Backstage Encounter: A Ghost Story

I wrote this story as an undergraduate, and the ghost is based on an actual theater ghost.

The costume crew departed, and only the shop manager remains with the draper, Andrea, in the costume shop of the sprawling theater. Andrea stares without seeing the pale blue muslin sailor dress Nancy, the actress playing Polly, will wear during the first scene of The Boy Friend in fewer than twenty-four hours. She tears out the seam with such malice she fears the fabric might tear.

The manager pauses to look at the dress. “You’ll make it. It’ll be perfect once you’ve redone the seams. Perfect and ready for tomorrow night.”

Andrea rips out the stitches more cautiously. “I hope so. If not, Nancy will go on stage in her slip.”

The costume shop manager heads for the rack full of brightly colored 1920s costumes. She removes her denim jacket from a coat hanger next to a white satin Harlequin costume and puts it on with her eyes on Andrea, who looks up to see the manager gazing at her with a pucker between her eyebrows.

The manager fishes her keys out of a pocket. She pulls her long brown purse strap off the back of a stool and swung it over her shoulder. But instead of heading for the door, she approaches the cutting table and leans against it, toward the draper. “Would you like to talk about it?”