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"It's cold out here."
"You can't even feel it, man," the Captain huffed. "Besides, I saw the thermometer today, it's practically balmy."
"This morning it was balmy, now it's cold," Julian argued, rubbing at his arms. "Look at them!" he jerked his chin at Alison who was bundled up in thick coats and situating Mia in her pram; also in several layers.
"Oh stop being dramatic," Fanny shushed him, stabbing a sharp elbow into his side. "You can't even feel it!"
"Not that I'm in any hurry to agree with anything that comes out of Julian's mouth," Thomas interjected, "but there is a bit of a nip to the air." Indeed, the poet's breath was coming out in puffs, visible even to the living.
Immediately Kitty glued herself to him, patting at his arm.
"Aye, squeeze in here, mate," Pat instructed, huddling up on his other side. He was holding Humphrey's hand, and the headless body jerked a step as he was pulled along.
Julian smiled down at Fanny with great smugness. "See?"
Fanny’s weaponised elbow came out again, making Julian take a step back. "Again, you still can't feel it."
"Will you give over with that thing? It's like you've got a fucking knife up your sleeve."
"Julian," Alison snapped. "Language."
"Right, right. Baby." Julian rolled his eyes. "I still say she's too far off picking anything like that up. And she can't even see us properly."
It was hit and miss whether or not Mia managed to catch sight or sound of any ghosts. It was nice when it happened, though, and all of them treated Mia like a beloved, if slightly ignorant, niece.
"But she can still see you sometimes, that's enough for me. I don't want her picking up your bad language." Alison said. "And she is already starting on half words, so..."
"Whatever." Julian shrugged. He peered up at the sky, then back to the pram. "Can she even see the stars?"
Fanny's elbow came out again, a hissed "Julian!" accompanying it.
The former MP went to stand next to Robin, who was snickered at him rubbing his arm. "You a bigger baby than Mia," he jeered.
"Shut up," Julian sharply groused. "I'm not saying she shouldn't be here! Just, well, it's cold and she's small and it might not be much fun for her looking at bugger all for half an hour!"
"Is not bugger all, is eclipse," Robin complained, shoving at Julian.
"Yes, but babies can't see things like we can, Robin," Pat chimed in. "Like when she was really little and she couldn't see Alison's face properly; when it's all just shapes and colours. She's still young - the moon is likely too far away for her to see like we can."
Robin looked back up at the stars, nose wrinkling. "Silly," he declared. "We have babies out all the time. Take them out and sit by the fire and they look at moonah and the stars 'til they go to sleep. Even tiny."
Alison put a final blanket over the opening to the pram. "It doesn't really matter," she said, inspecting the cocoon her toddler was ensconced in. "Whether she can or can't, it's family time. We're out here, she should be too. I mean, alright, it's pretty likely she can't. But on the off chance she can I'd rather she was out here seeing it. Plus, if we had left her inside one of you would have to stay in and babysit."
"I volunteer," Thomas muttered. He was ignored.
"Anyway even if she can't see anything she's perfectly happy out here," Alison said
Julian looked to where the Captain was leaning over the pram opening, Humphrey's head tucked under one arm, the fingers of his free one waggling at her. In one of her perceptive moments, Mia was happily reaching out at him with her own tiny hands. He supposed he could agree.
"And it's not like we'll be out here too long," Alison concluded, shoving back the many layers of fabric to look at her watch. "Hopefully."
"Not too long," Robin supplied helpfully. "It coming."
Mike came picking his way across the gravel, also clad heavily in fleece and padded clothing and sporting a very non-fetching bobble hat. He handed Alison a travel mug and peered into the pram, making Cap lean back before he and Humphrey were phased through. "She alright?"
"Yeah, she's quite happy. Having a good ghost time I think."
Mike put his arm around Alison's shoulders and smiled at her. "Nice."
