Santa Claus was in Wayne Township.
"I want a Leah doll," said Paul. "And I want LOL dolls, and I want new tools. And I want candy!"
Santa smiled. "Is that all?"
"Ummm....Yeah!"
The Wayne Township Nature Park was hosting a nice Christmas walk. They had the path decorated, a representations of Christmas stories all along it. Santa was at the very end, taking requests from children. He gave my son a candy cane, and Paul immediately began eating it.
As we walked to the car, I said,"While we're out here, let's stop by Linnwood Cemetery."
"I have no idea which one that is," said my wife.
"It's by the railroad tracks. The one with the Capitol column in it," I said. "We had a photo donated to the library recently, and it's a soldier named Milford Krape. He's buried out there, but the cemetery record lists him as 'Millard Krape.' This is in contrast to his marriage record and his obit, and I told the director I'd get a look at what's on the actual gravestone."
"You'll have to tell me where it is."
"It's on Linnwood Drive, by the....Never mind. I'll direct you."
She pulled the Prius up by the church, and I got out and walked across the cemetery. I unfolded my map as I walked---I'd learned the hard way to always bring the paperwork along. I found the grave in the corner on the far side of the cemetery.
I pushed down the plants concealing the name.
Milford.
Okay, so it went down in the cemetery index wrong. Easy enough to correct, and this was a simple one to handle.
Merry Christmas to me.
I've always loved Christmas. I grew up on a Christmas tree farm, which of course helped---Christmas put me through college. To this day, we get a free tree from the farm when we go visit.
I always put up our family nativity scene. A few years ago, we'd been given a used nativity scene that was missing some of the pieces, and I'm not real religious, so I'd filled in with stuff I had around the house. This had become a tradition, and these days, the yearly nativity scene consisted of Mary and Joseph, one shepherd, Captain America, Bigfoot, a sheep, two small dogs, Green Lantern, and Yoda.
When I was a kid, my parents had this beautiful wooden nativity scene that had been hand-carved in Germany or something. It had a small compartment above the manger where they'd put the baby Jesus until Christmas morning, leaving Mary and Joseph essentially staring at the floor. When they put the presents out overnight, they'd move Jesus down below, the significance being that he'd been born. So that was what Christmas meant to me, as a child: It was the day when Santa came, and let Baby Jesus out of the attic.
We had a tendency to meet in haunted places. After all, we are ghost hunters.
This time, it was Millie's house. I sat around the table with the rest of the Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers, holding our annual Christmas meeting. Theresa, Millie, Charlie, Ashlin, and Kara....And me. We had our snacks, and we had the table piled full of presents.
"Before we start, I brought something for everyone," said Theresa. She handed out window stickers, each one saying Paranormal Investigator. "I thought these would look good on our cars."
"I'm gonna have to find an alternate solution," I said.
"You need to get a windshield on your bike."
"I brought something for everyone, too," I said. I handed out little survival tools, each one about an inch long and containing a fire starter, whistle, blade, and compass. "I thought we could use these. Some of the situations we get into....These things give us a little survival kit. They can be clipped on a keychain, a zipper, carried in a pocket, whatever."
Kara looked hers over. "Hey, these are really nice. Where'd you get them?"
"Amazon. It's like having a magical genie. I shouldn't be allowed to have both a credit card and an Amazon account."
"I've got something to announce," said Charlie. "I haven't been as available lately, because I've been taking some classes and working to be an LPN. Over the next couple of years, I may have to miss some meetings and investigations, because of my class schedule. You guys can decide to drop me from the team, if you want."
"I think we'll make some allowances there," said Theresa.
"We can afford to cut you some slack, Charlie," I said. "Hell, if anyone on this team is likely to need a nurse, it's gonna be me."
There was an alien sitting on my desk when I got to work.
This was only sightly more odd than usual. My son had been enjoying a local program called "Haven Rockz," in which people hid brightly-painted rocks around town for other people to find. He'd been so visibly enjoying the rocks that library patrons had begun bringing me painted rocks for him specifically. Someone had left a big rock, painted to look like an alien, waiting on my desk when I got back from the radio show.
My name is Lou. My office is at the public library. As for what I do there....It's a little hard to explain, but the aliens do have something to do with it.
I was wearing my shirt that showed Bigfoot riding on the Loch Ness Monster, which helps sum things up. I investigate the paranormal and local history, write about it, and promote the library. It's a living, and I'm actually kind of surprised I'm the first one to have thought of this career.
I left a note for the director, detailing what I'd found in Linnwood Cemetery, and then got to work. I sat down and lost myself writing an article about Henry Wharton Shoemaker and his legend of the magic serpent in Sugar Valley, an exploration that was on my list to get to sooner or later.
My phone line beeped. "It's for you," Barb said.
"Okay, thanks." I switched to line one. "Hello, can I help you?"
"Dad, it's me." My daughter Tif, currently at home with Paul. "What's mom's number at work?"
"Should be on the fridge. Why?"
"Paul dropped Shimmer in the street, and she got run over before we could get her back."
"Oh, no." Shimmer is one of my son's favorite dolls, a cartoon genie with pink hair. The cartoon seems to mostly consist of Shimmer and Shine, the genies, spending the second half of the show trying to fix the stuff they screwed up during the first half.
"He's brokenhearted," said Tif. "He's been crying. I was hoping Mom could bring home another Shimmer, and we'll tell him Shimmer went to the hospital."
"Let me see what I can do," I said. "I'll call you back."
I walked through the Dollar Store, looking at the shelves. I wasn't finding a Shimmer doll, though they had a lot of toys on the shelves. One of the employees asked,"Are you finding everything you need? Can I help you with anything?"
"My son's Shimmer doll got destroyed, and he's really upset about it," I said. "I think he got it here originally. Do you have any more?"
"I'll check in the back," said another employee.
I turned to the manager. "Weird question....Have you or the other employees experienced anything....unusual....in here?"
"Oh, sure," she said. "There's ghosts. You see things out of the corner of your eye, the carts roll around on their own. There's noises. We have stuff happen all the time."
It continually amazes me how casually people take this stuff. I always feel a little hesitant to ask, and then people act like it's just giving directions.
"Have you ever looked into it?"
"I think it's my grandfather....He used to run this place back when the building was a Woolworth's. You remember that?"
"I wasn't living in Lock Haven then. But I've done some learning about it."
"I'd heard the place is haunted," I said. "Here." I got out an article I'd found before leaving the library, and handed it to her. "I got this out of the Express. Have you ever seen this one?"
"No! I didn't realize we'd made the paper."
"Well, it was around ten years ago. But I thought you'd like that."
The other employee came out of the back. "I called over to Dunnstown, and they're running a Shimmer over. "
"Thank you so much," I said. "If you guys would ever like a discreet investigation, feel free to ask."
When I walked in the door of my own haunted house after work, Paul immediately said,"Daddy! You get Shimmer at the hospital?"
"I did," I said. "I stopped by the hospital and picked her up." I pulled the new Shimmer out of my jacket pocket, wrapped in a white cloth, and handed it to him. "She's all better."
"Shimmer!" Paul grabbed the doll and hugged her. "You all better now! Daddy, I am so glad you bringed Shimmer home!"
"I think we'll get you a backpack, like mine," I said. "That way, you can put your toys in it, and you won't drop them anymore."
"Okay, Daddy," said Paul. "Shimmer! I so glad you okay! I love you!"
I smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Little Man," I said. "I love you, too."
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