Day 2 of Coffin Hop:
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Part 2 Dust Bowl
So my body headed back to their house. I was worried about Mom. I mean she was expecting and her ankles were swollen, the dark circles under her eyes. So I hopped a ride with them. Pawpaw made quick time of it. I wanted to check on her and those creepy twins. Mom sat there just sobbing and the twins were quiet sitting there staring at her. Every now and again they exchanged looks. I swear they talk without speaking.
The preacher came the next day and they buried my boy by my Uncle Henry. He was the youngest and had died of scarlet fever when he was ten. He wasn’t here I looked for him. My burial service took five minutes. Micky howled when the preacher was done. Pawpaw planted a rose bush at my feet. I didn’t get a stone for six years.
I stuck around and watched the twins so Mom could rest. Well, that’s how I looked at it. Memaw made sure Mom got rest and ate well. The twins played in the back yard most of the time. They also looked like they were plotting. Well, they always did. Micky mostly stayed near me. It was quiet and Mom needed it.
Mom delivered a baby girl on time. She was blonde and blue eyes and very pretty. Memaw was thrilled and the twins couldn't care less. Micky was happy he had a new person to watch. When everything seemed settled and Mom was on her feet again I took off.
My first ride was on the bumper of a car. It was a young married couple headed to Santa Fe. I got off and floated down the road. I had places to see. Well, that was the plan.
My first night I sat and watched the stars and moon. I also saw ghosts float by me. There was a couple dressed like it was the 1880s. They floated past me chatting away. I saw a gun slinger or a want to be one. He was young and a mess. His shirt was blood soaked and his face was scraped up. I saw Indians dressed in beautiful burial outfits too.
I started to float to Flagstaff. I liked the pine trees they smelled so nice and not of dust. I saw prospectors and saloon girl with an axe in her head. Ghosts walking around outside of town and in town not all looking so good. In the morning I saw it was a ghost town. It was full of ghost people. I floated just past Flagstaff and it was empty.
I decided to go on to California and see the ocean. I walked and hit a wall, an invisible wall. I feel back and landed on my bottom but it didn’t hurt.
“Hello dear, you can’t go any further. It’s because you can’t go any further than where you have been,” a Saloon lady said.
“I can go back but not forward,” I said.
“Yes, it seems so unfair I know,” The Old Priest said.
“How far can you go?” I asked.
“Well, I was born in South Carolina and can float all the way there,” The Saloon lady said.
“I can go all the way home to Spain. I came out here with the conquistadors. I also can go to Italy,” The Old Priest said.
“So I can go back the way I came and back here,” I said.
“Yes, don’t look so down. You have a nice road and many people pass by,” The Saloon lady said.
“Thank you,” I said.
I started to float back to Memaws. I saw a few other ghosts as well. Some looked like very old and some young. They just floated along. I also saw some very bad things. I saw car wrecks, war dead and old Indians who had been killed. It wasn’t pretty. When I got to Memaws the creepy twins had grown so much and the baby walked.
The twins looked at me, well, through me. They did their twin chat and walked away. The baby was was talking as well. She asked me who I was. I think she saw me for real. I left and headed home to our house in Oklahoma.
The dust covered most of the doorway. I didn’t need it but slipped in and saw everything covered in dust. Most of furniture was gone the floor had an inch of dust. Upstairs I saw a mouse, he had died and was dusty small lump on the floor. I looked out the window and saw another dust storm coming in. No one was in town now, everyone had gone.
I saw a few ghosts like me wandering around looking lost. Many had lost their lives in the dust storms, they were covered in dust. I went back out to talk to them.
“Are you from here?” I asked a lady.
“No, I was passing by and a dust storm tossed our car over and over. They died, my whole family in this horrible dust,” She said.
“I am sorry. Are your family ghosts like us?” I asked.
“I am not a ghost. I am walking home,” She said.
I watched her float off into the dust storm. The dust bowl lasted for years. I saw many on the road here at home. I saw small kids who had died from the dust. They inhaled too much of it.
When I returned to New Mexico Memaw and Pawpaw were burying my mother. The creepy twins were teenagers now. They look so grave and scary. The baby was now school age.
“I wish your father could have been here,” Pawpaw said to the kids.
“He is not coming back ever again,” The twins said together.
“No, he is working,” Memaw said.
The twins turned and walked away. The looked even more creepy than ever. I followed them the down the street. Bobby and Betty walked to the train station and I watched them pick pockets. As travelers passed by they took the wallets of people who couldn’t afford to lose a penny.
I was very angry with them and told them to stop it.
“They can hear you. Just not going to stop,” a voice said.
“Hello, and you would be?” I asked.
“Good afternoon, I am Myron and like you I am a ghost. As for these two they need a strong lesson,” Myron said.
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“Wind, just enough to knock them off their feet and the money fly,” Myron said.
“We can’t do that, or can we?” I asked.
“We can do a great deal. Just stand with me and we will blow at them. They will fall,” He said.
We floated near them and blew. At first their clothes fluttered. Then their clothes moved, and one last big breath they fell over and the wallets flew about like a tornado. People were staring at them.
“That is my wallet!” A man yelled.
Many others joined in and all the wallets were returned to their owners. The Twins sat on a bench handcuffed, both of them were red in the face mad. It was the first time they had any colour. They were staring at Myron and me.
“Oh they see us,” Myron said.
“Good, they have always been creepy kids. I never trusted them when they were little. Things always disappeared around them,” I said.
“So they are your little brother and sister. I died in 1901 when my new wife poisoned me. I know what it is like to be betrayed,” Myron said.
“I died laying on a mattress on top of the family truck. I have just wandered around, well, as far as I can,” I said.
“I ride the train back to New York City and take ships to Europe and once in a while I come here where I died,” He said.
“Can you go past here?” I asked.
“No, I like you am limited to where I have been,” He said.
We sat and watched the twins be taken away by the sheriff. My poor grandparents.
Myron got on a train and disappeared. So I spent my days haunting the twins as they sat in jail. I can say I enjoyed that. The baby, she was getting so tall and asked Memaw what happened to me.
“Well, sugar she died. No reason, just did. We can bring her flowers tomorrow,” Memaw said.
“We can see your Mom too,” Pawpaw said.
“I would like that. What is going to happen to the twins?” she asked.
“They are going to live with many other children. It’s a nice safe place for them,” Pawpaw said.
I saw the paperwork on the top of the china cupboard. It was a home alright called The State Mental Hospital. I had heard about those not where you want to go. Most of these hospitals were abuse centers for evil care givers. They liked to use electric shock on people in them. I was in fear of them.
Part 3 tomorrow.
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