What do you wear to a haunting?

All right, I know that a banshee isn’t a ghost, so what she does isn’t technically a haunting. My point remains. There is no established protocol for going out to mourn for a soon-to-die distant relative. Maeveen clearly did her banshee-ing in her flowy white dress, but I didn’t think I was supposed to dress like her. It seemed like the white dress was her banshee “uniform,” or something like it.

I looked through what clothing I had. I had my nice dress from last Easter, all flowery and bright. I had several cute outfits I would wear to school, mostly jeans and sweaters, peasant tops and khakis. I had some dressier skirts and tops that I had worn to parties, or to church.

Someone is going to die tonight, I thought. Someone distantly related to me. Perhaps this is like a funeral, then? Should I dress the way I would for a funeral? I looked at the clothes I had worn to my parents’ funerals – a black lacy top, and a long black skirt. I felt a little queasy, and decided to match that top with a pencil skirt instead.

…It took a long time for me to make it down the stairs in my heavy-heeled shoes. I had just reached the half-way point when Maeveen breezed up the bottom steps, whispering and muttering to herself. She looked me up and down. “What? No. No, no, no. Go up and change, wear something for traveling, girl. Walking shoes, and something warm.”

Copyright Christopher Russo © 2016.  No part or whole of this excerpt may be reproduced in any way.