Although she seemed happy with our second visit, we didn't make it back to Bonaparte House again until 2 months later. Chloris had thought that we abandoned her, and I could understand her feelings. As we approached the French Ironwork fence on top of the garden wall, I could sense her, peering at us glumly through the black curly-cues of the hand-wrought iron.. There was no excitement in her demeanor, but instead there was a mind-numbing depression. My spirits plummeted.
Michael led the way up the step into the garden walkway. He took two steps past the ivy and the small tree, and then he turned to me. "She's right there!" He said emphatically and pointing. Already I was so overwhelmed by Chloris' depression that I was having trouble concentrating. Nevertheless, I followed with my eyes to where Michael was pointing and her presense hit me right in the face. I felt really badly that we had not come sooner, and for the first time I noticed that Chloris was taller than me. She seemed about 5'7" tall, strong-looking but slender, and I was struck with the impression that she had cut quite a figure in life. But here she now stood, invisible to most eyes and in a state of depression that was deranging her. We had to DO something!
Suddenly I became aware that the spotlight was on me, and I at once became flustered. She stood there, waiting for me to do something....as though she KNEW I would do something. So, I just started winging it. "Chloris, you are DEAD!" I told her firmly, "You have been dead for 185 years! All these people who hurt you are no longer here. There are better places for you to be!"
We stood waiting for some kind of feeling; a response of some kind. All I felt was confusion. The depression was really starting to get to me, and so I sat down on the side-entrance steps to the house. As soon as I did that, however, I felt her move around to where she was sitting directly behind me.
All at once I felt the sensation of a sharp pain and spasm in my back. Michael also told me that orbs were appearing in back of me! "Yes, Chloris, I am aware you were shot in the back!" I winced. The pain suddenly abated, much to my relief, and at any time I was expecting the current resident of the house to come out and say "What the $%^& are you two doing in my yard?"
At this point I sensed a reaction to what I had told her. Michael suggested we sit quietly and listen, so we could try to "hear" her. This we did, but I became immediately aware that Chloris was sitting and listening right along with us. On the positive side; however depressed and confused our friend was, at the time, I could tell that she was VERY anxious to cooperate, and to understand. Unfortunately, I was feeling her depression like a crushing vise around my head. F! inally, I just decided to talk, and I told her to listen carefully to what we said. I told her that there was a better place for her, that she didn't belong in that alleyway or garden. I also told her that Michael and I cared very much for her, but that, once again we had to leave. As I staggered out to the street, I told her not to worry, we would be back very soon. It took me two hours to come down from the headache that her depression had caused. I couldn't imagine what SHE was going through!
So we went back the next week, and a major change had occurred in her. She knew we were coming, was still depressed, but this time she was more lucid. She was on the garden walkway, next to some trashcans (which I took to be a possible statement of how she felt about herself.)
There was a sudden desire, from her, to speak more familiarly, and so I greeted her "hello, Dear." Michael was standing in the exact spot where she was standing, and suddenly things began happening.
"I KNOW I am dead," Michael said abruptly, with a look of concentration on his face. I looked at him strangely, but decided to go with the flow!
"Okay, is there anyone you love who you would like to see, again?"
Michael nodded emphatically.
"They are on the other side....they are calling to you," I insisted. It was like an electricity passing between Michael and I, but then he screwed his face up and shook his head furiously. "NO...She is starting to panic," he said. "She is absolutely terrified!"
"What are you afraid of, Dear?" I said in as soothing a tone as I could. All at once, I could feel her sadness. Mike told me that she was now in such a panic that she couldn't think straight, or answer. I fought down the empathic overload and began to say over and over again,
"it's okay, it's okay......no one will hurt you, we promise!"
At those words, Michael told me that she had started to cry. It was a long awaited release, I could tell. She finally regained her sanity and I asked, "what do you want us to do? How can we help you?"
Michael said "BE here!"
At that point my self-control slipped and I lost it, briefly, blubbering my eyes out right there in the garden walkway. Thankfully, no one came outside....again. Finally I managed to say to her how sorry we were for her pain.
Michael answered for her "Thankyou."
By that time I had reached my emotional limit, once again, and told her we had to rest but we would keep coming back until we fixed her problem. The relief that I felt from this was so palpable that my knees began to buckle. Both Michael and I promised that everything would be okay. She thanked us again, broke the connection and withdrew. Michael and I stepped down onto the street in a state of semi-shock. I don't think we said much of anything to each other the whole way home.
Chloris' abject terror had been due to the fear that she was going to go to hell. She had been a tavern dancer, in life, an occupation that was viewed, in those days, as "sinful". The woman herself struck us as ve! ry sweet and loving; she was desirous of being upright and respectable and it angered me that such a horrible belief system could cause someone so much misery!
On our next trip we would do psychology on her to reassure her of her worthiness as a person; that she had to do what she did in order to survive.
