Where There's Smoke

"Who wants to make a wish?"

The morning sun was shining, and we were walking down the sidewalk: Me, Paul, and little Serina from next door. The neighbors down the street had put up a fountain in their garden, and we'd taken to throwing pennies in every morning to make a wish. I handed out two pennies, one to each kid.

They whispered their wishes to the pennies, and then tossed them in. Then they took off for the bus stop. I watched as they ran down the street.

"I wish for an interesting summer," I said, and tossed my penny in.

I walked into the charity building---It was an old building on Main Street, and I'd been doing some volunteer work there for a year and a half. I buzzed myself in with my key card and walked into the conference room, where Lacey was doing some work.

She looked up when I came in. "Lou! What can we do for you today?"

"I was hoping someone was available to give me a few lessons," I said. "Since I'm going to work the hotline while you guys are all at the staff retreat on Wednesday, I thought I could use some instructions."

"Oh, sure," she said. "I'll buzz Julie, and see if she's got a moment."

"Thanks. Thought I'd get this in before work---Our annual summer reading theme is kindness and diversity, and I have some programs to plan today. Gonna talk to Cheyenne about doing a couple of programs for me in August."

"I'm sure she'll do that. Got any ghost hunting planned for summer?"

I grinned. "Got a couple of trips planned with Paul. I'll be talking at Hyner View in July, and I figure I'll go after the Swamp Angel while I'm up there. And we're going to Lancaster County in August. Thought I might bring some of my equipment down here on Wednesday, and maybe check the building if it's a little slow."

"That's a good idea," she said. "We always get stuff happening in here."

"Well, the place was built in 1885, so you might figure. I know a couple of people have died in here. Besides, I have a new vest I need to field test. This will be a good opportunity."

The headline in the Express was "Wildfire Smoke Intensifies Across Region," and the story was by Laura and Ari. Smoke from Canada had blown south, and was covering a significant portion of the state. 

I got into the house after work, and Paul was on the couch. I said,"Hey, Paul, want to go out on alien patrol? You should see the smoke out there."
"Okay," he said.

We leashed up Butters and walked outside. As we walked down the street, I could see the haze under the streetlights, which were just beginning to come on. It was worse than I'd realized. Some of the mountains in the distance were barely visible.

"Wow, Daddy," said Paul. "How did this happen?"

"There's a forest fire in Canada, way north of here, that got pretty bad. The wind blew a lot of the smoke down this way."
"How did it start?"
"I don't know, probably because it got too hot and dry up there."

On the Bald Eagle Mountain, there's a kind of zigzag shaped rocky patch where trees won't grow east of Lock Haven. Pilots use it as a guideline to find the Piper Airport. For the first time since moving to Lock Haven over thirty years ago, I couldn't see it from the Hill Section.

"My god," I said. "Where's the Bald Spot? Where is the goddamn Bald Spot?"

I walked into the charity conference room in time at the tail end of the morning staff meeting. Everyone looked up when I entered. I was wearing my purple shirt with the rainbow Mothman on it.

"Shelter Dad's here to save the day," said Alyssa.

I laughed. "Shelter Dad? I may get that put on a T-shirt."

"Still smoking outside?" asked Juli.

"Man, I've never seen Lock Haven like this," I said. "There's smoke everywhere. You can't see the mountains from downtown."

"It's bad all over the county," said Cheyenne. 

"Yeah," Juli agreed,"I can barely breathe out there."
"You guys be careful today," I said. "I'll be here, answering the phones while you're gone."

"Thank you for doing this," said Alyssa.

"I'm glad to," I said. "Anytime I can help out. Brought my new vest and some of my ghost-hunting equipment, in case it gets slow in here. I'll check the building for ghosts in between calls."

Lacey grinned. "Call if you need us. We'll be available by phone. Otherwise, have a good day."

"You, too."

They all filed out, leaving me alone in the building. I closed the window to keep the smoke out. I walked around a couple of minutes, familiarizing myself with everything, and then opened my pack and unrolled the new vest.

I pulled it on, and slipped my equipment into the pockets. With my EMF detector, I walked through the building, checking for readings. I knew the first floor well, but I always got a little lost up above---I hadn't had the opportunity to spend much time on the upper floors. I walked past everyone's offices, watching to see if anything lit up on the EMF. 

I walked through the third floor---I'd been up to Lacey's office before. I looked out a window and studied the city---I could easily see the downtown area from up here, and the low-lying haze that was currently covering it.

