WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:12.359 Chain light and flying dogs. I'm writing this not because I'm trying to make 2 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.320 believers out of everyone. Those that would believe what I have to say probably 3 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:22.199 already believe before I came along, and the ones that don't believe me probably 4 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:27.359 never will. I can't change that, and I doubt if anything ever will. 5 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.600 But at least I'll sleep easier knowing that everyone, or at least everyone 6 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:37.799 who hears this, will know to watch out for things. Stuff's out there, 7 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.759 more stuff than you ever imagined, more stuff than I ever imagine. 8 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.399 I'll tell you that I was always slow to make fun of people who told 9 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:52.840 stories that were hard to swallow. I wasn't there, so I never felt 10 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.320 that I had the right to call any man a liar. I believe some 11 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.159 of those storytellers to be stretching things a little, but I always figured that 12 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.920 something had happened, but over time they just got better at telling about it. 13 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:10.560 You could see in their eyes as they told these things that whatever they 14 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.920 had run up on had really rattled them. You can make up stories, 15 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:18.760 but you can't make up the look they had on their faces. It sort 16 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:23.000 of like catching a really good fish. There's no doubting that the fish was 17 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:26.920 caught, But the more the story gets told, the bigger the fish gets. 18 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:32.319 Or it being cold on the opening day of deer season, Sure it 19 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:36.200 was cold, but after the tenth and twelfth telling of what happened that day, 20 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:41.680 it'll be nearly below zero with a blizzard on the way. But what 21 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.120 never changes is the way a person looks when they're telling you their story. 22 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.319 The look on their face will tell you whether you need to really pay attention 23 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:56.480 or not. It won't be the words, it'll be the face, just 24 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:59.719 so you'll know. Mine is as white as a piece of cotton. As 25 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:04.799 I like this, it always looks that way when I think about what happened. 26 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.000 I've sat on my story for more than a month now. I've only 27 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:13.560 told it out loud just the one time. And even though no one at 28 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.960 the time said anything especially ugly to me or just came right out and call 29 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:22.680 me a liar, I heard those kind of things afterwards from others, or 30 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:28.439 heard that those things were being said about me. What I had told I 31 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.439 had told in all honesty, and it had been hurtful to know that what 32 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:35.879 I had to say had been retold for the purpose of making fun of me. 33 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:39.360 Those that I had told it to I had counted among my friends, 34 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:44.840 and they used what I had confided in them to have a real belly laugh. 35 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.840 They had always been friends of mine, and someday they might be again, 36 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.479 but they aren't right now. I'm a lot of things, but a 37 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.199 liar isn't one of them. Some of you will think I am, and 38 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:02.000 you'll say so in your comment. I watched this podcast as often as I 39 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:06.599 can, and I read what people write about the stories that get red on 40 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:09.560 the air. Now I can't do anything about how you feel or think about 41 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:14.800 what I'll say, but you'll at least have heard, and maybe you'll pay 42 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:19.240 more attention to looking over your shoulder and seeing what is really out there. 43 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:25.560 That's the only reason I'm doing this. Everyone needs to know. I'm not 44 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.199 much of a drinking man. I never was, and I'm still not. 45 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:36.800 I always preferred iced tea to most everything else. The occasional beer with supper 46 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:40.039 wasn't bad. A coal one with a burger when we would eat outside during 47 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:46.240 the summer was pretty good, but one or sometimes two cans was my limit. 48 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:51.759 But ever since my wife left to take up with that electrician, I've 49 00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:55.479 started having more than the occasional one, and now it's nearly one a week, 50 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:00.080 which isn't a lot, but it's a lot for me. Just because 51 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:05.639 she was getting rewired didn't mean that suddenly I learned how to cook. Dewey's 52 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:10.280 is a local place just down the road away from where I work as a 53 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:14.840 diesel mechanic. It's not a fancy place, and only those of us that 54 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.000 live in the town ever go there. The visitors are welcome, but they 55 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:23.120 don't go there. It isn't much to look at, so you don't ever 56 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:27.160 see a car or a truck in the gravel parking lot that you don't recognize 57 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.519 unless someone has gone and bought themselves a new vehicle, and that doesn't happen 58 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:38.600 very often. But they have a fair grill cook there and cold drafts on 59 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:42.600 tap. So I started making a habit of going there on Friday nights after 60 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:46.480 work. I could have a good burger and a cool one while sitting with 61 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.720 someone I knew while I ate. It was better than sitting in an empty 62 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:57.279 house. For some reason, Friday nights were always the worst nights for being 63 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:00.560 alone. The house was always still empty when I went home, but I 64 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:05.040 was always so tired after working all day and then going to dooies that I 65 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:10.839 just went straight to bed and I tried not to think about anything. But 66 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:15.040 that had been before I heard how my friends were poking fun at me behind 67 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:19.959 my back. Now I don't go there anymore. I just go home and 68 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.560 heat up one of those ready made things out of the freezer. Like every 69 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:30.639 other night. Going to doi'es wasn't what I would have had described as being 70 