As the water got warm I heard the music from my room start back up just as loud as before,,then dropped low enough that I really couldn't make out any tune,,just a generic musical sound under the rush of the shower.Getting on with washing the funk off my body,,I couldn't help but keep thinking about the planchette moving like it did.That was by far the strangest most unexpected thing I have ever seen.Even what happened one fall night when I was about 11 didn't really come close to this.

  I still remember it plainly.Me,,two of my best child hood friends,a set of sisters,their brother held a seance with a ouijie board one autumn night.About a week or so before Halloween.Well,,the two best friends were supposed to be there,,but bowed out.Me and my two friends were supposed to be 'sleeping over' at my house all weekend,,Friday and Saturday.Since my family had went through a divorce and I and my father were the only occupants of the three bedroom concrete block home I grew up in,,my house was 'the house' to sleep over at.My dad was known as a drinker who left us kids alone and that was due to the fact that he 'was a drinker and left us alone'.

  Without getting into all of what that really allowed for,,especially after I got a little older,,one thing was certain at that time,,as soon as he 'went to bed',,or 'passed out in bed',,or I had to 'help him to bed',,we had free reign.On that particular night this had us counting on him topping off as he usually did,,before 11 or so.Earlier that Friday the brother of the two sisters,,Andrew was telling me and Tommy that his parents were going to visit an ill relative for the weekend and he and his two sisters were on their own.Well,,except for the old lady next door who was to 'keep an eye' on them at night.He went on to tell us that he had gotten a ouijie board from his cousin and wanted to get us to come and join in.His sisters were all for it,,since one liked me,,too much as far as I was concerned right then.

  Andrew was allways into 'spooky stuff' for as long as I knew him.I suppose living across the street and two houses down from the old cemetary didn't help him much.I actually used to go hang out in the graveyard with him some times.He was fascinated with the place.He knew the names of those buried there,,he could tell you grave by grave who was who and when they were born and died even.He had a collection of 'horror' genre books and items,,was real keen on old 'mystics' and magicians like Houdini and Harbin and hankered for anything to do with 'the occult',demonology,astrology,Cayce,Forte and all that kind of stuff.

  Strange fellow,,spooky and a little scary sometimes,,even to me,,and that didn't help him much in the friend department. Now,,don't get it wrong,,he was a 'friend' but we had never been pals like me,Tommy and a couple of others were.I was also a fan of many of the same things,,I just wasn't as far into it as he was.I was more into adventure,science and science fiction during those days but avidly learned what his material presented.It was fascinating to me so I did hang with him way more than any one else I knew of.He was nice enough,,he just had an edge that was uncommon for the culture of our suburb society.And his 'spooky,scareyness' wasn't any more frightful to me than my brothers and sisters were when they were on a rampage or were looking to cause me grief for some reason or other.If he went too weird on me,,I would go redneck on him.Like I would tell him,,"Andy,,cut it out or I'll treat you like family!" Yeah,,like the famous Cimmerian,,I allways figured that when dealing with 'magic users and demon creatures' a good piece of steel usually works wonders.Of course,,in my case,,that translated as a right cross or a cannonball tackle followed by a country whuppin'.It's amazing what you learn really young if you grow up as the bottom of 6 siblings.

  Anyway,,the plan was,,as far as Andy was concerned,,as long as my dad was 'asleep' early enough,,we were to come down to his house,,go to the back door and have a seance with a ouijie board at midnight.He said he wanted to have his sisters there because 'the presence of virgins attracted the more powerful spirits'.But he needed someone who could properly read some incantations aloud,,me,,and a few more 'seekers' wouldn't hurt since more than 4 was desirable."Hey," Andy asked me,,away from my friends ears,,"5 is best,,which one do you think would be less fearful?Could you get that one to not come?." Yeah,,that was the wierd strangeness that oozed out of Andrew and was probally what motivated my two best buds to go to sleep amazingly early for a Friday night sleep over.

  By the time my father was asleep,,so were my two sleep over guests,,snoring right through Monty Pythons Flying Circus.So,,I went anyway.It only took a few minutes to walk the to two blocks to his house.It was a very appropiate night for a seance.The wind was blowing,,not hard,,gentle like with harder gusts occasionally,,but steady.This makes for that common,,to me,,sounds of a fall night,,a steady rustling of leaves and 'other things'.I have allways figured this has added to ancient mans 'fears' during the season that spawns 'celebrations' to keep 'evil spirits',the fair folk,goblins,demons,witches and trolls at bay.The way the chilly seasonal wind would make it seem more than leaves were moving along behind,beside or in front of you,especially in the dark before elecric street and house lights could easily enable active imaginations to see things that were quite likely not there.Just imagine the same scene while carrying one of those old lanterns or a torch.A roaring fire,,dancing people,,sufficient quantities of fermented beverages and locally grown herbs and spices added to the food and fire before retreating to a warm,hut,tent or hole in a rock to sleep ensconced by family would go a long way toward allowing a little peace of mind during those seasons.

