“I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed!” Maria said as she climbed out of the airport shuttle.

“I bet!” Tina said passing through the door as the driver closed the door as he hurried to the trunk.

“Uh, I’m sure you can’t,” he said awkwardly.

“What?” she turned and looked at him, then at Tina. “Oh! Sorry! I, uh, think out loud sometimes.”

“Busted,” Tina snickered.

Maria opened the front door and walked inside and stopped and stared at the tall dark-haired stranger in her living room. He stood up from the couch and stood wide-eyed.

“That guy is going to tell that story about you talking to yourself for months! Oh, hello!” Tina stopped short behind Maria.

“Uh… hi?” the man stammered.

“Honey, is that you?” Martin called from the kitchen. He stepped into the living room drying his hands on a dish towel. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you I was feeding Chris— Oh…”

Maria stared at the young man. The young man stared at Maria. Martin stared at the two of them.

“Well, this is weird,” Tina said with a nervous laugh. “Martin? Did you pick up a stray while we were gone?”

“You’re dead,” Maria stated.

“Umm… Yeah, so I’ve been told. But you can see me, too?”

“Yeah, which is weird in itself…”

“That is weird,” Tina agreed, nodding.

“Sorry, honey, I forgot to tell you… Samuel,” he started introductions, “This is my wife, Maria. Maria, this is Samuel.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“Pleased to meet you, too,” Maria replied. “Umm, Martin… how’d this happen?”

“Which part?”

“Oh, I don’t know, let’s start with the ghost in the living room.”

“Uh, Sis, technically there are two ghosts in the living room,” Tina corrected. Maria stared daggers at Tina who said, “You know, this ghost will just stand back here if you need me…”

“Thursday, Antony and I were responding to a 10-57…”

“Hit and run,” Tina interjected. Maria looked at her sideways. “What? I pay attention!”

“Right, hit and run over on Crenshaw.”

“I was crossing the street,” Samuel said. “Next thing I know…” he gestured to his slightly translucent body.

“Speeding Mercedes didn’t even slow down for the red light. Hit Samuel here, lost control and crashed into a light pole. Both Samuel and the driver were deceased when we rolled up.”

“I… I didn’t know what was happening. I’m walking and then I hear a crash and then… I’m looking at the crumpled car and this just… obliterated body that was… me. I freaked out.”

“I get it,” Tina nodded compassionately.

“No one saw me, no one was responding to me, I didn’t know what was going on… And then I saw that your husband was looking at me. At me, not through me like everyone else.”

“And you… followed him home?” Maria asked.

“Aww, like I said, picking up a stray!”

“Who are you?” Samuel asked Tina.

She pointed at Maria, “Her sister. Tina. I’ve been dead a long time. It’s all good. Well, I mean, not good. Nothing about being dead is good, am I right?” He stared at her wordlessly. “Okay, tough crowd… Maria?”

“I mean, I think what my sister was inelegantly trying to ask was, why are you here?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Presumably the driver didn’t stick around… wait,” she turned to Martin, “Did he?”

“She,” Martin corrected. “And no. That was a weird thing, too. When we rolled up I saw Samuel here standing around confused, and I saw the ghost of the driver talking to a tall wiry man in a long, white, billowy robe… then they both disappeared but Samuel here… well, you can see he’s still here.”

“I get that you can see him. You see all the ghosts – Tina, too, of course. But why can I see him? We were just in the most haunted city in the country, and I never even got to see the woman my sister made out with!”

“Maria!” Tina scolded. “We didn’t ‘make out’!”

“Oh, you didn’t?”

“I mean…” Tina’s face turned beet red as she smiled shyly. “Well, you didn’t need to tell anyone about it!”

“I don’t know why you can see me. Other than your husband, you seem to be the only other person–”

Tina cleared her throat.

“Uh, the only other living person,” he amended, “who can see me.”

“Do you have any family? A wife? Parents?”

“I don’t, no. My folks died years ago. I was in a relationship a few years ago, but I only recently moved to the Valley. I honestly don’t know anyone out here.”

“Well,” Tina started, “You know us now.” She caught Maria’s eye and nodded imperceptibly. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” She turned and let out a little laugh. “It’s funny, actually, Maria and I have gone on a bunch of Ghost Tours lately. Now I’m sort of giving one!” Samuel followed Tina up the stairs.

When they were presumably out of earshot, Maria moved closer to Martin. “Well, that’s weird!”

“No kidding,” Martin replied. “I’m usually good at getting ghosts to leave me alone, but he just looked so… lost.”

“I can see that,” Maria said looking up to where Tina and Samuel had disappeared.

“Sounds like you guys had fun!”

“Oh, man, it was a blast,” she said. “I might have drank a little bit…” she put her hands to her temples.

“You? Drink? In New Orleans? That’s crazy! And Tina made out with a ghost?!”

“She didn’t give many details, but it sounds like it was… something,” she waggled her eyebrows.

“Wow, that’s great!”

“Yeah, she really let herself go and had a good time. I mean, we both did, but I was really glad she was able to have fun on her own, you know?”

“I do. And, if I’m honest, I’m really glad you’re both back! I really didn’t know what to do with Samuel. Communicating with him is one thing, but… I mean… I don’t know what to do! We watched the Dodger game, he’s made faces at Christy while I fed her, but, I mean, there’s only so much I can do with a ghost I’ve just met.

“We’ll see if Tina has any insight.”

They were both quiet for a few moments until rapid knocking came from the front door. It sounded like not one but two people knocking.

“What the?” Martin asked, trading a quizzical look with Maria before stepping to the door and opening it.

In front of them stood two identical men. Well, they had identical features – neatly trimmed black hair, clean shaven faces, the same blue eyes – but one was dressed in a white three-piece suit while the other sported a scarlet red three piece suit.

“What the hell?” Maria asked stepping up behind Martin.

“Hello,” they both said at the same time. “I’m–” they started at the same time, stopped and looked at each other in frustration then started talking over each other again.

“Stop!” Martin said with what Maria thought of as his “cop voice.” “Who are you?” When they both opened their mouths to speak at the same time again, he held up a hand. “One at a time. You,” he pointed to the man in white, “Who are you?”

The man in the white suit gave the red suited man a self-satisfied look before starting, “We’re, well, we’re here from the afterlife.”

“Well, you are,” the man in red said. “I’m from,” he looked towards the ground, “Uh, places south,” he winked.

“We’re here for Samuel,” the man in white said. “We believe he’s here.”

“Well,” Maria said, “this is awkward…”

There isn’t a part 4, don’t worry. I’m leaving this one a little open-ended. It’s entirely possible we’ll revisit Maria and Tina and now Samuel later this month.