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Some Weird Thing |
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TEHUTI'S PER ON THE WEB NOTE: One of a set of two "essays" which I likely wrote as some sort of school project. (See "An Interesting Place" for the other.) They have no grades on them, so either they were never turned in, or they were informal and were not meant to be graded. I doubt I wrote them just for the fun of it, seeing as they are dated and written neatly within the margins. These are on three loose sheets of paper which I probably found folded somewhere upstairs.
These two essays are dated February 26, 1991, which places them in the eighth grade, I believe. Rachel H. [last name omitted] February 26, 1991 I don't think I've ever seen a ghost but I sure would like to. I really want to go to the Tower of London. It's said to be the world's most haunted historic site. I remember I told you a long time ago about my story, "Doppleganger," which takes place there. [Per Note: I have no clue who I'm referring to with "you." I'm guessing it's the teacher, but which teacher, and why did I tell him/her about that story? Plus, seeing as I only ever had each teacher (with the exception of Miss Jellison in 4th/5th grades) for one year, how could I have told them this "a long time ago"?] Once that story's finished people who read it will know how much I love ghosts. Some pretty strange things have happened, though. Sometimes our chairs begin to rock by themselves, even when the cat isn't in sight. And there's no breeze big enough to move our heavy rocker! I have a notion that ghosts live in my house. You can tell that I made them up, but when I create things, I have a talent for bringing them to life. One ghost is female. I call her Martika. She talks with a "with-it" slang accent. [Per Note: The "Valley girl" accent. I didn't know what it was called back then. In my fiction, this was not Martika's "real" voice, but rather a phase she went through. And yes, this character was named after the singer.] The other two are male. I can hardly describe them because they're so weird. I call one Fresh Prince and the other one Jazzy. [Per Note: Again, named after DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.] All three are talking dogs from ancient Egypt (yes, I know this is weird), who were killed when sledding down a hill. [Per Note: See Jazzy for more on that.] They ran headlong into a tree, and that was it. [Per Note: I'm making this whole bit up. While I did create these three ghost characters and wrote about them living in my house, I never believed or "had a notion" that they actually did so.] Then there's the poltergeist. I call him--it--Harvey (I honestly don't know why. I dubbed him that years ago). [Per Note: Likely named after the giant invisible rabbit from the movie of the same name. I never saw the movie, but read about it in this weird little book of urban legends surrounding the Black Lake location where my dad worked. According to one story, Harvey was real, and after the movie was completed he was released into the woods near Black Lake, where he lives to this day. I remember there was an illustration of a terrified-looking man on his knees, peering upward and clasping his hands together imploringly, as a giant rabbit shadow loomed over him. I'm not making this up, this was an actual publication that I did not write myself. I've tried a few Google searches, but can unfortunately find nothing about this book; I do remember it also had a story about the "fur-bearing trout."] He's the one whom I suppose rocks the chairs and misplaces things. [Per Note: I've always had trouble, and still do, with who/whom; so I almost always avoid using "whom." I don't know if this usage is correct.] As you know (I hope), that can be annoying. I think that, in all, there are probably about twelve ghosts in my house. I never see them, but they talk a lot. And that can be annoying, too! [Note: More made-up details, I never believed this. Even my "belief" in Harvey the poltergeist and Floyd the invisible flea and that hairy orange monster thing was tongue-in-cheek.] |