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.920 fun. It was just something I did. But one night a few weeks 71 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.800 ago, I walked in and there was a crowd of four guys that I 72 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:42.879 knew, all sitting at this one table. A couple of them I had 73 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:46.680 known since I had been in school. It looked pretty full there, so 74 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.160 I had just waved and I was going to go sit by myself at the 75 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:54.360 bar or counter, but they started scooting around and dragging up a chair to 76 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.000 where they made room for me. Well, I didn't want to horn in, 77 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.879 but they had gone to all that trouble all one over, and I 78 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.199 joined them. My mama had raised me not to be rude. There was 79 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:11.160 an empty picture on the table beside one that was only half full. They 80 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.360 were well on their way to a good time. When I sat down, 81 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.519 and when the waitress came over, I ordered a draft and the burger that 82 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:23.439 comes with the bacon and the barbecue sauce. It always gives me the heartburn, 83 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:28.240 but it tastes really good. I had been used to the heartburn of 84 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:31.560 one sort or another every night since my wife had cut and rud, So 85 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:36.160 I just sat there, waiting and listening while they emptied that second picture and 86 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:43.360 asked for another one. Johnny Lynton was there that night. We had played 87 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.839 ball together back in school, and he was the closest thing we have in 88 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.720 this town to a local celebrity, or he wants to be that anyway. 89 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:56.000 He used to race cars on a dirt track, and if you sit still 90 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.480 around him long enough, he'll tell you how he won two races in a 91 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:04.319 row in August, eight years earlier, during the summer shootout. That was 92 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:09.560 what made him famous. But the next year he was involved in a wreck 93 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:13.720 that did some real nerve damage to one of his eyes. His left one 94 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.480 twitches all the time now and he can only see out of it about half 95 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.000 the time. Now. He still builds engines, but he doesn't race anymore. 96 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:27.279 I figured they were talking about racing and memorable wrecks when I sat down 97 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.600 with them, because that's what Johnny usually talks about, and since he's the 98 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:36.160 local celebrity, you sort of follow Johnny's lead. Well, Instead, they 99 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:43.040 were all swapping stories they had heard growing up about hats and ghosts. I 100 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.680 knew a couple that Daddy and Popol used to tell, but I was happy 101 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.560 enough just to listen. Now, these guys were about half lit. The 102 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:56.439 looks on their faces as the stories were told was fun to watch, especially 103 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:01.480 with Johnny. I'm not making fun on account of his can you should never 104 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:05.480 do that to someone. But the more scared he got during a story, 105 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:09.399 the more that I would twitch. And toward the end of one of those 106 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:11.800 stories, he had put his hand over it just so it wouldn't beat him 107 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:16.600 to death. I didn't think the story was all that scary, but those 108 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.800 glasses of high life really had their hooks in him. Being at the table 109 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:24.759 was like being at a guitar poll on the front porch or out in the 110 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:30.199 yard. There's one guitar and everyone takes the turns, showing off what he 111 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.759 can do with it. That's what it was like that night. When one 112 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.480 story would finish, everyone would take a deep breath, and then someone would 113 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:41.840 try and top it. Like I said, I would have been fine just 114 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:46.879 to listen, but I did take a couple of turns. I had switched 115 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:52.159 to drinking iced tea after my burger had been eaten, so I took a 116 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.879 big drink, and I told them one Uncle Leander used to always tell us. 117 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:01.240 I told them the one about Old Whitey because it had always been a 118 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.759 favorite of mine. Uncle Leander had a friend growing up back in the late 119 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:11.480 fifties. Back then they called it running together. This friend of my uncle's 120 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:16.200 was the same age as Uncle Leander, which put them both at about sixteen. 121 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:22.159 At the time, the parents of my uncle's friend had been killed in 122 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.559 an automobile accident, so he went to live with his uncle, being as 123 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.320 the man was his nearest living relative. Everyone always said that the man never 124 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.840 married because he enjoyed doing as he pleased too much, but I never believed 125 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:41.639 that the man has been dead and gone for years now, so I don't 126 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:46.480 feel badly about saying this. From what I've heard, he was a likable 127 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.600 man and easy to get along with, but he was lazy, just flat 128 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.720 out worthless when it came to holding down a job. He much preferred sitting 129 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:58.600 in the sun and counting the cars that went by to doing an honest day's 130 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:05.240 work. So everyone, from what I've heard, was surprised when he agreed 131 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.840 to take the boy in and support him. But he did, and he 132 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.720 did the best he could by the boy, I suppose Uncle Leander said. 133 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.960 They never did stay in the same place for very long. They were all 134 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.440 the time getting kicked out for not paying. They were in the process of 135 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:28.360 looking over this new place when it happened the boy's uncle heard about a house 136 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:31.200 that was going to be rented for a lot less than most houses were going 137 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:37.360 for, so they hitched a ride down to see the landlord. They rode 138 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.120 them out to where the house sat and walked them inside. There wasn't any 139 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:46.720 electricity on. The man said he would have it switched back on next day 140 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.919 if they agreed to take the place. Well, they didn't have anywhere to 141 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.360 go, so they told the landlord that they wanted to spend the night there 142 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.159 and if everything was still fine in the morning, they would sign the papers. 