She smiled back, but it was thin. Secretly, Alison was glad for the upcoming move. She didn't think she would be able to stomach the day when Mia stopped being able to see them all. They loved playing with her so much, it was so sweet to see. They'd handled her on and off notice of then well, happy to have anything from her at all. Cap in particular had been a surprise; he constantly chattered to her about birds and plants and things he'd seen on the telly. He explained everything he could think of to her when she was able to listen, tips and tricks from both his life and death, the 'right' way to do everything. Kitty of course viewed her as a little sister, teaching her everything she'd learned about making friends and parties and fashion. Everything she did she told Mia the results, and asked her opinion. Julian had perhaps been the biggest surprise of all, volunteering to watch Mia whenever Alison needed a hand and everyone was busy. He wasn't always child appropriate in his topics but she had caught him catching himself more than once without her chastisement, and whenever he thought nobody was watching he'd just sit with her, a soft look on his face.
It would be heartbreaking to watch them realise they were getting less and less back. It would be easier, perhaps, if Mia would remember them at least when she was grown up, even when she couldn't see them anymore, but that was unlikely with how soon she was likely to lose her sight. Mary had said around when a child started to walk - which was closing in faster than Alison expected - but more usually around age two. too young to remember all the blurry faces that entertained her, certainly. Alison thought it would be easier if they left and Mia lost what little sight she had without them there to witness it.
"Are you sure it's going to start soon?" Thomas complained, wrapping his arms around himself. "I'm sure we've been out here ages now."
"It's not even been ten minutes, Thomas." Alison said.
"Complaints?" Mike asked, looking around them.
"Thomas is just cold."
"I can see," Mike said, nodding in the direction of a fog puff appearing in the air three feet away.
"It's the middle of winter," Thomas snapped."
"It's a month into spring," Kitty corrected, frowning at him.
"The boy has no meat on his bones." Fanny tutted, looking him over with unabashed disapproval, "it's bad luck he of all of us can feel the chill. Wasn't your duel outside? You should have worn a coat."
"I should've worn a- excuse me?" Thomas squawked, struggling to shoulder his way out from between Kitty and Pat.
"Someone give Tom my cloak, will you?" Humphrey called out from under Cap's arm, "before he passes on again."
Pat obliged, Kitty helping to unpin it from his body.
"You can be so grumpy when you're cold, Tom," Kitty chided him.
"I am not-"
"He's grumpy when he's hot, too," Humphrey commented, "Cap, can I-"
The Captain jumped to attention immediately, not even needing Humphrey to finish. "Oh of course Humphrey. Let's get you situated." He skirted around Kitty, Tom and Pat wrangling Humphrey's cloak and transferred Humphrey's hand from Pat's to the Captain's own sam browne.
(With both hands free, the cloak wrangling became much easier.)
Humphrey held on to the Captain's belt while the officer lifted Humphrey's head to his neck, making sure the vertebrae were lined up correctly. "How's that?" He asked the Tudor, keeping a hand on the back of his neck.
"Good. secure." Humphrey replied. "I'll settle down in a bit." It always took a moment for the body to realise its head was back on. His hand let go of Cap's sam browne, but his feet were still shuffling a bit, taking hesitant steps forward and to the side. The body now thought he was untethered, but Humphrey's head wanted to stay where he was - and also had Cap's hand on his neck still.
"Good show." The Captain clicked his heels together with his typical bounce. He stepped to Humphrey's other side, the hand at his neck staying to help keep Humphrey together.
“I do hope it will start soon, though,” Fanny said, craning her neck to see the pram. “The child shouldn't be out so long.”
“She's well insulated, Fanny,” Alison assured her. “And we're all keeping an eye on her.”
“They worried about Mia?” Mike asked.
“Yeah.”
“Not to worry guys! She's well insulated.” Mike smiled at his daughter. “She'll be alright for half an hour or so.”
Fanny harrumphed, but made no more protest. She stood by the pram like a gargoyle, daring the cold to make any kind of affront towards the baby.
“Is starting soon,” Robin said gleefully, tugging on Julian's jacket sleeve and bouncing. “Will be good moonah, nice and big.”
“Yes, Yes, I know. I was there when you looked it all up, you twat. You and you’re ‘Worm moon’.”
Thomas blinked. “Sorry, what did you just say?”
“Worm moon.” Robin told him.
“Worm moon?” Tom repeated.
“Worm moon,” Robin nodded.
“And do we know why it's called that?” Humphrey asked, before Robin and Thomas continued their echo loop.
