The House of Blue Lights

It sat alone in a field outside the city limits.  There was a porch running around two sides, buckled front wooden steps, a warped porch swing hanging by one chain.  It was an old house, a single-story, turn-of-the-century Victorian with missing windows and weathered siding. 

Like all old dilapidated houses, it seemed a perfect host for a legend, which went like this.  The house belonged to an elderly woman with scraggly hair and no teeth.  Her husband died mysteriously in one of the rooms years before. but no one came to remove the body.  The suspicion was it was buried somewhere on the premises.  The woman was said to wander aimlessly from room to room talking to the walls, trying to contact her dead husband.  She also kept a herd of feral cats, vicious things that would attack if anyone approached.  At night she would wail hideously, her screams echoing throughout the house.  That was the story, told and retold by every teenager in town.  It was gospel, irrefutable as far as kids (and some adults) were concerned.  Yet even as people described this old woman, over and over, no one claimed to have ever seen or spoke to her.  And how could they?  The house was vacant.  It looked abandoned.   Nothing moved - inside or outside.  People who lived on neighboring properties dismissed the story.  No one lived in the house, they said.  It had been deserted for years.  There was no old woman there.  There was no one there.  How could there be.  Because anyone living in the house would eventually be seen. 
They'd have to come and go, get groceries, pick up mail. 
They couldn't live there and stay hidden.  It was impossible.   

But the story of the scraggly-haired, toothless woman persisted.  True enough, there were never any signs of life.  Never, ever.  No old woman.  No cats.  No screams.  Well...not during daylight hours, anway.  But at night... so the story went...things were different.  At  night, something happened which no one could explain.  People had seen it.  Young people especially (of course).  And it was always on a dark night...moonless and cloudy.  Gloomy.  There was no old woman, or cats, or screams, but there was something else.  Lights.  Strange lights.  And they seemed to move mysteriously on their own, suspended in air, floating.  Blue lights moving inside the house, flickering eerily from window to window.  Blue lights, unnatural glowing orbs nobody could explain.  And so, over time the place became...the house of blue lights. 

I was eight years old when I first heard about it.  And it was all because of my sister and her current boyfriend.  He wanted to take her for a drive in his car.  My mother wasn't sure this was a good idea.  So being cautious, she forced sis to take me along as insurance, to prevent anything from happening in the car that
shouldn't. (I guess I was the 1950's version of birth control)  Much to my sister's irritation, I was the unwanted passenger, and I jumped happily into the back seat for my big adventure.  The boyfriend, as I recall, was some cocky teenager doused in after-shave who, for some reason, didn't seem too worried about having me along.  So, with my sister gritting her teeth, off we went on our drive.  It ended just out of town at the house of blue lights. 

Once there, the boyfriend told the story everyone but me seemed to know.  The old woman, the cats, the wailing, and the lights.  Then he instructed me to sit in the front seat (while he and my sister got in the back) so that I could watch closely for the lights.  I was told to never take my eyes off the house, or I might miss something.  It was very important, he said, that I keep looking, and never turn away.  And so I watched...and watched...and watched...and never did see any blue lights.  Saw no cats, and heard no wailing either.  But after what seemed hours of waiting to an eight year old (more likely less than thirty minutes) I did see something... a light, a very bright, white light streaming in through the back window, and I yelled excitedly, "I see it!  I see it!"  The boyfriend and my sister jumped apart like they'd been tasered.  I noticed they looked scared, and it made me scared too.  "Is it the light?  Is it?" I asked, nervously.  They didn't answer.  My sister began straightening her blouse.

A face appeared at the back window of the car.  "Looking for the blue lights?" asked the cop.  I nodded eagerly, and said I thought I saw one.  He smiled as he glanced into the back seat.  "Good for you, buddy.  Maybe you can tell these two all about it on your ride home."

The cop waited until we drove away.  I was disappointed.  I never actually saw the blue lights that night.  I just fibbed.  I wanted the cop to think I had.  But as I got older, driving out to see the house or the lights didn't seem all that important.  The legend had faded.  Other things had become more interesting to me, things like driving a car somewhere to park with a pretty girl - and not look for lights.

E-books available on Amazon:

DREAM TRAVELER 
www.amazon.com/dp/B009LTTMS2

THE LITTLE ROCK MESSENGER
www.amazon.com/dp/B003YOSYHK

ELECTRIC HIGHWAY
www.amazon.com/dp/B004RJ81LU
          

Feeling Fall in Smalltown, USA

I was at my favorite coffee place today, and everybody was talking about the cooler weather.  Well, it is October, and we do live in the mountains of North Carolina, so I suppose it's obvious that we're going to feel a chill in the air.  But that's not the point.  People always talk about the weather no matter how obvious the change.  It's what we do as humans, particularly as small-town humans.  We have opinions and observations about everything from weather to politics to who bought the old farm off Crab Creek Road.  It's who we are.  Inquistive, sometimes prying, but always interested in people and events around us.

