Late spring was a fun time when I was growing up. During those final two weeks of school there would be one or two days off. With warm weather abounding it was wonderful to be young and alive. Wonderful, that is, unless one lived in a haunted house. Then there tended to be problems.
That The Old House was haunted was no longer a question to us kids, nor to our mother, nor to our grandparents, aunts/uncles and a host of others who dared visit. Few dared stay the night. We had to. But it wasn't only nights that could be scarey. The Ghost kept irregular hours. He (and it was a he, by the way - I saw him.) was also a bit of a bull in a china shop. Whoever he was, he was tall - about my height (6'6") - but he filled a doorway when he stood in it. That was where I saw him: he was standing in my doorway during the night - looking at me. Aaaaahhhhh! Covers time! (I actually did see something. No idea at the time of what it was - well I thought I knew then, which was why I was scared. I have an idea about it now, but I'm saving all explanations until later. But to an eight-year-old child sleeping in a large room alone, it was quite terrifying.)
Anyway, it was a weekday, which meant Mother was at work. Daddy was driving truck in Wisconsin, Iowa or Northern Minnesota. The older siblings were gone visiting. (Mickey was in the army at this time.) This left Gayanne, Helvie and myself home alone all day long. Helvie was nine, I was ten and Gayanne was twelve. The last thing Mother said to us before she left for work was, "Have those dishes done when I get home." The "or else" was implied. Well, we had all day, so there was no point in doing them right off. Right? So we didn't.
I don't remember what we did, but we had fun. Then, about an hour or two before Mother was to return home from work, Gayanne reminded us that we had to get the dishes done or Mother was going to pitch a fit. (This would ultimately result in some sort of physical discomfort.) So, we filled the sink with soapy water and proceded to attend to our duty. Gayanne washed, I dried and Helvie put the dishes away. A nice assembly line. We had gotten over the distaste of actually having to do something on our day off and had reached the point of sourceless giggles and laughter. And that was when it happened.
Gayanne had just handed me a plate to dry and I had just placed the damp towel against its smooth surface when the sound of a crash came to my ears. Instantly, I knew where the crash came from. It was at the foot of the stairs. Someone had thrown a dresser down the stairs and it had exploded on impact! Whhhheeeeeesssssshhhhhhh! I was out of the kitchen through the porch and running for my life. I didn't stop until I had put sixty yards between myself and the house. Then I finally pulled up and turned around. Mistake.
Helvie was a half-step behind me, and Gayanne was only two steps behind Helvie. Crash! Down we went. I hurried to my feet to see if we were being chased. We weren't.
What do you think it was? I asked.
What? asked Helvie.
The thing that made the noise.
What noise?
You didn't hear a noise?
No.
What about you?
I didn't hear anything, said Gayanne.
Then why were you running?
I ran because Helvie ran.
Well, why did you run?
I ran because you ran. Why did you run?
I heard a crash. You didn't hear it?
No. Nothing. Where did you hear it?
Right there in the kitchen when I was drying dishes.
(irritated) No. Where did it sound like the crash came from?
The stairs. He was upstairs again.
Silence. Then, Gayanne came up with one of her brilliantly stupid ideas.
We need to go back inside.
No way! Not me!
We have to. We have to get those dishes done. Mother will go crazy if we don't.
What about - the crash? I'll go crazy if it happens again.
We'll have to search the house.
Are you crazy? We can't do that.
We can if we take weapons.
What weapons?
I'll take the axe. Helvie can carry the hoe and you the pitchfork. Let's go.
What it came down to was this: I knew there had been a crash. Gayanne wasn't so sure because she hadn't heard it. Helvie believed me. When it came to things like this, Helvie took no chances. But there was another terror, known to all of us. Mother's temper. Which scared me most?
And so the expedition began. Into the house. Through the house. Up the stairs. (I was ready to scream, run and wet my pants all at the same time.) Into every room. Into - the closets. Ooooooo! Nothing. Nothing anywhere. Not only that, but no mess. (The Ghost was actually quite good about this. He nearly always picked up after himself.) There was only one place we hadn't checked: the basement.
No.Way.In.H*ll.
We returned to the kitchen and set our weapons down close. The work was done in silence now. All were attentive to the expected sound of the basement door opening. One creak. That's all it would take for me to be in the next county.
When the dishes were done we played outside until Mother got home. No need to tell her what had happened. We were outside and fifty yards from the house. She knew what was up.
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