143 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:03.320 Then lord agreed and walked them back to the car to get the sack 144 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:09.120 that held their belongings. The man drove off, and they went back inside 145 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:13.360 to unpack. Uncle Leanders said that they didn't really have anything to speak of. 146 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.600 There wasn't any furniture in the house besides a small table and a couple 147 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:22.320 of chairs. They had a lantern and a coffee pot and a can of 148 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.960 milk to put in their coffee. The next morning, he said, they 149 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:30.919 filled that coffee pot with water from the well outside while it was light, 150 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.080 and then just sat at that table playing cards all night, since there wasn't 151 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:41.080 any place to sleep other than the floor. Sometime up in the night they 152 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:45.960 heard a door opening. They jerked up the lantern and started looking around and 153 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.720 down the hallway that ran off from the room they were standing in, and 154 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.279 the door that had been closed tight was now standing wide open. It was 155 00:11:54.360 --> 00:12:01.039 the door to an empty bedroom. Wasn't anything in it because the landlord had 156 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.200 showed them every room earlier. But when they looked down that hallway they could 157 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:09.320 see an old man with a long white beard. He was sitting in a 158 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.240 rocking chair, rocking slowly back and forth. They said he had a cat 159 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.000 sitting in his lap, and while he was rocking, he would be petting 160 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:22.639 that cat. The uncle of That boy bucked up and told the old man 161 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:26.080 that he had to leave the same way that he had come in because he 162 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:30.799 was going to be signing a paper in the morning, making this their house. 163 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.039 The old man either didn't hear him or just ignored him, because he 164 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:41.320 just kept rocking and petting that cat. That boy's uncle yelled at the old 165 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:46.960 man a couple more times, and nothing ever happened. The boy's uncle finally 166 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.080 got mad and jerked up a can of milk that they were going to use 167 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.480 for their coffee, and he threw it down the hallway at the old man. 168 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.600 Uncle Leander said his friend told him that the can went straight through the 169 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:03.559 old man and bounced off the wall behind him. That can hit him square 170 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:09.120 in the chest and passed through him like he wasn't there. The boy and 171 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.960 his uncle bailed out of that house and ran all the way to where the 172 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:16.480 landlord lived a couple of miles down the road. They beat on the door 173 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:20.440 until they woke him up, and then they told him that they would never 174 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:24.000 set foot in that house again. Well, the man wanted to know why, 175 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.240 so they told him what had happened. The man smiled and said they 176 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:33.480 didn't have any reason to be afraid. That was just the old whiteie sitting 177 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.240 back there. He was the man that had built the house and had been 178 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.840 dead for nearly twenty years. He wouldn't hurt anybody. I don't know if 179 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:46.399 I ever heard where those two went after leaving the landlord's porch, but they 180 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:54.159 didn't go back to that rental house. Everyone proposed their theories or misgivings the 181 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.440 way that everyone had already at the end of each story. But they were 182 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:03.960 all having a good time, even me. So they ordered another picture, 183 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:09.200 and I had my ic tea refilled and it all started up again. Well, 184 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.240 I didn't have to work the next day, so I stayed and continued 185 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:16.080 to listen. All of them had about exhausted their supply of stories that they 186 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.440 could remember, and since I only told the one, they all looked at 187 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.480 me for another one. Well, I'm not much for carrying the weight when 188 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:30.480 it comes to party conversations. I prefer to listen. But I did know 189 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.559 one more. I just wasn't sure if I would get it told before some 190 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:37.519 of the guys went to sleep or became so tight that we would need to 191 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:43.000 drive them home. When I was a kid, my Pauppa used to tell 192 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:48.480 me this. He never smiled when he told it to me. To him, 193 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:52.320 it wasn't fun telling me this story. It was meant to scare me 194 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.159 into learning something about life and how we should live it. It was a 195 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.799 way down the road before I understood what he had been do trying to teach 196 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.159 me, and I wish that I had picked up on it while he had 197 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:07.159 still been alive, so I could have told him that I finally understood and 198 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.120 thank him for telling me. I didn't tell any of the boys at the 199 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:16.639 table any of that. They were getting so right that I figured the point 200 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:22.000 would just pass by him. My paup Paul told me that his grandfather had 201 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.399 a brother. Actually he had a few, but he had one in particular 202 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.399 that was different from the others. Now, this was back in the days 203 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.720 before there were cars or trucks, and Johnny would have hated living back then 204 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:41.080 with no engines to tweet this one brother had decided to start making his living 205 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.440 off farming. The nearest town of any size was about a day and a 206 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.720 half ride by a wagon away, and that was where he sold all that 207 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:54.320 he grew. He lived by himself and did his work when what he had 208 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.879 grown was ripe and ready, he would load it into his wagon and drive 209 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:02.480 it all the way to town, sell it, and when he was finished, 210 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:07.360 he would go back home start again. He didn't live with anyone and 211 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.559 had no friends that anyone knew of. Papa said he was not a well 212 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:17.759 liked man, surly and too rough around the edges for people to tolerate, 213 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:22.919 and apparently that was just fine by him. He wasn't what nowadays you would 214 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:27.240 have called a people person. He had gone and done what he had intended 215 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:32.159 to do and was on his way back home again when the rain storm blew 216 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:37.279 in on him. It wasn't gesture everyday storm. This one was rough. 