The Captain adjusted his hold on Humphrey's neck. “Is it because of the spring? The worms becoming more active in warmer weather and such?”
Robin smiled. “Pretty much.”
“Oh!” The Captain made a pleased little noise, straightening up and running his free hand along the strap of his sam browne.
Humphrey gently elbowed him. He missed, not connected long enough to have his coordination back. “Nice one, Cap,” he beamed.
The Captain said something unintelligible, shifting from foot to foot. “W- well it's, it's logic, really.”
Robin snorted. “Still funny. Worm moon.”
“Hardly poetry is it,” Thomas grumbled. Kitty tugged sharply on his cloak and the Georgian stumbled forward slightly.
“I like it. I think it's a cute name, and worms don't get a lot of nice mentions in things do they?”
“That they don't, Katherine,” the Captain agreed. “They contribute much to the ecosystem of the soil, it's nice they get a mention.”
Thomas made a sour face within the folds of Humphrey's huge cloak. “Still, couldn't they have named it after other spring wonders? Valentine's, perhaps? Or the blooming flowers? the daffodil moon, or the snowdrop moon, or-”
“Those are in winter, mate,” Pat pointed out.
Thomas rolled his eyes. “Alright, the crocus moon then. Or- or the pancake moon.”
Humphrey frowned. “You associate spring with pancakes?”
Robin pointed up at the sky. “Hey-”
“Not even a correct association," Fanny said. “Shrove tuesday is in february as often as it is in march.”
“Hey!”
“Oh for goodness sake that's not the point!” Thomas stomped his foot. “I'm saying that worms are hardly the most iconic or nicest thing to think about when you think of the spring or march m-”
A loud bellow cut overrode the end of Thomas's sentence. Everyone on the driveway jumped - even Mike, who jumped because Alison jumped next to him.
“Fucking hell Robin!” Alison snapped, heedless of her own language warning to Julian mere minutes before.
But Robin paid her no mind, on his tiptoes and pointing at the sky. “Look!”
The arguments ceased, a not-quite-silence taking over the group as all the ghosts looked up at the sky.
"Wow!” Pat's jaw dropped.
Next to him, the Captain nearly dropped his hand from Humphrey's neck. "Good lord."
Kitty gasped, clutching Humphrey's cloak.
“Oh!” Thomas gaped right alongside her, names forgotten as the actual moon herself loomed over them, big and beautiful - and red.
"It's like a sunset, but just on the moon." Kitty breathed, staring up with wonder. "It's beautiful."
“You should paint that,” Mike said quietly, nudging Alison. “Look at it. I'd love that, hanging over the mantle of the new place, or in the hall or something."
They all stood in awe. Even Fanny didn't have anything negative to say, just a soft smile on her face as she looked up.
"Safe to say we weren't expecting this," Pat said after a moment. He clapped Robin on the back. "S’pect you knew? This why you've been so excited?"
"Duh." Julian scoffed. "He's been bouncing off the walls about it. He made me look it all up last friday when he saw it on the news."
"It's a lovely colour isn't it." Humphrey said, yet to take his eyes off it. "Really gorgeous."
"Int it." Pat agreed. "How come it's red like that?"
"Dust?" the Captain suggested, "that sometimes affects the sky."
"Is because she in earths light." Robin explained. "This kind of eclipse occur when earth get between moonah and sun and block the sunlight completely from moonah. Looks dark, but when moonah move little bit, some light get through past earth - but this light has to go through earth atmosphere first, and it makes the light that hit moonah darker, ergo, red."
"Fucking 'ergo'," Julian muttered. This time Robin elbowed him.
"Y'know I understood that better than when we all tried to look eclipse stuff up on the interweb when Alison arrived," Pat admitted.
"It did make a lot of sense," Thomas agreed reluctantly. "Which ironically makes me feel rather insane."
Kitty inched closer to Robin. "Is it still a full moon, like the other eclipses?"
Robin nodded. "Yeah."
"So they all have to be full for an eclipse then?"
"Yeah, think so." Robin smoothed a hand down his fur in thought. "If moon not full too much lights get through and it wont be proper eclipse, me think. Will look it up."
