An Interview With
My Mother’s Ghost

My mother moved to yonder cloud in February of 2000 - see, that second one over there, the bright, fluffy and white one? So, I called on her ghost for this one, figuring the trip down would be too harrowing. Then again, maybe it was my mom after all. She had all the answers, just as she’d had all her life. She sat herself down on my parsley plant on the patio, and made herself comfortable.

The Interview

MOI: What is your name?

GHOST: My name is Doris Löve (you pronounce it Luh-veh), and I was born in Kristianstad, in southern Sweden, on January 2, 1918, in the middle of a cold winter. Oh, I bet you were going to ask me all that! I do go on!

MOI: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

GHOST: Only one sister, two years younger than I. Her name was Benta Maria Christina, but I always called her Maria. Our mother died just after she was born.

MOI: That’s sad! How did your father manage to take care of two little girls, one just a newborn?

GHOST: Oh, he had help, and he really needed it. He was terribly unhappy for a long time. First there were several children’s nurses, then we finally found Musse, who stayed with us for years, even after we were grown up and had kids of our own.

MOI: What kind of games and toys did you have as a child?

GHOST: Oh, we had lots of toys. One of my favorites was a doll house that one of my uncles built, complete with furniture and a family. In the summer we had a play-house at the beach house with lots of dolls. We had a tiny doll sized tea set so we had tea parties for our dolls. And we’d take them out in doll carriages.

MOI: You told me once you climbed trees and fell out of one. What happened?

GHOST: Well, I got too far out on the branch, but not very high up. I slipped and grabbed a small twig, and then cut my arm when I still fell down to the ground. The ground was soft, though. Lots of pine needles. Got a bunch of stitches. See? (rolls up sleeve of white robe)

MOI: I know you went to school. Can you tell me a bit about that?

GHOST: I graduated from the gymnasiet (Gimm-nah-see-yet) and then went to the university in Lund. It’s an OLD university, first started in about 1300 A.D. I got my Dr. of Science there when I was 24 years old.

MOI: How did you get back and forth from school?

GHOST: Oh, most the time we walked, but when I was at the university, I rode my bicycle to my classes. That was where I met your father, by the way. I thought he looked so old and distinguished. (Giggle) He was less than two years older than I was!

MOI: Did you play any sports?

GHOST: Well, I played tennis a lot. We had a clay court at our summer house. And I went swimming a lot in the Baltic, since the summer house was at the beach. A long, sandy beach. I remember how cold the water was, too. (Shudder)

MOI: Did you date a lot?

GHOST: Oh, yes, I sure did! My father was very strict, though, and he always had to meet my dates before he’d let me go out with them. Even if it was just for a stroll, or to a movie. I also went to dances and tea parties with my friends.

MOI: You had families in both Sweden and Denmark. How did you manage that?

GHOST: Well, my mother was Danish and her family was all in Denmark, mostly Copenhagen. My grandmother and my father didn’t get along very well, so now and then she would come across the strait on a boat and well, borrow me, so to speak, for a few weeks, until my father would cross to Denmark and take me back. This happened lots of times, and I loved it when I was with my grandmother. She had a great sense of humor, and we laughed a lot.

MOI: What kind of work did your father do?

GHOST: He was a businessman, I think a sort of accountant, and did pretty well. He must have because we had two houses. One in town, one at the beach. Well, the one in town was sort of a condominium-penthouse. He owned the building and we had a big apartment on the top floor.

MOI: What kinds of jobs did you have when you were growing up?

GHOST: Well, one summer I worked on a big sailboat while I was taking a marine biology course. I really enjoyed that job. I was about the only one who was never seasick, so I got to steer it, while the others collected the samples. That was my favorite job. I even met Thor Heyerdahl there - the one who sailed the Kon Tiki to Easter Island, remember the movie we took you to?

MOI: Did you travel a lot when you were young?

GHOST: Oh, yes, I sure did. All over Europe. There was no east and west Europe then so I could go all over, until I was about 18 when there was a lot of fighting going on. Hitler was trying to take over Europe, you know? Sad time for a lot of people. My uncle Christian and aunt Edith
were in Denmark helping the Danes, and that was a worrisome time for my sister and me.

MOI: Now, before we end this, talk to me about some of the big changes you’ve seen over the years.

GHOST: Wellll, we didn’t have a television to watch. Instead, we listened to the radio a lot. I remember hearing about Lindbergh’s first flight. The radio we had was a lot like the one Amma (your grandmother in Iceland) had. We’d gather around it after dinner and listen to the news, specially after the war started. I’ve seen how much cars have changed. My father’s first one was a Duisenberg, a big white convertible car. I drove it a few times in Ahus, in the little lanes around the summer house. Of course, I didn’t have permission, but I never got caught. Besides, I didn’t have to have a license to drive then. The best change of all, though, are computers. It was so much easier to write after I got your old computer.

You know, I do think it’s time for me to go back to my cloud. It’s almost time for our sing-along.

The Ghost, well, my mother the angel, looked up at the cloud. Shook herself and vanished in a small puff of air.