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It's mid-summer
and my siblings and I were golden brown with
freckles running across our faces. All three of us were on swim
team; however none of us played tennis this year. Although I love
to play tennis, swim team, golf and diving were enough for me. I
was having a very good season this year, faster in swim team and
hitting the golf ball much straighter and farther than before. My
diving coach's confidence in me had magnified and she asked to work
an extra hour a day with me and me alone. Usually the whole team
practices together.
I'm getting leaner and faster and I've
noticed the coaches keeping a closer eye on me.

As it was getting closer to school starting
Nic, my best friend, wanted to have a last summer adventure; where
we almost get into to trouble but not quite. She always walked the
line, like my cousin Peyton; I assume that’s why they got along so
well. Of course, they both got along with me because I had no
issues following along with their hair-brained ideas. This year Nic
wanted to talk to the dead, it of course involved candles, herbs, a
ritual, chanting, a dead person and in our case, a cemetery. My
idea, flash lights and gym shoes.

Peyton wasn’t allowed to drive to drive to
the cemetery ‘cause she may scare the spirits, so Nic made us walk.
We started out walking to the Richfield Reading and Speech Center
for batteries. We walked in loudly discussing our plans of raising
or talking to the dead. The back room door was open, it was empty
except for threads and scraps of material laying on the floor,
Margie the owner walked out with two women following, and started
apologizing to them about the mess as her tenant had just moved
out. I guessed the pair was mother and daughter taking a tour of
the place.

Margie spotted us and gave us a cheerful
“well hello girls” and introduced us to the possible new tenants.
They both had dark hair; the daughter was slim with dark make-up,
petite but pretty in her own way. She had a long black cardigan,
jeans and black boots on. The way she dressed reminded me of the
burn-outs at our school. The mom was shorter dressed in jeans and a
black sweater, she seemed nice, like a cheerful person.

We had gotten our batteries and I got a
Snickers. It was only dusk but by the time we crossed the highway,
through a field, and an industrial office area. It was dark when we
reached the massive black wrought iron gates that protected the
entrance of the cemetery; all three of us popped our flash lights
on at the same time. When Nic explained what we were going to do a
couple of days ago it sounded fun and not scary at all; but now in
the dark cemetery it seemed a lot more ominous than I expected. I
hoped I wouldn’t get cold feet.

As we footslogged through and around the
headstones we finally came upon one that was very large and fancy.
The name on it read “Harriet Winchester” I said “Hey! We know
her!”

Nic replied “That we do… she owns the house
down the street from me, well her two grandsons own it now, but
they are never there because they travel a lot. That’s why they pay
me to look after the place.”

“If anyone is in tune to us trying to talk to
the dead, it would be sweet Harriet.” I replied. I remember Nic and
me going to her house and cleaning it and her kitty litters, she
had several cats and I even remember going grocery shopping for her
and putting it away into her original medicine green metal cabinets
in her tiny kitchen. She always tried giving Nic money and she
would be very insistent sometimes, in that case Nic would take it
and then put in her cookie jar, where she kept all her cash. She
didn’t use a bank. I could picture her with her white hair all
pulled back in a bun, hunched shoulders, short, walking with a cane
and always in a dress. Nicest lady ever. I bet, Nic was going to
ask her where the treasure was! She always spoke of one, among
other scary tales but we always assumed it was a story.

Nic dropped her backpack and started setting
stuff up; three white candles in front of the tombstone and lit
them, she poured some kind of black spice or crumbs from one side
of the gravestone in a circle around to the other side. Then she
dropped what looked like red flower petals in the middle of the
circle in front of the candles and said something Greek.

We held hands across from the gravestone she
told us to concentrate on wishing to talk to Harriet and we were
supposed to say “Talk with us in the land of the living we bring
you no harm” over and over. Of course Peyton and I just giggled.
Nic got mad, stopped us and said “Really? Both of you
concentrate.”

As I was looking at Nic trying not to laugh,
I saw movement over her shoulder, a dark figure wearing a long dark
hooded cloak. It looked like the girl from earlier if I had to
guess, tall, slim but it was so dark and why would she be out here.
I turned back to the grave yanked on Peyton’s and Nic’s hands and
said “Let’s do this so we can get out of here.”

“Close your eyes.” I said very seriously
shaking their hands. “Talk with us in the land of the living we
bring you no harm.” I said strongly and the girls repeated it with
me. I put all my energy into it and raised our hands. “We seek out
your missing treasure.” I felt a surge of heat go thru my body, my
hair stood on end, the circle set on fire and I heard something say
”It’s at the base of my favorite tree, eleven paces out due west
the treasure is yours my dearest Nicole.” One of us screamed so
loud, I didn't hear anything else. I wanted to run but had a flash
of consciousness, stamped out the fire, blew out the candles and
grabbed the backpack. I looked back and saw the cloaked person, let
out a yelp, and ran to find Nic and Peyton huffing and puffing at
the wrought iron gates at the entrance to the cemetery.

The two of them were giggling. “Addie don’t
do that, you scared the crap out of us.” Peyton complained.

“Do what? I didn’t do anything? It was Nic’s
séance.”

“Oh no, it’s under my favorite tree ha ha
ha.” Nic bantered.

I held my throat, “I didn’t say that” I spoke
softly, “I didn’t…” The girls turned, started walking back home
chatting away like nothing happened. I heard it, I didn’t say
it….

