Opalescence

This book was recommended to me by a co-worker, and her summary of it was so ensnaring that I went out and got it from a nearby library immediately.  I sometimes marvel that I was able to read some of the books I did as a kid: how the hell did they not scare the ever-loving bejeezees out of me?  From the mere sight of the twisted illustrations in Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books to the prose of a short story that culminated with an apparently long-dead man (Balthazar Beale, maybe?) returning for his book, I occasionally wonder what could have possibly possessed me to read such literature at the ages of oh, say, 7 or 8.  I suppose it was inevitable that H.P. Lovecraft would become one of my favorite authors as I grew up.

(note the very subtle plea for help above! )

In my hunt for scary stories as a gradeschooler, I tended to overlook novels; I was more of a short story collections boy, which would account for why I missed Mary Downing Hahn’s novelette the first time around.  Wait Till Helen Comes is another example of a book that I would have enjoyed as a child, but darned if I know why.  It features a young girl’s morbid obsession with a gravestone (whose occupant shares all three initials of her name, among other things), a spirit taking possession of a child, and makes reference to several other related child deaths.  It’s the kind of thing I look at now and think, "Jeez, can kids even handle all that?"  But I know, when I was in fourth grade, I would have loved this kind of story.

Jean and Dave have children from previous marriages, but they get together and take their combined families out to live in a church in rural Maryland.  Molly and Michael, Jean’s children, are upset by this but must learn to adapt.  Dave’s young daughter Heather, on the other hand, almost immediately develops a fascination with a graveyard on the property, and starts communicating with the ghost of its occupants, a girl named Helen who died at the same age Heather is now. 

Building on the already present tension between the children of the two parents, Helen becomes a means by which Heather continues to act horribly to the other children, Molly in particular.  When Molly discovers that Helen may have additional plans for Heather, however, she must overcome her considerable dislike of Heather and fight Helen’s spirit to save her.

Hahn does a good job exploring several themes throughout the story, including fear of death and the unknown, the turmoil that can result from families merging, and the powerful effects of guilt on personality and self-image.  Helen, the spirit, mirrors young Heather in so many ways, that she seems Hahn’s way of saying that history has a way of repeating itself, even if for occasionally singular reasons.

But the real reason this story succeeds is that it’s chilling.  Heather is a vindictive, almost vicious child, who resents her new older siblings, and her encounters and obsession with Helen make you wonder about her sanity.  Through several key scenes, we see that Molly is frightened by the situation, but is willing and ready to take on the young-looking ghost to keep her from taking Heather away.  Heather, however, is resentful and mean to Molly, even several times hitting her with the foreboding title phrase, "Wait till Helen comes."

A good, scary read for anyone looking to journey initiate or increase their exposure to scary stories!

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