“Did you see anything?”
“Of course not,” Riley said. “Don’t tell me you believe in any of that garbage?”
“Garbage?”
“Ghosts and spirits and spooky stuff,” Riley said.
Nick sighed and sank into his seat as he crossed his arms.
“I mean,” Nick said, “it would be stupid to think that we knew everything about everything, right? We have to be open to new experiences and evidence. That’s how we learn more about the world.”
“I think we can rule out covered bridge ghosts in our quest to learn more about the world,” Riley said. “Can you imagine? Turns out that there’s an afterlife and our spirits are infinite in time and all that leads to is waiting for a particular full moon each year so you can walk across an old bridge in the forgotten woods of Maine?”
“So you’ve never seen anything that you couldn’t explain?”
“I’ve seen a rainbow,” Riley said. “I know it has something to do with the light refracting through raindrops or whatever, but that doesn’t mean I can explain it. Can someone explain it? Sure. So, I think that everything we see can be explained.”
“One time, when I was a kid…” Nick began.
“Here we go,” Riley said.
“What?”
“You’re about to tell me some spooky story, right?”
“It was a paranormal event that I witnessed,” Nick said.
“When you were a kid?”
“Yes.”
“You have pictures? Evidence? Or are you just going to give me some implausible testimony from back when you used to believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy?”
“My mother saw it too. I’ll give you her number. You can call her tomorrow. May I continue?”
“Please,” Riley said.
“One time, when I was a kid, my father was driving us home from dinner. We went to that fancy place that used to be up in Waterville.”
“The Silent Woman?”
“No,” Nick said. “How old do you think I am? That place was closed before we were born.”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, we were coming home on one of those back roads down through Sidney. It was pitch black out—no moon at all. There was a guy standing right in the middle of the road. Mom said, ‘Jack, slow down, you’re going to hit him.’ My father let off the gas, but he said he didn’t know what she was talking about. I saw the guy too—plain as day. He was right in our lane, standing there with his hands at his sides. As we approached, he put his hand up like a crossing guard, telling us to stop.”
“Road construction?”
“No. The guy was wearing a fancy suit. He didn’t have any shoes on and his tie was loosened. He was looking right at us, not even squinting at the headlights or anything. He had his hand up, but I would swear that he couldn’t see us at all.”
“And your father didn’t see him?”
“Nope. Like I said, Dad slowed down, but he kept on driving. As it looked like the man wasn’t going to get out of the way, my mother yelled at him to stop and I screamed. The sound just came out of me. I couldn’t help it.”
Nick put a hand to his chest and paused as the memory moved through him.
“Because of my scream, my father slammed on the brakes and my seatbelt nearly strangled me. We passed right through the man. The guy on the road never even flinched. I was in back, coughing, and my mom was crying and fumbling for her door. My father couldn’t figure out what we were so upset about. He kept saying, ‘I didn’t hit anything. I didn’t hit anything.’ Mom got out and I tried to get my seatbelt loose.”
Riley’s foot eased off the pedal and they slowed as he listened to the story.
“My mom was searching all around, trying to find the man. My father ordered me not to get out of the car. After a minute or so, with my mom frantically searching, another car came up behind us. The guy slowed down and pulled alongside my father. I didn’t hear exactly what he said, but it was something like, ‘You should be careful around here. People have been hit. A guy was killed last year.’ Dad thanked the man and he went on. A few seconds later, my mom gave up the search.”
Riley shook his head and sped back up.
“It must have been a reflection or something. You were sitting on the passenger’s side?”
“Yeah.”
“It must have been a light or the moon, reflecting off the windshield. You guys both saw it because you were on the right side. Your dad couldn’t see it because…”
“It was so clear,” Nick said, interrupting. “You don’t understand. Mom and I talked afterwards and we definitely saw the exact same thing.”
“That’s how it works,” Riley said. “You get two people who witness the same event. They both have murky recollections but then they talk afterwards and bolster each other’s testimony until they have the same picture in their heads. It’s not lying—it’s just a sort of shared delusion.”
“My father invented those same kinds of explanations, so we stopped talking about. I should say that we were prohibited from talking about it. That’s more accurate. I never really forgot about it, but I didn’t mention it to anyone. I was afraid that people would make fun of me. The only person I could talk to was Mom, and she took my father’s orders to shut up. Then, one night I was the one driving. We were coming back from the movies. Like I said, I never told anyone. My friend Paul was riding shotgun and he yelled at me to stop. We were in the exact same place. I kept my mouth shut and let him describe precisely what he saw. Unfortunately, Paul didn’t get a great look. He said it looked like a man in a suit, but that was it. He thought that the man must have jumped
