THE TOWERS FAMILY SAGA
       Episode 112
    THE VISITING GHOST
The silence was broken
by a car on the gravel.
Dorothy looked outside.
"A visitor is here."
Robert stood by the deck,
his eyes narrowing fast.
It was a man in a suit,
sharp and very familiar.
"It is Thorne," he said.
"What does he want now?"
Virginia came to the door,
her hands on her hips.
"He is not welcome."
"Let us hear him out,"
Robert said with a sigh.
"We are beyond him now."
The man stepped inside,
his smile thin and cold.
"I heard you were back."
"We never left," Robert
replied, voice as steady
as the steel they forge.
"What is your business?"
"I want to make a deal,"
Thorne said to the room.
"A contract for supply."
"We do not deal with
men like you anymore."
"The terms are generous."
"The price is too high,"
Virginia said, stepping
forward with a calm gaze.
"We do not sell souls."
Thorne laughed, but his
eyes did not join him.
"You are different now."
"We are better," she said.
"We have seen the dark."
"And we walked out."
Robert walked to the door.
He opened it very wide.
"You are finished here."
"Think about the offer."
"There is nothing to
think about, Mr. Thorne."
"Go find another mark."
The man hesitated then.
He saw the wall of them,
the family standing as
one against the greed.
He turned and he walked,
his steps heavy on stone.
The car pulled away fast.
The dust settled down.
"Did he rattle you?"
Robert asked his daughter.
"He made me feel strong."
"He made me feel real."
"He is a ghost of the
life we left behind."
"And he is gone now."
Barbara laughed aloud.
"That was easy, Dad."
"We are different," she
said, leaning on the post.
"We have the anchor now."
"We have the truth."
"And we have the forge."
Robert went to the desk.
He logged the visit.
"A record of the past."
"Now we move to the
next task at the forge."
"The work is waiting."
"The day is for us."
They felt the power of
the choice they made.
They felt the clean air.
The ghost was banished.
The family was whole.
The future was bright.
They closed the door.
They bolted the lock.
The peace was restored.

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