While the man fumbled for a clean cloth to wipe her face, the woman felt the smudge with her fingers, and began to panic. The man asked her if she was alright and that’s when she divulged the truth: she was a ghost. At first, the man laughed it off. ‘Quit playing with me,’ he said. How else could he explain the walnuts scattered on the ground, she asked. When the man still refused to believe her, she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

‘Look around now,’ she directed the orchard farmer as she slowly opened her eyes.

The walnuts had vanished from the ground. All of them to the last piece were hanging back on the trees, as if untouched. Rather than being scared out of his wits, the man had tears in his eyes. ‘It does not matter,’ he announced boldly, ‘I love you all the more.’ The woman was overcome by his magnanimous gesture, but continued to look worried.

‘The stain,’ she said tearfully, ‘it’s not a good sign. I’m a ghost and my body is an illusion. But your touch and this smudge tells me that dark days are upon us.’