  As I got to his house,,I noticed that there were no lights on in Andys house,,and of course there were none next door.I expected as much from the old ladys house but I didn't really expect none in Andys.I walked past the house to the side away from the old ladies,,stopped and looked down the side yard and could see a light on in a room on that side of the house.There was light from a tv in the living room of the next house but the middle aged single fellow living there didn't seem to care a whit about much of anything and none of us kids had ever had any trouble from him.It got pretty dark as I walked across the front to the side yard and stepped between the houses.Coming up on the window with the light shining out of it I could hear Andys voice.It sounded demanding like he gets when talking to his sisters.

  One,,Mindy,,was the oldest and only a year younger that me and Andy,,Sheryl was two years younger than Mindy and could be a real pain on occasion.Mindy was nice and all,,and even then I thought she was pretty,,I liked her long brown hair and bright blue eyes.Her smile was as pretty as they come and she wasn't one of those 'stupid' girls,,but I was not at all that super interested in her,,or girls in general at that time.Sure there was Tina V. down the street and Lori J. on the other end of my block,,a cute little Italian and an adorable little blonde,,but hanging out with them and their brothers was about as much 'girlfriendly' as I got back then.

  "I don't care,Mindy,,just don't mess this up for me,,okay?All you and Sheryl have to do is be there.You don't have to say or do anything except hold hands and be quiet." ,'Okay,Andy,,but you owe us a favor,,I don't want to see no ghosts." , "Spirits,Mindy,,not ghosts,spirits."

  Taking that as my cue,,I started to make a low whooo-ing sound through the window.I could see the smile grow across Andys face and for a second Mindy look frightened,then brightened up into a smile when she seen my face in the corner of the window. "It's just him,,he's here." , "Go open the back door for them,Sheryl." "okay" said the younger sister as she skipped from the room.I said as I started to walk on past the window,,"It's only me,,they went to sleep on us."

  Getting to the back door which Sheryl was holding open,,I walked on into the back porch.There on the table was an odd looking item.I was looking at it as Andy came in.It was a rectangular piece of wood about 15 inches by around 20 inches with letters and numbers lightly carved into it across the top and bottom of the face of it.There was something on top of it that looked like it was made out of a turtle shell of somekind.There was a 'scoop' shape cut out of one end and it had symbols of some kind scrawled across it in red and white.It looked ancient,creepy,spooky and very cool.

  Andy had what we used to call a shit eating grin on his face as he stepped over and asked,,It's cool,,ain't it?" , "Yeah,it is.Where'd you say you got it?" , "My cousin,,she was at my grandmothers funeral and she said she got it a long time ago from some lady from an island somewhere." , "How old's your cousin?" , "I don't know,,maybe 30 or so.Older for all I really know,,I know she looked like someone from a movie,,she was beautiful." , "Really?" ,"Yeah,,and she said this was a real ouijie board that she had used lots of times to really talk to the spirits.Not like the Milton Bradley game,,this is really a real genuine ouijie board.She said a real witch doctor made it" , "Why did she give to you?" , "She said she didn't need it any more,she could get in contact with out it but her guides told her she had to give it to a family member for some reason or other so when she came to the funeral she asked her guides who should get it and they chose me."

  Looking at the clock on the wall he said,,"We have 15 minutes still,come on,let's get some soda and pizza my mom let Mr's Johnson order for us tonight.And I'll show you the incantation I want you to read when we start."

  "What kind of pizza?" I asked.

  "Pepperoni with extra pepperoni."

  As he said that,,Mindy came out carrying a plate with three pieces of pizza on it and a big glass of iced soda.She smiled real big at me,pushed the ouijie board over to the other side of the table and said,"Here,,this is for you."

  Andy clucked a disgruntled cluck and asked,"Where's mine,Mindy?" She shot,,"Get your own,ya big dummy.",,at him and sat down at the table,looked at me and said sweetly,,"It's not refridgerator cold,,it's been sitting on the kitchen table.And it's Pepsi,,you like Pepsi,right?"

  I looked at her thinking,,ooh,boy,,she does like me,,and said aloud to her,,"Yes,I do.And cold pizza is still pizza,thank you,Mindy.Do you want a piece?,,there's three and two will do me fine." She smiled real big and said,"Sure,,if you don't mind."

  I sat down,,slid the plate toward her for her to take a piece.She looked at Andy,stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed a piece,said thank you to me as she slid it back,,,then took a big bite and began laughing as she chewed it.Andy harumphed and said,,"I'll be right back." as I went ahead and took a drink of the cold pepsi grabbed a piece of pizza and began looking at the old ouijie board while munching on it.

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