When I was ten years old we had just moved back to the States from Germany. We were living on Fort Bragg, North Carolina when my Dad got orders for Fort Huachuca, Arizona, relieved that he finally had a permanent duty station we packed up the car and took a road trip along the coast of the lower forty eight states to Arizona, with a stop in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas to visit with one of his battle buddies and his family.

When we finally hit Fort Huachuca we stayed in the military guest house for awhile, then the base let us stay in one of the old Calvery houses, while they were building the new NCO housing. In the old days Fort Huachuca was a fort for the Buffalo soldiers. It was fun staying in this little cottage away from the rest of the base, almost like living in the old wild west. We even had a hitching post in front of the house which delighted all of us kids. The only problem was that we were the only family out there. So, if one of our brothers, or sisters, didn't feel like playing when you did it could get a little lonely.

Since we had just moved there we didn't have many toys, and had to make a lot of our own. All of us girls put our rubber bands together and made a chinese jump rope. Mom made us some button whistles. When Dad set up the clothes line for Mom, we took the excess line and made ourselves jumpropes. Well anyway you get the idea, soon we had quite a little pile of old fashioned handmade toys to keep ourselves entertained and out of Mom's hair.

One day my younger brother and I were out playing round up (I was a wild horse and he had to rope me), and we saw a little girl walking between a couple of the houses. We called out to her and she turned to look at us. My brother and I ran over to where she was and introduced ourselves. We asked her if she would like to play and of course she did. After that we'd all meet up after doing our homework and play outside for a couple of hours while Mom cooked dinner. On weekends if Dad had some time off our family would all go up to the mountains, and picnic, or follow trails by horse back.

We only stayed in the cottage for the summer and soon our new house was ready to move into. So it had been like a dream vacation for the six of us kids. We packed up what little furniture we had in the cottage moved into the new house, then Mom and Dad went furniture shopping. All of us kids were free to roam the new neighborhood and meet the neighbors. We wanted to find out where all the kids lived, and make friends.

Our friend from the old neighborhood showed up and she played with us until we heard Dad call us in for dinner. We asked her if she would like to eat dinner with us and she said not today, but we should get permission from our parents for another time, and she took off running for home. We went in and washed up for supper, while my brother and I were setting the table we asked Dad if we could have a friend over to dinner the next day. Of course he said yes.

The next day while we were playing we told her that our parents said she could have dinner with us and she said "That's wonderful." After awhile Dad called us in for dinner and we all came tearing in girls to one bathroom boys to the other to wash. My brother and I set the table, and as we set the wine goblets my father told us not to set one at our friends dinner place as American children aren't allowed to have wine with dinner. That was the first oddity (at least to us anyway.) and then the boys pulled out our chairs to seat us, the little girl almost sat before my brother could pull her chair out for her. My mom complimented her on her dress and told her that she really didn't need to dress for dinner as we didn't follow that formality at home except for holidays. My bother and I looked up and told Mom that she always dressed that way. That's when my Dad finally looked down the table and had a good look at our guest. He got a strange look on his face rather like shock but continued on with the evening as though nothing had shaken him.

When dinner was over and she had left my brother and I were clearing the table and the girls plate still had all of it's food on it, even though we could swear we saw her eating her dinner along with the rest of us. That's when Dad stepped back into the dining room and told us that we were not allowed to play with our new friend anymore. We were saddened, and whispered amongst ourselves wondering why Dad had made such a declaration it wasn't his usual reaction to our friends.

The next day after chores and homework we all went out to play and our friend was waiting for us. We told her as gently as we could what our Dad had said and she said that's okay she was used to it and got up to walk away. Saddened my brother and I were watching her walk slowly away from us, and as she neared the yard across the street she disappeared. She disappeared before our very eyes. Our new friend had been a ghost.