Xian turned down numerous interview requests. She issued another public statement saying that she didn’t believe in ghosts and didn’t know what was going on up there. A prominent bay area columnist attacked her, saying that if she didn’t want all of the ghostly attention, she should ask the ghost seekers to stay at home and stop bothering the ordinary people that were seeking enlightenment. She tried to ignore this argument but it was hard since it spoke to what she really wanted to do. Only the thought of turning away legitimate customers stopped her.

A poll was commissioned by one of the other papers, asking if they thought the thing was real or a hoax. A clear majority believed it was the real thing. People wanted to have supernatural things in their life. Xian’s marketing team kept telling her this was the best thing that could have happened. She shuddered in disbelief. How could they not understand?

The final straw happened at her house. She came back home late one night and discovered that there were people camped out on her lawn. She called the police to have them removed. They told her they just wanted to talk with her. They wanted her help in getting in touch with their loved ones who had passed on. She simply told them that she couldn’t help them.

Xian could see her life moving on this way. It was a nightmare where she tried to get people to believe that she had nothing to do with this. Couldn’t they understand that she wanted the whole thing to go away? She didn’t believe in ghosts and had never wanted one of her own.

Under the surface was an even worse fear. What if it really was her mother come back to haunt her? The woman had been a big enough problem in life, she could only imagine the damage she was capable of while dead. Every morning Xian hoped to wake from this bad dream, only to have something happen to remind her that it could still be worse.

She decided that it had gone far enough. She started quietly asking around for help. After much searching she found a medium, a Madame Shui, who was reputed to be good at these things. Only after making certain that her privacy would be respected did she make an appointment and go see her.

The lady received her at her private shop. Xian was relieved that it didn’t have a lot of hokey stuff on the wall. The lady seemed to think that her authenticity was enough that she could dispense with any extra atmosphere. That seemed to be a good sign.

Xian quickly explained her problem but Madame Shui already knew what was going on. The curse of publicity had finally had some small positive side effect. What the lady wanted to know, was whether there was more to the story than had been reported. Did she really think there was a ghost out there?

This was a hard question for Xian to answer. She didn’t believe in ghosts or other supernatural beings. In her whole life nothing had happened to make her think differently. People saw things because they wanted to add more to the world.

This was different though. It had taken on such a life of it’s own that it was hard not to wonder if something really was going on out there. Add in her own mother’s death and it just made too much sense. Not that she wanted to believe but it she had to admit that she couldn’t just deny it either.

Madame listened quietly and told her that she understood. It was especially difficult to be confronted with something that was outside your normal experience. The added problem of losing a loved one made it even harder. Then she asked what their relationship had been like.

In public, Xian had always said that everything was fine between her mother and her. No one else needed to know the difficulties that they struggled with. It wasn’t their business. She sensed that this was the time to come clean. Yes, they had fought. Her mother had never really understood what she wanted to do or how things worked here in this modern age and in this modern country. It had been a struggle.

She also spoke of that last awful day. How she had pushed her harder than was necessary. It was done as a punishment for all of the bad feelings between them. The guilt was obvious and overpowering.

Madame Shui listened quietly and then nodded her head. It was impossible to tell what was going on out there unless she could spend a night or two on the grounds. Xian didn’t like the request. If it got out that they were actually talking with ghost specialists… Was there any other way?

The lady wasn’t offended. She said that there was a basic solution that they could certainly try first. Xian must spend a night in the garden and try to contact this spirit. If it was her mother, she could tell her she was sorry that they had parted badly. Maybe they could talk through some other issues. Ghosts are often restless and just need some peace. If she could resolve things with her mother, she may just disappear.

That seemed reasonable enough to Xian. She said that she’d try it out. She thanked the lady and made ready to go. Before she left, Madame Shui looked at her a little nervously and asked her to come back and tell her how it went.