Bad Boy Howard the Ghost

Sorry I'm late this week. No, not that sort of late! I'm late with the blog, because we went gambling over in Shreveport. Nope, didn't win, either. But had a nice time visiting with son and dil and eating mudbugz. We only live 15 or 20 miles apart, but still don't get to spend near enough time together.

Otherwise this week, my resident ghost Howard was a bad boy. Howard's the ghost who has been with me the longest, at least fifteen years. Maybe he was here at the house before then, but that's when I first remember chatting with him. In one of our talks, I asked Howard why he hadn't crossed over.

Nobody over there I want to see, Howard said. He's a ghost of few words. When we do chat, it's like pulling hen's teeth to get more than a sentence out of him. However, over the years, I've learned quite a bit about Dr. Howard.

But boy, does he make his presence known! I'll see someone walk past my office window now and then. The window looks out to the east and our front porch. I'll get up to go see who's coming to the door. No one knocks. No one is out there. Then I recall what the person looked like: a pale, cream-colored shirt, gray hair, dark trousers. Oh! It was Howard.

I've seen him wandering elsewhere on our large corner lot, also: the side yard, the side street, even the back yard. He likes to prowl around and take stock, make sure everything is all right, both during daylight and nighttime.

This past week, Angela and I met a couple guys from another paranormal group here in town, Armando and James from Lonestar Paranormal. We actually went on a short investigation with them, also here in town. Turned out the ghost we found stayed around, since the people living in the apartment had made peace with him and told him he could stay as long as he behaved. However, there was another ghost at the top of the apartment building stairwell, outside the front door of the place we visited. Reports were the people in the apartment had also seen this ghost.

His name was Edward and at first, I thought there was also a Harry there. However, Edward was looking for Harry. I found that out when Edward indicated he wanted to cross over and I opened the door in the east. Yes, I can even do that at night. Anyway, Harry was up there in the doorway, waiting for Edward. Edward didn't even pause. He scurried right up that pathway. He did call a "Thank you," though.

Sometimes the door remains open, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe that's when whoever helps us access it realizes there might be more than one soul wishing to cross through. Anyway, this time, it closed fairly quickly, right after Edward and Harry, still visible to us in the opening, hugged each other.

It was a neat pathway this time, too, unlike some others.

"Did you see the path?" I asked Angela, who stood beside me.

"Uh huh. And it was different than in Tyler. The Tyler one was a long path, all the way to the ground. This was fairly short and bright, but lasted long enough for the ghost to climb up and reach his friend."

"Exactly," I said. That confirmed what I had seen precisely, so we both observed the same path descend from the doorway. Way cool! No matter how long we delve into the supernatural, it's an awesome feeling when another person sees what you do at the same moment.

Anyway, after we got home, our new friends came on in the house to visit. They left eventually, but a few seconds later, someone pounded on the door.

Angela and I stared at each other for a moment. Then we hurried over to look out and saw Armando.

"Can you come out here? Please?" he asked in a somewhat frightened voice.

"Sure," I said. "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, he led Angela and me to the front sidewalk and pointed to where his car was sitting ahead of mine in the driveway. James stood on the other side, by the driver's door. He was glancing between us and the side of the church next door, across the street and on the other corner lot.

"A man in a light-colored shirt walked past our car," Armando said. "He went on down the street there, then the security light on the side of the church came on as someone passed under it. But there was no one under it! No one there!"

"Oh," I said, and Angela and I sort of laughed. He frowned at us. I guess my voice wasn't excited or frightened enough for him, and he didn't appear to think our laughter was appropriate. I went on, "That was just Howard."

"Who's Howard?" he asked.

"One of my ghosts," I replied. "Remember? I told you my house was haunted. Howard wanders around out here all the time."

"Well, he scared the crap out of us!" he said, and James nodded an agreement.

"I don't want him going with us," James said. "He needs to stay here."

"We'll do White Light," I said. And Angela and I joined hands with the guys and performed the ceremony to encompass them and their car. We ended with me saying, "And you stay here where you belong, Howard. Don't go with the guys when they leave."

"Are you sure this works?" James asked.

"Positive," I reassured them, and they got in their car and drove off.

Angela and I allowed ourselves another laugh then, not at the guys' fear but at the situation.

"You better behave, Howard," I said through my laughter.

Wasn't my fault, I was just taking a walk, he told me.

It was a rather nice ending to a good evening, a confirmation of someone else seeing one of my residents. Usually Aunt Belle, Angela or I spot them. This time it was two new friends. They are still talking to us, so Howard didn't ruin the budding friendship. J

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I'm still working on Volume V. Angela's planning the new cover, too. It will come together soon.

Take care, and….

Boo!

T. M.