- A ghost or spector
- A ghost of a living person seen just before his or her death
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When death knocks upon one's door, it is said that that person may appear to those most important to them in life as a wraith. To wish them farewell, to bid them warning, to whisper secrets that had always meant to be shared but somehow laid dormant: These are things those on deathbed come to tell the living.
These are also things one's luggage would tell its owner as an apparition before it disappeared from the airplane cargo - swept into that world the airlines call "lost baggage."
As I flew into Austin, Texas on Thursday evening, I hoped beyond hope not to receive a vision of my dear Maurice (AKA the China bag the size of Vermont). I had seen Maurice board the plane to O'Hare by chance, but through the next 4 hours, not a single vision was spotted. This could only be good news, as I feel Maurice would try to contact me if he were to be forgotten on the tarmack.
Upon descending into the baggage claim area, a parade of baggage floated through my mind's eye. Beneath the guitar-dazzled carousel, black, blue, yellow, Army, beige, and pink bags flew by and then, suddenly, there was Maurice - not his wraith but the mesh-and-thread reality.
Maurice made it to Austin. I made it to Austin. Time to unpack and enjoy the show.
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