* * * * * * *

As far back as I can
remember, we typically had family night on Friday nights and we
would go out to dinner every other week or so. The kids got to
choose where too, my brother would sometimes choose Burger King but
we loved it, he would always get the ham and cheese sandwiches. I
don’t know why they stopped making them, they were good.

My favorite place to go was
Quaker Square for pizza, it's
in downtown Akron.
I love going in the winter, steam would come out
of the sewer caps
on the ride home
making
for a very cool effect in the dark, and I could imagine a creepy
supernatural movie scene when I see it. When we would get to Quaker
Square we would put our name on the waiting list and then go visit
these old full sized retired trains that you could walk
through and see the many model trains setup inside. My father loved
trains and that would take up most of our wait time. Quaker Square
used to be the old Quaker Oats Mill up until 1970 when they
converted it into a shopping mall, hotel and restaurants.
Totally cool too, all the hotel rooms were round; we got to stay in
them once for a wedding. They gave us a totally cool tin filled
with Quaker Oats cookies too.

Quaker Square has the best
Pizza in town, my parents say “If you can’t get Chicago pizza this
is as close as you’ll get.” After dinner we would walk across the
parking lot to the shopping mall. They have a glass elevator that
goes all the way to the top floor – since they used to be oat silos
there were many floors to shop on and explore. We usually shopped
around a little after dinner always hitting the candy store before
going home; it was one of those old fashioned candy stores, where
you give them a dollar and it bought a whole bag of
candy.

Since our parents were going out with their
friends tonight we got to choose a restaurant last night. It was
Tori's turn to choose and she picked Skyway's Drive In, a fast food
restaurant we love, it has
the
best cheeseburgers, toasted
cheese sandwiches and onion rings ever! It was a drive-in
restaurant so you had to eat in your car, always fun as a
kid. A great benefit of Skyway was the cute guys that came to your
car to wait on you. Plus, it’s the hot spot for kids our age
to go. Number one on my list is the Ski-Hi burger, next is the
California Fizz which is a drink - they're outstanding! If you try
and duplicate either, the burgers or the drinks, ya just can’t.

Anyway, we were on our way
to our parent’s friend’s house, the Monaham's. My dad was
always on time and my mom always ran late, but today she was on
time and our moods were all on high.

My parents were very
social, they go out just about every Saturday. We used to have
a sitter but n
ot this summer.
Now, when
they go out with their good friends the Monaham's, who also have
kids, they bring us to their house to fend for ourselves while the
parents go have fun. Of course, the Monaham's kids were always
doing something they weren’t supposed to. When we go there,
depending on the week, one kid was always singled out and picked
on, hurt or traumatized in some way or other.

Just after we got to the
Monaham's, before all the parents left, we got the usual rundown of
rules: “No fighting, no playing in the living room or dining room,
no friends over and do not answer the door no matter
what! Call us at the restaurant or theater ONLY in an emergency.
And if any of you get out of line there would be
consequences!” 
My neighborhood friends thought my dad
was scary but I think Mr. Monaham was way scarier and we
took every word he said seriously. 
As far as
discipline went, we were grounded or even may have been paddled
when we were bad, but I always had a sense that
their discipline was way more severe! I knew they had family
secrets too and if they ever told us them I
am
sure they would have to kill
us! Maybe they wouldn't kill us, but I'm sure they'd get the
highest punishment available, which in that house couldn't be
good.

The parents didn't take long
to leave; they left at 6:45 on the nose. Right after they left, it
seemed to be a more somber crowd, not the normal fighting and
screaming that usually started the minute the parents left the
driveway. It was strange because normally Kevin would yell
something funny to us and the screaming, yelling and running around
would begin. It wasn't that way tonight, at least not
yet.

I guess we just had to
wait for it. Of course it came, the reason they were on their best
behavior…. The Monaham kids, Kevin and Lucy, said “We are going to
invite our friends over and if any of you tell on
us, Kevin will kick your asses.” Kevin, by the way, had a
black belt in karate. So we believed them when they told us
that.

All the kids started to
fight and we were trying to keep Kevin from using the phone but he
locked himself in his parent’s room and made a call and five
minutes later his friend Logan arrived. We all went into the living
room – the living room where we weren't allowed. It was okay
though, we sat around talking. I sat on the floor, across
from the couch and coffee table next to Kit. I wasn't
going to get blamed for anything, easy exits from where I sat.
Tori, Kevin and Logan were on the couch. Lucy was still upstairs in
her room.

The doorbell rang again,
Lucy bolted for the door, it was her friend and they joined us in
the living room. Everyone was bragging about what they had and what
they did this summer, except my sister, brother and I. Obviously,
we were in a rich kid’s neighborhood. Although, the houses didn't
look rich or massive, but you knew they came from money. Everything
was pristine, kept up and perfect. The kids and parents always had
all the newest gadgets.

The Monaham's had a nice
two-story house and although nothing looked really expensive
everything looked immaculate. The grass and bushes all perfectly
manicured and the inside so clean I doubt you could find
a spec of dirt. The grand picture window in the living room
was lined with expensive drapes and opened perfectly leaving
enough window open to let in daylight. The kitchen was
spotless, with a dishwasher, double ovens and all the perks a
kitchen could have. The dining room looked like it had never
been touched. The basement was finished so nicely it didn't
even look like a basement. Everything was up-to-date, new, but not
too fancy either. And the kids had every kind of toy imaginable,
new TV's, all the Atari video games and attachments
,
considering it's the very first home video game available to the
public, it was a big deal.