Now if you've read any of my earlier blogs, you know I haven't always lived in a small town.  I'm a recent transplant from a big city - recent going on eight years, that is.  And although I'm not part of one of the local families who go back ten or more generations, I feel I'm fully vested in my town, and can speak with authority on what makes us locals tick - that is, what inspires us to live where we do and be who we are.  It's no mystery, of course.  There's no cipher to work out. You see, we just plain LIKE ourselves here.  We enjoy each other.  And when I say enjoy, I mean it in a sincere way, in a community way that speaks of commitment, fellowship and support.  Do I mean we are churchgoers?  Sure, many of us are devout, and some are closely defined by religion.  But the above qualities also reside outside of church membership.  Our commitment to each other can be found everywhere - in our local government, our music and arts community, our small businesses, our college and schools, and our many volunteers who donate time and money to sponsor activities for the library, the hospital, and most particularly, the children.  We are small enough to know what needs doing and to fill the gaps where we can.   

So, as Fall breaks out, bringing brisk temperatures and reminding us that Winter is on the way,  living in a small town is a good place to be.  And I especially like how people get into the spirit of the season: visitors coming in from surrounding states to enjoy the explosion of color across our mountains; corn stalks decorating Main Street for Halloween and costumed shopkeepers passing out candy to the kids; people gathering under a profusion of twinkling lights to enjoy our Christmas parade and all the food and camaraderie of the season.  It is this time of year when I feel happiest living where I do, feeling a spirit of a place much more profoundly than I did during my urban years. 

Do I miss the cultural diversity of big city life - the dining opportunities, entertainment venues, major league sports teams?  Not really.  Life is full of stages, isn't it?  We pass through the years and soak up what we want; discard what we don't.  Choice is a big part of living, after all, maybe the biggest part.  In the early stage of my life, big city life was important, brought me a career, marraige and family.  It was where I needed to be.  But my perspective shifted, and everything changed.  BIGness was no longer important.  SMALLness took over...and I'm very happy it did.

Happy Fall, everybody!

 
www.amazon.com/dp/B003YOSYHK                www.amazon.com/dp/B009LTTMS2
       

 

New Book - DREAM TRAVELER - Synopsis

DREAM TRAVELER
www.amazon.com/dp/B009LTTMS2

See Interview at http://indieauthorland.com



Seventeen year old Jeff Hayden is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a back injury he sustained in a car accident that killed his mother. His father James Hayden, a successful biochemist and researcher, has been missing since before the accident. Now parentless, Jeff lives with his Uncle Hank, a former Navy SEAL, who is suspiciously guarded about what he knows regarding Jeff’s missing father. This trait causes friction, and Jeff yearns for the day he can be independent and away from his uncle’s aloofness.

 

Everything changes, however, when Jeff starts “dreaming” he is with his dad, with episodes so real he believes they must be more than dreams. His Uncle Hank is reluctant to talk about it, and suggests the dreams are simply Jeff’s way of mourning the loss of his parents. Then one day, prompted by a physical assault on his friends, the boy finds himself using unknown mental powers to “leave” his body and travel to their defense. This unexpected ability makes him realize he has a special gift - that maybe the dreams of his father were not dreams. Confronted with this discovery, Jeff forces his uncle to open up and reveal secrets he has kept hidden about his mother, and about his father‘s classified research. These revelations answer a lot of questions for Jeff. But they also lead to more questions when he learns that his “dreams” are really trips into a compelling and dangerous world called The Realm, a psychic energy network used by other travelers like himself. It is a place of abstraction and mystery, confusing, full of challenge, and frequently surprising. Once discovered, The Realm alters life inexorably for Jeff. But he realizes he cannot turn back. He can only move forward to look for answers to his past, and to seek whatever his future holds. 

                                

DREAM TRAVELER - Synopsis

                                                    www.amazon.com/dp/B009LTTMS2



Seventeen year old Jeff Hayden is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a back injury he sustained in a car accident that killed his mother. His father James Hayden, a successful biochemist and researcher, has been missing since before the accident. Now parentless, Jeff lives with his Uncle Hank, a former Navy SEAL, who is suspiciously guarded about what he knows regarding Jeff’s missing father. This trait causes friction, and Jeff yearns for the day he can be independent and away from his uncle’s aloofness.

Everything changes, however, when Jeff starts “dreaming” he is with his dad, with episodes so real he believes they must be more than dreams. His Uncle Hank is reluctant to talk about it, and suggests the dreams are simply Jeff’s way of mourning the loss of his parents. Then one day, prompted by a physical assault on his friends, the boy finds himself using unknown mental powers to “leave” his body and travel to their defense. This unexpected ability makes him realize he has a special gift - that maybe the dreams of his father were not dreams. Confronted with this discovery, Jeff forces his uncle to open up and reveal secrets he has kept hidden about his mother, and about his father‘s classified research. These revelations answer a lot of questions for Jeff. But they also lead to more questions when he learns that his “dreams” are really trips into a compelling and dangerous world called The Realm, a psychic energy network used by other travelers like himself. It is a place of abstraction and mystery, confusing, full of challenge, and frequently surprising. Once discovered, The Realm alters life inexorably for Jeff. But he realizes he cannot turn back. He can only move forward to look for answers to his past, and to seek whatever his future holds.

                                                   www.amazon.com/dp/B009LTTMS2