Who Ya Gonna Call?

The best thing about reading other people's blogs is that they sometimes give my memory a nudge, and give me ideas for my own blog. I was reading Hillbilly Mansion tonight, and she was talking about ghosts in her house. That reminded me of our resident ghost.

We used to own a little cabin at Diamon City, on Bull Shoals Lake, and when I say "little", I do mean tiny. It sat on what appeared to be a half-lot, and was just a short walk from the lake, and our boathouse. Purchasing it seemed like a good idea at the time, although it was a better idea for DJ than it was for me. Kell and Jay were still pre-schoolers, which meant they weren't up for sitting in the boat for hours on end, waiting for someone to catch a fish. They got to take a ride or two, but, mostly the three of us stayed around the cabin.

The lot the cabin sat on was all rock, not a blade of grass, which was a blessing. The cabin itself had a living room-kitchen combination, a bedroom and a bathroom. I always think of our cabin when I watch people on H&G searching for a weekend cabin, and they end up buying the 4,000 sq. ft. McMansion on 5 acres with a boat dock, a sauna, a hot tub and "room for a pony", as Hyacinth Bucket (Bouquet) of "Keeping Up Appearances" would say.

The living room contained two twin beds cleverly disguised as day beds and the bedroom housed a double bed. Also, in the living room was a clever little table that could be taken apart, and became our dining table with four chairs that were stored in its cabinet. At first, we thought we'd take the bedroom and let the kids have the twin beds in the living room, but that idea got shot down the first weekend we stayed there, as we weren't sleepy at 8 p.m. So the kids got the bedroom.

Nothing could dampen our enthusiasm, though. That first weekend, we packed the station wagon with towels, washcloths, bed linens, a charcoal grill and the groceries we would need. And, we took a mop and broom and other cleaning supplies that would be left there for future fun weekends. We found we would have to take the bed linens back and forth on subsequent weekends because it tended to be extremely humid at the lake, and mildew could be a real problem.

The first thing I did, upon arrival, was put the linens on the beds, clean the kitchen and bathroom, sweep and mop the floors, and put away the groceries. The first thing DJ did was go fishing. It was during that first weekend that I discovered the attic. It was of no real use to us because there was nothing we needed to store up there, but out of curiousity, I climbed up, opened the handy trap door, and took a peek. The attic was crammed full of "Watchtower" magazines. You know, the pamphlets that you buy from Jehovah's Witnesses in order to get rid of them. They weren't doing any harm, and we thought they might be good insulation, so we just left them there.

One Saturday night, after a full day of playing, cleaning, cooking, and one of us fishing, I woke up at about 1 a.m. I felt a "presence" hovering over my twin bed. Of course, I though it was DJ, doing a little nighttime commuting, if you catch my drift. But, then, he snored and it became obvious that he was asleep in the other twin, across the room. I looked around, and saw what looked for all the world like a person sitting in the one wooden chair we put by the table. There was a round red glow that I took to be a cigarette. So, being the cool, calm, unflappable person I am, I shrieked, "DJ, THERE'S A GHOST IN THE CHAIR, SMOKING A CIGARETTE!"

DJ jumped out of bed and threw his pillow at the chair, at the same time, turning on the overhead light. Turns out, the red glow was from the radio on the table, and the ghost was a paper sack full of supplies that we hadn't yet unpacked.

I took a lot of grief from DJ about that, and from all our friends he took such delight in telling about the incident. I thought I'd never live it down. But, I still, to this day, think about that night, and although I agree that I overreacted somewhat, I still ask myself, "ok, so what was that 'presence' that hovered over me? Huh? Huh? Somebody just explain that!"