Wallflower Girl

Chapter 60

Anne eyed the kindly old man with interest. "Maybe they are. I think I've just experienced a haunting of sorts."

The woman returned with a tattered, silver coloured photo album. "There... have a look through. I'll be back with tea."

Reg motioned for Anne to help herself to the album. She opened the cover to find a title page that read: Holbrook Haunting. The name Holbrook was familiar to Anne. She questioned the old man with a glance.

"Holbrook is the original property name here." He motioned to the sweep of land they could see from the veranda. "All the way from the tree line of the creek to our driveway. The Harper house was on a small section, down there on the hay flats."

Anne turned the first page to find a series of photos that all looked the same. They were of the hay fields. There didn't appear to be anything significant about any of them.

"You see the light there?" Reg pointed out. "Look-there and there." He was indicating distortions in the print quality of the photographs, white blurs. "That's young Nick at work. You see him some days slashing his straw and baling it up."

Anne studied the photos closely and saw something of what the old man was claiming. The blurs could be construed as the shape of a tractor in the field.

"I have the camera set up all the time. You never know when, but in mid-summer, when the heat is at its worst... that's the time to watch for him."