217 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:41.200 It already being night was making it hard for him to see where he was 218 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:45.639 going, and the rain was coming down sideways, and the storm was blowing 219 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:51.600 all around him, lightning striking, and wind blowing him all over the place. 220 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:55.720 The horse that was pulling the wagon was scared and was giving the man 221 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:00.720 all he could handle, just keeping the horse from bolting away. The man 222 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.640 didn't know what he should do, but then he remembered that there was a 223 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:08.960 house along the road back that no one lived in. He didn't know anything 224 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.640 about it, just that he passed it on his trips. Each time. 225 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:15.920 He thought if he could make it to that house, he could at least 226 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:22.279 duck inside and pass the night dry while the storm played itself out. He 227 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.319 kept driving while all the time looking for that place. He knew it was 228 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:30.680 on his way home, he just didn't know how far from it he was. 229 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:36.440 Eventually he spotted what remained of the place. It was all grown over 230 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:40.000 and parts of it were on a lean because it was trying to fall in 231 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.519 on itself, but it was still standing, and that was all he cared 232 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:48.559 about at the time. He pulled off the road and he tied the horse 233 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:52.799 to something that ran up onto the porch. He didn't bother yelling out or 234 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:56.839 knocking because it was obvious that no one had been in the house in years. 235 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:00.279 He pushed the door open and he went inside. It was dark as 236 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:04.039 pitch inside, but all the lightning made it to where he could see each 237 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.640 time it flashed, and there were bits and pieces of floor and wall laying 238 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.039 around. So he gathered some wood up to make a fire in the fireplace, 239 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:18.079 though that he would have some light and some heat to dry himself out. 240 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:22.880 Once the fire had caught and was burning well. He stripped off his 241 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.359 wet outer things and laid them near to the fire, and then he laid 242 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:33.440 down to get some sleep. Sometime during the night he began to hear noises, 243 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:40.039 sort of scratching or squeaking sounds. The man figured it to be animals 244 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:44.240 of some sort that had been living in the old house, and that he 245 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:49.119 had disturbed them by coming in and building a fire like he had. He 246 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:55.559 didn't pay it much attention, but the noises just kept up. He finally 247 00:18:55.640 --> 00:19:00.359 couldn't take hearing them any longer, and he got himself up, found a 248 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.359 long piece of wood, and set the end on fire so he would have 249 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.920 himself a torch to look around. Storm or no storm, he was going 250 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.640 to run whatever was making the noise out of the house so he could get 251 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.079 some sleep. He kept hearing sounds, but no matter where he looked, 252 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:22.240 he couldn't see anything nested or running around. Finally, he raised the torch 253 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:26.960 up and looked up toward the ceiling, except there wasn't a ceiling. There 254 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.599 was a roof, of course, but inside the house was all just heavy 255 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:36.559 beams and open rafters. He held the torch up higher, and then he 256 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.559 saw what had been making the noises. On one of those narrow rafters, 257 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:47.200 two children, about three or four years old were running back and forth the 258 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:52.480 length of that rafter, barefooted and dressed only in their little sleeping gowns. 259 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:56.359 They weren't saying anything. They were just running back and forth from one end 260 00:19:56.440 --> 00:20:00.799 to the other, and then back again. When they reached one end and 261 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:06.559 started to turn around, the man looked out further and saw a woman sitting 262 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:11.200 at the end of that rafter. She was sitting in a rocking chair and 263 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:15.920 was going back and forth slowly. She was holding a small child or an 264 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.039 infant in her arms, and she had a blood stained rag tied around her 265 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:25.680 head. She wasn't saying anything either, She was just rocking that infant while 266 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:30.839 those youngsters ran up and down the length of that rafter. Well, storm 267 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.279 or no storm, he grabbed all that belonged to him, and he went 268 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:37.640 running out the door. He jumped in his wagon and high tailed it down 269 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:42.640 the road. After he had finally made it home and the storm had been 270 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.720 long since gone, he rode around and started asking questions about that house that 271 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.079 he had stayed in for a while. The only thing he could find out 272 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:56.519 was that it once belonged to a family, and the man that owned it 273 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:02.480 had gone peculiar and had killed his entire family before he just sort of disappeared 274 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.039 and was never seen again. No one knew what had become of him. 275 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:12.799 But here is what my Paupall wanted me to pay attention to. That man 276 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:18.279 because of what he had seen, spent every day for the rest of his 277 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:22.400 life trying to be the nicest neighbor he could be. And when he