Story 6

Get Up and Make Me Some Tea!

Beeville, Texas - 1989.  A horrifying auto accident on the outskirts of town had taken the life of Maxine’s brother. He had been burned severely, and the job of identifying his body fell to 20 year-old Maxine.  The trauma was still with her days after the funeral, and she was having trouble getting to sleep.
 

          The door to her bedroom was uneven, and it did not exactly meet the floor.  Maxine required utter darkness when she slept, and she was annoyed to see the light under the door.  One of her mother’s touch lamps must be on in the living room.  She got up, turned off the lamp, and headed back to the bedroom.  After snuggling down into her cozy nest, the light appeared again, shining through the crack in the door.
 

          “What in the world?” Maxine asked herself.  She again got up, went into the living room and turned the lamp off. She looked for her mother, but she was in her room, presumably fast asleep. As Maxine padded back to bed, the lamp came on yet again. This time, Maxine hadn’t even made it to her room. She returned to the living room, confused, when her mother appeared.
 

          “Maxine, what are you doing out of bed?” she asked.
 

          “This lamp keeps coming on by itself,” was the reply.
 

          “It’s probably just the ceiling fan. Turn it off and go back to bed.”
 

          “Ok, Mom. I will.”  So Maxine turned off the ceiling fan and the lamp, and tried once again to go to sleep.  She was just drifting off, when..
 

          “Now what’s going on?” she asked herself, since the lamp was on yet again. 
 

          “I’m unplugging the darned thing,” she said out loud, as she threw her covers off once more. “I need some sleep!”  Maxine padded back into the living room for the fourth time, and this time she unplugged the lamp. She was still holding the plug in her hand, when the lamp’s bulb lit for a fifth time! Maxine was standing there, in shock, holding the lamp’s cord in her hand when she heard her mother call, “Maxine, just unplug that stupid lamp and let’s get to sleep!”
 

          “Mom,” came a quiet reply from Maxine.  Her mother stormed in only to find Maxine standing there with a shocked look on her face and the lamp plug in her hand.  The lamp was still on.
 

          “What the….?” Maxine’s mother asked.  Then she looked at her daughter. 
 

          “It’s your brother, Maxine. Just put the plug down and go to bed. Leave it alone; it’s him.”....
 

Get a copy of Ghosts, Spooks, and Sprits of South Texas and read how Maxine and her mother finally help her brother cross over!