A Halloween Story

Do you like scary stories? Since it’s Halloween season I thought I’d give homage to my pal, Rod. He passed away almost 10 years ago but his memory lives on. He was a lawyer who had so many talents, he played lead guitar, composed music and wrote terrific prose — he even wrote his own musical play. Halloween season reminds me of Rod because he told the scariest stories. I wanted to share this before but I just didn’t know how to describe it in paper. I figured I’d attempt it now. I welcome your proof reading corrections.

A gathering of wide-eyed friends were huddled around Rodney as he told this original “true story” (yeah, right!):

MARIA’S WALK HOME
by Rod G

Maria was on her way home from school. School was located at the East side of the village while Maria’s home was at the other end, on the West the village. In between them was the village cemetery (this is a horror story so of course there had to be a cemetery). Nobody took the shortcut because it would mean passing beside the cemetery. (You know where this is going, right?)

But this one night … this one lunar night … Maria was exhausted from overtime schoolwork. She wanted to go home to relax in her warm comfortable bed. “Forget this superstitious warning! I’m going to take the silly shortcut!” (Oh noooo!)

Maria walked alone under the late evening moon. The claps of her wooden sandals echoed with the crickets and frogs of the night. As she approached the entrance of the cemetery, something moved. It was an old shrouded woman sitting quietly on the ground and counting white pebbles. Maria glanced over her shoulder. It was too late to walk back. She had to move forward. She walked cautiously as she passed the woman. But that’s when the woman noticed her and stopped counting. Maria couldn’t look at the woman’s face because it was covered with the shroud but when she looked down at the pebbles … they weren’t pebbles. They were human bones.

“Screeeam!!!” Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! — went Maria as she dashed for home. Her wooden sandals flew in the air as she ran barefooted.

The faster she ran, the faster the footsteps behind her. The woman covered her face with her left hand but she swatted furiously to grab Maria with her right hand. Wooosh! Wooosh! Wooosh!

“Come here!” Wooosh! “Come here!” Wooosh! Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! — went the woman behind her.

Up ahead, just a hundred yards away, Maria could see the light from her home. “Mama help me! Mama help me!!” Maria shrieked in terror. Maria doubled the pace … but so did the old woman.

Then Maria heard “Wooosh – Wooosh!” Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! “Wooosh – Wooosh!” Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! “Wooosh – Wooosh!”

Two hands were now closing in. The shroud no longer covered the face. The snarling face was haggard and wrinkled with sharp and dirty teeth that matched her sharp and dirty fingernails.

“Screeeam!!!”Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! “Mama! Mama!”

Wooosh – Wooosh! Wooosh – Wooosh! Wooosh – Wooosh! Wooosh – Wooosh!

“That’s odd,” thought Maria, “there’s something different with the sound. What happened to the Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!?!? … Oh no! … it can’t be! … the old woman’s feet no longer touched the ground. The witch was AIRBORNE! Screeeeeeeeeeeeeam!”

And that was the end of the story. And all my angry friends knocked Rod off his chair. We laughed because we knew he made it all up but we enjoyed being scared.

I loved Rod. Despite his brilliance, Rod lived a troubled life. I felt his pain. He was a proud and stubborn man. Prayed for him for years. When I shared the Gospel with him, he thought I was trapping him and was not open to new teachings. He was very defensive. Who was I to preach to a lawyer? He planned to come and visit me in California and he bragged about it and I was thrilled to be able to spend more time with him. But that opportunity never came.

My cousin called me. Rod had a stroke so I dropped everything and took a flight to be by his deathbed. That’s how important this was to me. The apostle Paul reminded us that “it is by faith and not of works that one is saved” so I prayed with him just in case there was still some cognitive activity. They pulled the plug two days after.

Thanks Rod for the jokes, the Halloween stories … the memories.

Have a good Halloween weekend my friends. TGIF!

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Parting Shots

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

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