finally 278 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:26.400 died, folks all said at his funeral that there had never been a nicer 279 00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:32.240 man to live in those hills. He spent his whole life hating people and 280 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:37.359 them not caring for him either, And then one thing seen during one bad 281 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.279 night, and all those sane people saying such nice things about him when he 282 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:48.640 passed away. There wasn't the normal jabber after the story that I had been 283 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.400 hearing all night, where everyone told why it couldn't be possibly true. This 284 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:59.680 time everyone just sat there being quiet while they were thinking. I even saw 285 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:03.079 John he pick up his glass of beer and stare at it for a time 286 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:07.599 and then sat it back down without drinking any of it. It wasn't long 287 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:12.400 after that when everyone started making excuses about having to leave, and as enjoyable 288 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:18.000 as the evening had been, I was glad to be leaving too. So 289 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:21.559 we all met up in the parking lot for that final handshake, and we 290 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:27.119 promised to get together again soon, maybe even the following Friday night. It 291 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.920 wasn't anything that had been said that night that had started all the ugly talk 292 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:37.240 and the fun being poked. That all started about two weeks later, and 293 00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:42.079 about something very different and much scarier. A few days later, I wasn't 294 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:47.200 far away from finishing up my shift. It had been a bear of the 295 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:49.960 day, and I was looking forward to getting home and doing nothing. Well, 296 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:55.160 not looking forward to going home. I never looked forward to that anymore, 297 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.480 but I was looking forward to being finished with work for a while. 298 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:03.960 Some times the days can really drag like they have a piano strapped to their 299 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.400 backs, and this had been one of those. I was putting some tools 300 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:11.920 I had been using away when I heard her calling out my name. There's 301 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:15.319 a great big sign over the door between the shop and the desk where you 302 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.640 pay your tab that says that no one other than employees are allowed in the 303 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:25.160 shop area. Well, people pay about as much attention to it as they 304 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.759 do. The sign that says a speed limit out on trigger road is forty 305 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:33.720 five miles an hour unless it's a funeral procession. No one ever drives less 306 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:41.759 than sixty on that long, empty straight Josie Mormon was walking straight toward me. 307 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.960 I can't remember not knowing Josie. She was always friends with me and 308 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:52.799 my wife. She is as sweet as sugar and still pretty easy to look 309 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.039 at. She has a big scar running down the inside of her forearm that 310 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:59.799 she got in a wreck that killed a man she was supposed to have. 311 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:04.839 They were out running wedding errands and the brakes failed on a loaded log truck. 312 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:10.079 It took him out instantly and landed her in the hospital for a while. 313 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:14.880 And if the scar bothers joe Sie, she doesn't let it stop her 314 00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:19.680 from wearing short sleeved t shirts everywhere that she goes. I always thought her 315 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:25.119 to be brave for doing that. I was afraid that something had messed up 316 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:29.359 on her daddy's tractor already. We just released it from the shop a few 317 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:33.119 days before, But she was just there to bring a check down from him 318 00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:37.720 to pay office bill, and she's real good about helping mister Mormon in any 319 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:41.279 way that she can. But she had another reason for offering to make the 320 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:45.240 trip into town for her daddy, and it shocked the heck out of me. 321 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.160 Some friends of hers were throwing a party the coming weekend. She was 322 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.759 there to invite me. It wasn't to be a fancy kind of do, 323 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:03.400 because if it was that, she probably wouldn't have gone to it. Josie 324 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.000 isn't home with everybody, but she doesn't do fancy. She told me it 325 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:11.240 was just getting together sort of thing, not much on food, but there 326 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:17.119 would be barrels of ice and cold drinks and beer and plenty of music rolling 327 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.599 out of the open windows of the pickup trucks, and a big fire to 328 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:25.039 sit around and gab all night. Well, I ask her why she was 329 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:27.519 letting me know, since I barely knew any of the ones that were putting 330 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:32.960 this thing together, and she said that it was because that she thought that 331 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:37.160 she would enjoy being there. But she didn't want to go to it alone. 332 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:41.079 She wanted to go with someone that she liked and trusted. She thought 333 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.960 it was time that I start getting out having some fun once in a while, 334 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:49.880 and she knew that she should and there wasn't any reason why we shouldn't 335 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:55.920 do that together. I wasn't sure that I agreed with her about it being 336 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.519 time for me to start going out again. My being alone was that I 337 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.519 didn't have much to offer anyone. But I did agree to take her to 338 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:08.599 this thing, providing that if things began to get weird feeling she wouldn't get 339 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:12.839 mad if we ducked out earlier than the rest of the crowd. Well, 340 00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.880 she was fine with that deal, and I told her that I would pick 341 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:22.799 her up Saturday evening about dark thirty. It was a strange thing to go 342 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.640 to a function like that was and realized that you knew more of the parents 343 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.759 of the ones that were there than you did of the ones that were throwing 344 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:34.240 the deal. But I knew a few people, and everyone was real welcoming 345 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:41.119 to me. Everyone knew Josie. For someone who seemed