And so...The Dead Talk To Me...

Aunti Kay would never, ever, acknowledge she wrote the letter. I mean, she said she wrote the letter, but didn't write the letter... Uhhhhh, O.K... It was something called "automatic".

Oh, that Auntie Kay. Why did she confide in me? "This is our little secret", she'd say, when noone else was around. "Remember the dead little girl?", she'd ask me later. "She told me everything. She told me where they could find her. The police won't admit it. But they listen to me. But they can't say a crazy little old woman solved their case, can they?". Ummmmmm... "They used to think maybe I was doing these things. Isn't that silly, Sweetie?" Oh...My...Gawd.... something new to consider...and in light of what happened to her daughter, Wendy...and her boyfriend, "Uncle" Bob... I remember my brain swimming...

I remember my Nana on the phone. She was pale as a sheet. "Why, I just don't know...I, really, I haven't spoken to her... Of course I'll call her right away.. Yes...well, she's been ill off and on..."

Auntie Kay had many friends from church, as did Nana. Obviously, a male friend from the church had called Nana. He'd received in the mail that day, a letter. A really peculiar letter. A disturbing letter. I heard her discussing it with my Mom. "Oh, I didn't write it!", Auntie Kay would console, after we drove to her house. "No! Don't be silly! Somebody else wrote it. I just helped. It was an "automatic". Auntie Kay was calm as a cucumber (whatever that means...I got it from her). She always was calm...AFTER an episode...AFTER her freaky deed was done...

It had been a crazy, rambling, letter. Mostly written in barely distinguishable pencil. A vow of love and memories. A love letter from his wife, if you will. A letter which ended with the deepest of sympathy by my Aunt...

The man from church was disturbed. He waited for his wife to return home... But of course, she never returned home again. She would be killed that day in a horrific accident... The day he got the letter in the mail...

I wonder just how many times I was called to Auntie Kays card table. The one that sat between the living and dining room. The one where she told me so many secrets. The one where she so gleefully informed me one night...that I was JUST like HER. I had the "gift".... Uhhhh...but I don't want the gifty thingy....
AHHHHHHHHH....gifty thingy be GONE..... But. Auntie Kay was a gourmet chef... I wanted the strawberries and thick cream she always gave me.... I wanted the perfect poached eggs with toast fingers... Anyway...How could I be just like Auntie Kay? "Well", she would clarify...as she did on sooo many occasions..."You're just like me, but you're fat". Well THAT blows! She would remind me of this many times during her life. No time to absorb the truth though...she would stick a pen in my hands, while I sat across from her at the table. Candles burning, the light overhead swinging, the rest of the house dark, me wiping whipped cream off my face, the crystal thing near by...I didn't know what to write... sheesh...what to write? I drew a picture of my Grandpa...

My Grandpa came and sat at the end of my bed. Oh how I loved him. Roy...that's what I called him. I was never allowed to call him Grandpa. He was Roy. Roy Earp. Homicide Inspector of the Oakland police department. Direct decentant of "Wyatt Earp". He was my hero. Oh, how he loved me! Taught me to shoot a gun at the river, before I could hardly stand up straight. Said he didn't teach me to shoot silver dollars out of the air... I just did it because it was in my blood. It was odd to see him there sitting on my bed... He was sooo warm.... not scarey at all. "Do you know who you are?" , he asked. Uhhhhhhhh..... kinda confused.... WHAT?...."Do you know how much I love you?" he asked. I did! Of course I did! When he retired, he bought a house in the mountains. It had a guest house. He had decorated the entire thing in pink!! PINK!! Imagine that for a little girl. It was MY house....with a porch, and built in BBQ/stove that worked! Filled with little girl plates and pots and pans...He reached for my hand, and he held it. "You are an Earp", he said. "One of the last. I am gone now", he told me. "You are very important. I am gone now"...

KNOCK...KNOCK...KNOCK... I remember being awaikened by the sound...and dogs barking...barking... My girlfriend's Mom came into the room... "Melody?".... "Melody?"... she gently called..."Your brother is here... he says you need to go home now"... What a pisser! I was having a sleepover at my friend Lisa's house. I hardly ever got to have a sleepover...."What do you want David?", I scorned at him, standing outside the front door. "You have to come home now!", he said. "Why?", I demaned. "Uhhhhh....I can't say. Just come home. Hurry up!" ......
'It's because Roy died, right?", I asked him. Looooooong pause..... "I never said that!", he demanded. "Don't tell Mom I said that! She told me not to tell you! How do you know that?"....
I knew because I knew.... he had come to tell me.... That...and there would be so much more....

Damn that Auntie Kay....what was wrong with me? ...