The figures

June Jackson was the last of six children - inquisitive, energetic, a tomboy and usually underfoot. To keep an eye on his youngest, Andy Jackson often took her along - to the small grocery where he worked as a meat cutter, to pick up supplies for the church picnic or to lodge meetings at the Slovenian Hall. Andy even took June with him to St. Anthony's Hospital to visit a seriously ill friend from the Old Country.
In those days, children weren't allowed to see patients and so June waited on a bench in the hall while her father climbed the stairway to the second floor. While waiting, June saw the "figures." "They were a man and a woman, dressed in old-fashioned clothing, the woman carrying a lantern as they quietly descended the stairs. And they were completely transparent." Her father came down not long after he had gone up, explaining to June that his friend had already died, and June told her father about the remarkable people she had just seen.
As she grew older, June would learn the legends about the "figures," who were known in Slovenian folklore to foretell a death or a tragedy. Eight decades later, June's great grandchildren coax her to tell them her "ghost" story and the "figures" come alive again.

June Jackson