to stay at home 346 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:45.640 most all the time, she sure knew a lot of people. She dragged 347 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.839 me around to speak to this or that person, and I was enjoying listening 348 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:53.240 to all their conversations. She didn't think I was having a good time, 349 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:59.440 but I was she thought, because I wasn't saying much that I was bored 350 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:03.599 or on car comfortable. So after about an hour, she invited me to 351 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.559 go for a walk with her. There was an old dirt road that led 352 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.440 down to the river and we were going to go look at it. I 353 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.799 don't know why she thought it would be interesting to see the river, but 354 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.359 she asked, so I went with her. It was quiet. We were 355 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:25.400 having a nice time, just talking, not about anything in particular. We 356 00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:30.240 were just talking. She even took hold of one of my hands in hers. 357 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:33.759 I didn't want to do that. Mine are pretty beaten up and scratched 358 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.720 all over. But I guess that if she could get used to that big 359 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:42.119 old scar that she has a few callouses weren't going to bother her so much. 360 00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:48.000 It felt nice holding hands with Josie, and I was thinking about how 361 00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:52.240 glad I was that I had agreed to come. And that was when we 362 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:56.160 saw it. Coming from the direction of the river on the road that we 363 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:00.839 were walking on was the big, old, goofy looking dog. There wasn't 364 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:06.799 anything special about him. He was just a dog like you might see laying 365 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:10.319 in a dozen yards that you would pass on your way home from work. 366 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:15.720 He was just a big red hound. He was doing that kind of trite 367 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:18.480 that dogs do when they're feeling good but aren't in any real hurry to be 368 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:22.880 somewhere. You know. He wasn't walking, but he wasn't running either. 369 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:26.599 Now, I guess you could say he was prancing. He was just out 370 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:33.240 prancing in the moonlight. Well, we weren't scared, after all. It 371 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.400 wasn't anything but a big old lazy dog. Josie actually giggled a couple of 372 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:41.480 times because of the way that he was walking. Well, he was coming 373 00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:45.559 right toward us like we were his owners. But the closer he came, 374 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:49.839 the more I didn't think we should have anything to do with him. Now, 375 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:53.039 it didn't look mean or sick. It just looked off in the head 376 00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:57.319 or something. I pulled at Josie's hand and we crossed to the other side 377 00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:02.079 of the road. I just wanted to let that dog have a free pass 378 00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:04.960 to go on about his business, and I thought that to be the safest 379 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:11.000 thing to do. Since I was out there with Josie, I felt responsible 380 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:15.319 for her. I had even told mister Mormon that I would take good care 381 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:18.200 of her when he walked us out onto the porch as we were leaving earlier, 382 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:23.359 But when we crossed to the far side of that road, that dog 383 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:29.400 did too. Josie thought that it just wanted to be petted some but I 384 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:33.920 didn't want either one of us touching it. He went back across the road 385 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:37.799 to where we had been, and the dang thing crossed over so it could 386 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:41.680 stay in front of us. I still wasn't scared, but I was getting 387 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:47.160 a little worried. It kept prancing and getting closer all the time. I'd 388 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.640 always been taught never to turn my back on a dog and run, so 389 00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:55.599 we didn't, even though that was what I wanted us to do. I 390 00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:59.200 was trying to think of what we should do, and that hound just kept 391 00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:03.519 getting closer. Now I could tell by the way Josie was squeezing my hand 392 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.920 that she was starting to worry too. And we were walking backwards slowly, 393 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:12.839 and the dog was gaining on us. We stopped moving. When it stopped 394 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:18.319 walking, it wasn't more than a foot or two away from us. It 395 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.279 was just standing there, looking all goofy and droopy. It wasn't growling or 396 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:27.000 bristling, and most important, it wasn't slobbering, all foamy and white. 397 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:30.440 It was just standing there, looking up at us with those big, sad 398 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:37.000 looking eyes. Well this went on for a minute or two. We weren't 399 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:40.440 making a sound because we didn't want to aggravate it in any way. But 400 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:45.160 something had to give. We couldn't just stand there all night being hemmed in 401 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:49.960 by some stray dog. So I kicked it. I wanted to hear it 402 00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:55.640 yelp and run away, but that isn't what happened. I don't think the 403 00:30:55.720 --> 00:30:59.839 dog ever knew that I had kicked it. I know I never felt anything. 404 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.240 By that, I mean I never felt anything when I kicked it. 405 00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.960 It was like kicking thin air. It just stood there looking at us. 406 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:11.680 So I kicked it again, and my foot went right through it, and 407 00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:15.079 I never felt a thing. It just stood there, painting and drooling out 408 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:19.599 of its big floppy jaws. Well, now I was getting scared, and 409 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:25.920 Josie was squeezing my hand like a vice. And then the craziest thing I 410 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:32.920 ever saw up to that point happened. That dog started to rise. I 411 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:36.880 don't mean that it just stood up straighter, or it jumped. It started 412 00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:41.680 to rise up off the ground. I mean, all four paws off the 413 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:47.160 ground at the same time. It rose until it was eye level with us 414 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:51.720 and just sort of hung there for a minute, and its face never changed 415 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:56.160 and it never made a sound, and then it just kept rising up. 416 00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.359 It kept rising until we had our heads leaning back as far as they would 417 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:04.559 go, and we watched it until that dog went clear out of sight, 418 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:08.759 and it rose up as smooth and soft as a balloon, and it just 419 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:15.359 kept going until we couldn't see it any longer. It disappeared from our view 420 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:20.680 somewhere between that dirt road and the stars. We didn't say anything as we 421 00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:25.039 ran all the way back to the party. I stopped her just before we 422 00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:30.440 got back into where everyone was standing or sitting around. I told her that 423 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:35.319 I didn't think we ought to say anything about what had just happened to anyone. 