Subj: Designing Shadows Part Eight
Date: 12/31/00 5:11:13 PM Central Standard Time
From: N.E. Collins
Mary Jo Stilfield wandered the vacant halls of the east wing of the great house. This section of the house had not been closed off for as the long as the west section, but it was still quite dusty and mostly dark. The ghosts that haunted Collinwood had not yet invaded this area of the home so she was safe from that harm, but there were secrets yet untold and she was about to stumble upon one of them.
She had been opening doors and poking around absent-mindedly. There sure was a lot to see here, she thought to herself. So much space and so many things! These people must be LOADED! We sure were lucky to get this job. I just hope we don't screw it up somehow like we always seem to do. Mary Jo was not real big on self-confidence and this lack of self esteem spread out to how she felt about everyone around her. She continued to berate herself and others when she opened a door of a room that contained nothing. Not a single solitary thing.
Along the upper left wall there were some quite beautiful stainglass windows. The designs looked like heraldic flags or family emblems of some kind. It was hard to tell in the half light. The room itself was large, even larger than Mrs. Stoddard's own bedroom which the crew had found to be one of biggest in the house up to now. The walls were done in a jade green wallpaper that was showing evident signs of decay as it had begun to crack and peel in places. She walked the perimeter of the room and tried the door at the other end, but held fast. The knob turned, but it would not give.
As soon as she stepped back across the threshold of the empty room there was a
flash of light and a sudden blare of sound! She whirled around in surprise and
received an even bigger surprise, for there before her she saw herself! And with
this other self was a man, and they were wrapped up in an embrace that embarrassed
Mary Jo. Well, she thought enviously, not that Mary Jo. THAT Mary Jo? What am
I thinking? I am Mary Jo! She stepped forward, but she could not enter the room
again. There was something unseen keeping her from taking another step.
Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.