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yet, or maybe she has and returned for some reason, like unfinished business.”
    After translating for Tanisha, Kelly asked, “When did you first start seeing the spirit?”
    “It was shortly after I came to live here.” While digging through her memory, Tanisha took another bite of her bagel, chewed, and swallowed. “Not right away, but maybe a few months after I moved in. It started with a feeling that someone was watching me, followed by a chill. At first I thought it was nonsense. Then I started making out a whitish haze floating around. Sometimes it would come near me, almost touching me. Sometimes it stayed on the other side of the loft. Over time, it has gotten much more aggressive. I don’t feel or see it all the time.” She looked around. “Like now. I can see Granny a tiny bit,” Tanisha pointed to the other side of the counter. “She’s right there, right?”
    “Yes,” answered Kelly.
    “But the ghost I usually see isn’t here right now.”
    “Is this your first experience with the paranormal?” asked Kelly.
    With that question, Tanisha smiled inwardly at a memory and licked cream cheese off an index finger. “When I was very small, my father’s grand-mother would tell me stories about ghosts and spirits. She was the one person in my father’s family who accepted me one hundred percent. Nonna claimed she could see ghosts and communicate with them.” Tanisha cupped a hand to her own face. “She’d put her gnarled hand on my face like this and tell me I had the gift. That she could see it in me. Of course, as a young kid, that scared the crap out of me, even though I loved her.” She lowered her hand with some reluctance, not wanting to let go of the memory. “Dad’s mother was fanatically Catholic and hated her mother-in-law, saying she was the devil and a curse on the family, and that she was passing along thecurse to me.” Tanisha shook her head. “When Nonna died, my grand-mother had a priest come in and do some mumbo jumbo to clean out any evil spirits.”
    “So you could see them since you were a kid?”
    Tanisha shook her head slowly. “I believed Nonna and always thought spirits were around us, and always hoped she was right, that I did have the gift, but I never saw any until this one showed up here at the loft. Then in May, I was in Gabby’s and saw the one with you.” She held up her hands. “That’s been my whole experience so far. And frankly, it’s more than I bargained for. I’ve thought about moving, but my father bought this place specifically for me and I like it.” She gave off a short sarcastic snort. “And if I told him about the ghost, I’m sure he wouldn’t believe it. He always thought Nonna was nuts.”
    While the two women finished their breakfast, Granny drifted around the loft. Tanisha followed her movements with her eyes. “Having an unseen entity that could go places and then report back to you could come in pretty handy, both in my line of work and in college.”
    “True,” admitted Kelly, polishing off her bagel, “but it’s also an unfair advantage. One of the things my mother drilled into my head is that I shouldn’t use Granny’s presence for personal gain.”
    “Not that I’d allow myself to be used in that manner,” Granny said, returning to the counter. Kelly passed along the message.
    “I can also see the downside, especially in your case, Kelly. Aren’t you afraid she might tell your mother everything you do?”
    “I ain’t no rat!” Granny insisted, stamping her booted foot soundlessly on the hardwood floor. She leaned towards Tanisha, who saw the hazy little cloud advance on her. She leaned back a few inches.
    Kelly laughed. “Granny says she’s not a rat.”
    Tanisha looked at the apparition with wary eyes. “She actually said
rat?
”
    “Yeah, she did,” Kelly confirmed. “She likes to watch old crime dramas and movies on TV.”
    Shifting her eyes back and forth between the spirit and Kelly, Tanisha looked