Our first encounters with the unexplained

Our first unexplained encounter was our only visible enity. My wife was washing the transoms above the doors. These windows above the interior doors are rather high so she was up on a stepladder. She was looking from the dining room into the kitchen. Suddenly a small black boy stepped into view, He was only wearing bib overalls but he was carrying a lantern that was much too big for him. Wondering why a child had wondered in the house, she quickly decended the ladder and went into the kitchen, now quite empty. I came up out of our dungeon like basement carrying a large lantern base I had found. My wife quickly told me what she had seen and insisted that I help her search the house for the child who couldn't have gotten past us both to an exit. The child was never located. Our neighbors assurred us the Afroamerican children had not lived in town for decades. One young couple sometimes visited, but they, as yet had no children.