Alison quietly resolved another wikipedia session with Robin. Hopefully Julian would be willing to do it with him instead.
Judging by the indulgent way Julian was looking at the caveman as Robin explained the process of an eclipse, the MP wouldn't mind a bit.
"I really liked this one." Kitty announced to the group. "The singing in the library is always fun, and I do so enjoy seeing the eclipses, but this one was so beautiful."
Murmurs of agreement came from the group.
“I should like to see one of these again,” Kitty declared.
“As would I,” Fanny agreed. “It's not like anything I've seen before. If there's another one in our lifetime- well, you know. I should like to see it.”
“When is the next one?” Humphrey asked. Cap had finally let go of his neck, now that Humphrey was more focused on things at his eye level. “Do we know?”
“forty years,” said Robin. “Give or take.”
“That’s not too bad.” The Captain mused, rubbing a finger over his mustache. He caught Fanny's eye and chuckled. “Shorter than the wait for this one!”
“Bloody long time if you ask me,” Julian grumbled. “I've only been here thirty.”
“You get used to it!” Kitty said to him, reaching forwards to pat his arm.
“Christ.”
“What's wrong?” Mike whispered.
“Nothing,” Alison lied. “They’re just- they're talking about the next one. Meant to be in forty years.”
“Oh. That's a bloody long time.”
“Yeah.”
“Easier for them, though, I suppose. Haven't some of them been here over hundreds?”
“Mm-hm.” Alison nodded. Her stomach had become a bit leaden. Forty years ‘give or take’ might not be too long for the likes of Robin or Humphrey, but it was for her and Mike. In forty years, she and Mike would be in their seventies. Mia would probably have kids of her own, or at least a fully grown adult in her forties. And they wouldn't have been at Button House for a long, long time.
She glanced back at the ghosts, who had turned to their favourite pastime of making fun of Julian because henwas the youngest ghost.
“You youngsters have no patience,” Fanny tutted.
“Agreed,” the Captain said, "terrible.”
“I had socks older than you,” Humphrey added, making Pat and the Captain snort.
Julian was, as usual, not taking it well, turning red and spluttering.
Everyone was having a good time, all peachy pink under the moon, but then Fanny caught Alison's eye. And then the Captain's gaze drifted over to Fanny's eye and followed her sorrowful look to Alison. Then Humphrey followed, concerned by the Captain's sudden quiet, which caught Pat’s attention. and one by one, the group fell quiet, all looking at her and Mike and their baby daughter.
“Wish we could send you a postcard of it,” Pat joked. It was weak, and Julian and Humphrey cringed.
“Yeah…” Alison winced.
It was hard, leaving everyone. Going from a house of 12 - over 30 if you counted the plaguers downstairs - would be a drastic change. Instead of waking up to daily running times, setting out crosswords and the everyday chatters of etiquette, nature, and music whilst making a cup of tea, she would wake up to a teething one year old that she would tote around on her hip; Mia would now be her only company while she made cups of tea for her and mike. The only morning sounds would be Mia's gentle babbling, the boil of the kettle, and the water running while Mike showered. Maybe the birds, too, if their new place had as good a garden as was advertised. There were birds here of course, but it was rare she heard them, drowned out by so many voices.
She was looking forward to the quiet in a lot of ways. The ghosts were hard work, and now Mia needed as much of her attention as possible - nine needy adults and all-consuming renovations could no longer be her focus.
But still... that change in routine; no more stopwatches, daily conversations over the kettle boiling, having history quizzes while she did her laundry and learning about 18th century poetry while dusting.
She would miss them.
Screw it.
"We'll come back for it," she blurted out.
Mike looked up at her. The ghosts did the same.
Pat looked between the others, all as clueless as each other. "For what?"
"The next one,” Alison said. “The next lunar eclipse."
"In forty years?" Thomas asked, his eyes wide. He looked small with Humphrey's cloak draped around him.
She looked at Mike.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, why not?"
"We'll mark it in the calendar," she promised. "I mean, metaphorically. We don't have a calendar for 2066 yet but when we get one we'll put it in: lunar eclipse at Button House."
The ghosts looked at each other. Fanny smiled softly. “Then we'll see you then.”