sean_harby_was_a_zombie

Charmaine was a tiny, plain, and mousey haired girl. Her mouth was full of overly large white teeth or overly thin lips that made her teeth look larger as a result.
Her green eyes glowed like a cat's in the lamp light.

I don't know. Maybe I was expecting her to be wearing a turban or something. And covered in beads. She didn't look at all 'otherworldly'. OK, her eyes were a bit strange, but other than that she seemed pretty normal to me.
And those large teeth of hers signified nothing either. My Third Grade teacher, Mrs. Adams, had teeth just like that and if she was a psychic, she kept it pretty well hidden.

Ironically, I later had a girlfriend, Sheri Weinstein, who had similarly green Charmaine eyes. Sheri was an exotic dancer and had two Burmese cats that growled like wild beasts and a boa constrictor she used in her act. But why tell you that? You'll never believe me.
And I digress.

'Diane, did you tell your friends we're visiting the dead tonight?' Charmaine asked.
She said this as casually as if she were announcing a camp sing-a-long that evening.
'We all will meet at the Manor House at half past ten precisely,' she proclaimed.
That was half an hour or so away.
'The kerosene lamp makes the air smell fumy,' she said loftily as she rose to leave the tent. 'I need to clear my 'channel' before we meet. Diane, bring your friends with you. Max and that other boy are going to meet us there too.'
Max.

We stayed in the tent for a while and Diane told me more about what was going on.
'You see how she is, Ralphy? It's impossible to say no to her. But really she's 'nice', I mean really, and I like her, but she does get bossy.'

Eventually, Diane led us over to the Manor House where we were meant to visit the dead.
'I hope it's not Gran,' Sean worried. 'Or Pop-Pop either.'
'Will you plug it?!' Tommy scowled.

We went into the Manor House via a backdoor. There were two boys already there.
'This is Max,' Diane said. 'He's the one who gets the keys to let us in at night.'
'Swiped them from Jelly Knees,' he said.
'Jelly Knees' was their nickname for one of the senior camp counselors, he explained.
The other boy was called Bradley, but he never said anything. He just stared and stared at Diane. I don't think his psychic interests were genuine.
'Stare at my girl again and you will be visiting the dead for real,' I thought to myself.

We made our way upstairs and entered a large conference room. Charmaine was there with another girl named Ingrid.
'Let us gather,' Charmaine instructed.
'Ingrid, turn off the lights.'

Charmaine then took out a candle, lit it, and placed it on the table in front of her. The dying light of a late summer evening spilled through the open windows.
Everyone started to sit down around the large mahogany table in the middle of the room.
Diane sat beside me and Tommy was on my other side. Sean was sitting next to Tommy.
'Let us all join hands,' Charmaine continued.
'Let us draw the spirits and let them speak!'

So we joined hands. Well, we kind of did. I certainly held Diane's hand, but Tommy and I were not so keen and we just held our hands in the proximity of one another. But Sean held Tommy's hand tightly.
And then Charmaine began her séance.

'Powers of the East, West, North, and South. Guardians of the Watchtower! Hail! Hear our call. Earth Mother open a channel between the living and the dead. Let the dead speak and their words come through me.'
She incanted all that in a 'mystical' type of voice.

OK, I am paraphrasing here. I cannot remember the exact words Charmaine used, but I do remember something about 'Guardians' and 'Watchtowers'.
But nothing happened.
'It always starts like this,' Diane whispered to me.
'Shhh!!' hushed Charmaine. 'The spirits are trying to contact us.'
But still nothing happened. We sat there together in an awkward silence. Fifteen minutes must have passed.
Nothing.
If I weren't holding Diane's hand, I would have been bored.