Subj: One Fine Day (5)
Date: 4/15/00 8:44:03 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Kallie
The Year 1969
"When The Spirit Moves You"
At The Old House it was just a fact of life that doors opened by themselves. Nevertheless to avoid attracting any attention Willie snuck in the back way. Almost at once his olfactory senses were assaulted by an enticingly delicious aroma, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since breakfast. So following his nose he soon discovered a kettle full of baked beans.
Mrs. Johnson was really getting frustrated cooking without electricity. The temperature of the hearth's fire was hard to gauge just right, which had resulted in more than a few cooking disasters. Her baked beans, however, always seemed to turn out fine. But the family was starting to tire of her ever frequent bean cuisine, and were finding other places to dine. As she stared down at the dirty dishes, she too succumbed to a Big Mac Attack and headed out the door in search of a fast food fix, nearly knocking Willie over on the way out.
Alone in the kitchen at last, he grabbed a spoon and gave the beans a taste, delighted to find that they were still warm. Mrs Johnson's efforts didn't go to waste as she had feared. Willie had worked up a powerful appetite, so he dug in and had himself a regular bean feast.
As he was gorging on the last of his legumes, he began to hear voices coming from the sitting room. He peered through the open slatted doors and saw that Carolyn and Maggie had pushed the two wing back chairs closer to the small table by the fireplace, and set up a Ouija board.
Maggie was staring at the board pensively. She was remembering a story Vicki had told her about the time she lived at the orphanage. While living there Vicki had her own adventure with one of the talking boards.
Vicki told Maggie that all the kids, including herself, had been fascinated by ghosts and spooky things, so when they discovered an old Ouija board hidden away in the dusty attic they were determined to try it out.
When the clock struck midnight, Vicki and her friends snuck out of their rooms and meet in the attic. With only candlelight to illuminate the room, they were having a fabulous time, communing with the spirits, asking questions and getting funny answers.
But then the nuns discovered their nefarious activity and spoiled all the fun. The holy sisters told them that they had no idea of the dark forces they were playing with. They were informed that the very name of the Ouija board, combining the French "oui" and the German "ja" meant yes, yes. And playing with such a board was an open invitation to demonic possession. Still ranting and raving about demons and possession, the nuns grabbed the wicked board away from the girls, and took it down stairs where it was thrown it in the fireplace.
As it was being consumed by the flames the board seemed to let out a terrifying scream. The nuns told them that the board was evil and those were the screams of the demons who had lived in the board being expelled. Vicki told Maggie that it was one of the most frightening experiences of her childhood. It was now giving Maggie second thoughts of even touching this board.
But the story didn't bother Carolyn at all so Maggie tried a different tactic, something a little closer to home. "Don't you think that there are enough spirits running around Collinwood right now without trying to contact more? Besides Fabio will be here at any moment." She added while nervously checking her watch.
But when Carolyn got an idea in her head there was just no stopping her. "A little impatient aren't we?" She teased. "Don't tell me you afraid of a harmless little game, because that is all it really is." When she saw Maggie was not convinced she went on, "For goodness sakes I picked it up at the toy store, where it was sitting harmlessly between the Monopoly and the Scrabble. I hardly think they would sell real Demonic communication devices in a kiddy store. We don't even have to turn the lights off to play. Just place your fingers lightly on the planchette and think of a question to ask."
Maggie pointed at the plastic heart shaped device and asked, "Is that the planchette?" Lightly resting her fingers on its side.
"Yes, it was named after the French Spiritualist who invented it as a way of communicating with the dead. The original one had a pencil as its front leg so that the spirits could actually write out their messages to the living. So you see, this isn't even close to the real thing." Carolyn placed her fingers on the plastic pointer and will a smile exclaimed, "Let's begin"
Willie moved closer to the board. He thought, this could be fun.
Maggie asked the first question, "Will David come back to us save and sound?" The planchette easily moved over to the left and landed on the "YES".
"See how easy it is?" Carolyn proclaimed.
Willie could see that it was easy because Carolyn was pushing the plastic pointer where she wanted it to go. With the next question, he decided, it would not be so easy for her to get the answers she wanted.
It was Carolyn's turn to ask the spirits, so with a wicked smile on her face she inquired, "Is Fabio Fabreezi the man who will be Maggie's one true love?" Carolyn immediately started subtly pushing the pointer to the yes, but Willie caught her unawares and the pointer quickly glided to the right, settling on the answer "NO".
Carolyn studied Maggie carefully, narrowing her eyes a bit, "Are you having second thoughts about Fabio?" She asked thinking that Maggie had done a little tampering of her own.
"Of course not", she protested. "Hey I've got a question. If Fabio is not the man of my dreams, then who is?"
Almost at once the planchette started to vibrate with energy, but it had nothing to do with the spirit world. Carolyn had been the one who encouraged the match between Fabio and Maggie so she didn't want the board to fail her again. She slowly, but firmly tried to move the pointer towards the letter F.
Although Maggie had not cheated the first two times she really hoped the planchette would spell out Joe's name, so she used a little pressure towards the letter J.
Willie of course saw this as the perfect opportunity to promote his own cause and directed his efforts to the letter W.
On and on it went each of the girls putting on a forced smile and pretending not to push as the tug of war between the letters F J and W raged silently on. The longer it went on, the harder they pushed and although the pointer moved, it didn't seem to really go anywhere. Carolyn grit her teeth and pushed even harder. Her lower lip began to tremble and her voice sounded strained as she uttered, "Isn't this fun?"
Then the doorbell rang and Maggie let go and went to greet her date. Carolyn was surprised to find that she could still feel the pressure on the planchette.
In a streak of pure stubbornness she gathered all her strength for one last mighty shove to the letter F. But if Maggie wasn't playing, Willie was no longer interested. He let go of the planchette just as Carolyn made her final effort, causing her to fly across the board and knock the table right over. In a fit of frustration she threw the board in the fireplace, and sat back in the chair to sulk, grateful that there were no witnesses to her little performance.
Willie had the most terrible urge to scream like a demon, and scare the daylights out of the high and mighty Miss Collins. But he wanted to see what this Fabio character looked like so he quietly followed Maggie to the front door.
Kallie >^,,^<