5:49 p.m. - 2002-03-21
Haunted Playground
"Ultra, it's Andy!! Are you there?!" Pause. Giggle. "Ultra, I know you're there! Your car is in the driveway!!"
It's Miss Beth. She calls me "Ultra" and I call her "Andy", unless I'm calling her "Elton", in which case she calls me "Mummy". Her husband's name is Joey, but we call him "Edie". Beth's dogs are named Boo and Snoo.
Miss Beth is calling to find out if I want to go with her and "the little doggies". They are going to the haunted playground, which is behind Maple Hill Cemetary. Miss Beth thinks she lost her driver's license while she and Joey were doing cartwheels there a couple of days ago. She doesn't want to go back there alone because it's an isolated place, and because, well...it's haunted.
Miss Beth has a real thing about "haints". She finds it horrifying that I walk in Maple Hill at night and finds all my family superstitions for dealing with ghosts disturbing yet fascinating. She calls it "New England Voodoo".
I've never been to the haunted playground so I'm quite happy to go look for lost licenses. Beth shows up a few minutes later in her little red Geo, Boo and Snoo jumping all over her. When Boo sees me he starts panting and looking excited. Boo is my "special friend", which basically means I give him more treats than I give Snoo, who is slightly overweight. It also means that Boo feels free to sit on my lap whenever he gets a chance, no matter how much mud he's got on his feet. Needless to say, as soon as I climb in the car he crawls onto my lap and starts begging for treats.
Beth threatens him with a bright blue flyswatter. "No, no, Bookie!" she chirps. She never actually hits the dogs with this swatter, but for some reason they always behave when it comes out.
It turns out that the playground really is isolated, down a dirt road behind the cemetary that I've never noticed before. The isolation is good - Boo and Snoo are a bit hyper under the best of situations and really get wacko when they're outdoors. They are obviously having a fabulous time.
Beth wanders around looking at the ground. I think she's more interested in four leaf clovers than her driver's license. I get sidetracked looking at a small stream and some asteraceae growing near it. After a while Beth gives up and we throw an old baseball for the dogs and do some cartwheels, and then walk down to the children's play equipment.
This part of the playground does feel a bit haunted to me. It has that strange abandoned feeling that haunted places often have. People claim to see the swings moving when no one is on them, and to hear the slide creaking.
No haints today, though. Boo and Snoo must be acting as ghostbusters. Not to mention Miss Beth and her burbling laugh.
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