My mind was buzzing and not from any sort of drug or alcohol.Any effect I had been feeling was totally gone,,erased by the event and the shower.For one,,the idea that what happened back then had something to do with this,,boggled my mind just about off it's hinges.And another thing,,where did the board go?Sliding my clean jeans on and picking up my clothes and shoes,,I stepped out into the hall,flicking off the light as I did.

  As I closed the bathroom door and stood in the dim hall looking toward Dales door the image of the figure seemed to loom in my mind.While I in no way felt the fearsome surge of panic I did way back then,,a good bit of the overall nervouseness tried to well up from somewhere deep down,,pushing goose bumps out of my skin as it did.Resorting to a defense I had developed through my life when faced with fearsome feelings,,I took two steps toward that door with a half formed thought about finding the board and tossing it in the garbage on top of the paver tile,,,and jumped to the far left side of the hall,,banging it hard enough to knock a framed poster of The Led Zeppelin 'blimp' to the floor as Cindy opened Mikes bedroom door and shuffle stumbled out into the hall.

  Freezing for a moment as she tried to open and adjust her eyes I got the impression she was more or less sleep walking. While I was trying to get my heart rate to come down I leaned over and picked up the poster while asking her,,"Are you allright,Cindy?Don't you want to go back to bed?That beds real cozy,,isn't it?" , "Yesss,," started her sleepy sounding response,,"but it would be better with you in it,," she giggled and sorta dropped her voice..took a couple of short steps toward the wall next to me and put her hand on my back and nuzzled my bare shoulder with her cheek,,and after saying "You're so warm",,she kissed that shoulder then,,flicking her tongue she licked off a drop of water that I hadn't gotten with the towel.

  Ignoring that,,since,,even though she was a very attractive,,and shall we say an 'adventuresome gal',,and she was a friend of mine,,she was more of a pal for me,,and Mikes current squeeze,,and saying to her while I straightened the poster on it's wall hook,,"Aww,Cindy,sweetheart,,you know that ain't gonna happen.I'm sorry but if you want,,I'll go tell Mike to come see you,, okay?" Turning to her and putting my hands on her shoulders,,slightly stroking them as I gently turned her back towards the still open door to the dark room,,I continued with,,"Now you go lay down and I'll go tell Mike you told me to get him to come to bed,,okay?", "Allright," came her sleepy rely,,"but you ain't no fun,,you know that?I don't know why Melissa thinks you is so so cute.Oh,,wait yes I do,,'cuz you is.And you are a good friend.If I dump Mike will you do me?"

  "Cindy,,if you dump Mike just to do me,,NO,,I won't." Guiding her into the dark room and over to where I knew the beds edge was I finished with,,"Shame on you,,but thanx,,you flatter me." As the last syllables came out of my mouth she bent at the waist,,apparently put one knee on the bed and pushed her,,yes,,I admit it,,soft warm butt against my crotch,,rather hard,,saying,,"Come on,,get yasef some,,it does tricks." Which prompted me to say,,"I'm gonna run away now,,okay?"

  Stepping backwards towards the door I heard her flop down onto the bed,,sighing loudly then saying,,"Tell Mike I'm awake,,please,,mister man?" , "Sure thing,sweetie." I said softly and and closed the door.Scooting to my bedroom door,,I stepped in quick like and sharply said,,"Mike!"

  This abrupt entrance,,along with the door making that shhuusshhing noise on the halfshag carpet,,made John,,who was sitting on the bed facing the tv and Mike who was messing with my stash,,jerk and jump,,snapping their heads towards me and the door.Melissa,,who seemed like she had been looking at the door right before I came in didn't appear fazed at all.Looking at the sultry smile on her pretty featured face I paused and felt a nice warm feeling come over me.It dispelled a sense of chilliness I hadn't fully realized was sitting somewhere in my lower abdomen,,like a piece of granite head stone from a mouldering grave.Without taking my eyes off hers,,I asked Mike,,"You didn't just spill it,did you Eegar?"

  Jumping into the character,,Eegar said,,"No,,Massuh,,Eegar no spill nun,,me just rolled two fatties,massuh." After forceably removing my eyes from hers in order to look at him as I dropped my dirty levis on my bed and said,, "Well,Eegar ,,let me see them.","Here Massuh,,no bigger than my little pinkie."