I discovered the emergency stairs from the third floor, and walked down them to the back hallway. I wasn't getting any readings. 

I heard the phone ringing, and it occurred to me that I was missing the very thing I was there to do. I ran down the hall and picked up the phone, saying,"Hello, may I help you?"

"Oh, yes," said the woman outside. "I was hoping to make a donation."

"Oh, okay," I said. "I'll be right there."

I stepped out the door. The woman looked at me. 

"Oh my god," she said. "You're Lou."

"I get that a lot."

"I read all of your columns."

"Well, hopefully you're enjoying them."

"What are you doing here?"

"The staff always outsources to a local paranormal investigator when they're not available," I said.

After I collected the donation, I went back to investigating. This time I stayed a bit closer to the phone, just in case. I got a couple of flickers on the EMF, but nothing too serious. Maybe the constant smoke was keeping the ghosts quiet, too.

"Why are we coming up here?" Paul asked as Michelle pulled up at the top of Highland Cemetery. 

"I wanted to get a look from up above the city," I said. "This is about as high as I could think to go."

I got out of the car. I could see the Hopkins graves, Soldier's Circle, Shoemaker. I looked at the city, down below, and the smoke blocking out most of the usual view.

I climbed up the statue of Peter Meitzler, grabbing his right ankle for support. Looking out to the north, I could barely see the river. There was nothing visible anywhere.

Just the smoke.

I climbed down and got back in the car. Paul asked,"Are we done?"

"Yeah," I said. "Seen what I needed to for now."

Paul was taking his shower when Michelle called up,"Lou? Bre's here!"
I walked downstairs, and out the door. Bre was standing beside her car with the back hatch opened, and several huge cases of beer inside.

"How's Tami's campaign going?" I asked. I still had her purple political sign up in my yard.

"She's getting there. Doing surveys to see what people want in a candidate. Attending some community events."

"She has my vote. Do I want to know what's with a trunk full of beer?"

"Well, I thought you might be able to use these," said Bre.

I'm pretty sure my eyes lit up. "You thought right. Where'd they come from?"
"I'm helping out a nonprofit that was selling these. But they had to cancel when COVID hit, and now it's expired. They can't legally sell them now, but they didn't want to waste them."

"I can handle expired beer. If they've been kept at a consistent temperature, it really doesn't make a lot of difference."

"Well, they're all yours."

"Sam Adams, Blue Moon....Some of my favorites." I lifted a case out of her vehicle. "This is great. Just in case the smoke keeps me trapped in the house, I'm prepared now."

I biked downtown a few days later, in the blessedly much cleaner air. I parked outside the charity and buzzed myself in. Most of the staff was in the conference room.

"Hi, guys," I said. "Thought I'd drop by on my way to work, see if anyone needed anything."

"You gonna check for ghosts?" asked Julie.

I got my EMF detector out of my pack. "Well, I thought I might look around a bit. Finish up what I started the other day, you know?"

"Oooh, check my office," said Lacey. "Stuff moves around up there."

"Oh, great," commented one of the Hannahs. "That's nice to know for when I'm up there alone."
Sass grinned. "Go ahead, you have the run of the place. Let us know what you find."

"Thanks."

I walked down the hall, doing the usual thing with the EMF detector. It's my small all-in-one, and I switched it over to temperature for a minute, but then I didn't get much of a reading and switched it back.

I went upstairs, checked around the second floor for a while. Then I walked back downstairs, and into the kitchen area. 

And suddenly, in the middle of the room, the thing lit up.

All the way to red. I looked around, but there was nothing nearby that would explain it. No cords, no electronics.

I turned and walked back to the conference room.

"Find anything?" asked Juli.

"I got one hell of a spike on the EMF back in the kitchen," I said. "Could be something. Sometimes, when it's a public sort of building, I've known the ghosts to kind of lay low for a while before showing themselves to anyone new. Could be that's why I didn't see anything the other day. I think it's a case of that."

"So they're being shy," said Lacey.

"Yeah," I said. "But they'll get used to me."

I walked down the street with Paul, doing our nightly alien patrol. He had his flashlight out, and I was checking the skies for UFOs. Paul said,"The smoke's gone."

"It's gone," I agreed. "We had a couple of bad days there, but we've had some wind and rain, and that took care of it."

"Will it come back?"
"I doubt it," I said. "Most likely, we won't have to worry about the smoke anymore. Should be okay."

As we approached the house, Paul asked,"Can I stay up late with you tonight, Daddy?"

"Sure," I said. "Let's watch a movie together. And I think I'll have a beer."