More stories

"Mommy, let me tell you a story," Rachel said tonight. "There were a lot of girls who worked in a factory. And the people locked the door and there was a fire. And all the girls died." This is how I found out that Drew's idea of a bedtime story is telling Rachel about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

We ended up taking a walk tonight after a glorious day in 80 degree sunny weather. I told Rachel a longer version of the Triangle fire. "Can you say 'garment district?' I said. I also told her about sewing, and sewing machines, and immigrants, and explained that Grandma and Grandpa were immigrants from Belgium, which means that Rachel is part Belgian...and after I was done she wanted me to tell her a spooky story. So here's how it went:

At the edge of a town a lot like the neighborhood we're walking through now was a house. Now, unlike the houses we're passing right now, with pretty flowers and gardens and lights in the windows, this house was always dark. No one came in and out of it. Some of the neighborhood families had knocked on the door once in a while only to be greeted by the sound of a child crying. Kind of like how you cry, Rachel. So cry!

(Rachel pretended to cry).

One day a new family came to town. The family had a girl, Tallulah, and a boy named Russell. They heard the stories about the crying sound that could be heard from the house. Cry, Rachel!

(Rachel pretended to cry again. Presently she got sick of this and I had to do the pretend crying).

Tallulah and Russell were curious and one day after school, they knocked on the door. They heard the same loud crying sound and no one answered. They went away but came back the next day, and the next, and the next. Finally, after five days, they decided to try one more time. They knocked on the door and when there was no answer, they turned the knob. And to their surprise, they were able to enter. They walked inside and saw furniture that was covered with white sheets. The walls had dust all over them. They walked up the long staircase and heard the crying get louder. The followed the sound into an upstairs bedroom, opened the door, and saw a little girl lying on a bed. She was a ghost and she was in a while dress. She was crying very loudly and then all of a sudden, she disappeared. The kids were so scared that they ran downstairs and out of the house.

Well, Tallulah and Russell still hadn't found out any more about why the crying was going on, so they went back the next day. They followed the crying again, opened the bedroom door and saw the same little ghost girl lying on the bed. But this time there was a doctor next to her with a stethoscope. "Come in, children," he said in a deep voice. "What do you want to know?"

Tallulah and Russell were terrified and spoke in trembling voices. "Why is the little girl crying?"

"The little girl's name is Sarah," the doctor replied. "It's 1901, and Sarah is 10 years old and she has an incurable disease. Her parents had several babies that died, and Sarah was the only one who lived beyond her 2nd birthday. Now she's dying and her parents are very sad because she's the only one left. And she's sad because she knows they'll be sad when she dies."

"Can't you fix her?" Russell asked boldly.

"No," the doctor said. "The medicine to cure her disease hasn't been invented yet. It's invented in your time, not Sarah's time. There's only one thing that might cure her."

(At this point I asked Rachel if she wanted a cheerful ending and she shook her head).

 "Her parents were so sad when she died that they couldn't bring themselves to bury her," the doctor said. "So she stayed in her bed, and the parents kept the light off. So she's been lying there ever since."

"The only thing that can cure her is if you stay with her all night," the doctor said. "Other little kids tried to do that but they got scared and ran away. But if you stay with her all night, the crying will stop and the lights will come back on."

(At this point Rachel said that if she were Tallulah, SHE would have run out of the house to her mommy and daddy and asked if she could stay with Sarah all night. Then she would have come back. "Very good, Rachel," I said. "But Tallulah and Russell couldn't go to their parents so they just decided to stay.")

Well, that night they stayed with Sarah. And it was very scary. Sarah kept crying and crying and near morning, the crying got louder and louder until she started SCREAMING and the kids were very scared but they stayed with her and didn't leave.

And in the morning, when Tallulah and Russell woke up, the light was filling the windows and into the room, and Tallulah and Russell saw that Sarah had disappeared. Then they took each other's hands, walked downstairs out of the house, and went back home.