  Stepping pass John to stand next to where he had the two spliffs held out in his open palm,,I could see he was right,,no bigger,,just as big,,but no bigger.Taking what may have passed for the larger of the two and sticking it in my mouth,,I pointed my finger at the other one and said,,"Now,,since you were good and eager,Eegar,,take that one and go smoke it with Cindy.She's awake and told me that she's warm for your form,buddy-ro!"

  Looking at me with wide eyes,,allmost tearing up,,I swear,,he softly asked,,"Really?", "Really,dude.Get on with it,get down on it and get on in it!" He bounded to his feet and darted off,,then stopped as I said,,"Take your beer,,you'll need something to kill the cotton mouth." Stepping backwards,,he grabbed his beer,,looked at me with a leer,,pumped his shoulders up and down,,kind of like the way The Peanuts cartoon gang danced and said in a barely recognizable Ralph Cramden,,"And awwaa-aay we gooo!" then headed for the door again,,at a much faster pace while me and John caught the flow and said in unison,,"No,,dude,,just you."

  Chuckling,,I turned and sat in the chair Mike had just vacated as John said,,"Jinx,dude,you owe me a beer." , "Go get a Busch,man.You know where they are,don't you?" was my reply as I scooped up a lighter,,lit the hooter in my lips,,and noticing the ice bucket was low,,I grabbed it and held it out to him and expelled the smoke along with,,"Please get us some more ice while you go,,it seems it's about gone,,if ya hurry you get in on more of this."

  Shaking it at him as he chuckled,stood up and made a grab at it,,I said,,"Careful there's water in it." , "Yeah I know,,and I don't want to get YOUR pants wet." Laughing at that,,I held the container still so he could take it from my hand.Taking it he looked at me and said,,rather sadly,,"Now I have to go near the back door." , "It's trapped in the bottom of that can,,it ain't got no muscles.And even if it did,,with all that tape and that paver,,it wouldn't be strong enough,,but hurry anyway,,I want a fresh drink,,I need a fresh drink,,scoot,dude!,,please?"

  "Okay,okay,,I'm allready on my way back." And he simply left.As he did so I turned,,looked at the beautiful brunette across the little table from me,,smiled,,took another hit,,and handed it to her.As she looked at the doob I realized she appeared to be having a little trouble focusing on it.Noticing this herself,,after reaching out to grab it and succeeding on the third try,,at plucking it from my fingers,,she blushed,giggled and said,,"I do beleeve Ah is drunken,sirruh!"

  Laughing at how cute she still was,,I replied with a cheerful,,"And I see,,well drank at that,madahm!" Looking at the bottle,,the amount missing told me that much.She laughed beautifully,,and took a noisy toke from the jernt,,coughed,,took some more then handed it back to me with a silly grin on her 'puffed from holding the hit' face.That lasted about as long as it took me to take it from her hand at which point she lost her hold on it in a fit of laughter mixed liberally with coughing.

  While watching her spasm through what looked like a rollicking good time,,unable to refrain from laughing sporadically with her,,I drained my stale drink and mixed a fresh one 'sans' ice while taking a couple of hits.I wanted to get back the buzz that I had earlier,,I needed to get that buzz back.The events were in no way 'out of mind',,they were there,,just not out in the open,,I suppose they were right in the same room where that 'voice' hung out when it wasn't bugging me.But they were there.

  She got her composure back,,pretty much,,and asked me,,,after taking the doober back and hitting it lightly as she spoke,,,"Is what John said about that weej,ah,,woojie,,uh,,ouijie board true?Was it really moving?" , "It sure seemed like the planchette was,,as crazy as that seems,,yes,,I believe it did." Her eyes got wide,,and a little frightened looking,,as she asked,,"What's happening?What's it all about?Huh?Is Amanda okay?Did it do something to her,?,because she looked like she was possessed or something.Is it over?Did what you did make it stop?"

  "I know that the planchette ain't getting out,,other than that,,I don't know,Melissa,,I don't know." Taking a sip from my non iced drink I continued with,,"I hope Amanda is okay,,she spooked me to tell you the truth,,that was freaky." , "You got that right,I,,," her sentence got lost in another much lighter coughing fit.She quickly handed it back to me,,waving it away after I took it while laughing at her contorted,,yet amazingly still cute face.As that one was winding down John came back in the room with the ice and two beers.Looking at Melissa coughing,,her head surrounded by a cloud of aromatic smoke,,he asked,,"Hey,,is there any left?"Seeing that one beer was allready half gone,,he evidently wanted to catch back up on his buzz as well.

