For Your Deliberation

I AM HERE

because I choose to be.

I AM MARRIED

because I want to be.

I AM ONLY FRANTIC

when I forget that.

 

When They Lived and What They Lived For

Magic is truly everywhere. Recently Mihos attended the performance of a seventeen piece classic jazz and swing band. Reeds, Rhythm and All That Brass http://www.facebook.com/RRBbigband/ These folks deserve all the publicity they can get. Especially because they only perform for charitable, civic and seniors events. The kind of music his parents and grandparents listened to. Some of it was from eighty to a hundred years ago, from the Nineteen Twenties to the Second World War. From his seat in the second row, Mihos could see the front row of chairs were all vacant. As the music went on and each song or musical piece evoked some memory of a specific relative, it was easy for him to visualize inviting them to join him at the concert one at a time until it was a family reunion, all united by their musical talent or memories of music. Long before television, when radio was the theater of the mind.

 

Comic Con

Mihos and I drove over to the New Jersey Comic Fest in Morristown on a Saturday. The place was huge, crammed full of kiosks and people. Cosplay! Vendors! Us! Star Wars stormtroopers hustled a manacled unfortunate through the crowd: “Prisoner escort! Make way!” We got separated at one point and I actually got lost in the throng for almost an hour. While Mihos was shaking hands and making new friends, I blundered down the aisles collecting business cards for future interviews. When he was singing and interacting with the professional writers and artists I was looking for a rest room. Any rest room. Mihos went from vendor to vendor, checking out original artwork and books as well as pins and sculptures. During my own travels I saw two different Supermen–their costumes were perfect!–and I felt like a kid who’d seen a pair of bell-ringing Santas at separate Christmas street corners. After Mihos and I reunited (thank gods for cell phones) we stopped off for a lunch on our way back to reality.

 

INTERVIEW: Peek-a-BOO!

I’ve known Craig and Kathy for years, having met them through Sparkle. We’ve been frequent guests in each other’s homes–Kathy is a superb cook–and they often remarked quite matter-of-factly that their house was haunted. Naturally that grabbed my attention, and soon after I began writing for PaganPagesOrg again, I absolutely begged them for an interview.

Wey: What was the most intense event that happened to you guys?

Craig: Kathy and I were having dinner at the kitchen table and all of a sudden the cabinet flew open and all our fancy wine glasses came flying out and smashed all over the floor.

Wey: Yikes. Were either of you hurt?

Kathy: No, there was broken glass everywhere but we didn’t get cut.

Craig: Often just sitting in our living room watching television we can hear voices, very muffled, in the corner, and sometimes the front door will just open for no reason.

Wey: That’s scary.

Craig: After dinner I often enjoy a piece of chocolate. One evening I left one on the small table by my chair. The following morning it was gone, but I found it on the windowsill, behind the curtains. No explanation as to how it got there.

Kathy: A lot of times when I’m home alone I’ll hear unexplained noises coming from the basement. Like loud crashes or things moving around, but upon going downstairs everything is fine.

Wey: I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to go down there by myself.

Craig: Once I was standing at the sliding glass door and something came up behind me and grabbed my elbow in a very firm squeeze. When I turned around there was nothing there.

Wey: Yikes again.

Craig: Another time I was home alone cooking my dinner. After I finished I cleaned up the kitchen, turned off the light and went outside to enjoy the evening. I’m coming back inside, trying to turn on the kitchen light. It wouldn’t go on  After checking all the usual problems and everything was fine, I examined the light fixture. I find out all of the light-bulbs have been unscrewed.

Wey: Your kitchen sees a lot of action.

Craig: Every once in a while I will wake up in the morning and find unexplained small scratches on my back.

Wey: I think that creeps me out the most.

Craig: There’s something going on with this household, but it seems to be basically harmless. A bit of a jokester, usually not harmful. The smashing of the glasses was the worst of it.

 

**

About the Author:

Weyland Smith

To keep up with Sparkle and their fur kids, Weyland has to stay active! More of a weekend warrior than a gym rat, he likes yoga, powerwalking and the occasional Stair Master. After that he has to take a nap! (Look for a pile of blankets on the bed with a pair of feet sticking out.) Wey can be contacted here: [email protected]. Send gold bars and energy drinks.