Someone, I don’t know who, is living with me in my house. The clues of this person’s existence are subtle—a sip of milk here, a slice of bread there—but nonetheless detectable. Such is my concern that I have taken to measuring and weighing some of the items in my fridge before I leave for the office in the mornings. In the evenings, when I return, I weigh and measure the same foods. The evidence is there in plain view: the mature cheddar cheese I keep in a Tupperware tub is considerably lighter; the half-loaf of wholewheat bread is now a quarter-loaf; the level of orange juice has dropped; there is one less apple in the bowl and, even more telling, the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom is noticeably slimmer. All the signs point to the presence of a ghostly parasite in my house.
I have lived a simple life. I never married and have, therefore, at the age of fifty-eight, never had to compromise my domestic realm for a husband, children or grandchildren. It is a neat, pet-free household and any irregularities are easily noticed. My house, which is in a quiet southern suburb of Cape Town, is modest, with two bedrooms (one, actually, as the second is a study-cum-sewing room), a lounge, a kitchen and a bathroom. There is also a small attic, although I haven’t been up there in years. The last person who went up through the trapdoor in the passage ceiling was an electrician I had called out to lower the thermostat on the geyser (my little contribution to power-saving).
Yes, I know what you’re thinking: if anyone is hiding in my house then the attic would be the logical place to start searching.
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