09/22/2025
The porch was hers now. Not by ownership, but by memory. The wooden slats still carried the scent of her—the one with the soft voice and lavender hands. Daisy, a ten-year-old Golden Retriever with graying fur and a limp in her right hind leg, lay in her usual place beside the flowerpot, where marigolds once bloomed. The pot was dry now. Everything was dry.
It was late October in Maple Hollow, Kentucky—close enough to the Appalachian foothills to smell the coal dust in the morning fog, far enough that neighbors still left pies on one another’s porches. It had been six months since Daisy’s owner, Eleanor Granger, passed in her sleep. No ambulance. No rush. Just a quiet end in the same creaky bed where she had read books aloud and hummed lullabies to no one in particular.
The neighbors came by often in those first weeks. They fed Daisy scraps of fried chicken and rubbed behind her ears with pity in their fingers. But pity fades. Grief ages. And dogs like Daisy, they don’t count time in days. They count in routines missed.
Daisy didn’t howl. That wasn’t her way. But she didn’t leave the porch either.
She waited.
Each evening, when the sun bled gold across the valley and the cicadas began their slow hum, Daisy would lift her head, her ears twitching. She’d sniff the wind—sharp with pine and faint smoke—and stare toward the gravel path that curved behind the oak tree. That was the path Eleanor used to take on her walks.
The porch steps had grown mossy. The paint peeled in thin curls like onion skin. But the rocking chair… it still moved.
Sometimes the breeze did it. Other times, Daisy wasn’t so sure.
On this particular evening, a tabby cat slinked up the steps. She was the neighbor’s, though Daisy had never learned her name. The cat stretched, leapt onto the railing, and let out a raspy meow.
Daisy turned her head slowly. Her joints didn’t work the way they used to.
The cat didn’t come for food. There wasn’t any. She just sat. Watched the sunset like Daisy did.
And then, a sound. Hoofbeats.
From the ridge beyond the cornfield came the rhythmic clip of a horse trotting slow and easy. It was Henry, the old gray gelding from the Watsons’ farm. He had gotten loose once and wandered into Eleanor’s yard. She fed him a whole bucket of apples and didn’t tell a soul. After that, Henry often stood by the fence line, as if hoping for another.
Now, he stood again—just beyond the gate. Watching.
Three animals. Not speaking. Not moving much. Just watching the empty space between them and the gravel road.
Daisy lowered her head back to her paws. Her breathing had grown heavier this past month. It wasn’t pain, exactly. Just… effort.
In the twilight, she remembered.
The porch light flicking on as Eleanor opened the door, wearing that old navy cardigan and calling, “C’mon, girl. Time for supper.” Daisy would trot inside, tail wagging. She could still hear the clink of the spoon against the ceramic bowl.
And then there was the humming.
Eleanor used to hum while she rinsed dishes or watered plants. Low, tuneless sounds. Daisy missed those most of all.
Now there was silence. Except for the wind.
Then came the smallest noise. Not a meow or a whinny, but the scrape of tiny claws.
A squirrel.
He darted onto the porch rail, stopping short at the sight of Daisy and the cat. His fur was patchy, tail half-bald. But he didn’t flee. He simply froze, then slowly crouched—like he understood.
The light from the horizon turned amber, then rust.
Daisy raised her head one last time that evening.
Something stirred in the air—not a smell, not a sound. A knowing.
The chair rocked once. Twice.
The animals remained still.
And from the end of the road, where the mailbox stood crooked and half-rusted, came the softest sound—a footstep?
No.
The wind again.
Or something like it.
But Daisy didn’t lie back down.
She stood.
For the first time in days, she rose fully to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her weight. Her chest heaved.
And she took one slow step toward the edge of the porch.
Then another.
The cat followed.
Behind her, the squirrel vanished into the bush.
And at the gate, Henry let out a long, low breath, misting the evening air.
Something was changing.
Someone was coming.
🔹 Part 2 – Ghosts in the Wind👇👇👇