424 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:39.440 There were enough rifles and shotguns in the gun racks of those trucks that 425 00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:44.319 it wouldn't take much for the party to turn into some kind of snipepot. 426 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.359 And as far as I knew, what they would be hunting for was closer 427 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:52.240 to the moon by now than it was to us. And I told her 428 00:32:52.279 --> 00:32:55.480 that if just one person jumped out of the dark in those woods at the 429 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:00.240 wrong time, then a dozen of those looped up reds were going to open 430 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:05.720 up with those rifles that they used so well on wild hogs and deer. 431 00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:10.319 Someone would get killed before the night was over. Those good old boys might 432 00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:14.839 have pulled a few tabs, but they all still knew how to use those 433 00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:20.440 guns. She listened to me and agreed that what I had said made since, 434 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.519 but she still wanted to talk to her best friend and that woman's husband. 435 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:29.720 They owned the property where this party was going on, and Josie wanted 436 00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:34.359 to know if either of them had ever seen anything of the light. She 437 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:37.519 assured me that if she swore them both to secrecy, they wouldn't say a 438 00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:43.000 word. She trusted them, and she needed to tell someone what we had 439 00:33:43.079 --> 00:33:46.839 just seen. I didn't like doing it, but went with her to collect 440 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:51.559 them and drag them off away from everyone so we could all talk in private. 441 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:59.440 We or mostly she told them everything. I mainaly nodded when they looked 442 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:02.720 at me. They listened to it all, and then they laughed at the 443 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:07.599 way that we really had them going. They said they were heading back to 444 00:34:07.679 --> 00:34:12.000 the barrel and we should follow them because the joke, like we had just 445 00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.960 told Deserve to drink. They walked away and Josie ran for the truck. 446 00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:21.480 I didn't blame her for wanting to go home, so I hurried to catch 447 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:24.960 her, but she wasn't climbing in. Once she got there, she reached 448 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:30.159 into her bag and pulled out her phone. I had just reached the hood 449 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:32.880 when she came around again and grabbed me by the hand. Come on, 450 00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:37.519 She said, if that dog is back, or if there's another one, 451 00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:42.559 I want pictures of it. She said. I wasn't wanting any part of 452 00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:45.440 going back down there again, and I told her that, but she had 453 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:49.800 her jaw set on going, and there wasn't any way in the world I 454 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:53.360 was going to let her go back down there alone. So against my better 455 00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:57.639 judgment, I let her lead me, at almost a run, to where 456 00:34:57.639 --> 00:35:02.679 the flying dog had been. We stood right where we had been standing. 457 00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:07.639 She had my hand in one of hers, and I was holding her phone 458 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:12.480 with the other one. Neither of us were saying anything. We were watching 459 00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:16.199 and listening for any little something. We must have sat there for half an 460 00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:21.400 hour and never saw a thing. I wasn't gonna say anything, but I 461 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:24.519 was awfully glad when she suggested that maybe it was time we headed back and 462 00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:30.880 went home. We turned around and started walking back up the dirt road when 463 00:35:30.920 --> 00:35:35.119 we saw the lights. Actually it was just the one light. At the 464 00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:38.320 time, we thought it was her friends coming down to check on us. 465 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.400 We figured they were way smarter than us and had brought along one of those 466 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:47.199 monster flashlights like some of those good old boys used for spoting deer at night. 467 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.000 As it came closer, Josie called out to them, but no one 468 00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:58.760 answered. That light just kept getting closer, and she kept calling their names, 469 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:02.199 but not a word came back to us. She finally gave them a 470 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:06.920 fair chewing out for trying to put a scare into us, and still no 471 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:12.159 one replied. That light was about the size of a beach ball, and 472 00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.199 as far as I could tell, it was perfectly round. It was also 473 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:21.119 the whitest light I had ever seen. When it was about fifty feet from 474 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:22.960 us, I pulled her to the far side of the road, just like 475 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:28.159 I had done with the dog. As we were moving, I could see 476 00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:31.840 that the ball of light was rolling. It wasn't above the dirt and coming 477 00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:37.800 toward us. It was on the dirt and rolling like a regular ball would. 478 00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:42.119 It wasn't making any of the sounds that something rolling on dirt on a 479 00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:46.320 quiet night might make, but it was definitely rolling. I wanted to do 480 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:51.079 some yelling of my own when it rolled to the other side of the road 481 00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:54.159 so it could be in front of us again. Well, we didn't move. 482 00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:58.840 Moving hadn't worked on the dog, and I felt sure that it wouldn't 483 00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:01.960 work on the ball of light either. We just stood there and we watched 484 00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:07.519 it get closer. It rolled right up in front of us, just like 485 00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:10.800 that dog had walked up on us, and then it had stopped. It 486 00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:15.480 was too bright to see into it, but it only cast light a few 487 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:20.280 inches away from it. It didn't glow or hum or throb like you might 488 00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:24.119 think it would have. It was just a perfect ball of light sitting there. 