Nine stories of the paranormal. Ghosts and witches, real magic and telekinetic powers, haunting and premonitions, a little girl with a ghostly friend and a man who exorcises a ghost with a power tool. Miranda Might Bite He met Miranda on the top of Mount Paku. She had a tendency to bite, but apart from that she was a friendly cat. But she would not leave the spot where her owner had died, and that was thirty years ago. She is either the world’s oldest cat, or she has turned into something else. The Visitation The women of Anne’s family have a strange story that is passed on from generation to generation. The story says that if one of them mistreats a child a specter would come as a warning to them to mend their ways. But why does Anne begin to receive the ghostly visitations. She has no child and has no desire to have any. So why is the specter coming to her house, over and over? And why can’t she tell her husband? Pauline’s Little Friend Little children often invent imaginary friends that no one else can see. It is believed that is because they are lonely. Pauline’s imaginary friend was Jo. He goes everywhere with her. She insists he have a seat at the table for meal times even though he eats nothing. But he isn’t in her imagination, and unlike Pauline he is not a child-and he is lonely. Child’s Play When a child is born it knows nothing and believes everything. That is when you can teach it to do anything-even the impossible. Wendy? In the 1960s Wendy gets an office job in London’s Fleet Street. As the office junior she has the job of doing most of the filing. She was busy one afternoon when she heard one of the other girls call, ‘Wendy?’ She looked around to see who wanted her and saw twenty heads bent over desks. Wendy waited but no one looked up. She kept hearing the voice from time to time. It was always saying, “Wendy?” and was never frightening. She changes jobs and the voice goes with her. She marries and settles down and the voice goes with her. Childbirth and the years pass. She watches her children grow and still the voice is around, so familiar now that she almost ignores it. Then she has to go to hospital and the voice is still with her, only now it has changed and for the first time she is frightened. The Obvious Solution How do you get rid of a ghost hanging around your spare bedroom? And the ghost is hanging, by a rope from a beam where he committed suicide. Neighbor Bruno says he can fix that. He has the obvious solution. Can you get it down? With time on his hands he decided to go with an old man who stopped him in the street and asked for help. Going into the old man’s house turned into a nightmare when he met the old woman who also lived there-and realized what she was. Party Piece Twelve year old Nathan does a great card trick. The other children at the birthday party are impressed, and so are the adults. But when Shirley, one of the mothers, presses Nathan to tell her how the conjuring trick was done he angrily snaps that that, “I don’t do tricks. It’s magic.” Shirley won’t leave the matter alone. She finds out that Nathan’s magic can do more than conjuring tricks. He can make people do what he wants. And he makes her become violent. The Wilton Bay Wave In the summer of 1969 the amateur radio station serves the tiny Wilton Bay community. Fisherman Robb does the weather and fishing forecasts based on his local knowledge. One night Robb makes a strange forecast. He says that the next morning something strange is going to happen on the beach, and Robb knows this because he has dreamed it. The next morning the junior DJ tries to warn listeners to stay away from the beach because of what will happen there, but it has the opposite effect and draws them to the sand and water. Once there they are faced with an overwhelming and dangerous force. Purchase from Amazon in Kindle or paperback at http://mybook.to/GrayStories |