The Feeling

Surprisingly, it turned out that 913 gave me no problems during that week. She was pretty nice to both Sebastian and me. Time after time she gave me a malicious look or a biting remark, but I managed to keep my temper. Perhaps it was that without friends she had no one to show off to, or maybe it was my guilty conscience and feeling that I was a hypocrite. I criticized her approach to fleeting relationships with ghosts or generally having deeper romantic relationships with them if they didn't show up in life, and I did it myself. I was ready to admit I was wrong, but not necessarily to her.

I watched as my student patiently helped the ghost of a woman, although she became very angry with him every time he turned a page for her. She clearly wanted to be independent, but as she neared the end of the book, this task became even more difficult. She wanted to read a paperback, and if left unattended, they tended to close. I would not have thought that when I met this boy, he would turn out to be such a caring and patient young man. I thought he was going to be a much better man than I would ever be. He came over to me with a sad expression.

"Could I help her a bit more?" he asked.

"Surely you can't force yourself on her too much," I replied, taking a sip of my coffee. The spirit woman was wearing modern clothes, so she must have crossed over quite recently. “New spirits are easily alienated at first. If she wants another book, offer her something with a bigger paper grammage, maybe then the exercises will not be so burdensome."

Sebastian did not immediately understand what I meant. We also had this type of information in the system, and years later I found it quite useful. I was already showing him how to find the things he needed, so I let him in front of the computer. I asked him to find a few books to suggest to the ghost, based on what she was reading and the weight of the paper they were printed on.

The young man coped efficiently with the task but frowned funny when he needed a longer moment to think about the next step. I felt a sense of pride on the one hand, and sadness on the other, because I had the impression that soon he would no longer need me. Sebastian wasn't stupid, and he'd do just fine without it, I knew it. He came back to me after a while, clearly pleased with himself, and took a sip of coffee. He tried to act like an adult while drinking it, although he winced every time he tasted it. I pretended not to notice so he wouldn't be upset, but there was a certain charm to him trying to fit in with us.

"It's a nice feeling when you help someone, isn't it?" I asked, seeing the characteristic smile, which I also observed sometimes in myself.

"It is," Sebastian agreed. "I feel needed and appreciated."

"That's probably one of the best parts of this job," I nodded. "Did I just finally tell you about Judy?" he denied, so to pass the time when the ghosts didn't need us for the time being, I told him our story.