489 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:30.320 I reached out my hand and Josie gave me a hard jerk. She 490 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:35.400 was shaking her head back and forth. Maybe she had been right to do 491 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:38.519 that, but I needed to know something about whatever it was, and I 492 00:37:38.519 --> 00:37:45.599 stuck my foot up against it, and I pushed my foot. Disappeared inside 493 00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:50.519 the light, but I didn't feel anything when it was there. I couldn't 494 00:37:50.519 --> 00:37:52.840 see my foot, but it was like nothing was there, and I pulled 495 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:57.599 my foot out and kicked it the way I used to kick those rubber balls 496 00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:01.440 back in grade school. I didn't feel anything that time, either, but 497 00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:07.000 the light began to change. It split in half and turned itself into two 498 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:14.119 smaller balls, about the size of volleyballs or those little round watermelons. I 499 00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.119 think those are Crimson sweets, but I may not have the right name for 500 00:38:17.239 --> 00:38:22.599 them. They were just as bright as the big one had been, and 501 00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:27.639 they were just as perfectly round. They began to roll toward us, and 502 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.639 we jumped back out of the way. Where one went, the other one 503 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:36.280 went too, just like they were chained together. They never followed each other. 504 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:40.000 They always went side by side and down the road a few yards, 505 00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:44.719 they rolled into a ditch, but they just kept on rolling, as if 506 00:38:44.719 --> 00:38:49.400 nothing could block their way. They rolled in that ditch until we couldn't see 507 00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:53.039 the light any longer. I didn't need her to suggest it, and she 508 00:38:53.159 --> 00:38:58.360 didn't need for me either, and Josie and I headed back in a hurry. 509 00:39:00.039 --> 00:39:02.599 We didn't say anything to anyone. We just left as soon as we 510 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:07.039 made it back to my truck. We didn't say anything to each other on 511 00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:12.440 the drive back to her father's house either. I walked her to the porch 512 00:39:12.519 --> 00:39:15.440 and I told her that I would call her, and she said that'd be 513 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:19.239 nice, and we both knew that we weren't going to speak to each other 514 00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:24.039 again, not about what had just happened, not about anything. It was 515 00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:30.840 all just too strange. If she hadn't asked me to go to the party, 516 00:39:30.079 --> 00:39:34.880 then I wouldn't have been there for her to suggest taking a walk together. 517 00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:38.360 And if the walk had never happened, then neither of us would have 518 00:39:38.400 --> 00:39:43.599 seen what we had seen. It seemed to make sense for us not to 519 00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:47.039 be around each other anymore. Maybe there wouldn't be any more stuff like that 520 00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:52.280 taking place. So for the next week I tried as hard as I could 521 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:55.760 not to think about all the things that had happened on that dirt road. 522 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:00.800 Work helped. Being busy. He meant that I had to concentrate on what 523 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:05.599 I was doing. But at night, when I was alone, I saw 524 00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:09.039 the dog in those lights over and over again. I just couldn't forget about 525 00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:15.440 them. And I don't suppose you're supposed to forget about things like that. 526 00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:17.840 That next Friday, I went to do Eas to have some supper, and 527 00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:22.440 those same old boys were just sitting down when I walked in. I didn't 528 00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:28.280 make any excuses when they asked me to join them. I was hoping that 529 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:30.920 whatever they were going to talk about would help me not think for a while. 530 00:40:31.880 --> 00:40:36.519 I wasn't looking to be interested as much as I was wanting to be 531 00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:42.599 distracted. We all had just carried on a normal conversation until the food arrived, 532 00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:45.599 and then Johnny asked if I had any more ghost stories like I'd been 533 00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:50.760 telling a couple of weeks earlier. He said that the ones that I had 534 00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:53.800 told were the best ones. I knew it was a mistake, but I 535 00:40:53.880 --> 00:41:00.000 did it anyway. I told them what had happened the weekend before. I 536 00:41:00.039 --> 00:41:05.159 didn't mention who I was with in case she didn't want her part in it 537 00:41:05.239 --> 00:41:09.599 getting around. I guess any of those at the table could have asked around 538 00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:14.440 and found out who I had been with, but I didn't see them doing 539 00:41:14.519 --> 00:41:20.480 anything like that. After I had told everything, the joshin and joking began, 540 00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:24.400 and I had expected it to, but I had also expected for the 541 00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:30.199 jokes to stay at the table, and they didn't people that I barely do 542 00:41:30.239 --> 00:41:35.320 more than say hello to now go out of their way to come up to 543 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:39.880 me and ask about the flying dog or the supernatural balls of light. If 544 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:45.119 a person doesn't want to believe something that they've heard, then that's fine with 545 00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:49.840 me. But now people are making sure that everyone in town knows that I've 546 00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:53.800 started losing it and have started making up stuff to get attention. And some 547 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:59.239 even said that if I hadn't gone crackers, my wife would have stayed at 548 00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:04.039 home with me. I don't live in a large town, so it didn't 549 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:08.119 take long for the word to get around. My boss even suggested that I 550 00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:13.519 keep a tighter rein on my lip and my imagination because it wasn't good for 551 00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:17.800 business if the customers knew that someone who was out of their tree was working 552 00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:23.880 on their equipment. Now I've written all this out exactly like it happened, 553 00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:29.320 and the only reason I did it was so that anyone who hears it wouldn't 554 00:42:29.360 --> 00:42:32.880 know to be watchful. And if you've seen things like this, you couldn't 555 00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:37.440 know that you're not crazy and you're not alone. I don't know what was 556 00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:42.360 on that road that night, and I don't guess I ever will But I 557 00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:45.239 know that it was there because I saw it