  Taking the container of ice from him,,swapping the hooter for it,,I quickly dropped a handful of cubes in my glass.Swirling it around briefly,,I took a few big swallows of the now much cooler liquid,swirled it some more and drained all but aboy two big swallows from it.Setting it down,,I pulled my stash over in front of me,,then stood up,,stepped to the corner dresser drawer closest to me and pulled out my glass bong.Turning around,,I asked the two sets of eyes looking at what I had in my hand,,"Are you ready to fog out and get bleary eyed?"

  John started nodding his head up and down like one of those doggies you see in the back windows of old folks' cars and said,,'I was hoping you would pull ol'smokie out,dude,,awwrite,,let's get toasted,man!" , "It's only to smoke while I roll a few doobers,man." Melissa asked,,"Is that a water bong?" to which John replied,,"Yep,,but he don't put no steenkeeng water in ol,smokie,,no siree bob!"

  Setting it down in front of her,,I pointed at the accumulated resin and bud bits in the chamber."It's a dry bong.Which simply means 'no water'.I throw a little weed in the chamber,,see,,and put a screen in the neck to keep stuff out of it and to keep ashes and bits of weed inside of it.After smoking a bunch of stuff through it,,all that inside is all resinated and extra potent."

  As she looked inside it,,peering to see through the resin obscured ball shaped glass pipes main chamber John said,,"But it will mess you up while doing that,too.Fill ol'smokie up,dude.Smokem dopem,kemoslobby." Laughing at him,,I sat down to begin breaking some up while telling him,,''Aww,,hold ya horses,myrtle,,drink your beer and give me half a minute,'kay?" After breaking a bit up and torching it,,inhaling a good inhalation,,I passed it to Melissa.John,,taking the cue from my gesture,,told her about the 'carburator hole' while I held my hit and continued preparing the smoke out fodder.

  About 45 minutes later,,the visibility in the room was about 6 feet,,tops.I literally could not see the door from where I sat.Or maybe I just didn't notice the door by that time.Looking over at Melissa,,I started to ask her if she had a better view of the door from where she sat but I stopped when I seen that her head was down on her forearm.Leaning forward in my seat to look around the table at her face I could see the adorable visage was serenely sleeping,,a cute little strand of drool dripped down into her bare forearm.Not enough to be gross.I considered it an endearing site I was glad to see.

  So much so,,I had to say,,"Aww,John,,look,,she went to sleep." When I didn't hear a reply from him,,I turned and looked at him where he sat on the floor with his head,directly in front of the tv on top of my dresser,,leaned back on the edge of my bed,,and seen that he too was sawing lumber.Laughing a little,,being well fried and bleary eyed,,I picked Melissa up out of her chair,,she stirred a little but remained as limp as a rag doll while I laid her out across my bed.Pulling her shoes off and pushing her legs so her feet weren't hanging over the side,,I flipped the cover down from the pillows,,down over her,covering her up.She barely moved.

  Stepping around next to John at the foot of the bed,,I nidged his shoulder with my knee until his eyes popped open.He looked at me,,blankly for a few heart beats,,then around the room.I said,,"Go stretch out on the couch,man,,before you get a crik in your neck."

  He hopped up,,sorta quick,,looked at Melissa,,stretched then said,,"'kay man,,see ya tomorrow." As he staggered from the room I shut the door behind him.Turning back to the bed,,I grabbed a pillow,,stuck it under Melissas head and while she huggled and snuggled into it,,I made sure she was covered comfortably then grabbed the other pillow,,dropped it on the floor and laid down with my head on it.

  As I felt myself sliding rather quickly and smoothly into sleep a voice seemed to ring through my head,,not the usual one,,a rather larger seeming,,more resounding,,allmost booming yet not ungentle one.It seems like it said,,

  'Well,,if the Trump is The Name that sits on the Right Hand of The Most High,,there is nothing to fear.'

  Then the question that came to me,,plainly my own thought,,'But do I know that Name?And is my name in His Book?'

  Puzzled by what just passed through my head,,yet feeling extremely comforted at having heard it,,I felt asleep considering that question.I knew I knew the answer but I just couldn't figure out the why,where,when or what at that time,,let alone the who in question.

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