Still smiling, she gestured toward the room and I slowly tore my eyes from her to gaze about myself. My perception was slightly blurred from the tears and I wiped rather haphazardly at my eyes with the sleeve of my coat. Unnoticed by me for the few moments I had beheld my departed one, the music once again began to swell around and through me and I was only mildly surprised to discover that the once apparently empty room was now filed with ghostlike shapes, mostly paired off and dancing around the room in time to the hypnotic melody which seemed to fill the air.

Some of the specters appeared more substantial than others, but from all of them there exuded a sense of peace and contentment. Young and old there were and from what I could tell, the fashions represented everything from present day dress, to the style of attire worn during the civil war. I was enchanted by the whole scene and watched fascinated as the spirits danced around me, apparently oblivious to my presence. Their movements were so graceful and totally unencumbered, they seemed to float across the floor, yet I could see their feet making contact beneath them.

Full of awe, I turned back to my grandmother and saw her in apparent conversation with the apparition of a young girl, perhaps no more than eighteen years of age--at least when she had died. They both looked my way and the girl smiled shyly as she briefly met my curious gaze. With an encouraging nod from my grandmother, the girl glided slowly over to where I was standing.

She stopped a few feet away from me, her white gloved hands clasped before her and her eyes demurely lowered. She was quite short and rather thin, her dark hair swept up from her neck in an elaborate bun and her long dress was reminiscent of the styles worn in the early 1900s. She raised her eyes to me and I could see that she was quite pretty and I felt a sudden stab of sorrow that she should have died at so young an age.

As I gazed down at her, I felt the gentle urging of my grandmother in my mind and I smiled at the sweet ghost before me. Knowing it was what my dear grandmother wished, I bowed slightly from the waist and held out my hands to the vision in front of me. She came forward and placed her gloved hand in mine--it felt as though I held a feather in my palm. Her other hand she placed softly on my right shoulder. So light was her touch, I could not even be sure her hand was actually resting there. I slipped my arm around her slim waist, my hand meeting only the slightest resistance as I touched her. Then gazing into each other's eyes, we joined the other dancers.