Actually, both boys looked like they were ready to faint, and both are in their 20s. “Hey dad, why not call Hunt,” said Kenny. “Now that is thinking right,” said Menton, “I knew I would think of something. Hunt knows everything that is going on. Where is his phone number?” “In the book by that old phone,” said Kenny. “I do not see it here,” said Menton.

“Sure it is, I put it there myself,” said Kenny, “it is under C.” “Under C?” he said shaking his head, “Why is it under C? I thought I raised you two better.” “Well, his name is Charlie,” said Kenny, “so it naturally should be under C.” “You two are idiots!” he bellowed. “Are you checking that Annelie,” I asked. “Yep, I am on it,” she replied, “I do not like surprises that we do not know about. This guy could be trouble.”

“Yes, I agree,” I said. Menton dials the number and it rings, but he sure did not expect what came next. “Hello darling,” said Susie, “what would you like?” “Who is this?!” yelled Menton. “Come now Harold,” she said, “surely you recognize the voice of your own wife.” “What are you doing there?” he yelled again, “you cannot be there, you are dead! I know you are!”

“Well, you called the Angel hotline,” she said, “and you got me.” Menton slammed the phone down. He was actually sweating now. “What is wrong dad?” asked Willie. “Someone is playing tricks on us,” he said, “and it must be those people that were here today. That was someone pretending to be your mother.” “How can that be?” asked Kenny, “you called Hunt.”

“Yeah, well, maybe Hunt is in on this game too,” he said, “and I do not like this!” “Why don’t we sell this haunted house and move somewhere else.” suggested Kenny. “Hey, that is a good idea,” said Menton, “we can move out to California and buy that house we looked at online. No one will find us out there. Because once this guy gets his blackmail money, he will be back for more, that is how it works. But there will be time in between and we will be gone by then.”

“That house is a lot of money,” said Willie, “that will not leave us much.” “We have plenty for the house and enough to set up shop again over there,” said Menton, “remember, we have most of our money in the First State Bank in Burton, then another 3 million in City Bank there as well.” “Did you get that Annelie?” I asked. She was on it right away and soon Crystal was down at the front desk getting the bank statements printed out for us.

She came back quickly though so she would not miss too much of the fun. She also brought a fresh batch of popcorn for us too. Nice of the hotel to make it for us. Suddenly the Mentons heard some screaming. “Dad, don’t leave me here in the dark! Please dad! There is a big bug crawling on me, help me, get it off me! Please, Kenny, Willie, help!”

All three ran to the basement stairs and Kenny turned on the light. Carrie was lying on the mattress they had put for her on the floor, chained to a metal pipe. It looked so amazingly real that the 3 of them just stood there staring. “Shut up you, whoever you are, shut up!!” bellowed Menton as loud as he could, “stop it now or I will come down there and give you a beating like never before! I still have that stick!”

He grabbed the stick that was hanging from a hook on the wall as Carrie kept screaming. Down he went and as he swung with that stick he just hit the mattress. Carrie had disappeared. “Spooks!!” yelled both boys together, “this place is haunted, mom is haunting us now because you killed her dad! She came back to haunt us!” “Shut up you two!” he yelled as he came up the stairs, “shut up or I will beat you! No more talk of me killing your mother, hear me?!”

“I hope our real mom does not come back to haunt us too,” said Willie, “you killed her the same way so she might.” “Shut up!!” yelled Menton and hit Willie hard, knocking him to the floor. “We are way ahead of you Willie,” I said. Menton was sweating so much now it was running down his face. And he just kept walking around. The boys were too scared to say anything now.

Finally they all decided to head off to bed, though I think sleep will not come easy for them. The boys went first while Menton continued pacing for another 10 minutes or so. Then he went to his bedroom and what a shock he got. There in his bed was his first wife, Clara, played by our very own Bridgette.

We did have a picture to use, but nothing about voice, so we just hoped that by now he would be too upset to notice. Galyna figured by this time we would only need to be somewhat close on details, as their own memories will fill in things as they actually happened, not as we are portraying them…

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.