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lollipop.lady
lollipop.lady
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From: mdean@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael W. Dean)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: My second story
Date: 2 Sep 1994 00:59:56 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Lines: 54
Message-ID: <345tec$bhq@hobbes.cc.uga.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: athena.cs.uga.edu
My second story was related to me by my former roommate Tim, some years ago.
He was very young indeed when this happened to him...perhaps five or so.
When Tim was very young, one of his neighbors was an elderly black lady who
delighted in giving him candy (haven't we all had a neighbor like that?),
especially lollipops. As far as Tim was concerned, this lady's sole duty
in life was to show up at his house on Sunday afternoons and give him
sweets. He was still very young when she passed away. He told me this was
his first experience with death, his introduction to the concept. He wasn't
quite sure at the time if the adults really knew what they were talking about,
saying the old lady was never coming back to see him. As far as he was
concerned, her Sunday afternoon visits were an unalterable fact of life,
as consistent as the sun coming up in the morning.
Still, the first Sunday after the old lady's funeral arrived, and as the
grown ups had predicted, she did not visit. He went to bed that night sad
and confused, and a bit wiser to the ways of the world. Still, he was very
young; he had no trouble getting to sleep.
At some unknown time that night, Tim awoke. It was pitch dark and the house
was still and quiet. He had the odd feeling that someone was waiting for
him, some visitor. Being five, he did not question this feeling, but
instead got up out of bed and went downstairs. Once downstairs, he saw a
light on in the kitchen, and he followed it.
Opening the kitchen door, he found the room illuminated by some low light,
as if from a candle. The overhead was off. Sitting stock still in one of
the kitchen chairs, was the old lady, the lady who hadn't come for a visit
that afternoon. She looked older than ever; more gray than black, it
seemed. Tim could see that her belly had an odd bulge to it, as if she
were pregnant or some such. Her faded print dress was tight against it.
Tim approached the old woman, and as he did so, she opened her eyes and
looked down at him. Her wrinkled face smiled softly.
"Would you like some candy, sugar?" she said, speaking the words slowly,
as if it were somehow difficult for her. Her withered hand stretched out,
clutching a red lollipop. In wonderment, Tim accepted it.
A moment later, Tim found himself standing in the darkened kitchen. The
old lady and the strange light were gone. His hand was clutched tightly,
but no lollipop was to be found there.
When Tim completed his tale, he expressed some wonder at the old woman's
belly. Why had it been so distended? I told him that after death, often
a corpse's abdomen will bloat with intestinal gasses. Tim honestly had
never known that.
Thanks for indulging me, guys...once again, this story is also a true one.
Perhaps Tim just found himself sleepwalking, I don't know. He says if it
was a dream, it was the most remarkable and vivid dream he's ever had.
Mike
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