi, Judy! May I take a look at the company’s records, like its history, previous projects, former employees, and all that?”

“Absolutely! You’ll have it in five minutes,” Judy was a girl of her word - exactly five minutes later I was turning pages of an abnormally thick binder filled with photos, reports, and newspaper clippings about AFM’s achievements in domestic and international business. After several dozen pages I came across a long table with three columns. The first column was titled “Name,” the second “Date,” and the third “Reason.” This was the list of all people who had ever worked for the Association of Fun Manufacturers and left it because they moved to a different city, went back to school, or changed their career path.

As I slowly turned the pages approaching the end of the table, I hoped to find what I was looking for.  Finally I reached the most recent record. Debra Krause. Yes!

Strangely enough, the box specifying the reason of Debra’s work termination was left blank. Whatever reason it was, Debra had not leave completely. She must have been still invisibly present at AFM and she was destabilizing everyone’s work. This had to stop! But how do you deal with someone’s non-material presence? You don’t ask a ghost to sign an employment termination letter, nor do you call the police. Something must have been holding the ghost of Debra at AFM. And I had to find out what it was.