A Halloween Carol in Texas

Mrs. Pierce left momentarily for a cup of coffee. She returned to the table and resumed the conversation. "So, dear. What are you going to do about Roger and Jeremy?"

"I'm not sure exactly what you mean," Amanda said between mouthfuls.

"Puh-lease girl! There are only three places in this city that anyone has to search if you happen to go missing. Here at home, at your job, or at Roger's apartment. It's not official, but you might as well be married to him already."

"I'm just now becoming aware of how this all looks to everyone and I'm not denying that I have feelings for Roger. I just wasn't aware of them until Caro...uh...someone else said the same thing to me. You're right, mom. I love Jeremy just as much as if he were my own son. I also have very strong feelings for Roger too. But it's not so simple. We need more time."

"That's good dear. I'm glad that you're not in denial. Just know that your father and I would not have the slightest hesitation about giving you and Roger our blessings. He's a really good man and apparently a great father too. All of us miss Carol so very, very much. But I think that as close as you two were that she would be happy if Roger married you."

"You're right mom. I've never told anyone, but Carol made a casual comment to that same effect before the day that...well...you know. Maybe she had a premonition or something, but she told me that if anything bad ever happened, she was hopeful that Roger and I would fall in love and get married. I've always kept that secret until just now. You're the only person that I have ever shared that with." Amanda felt a little guilty for telling her mother a fib, but it wasn't an outright blatant lie.

Mrs. Pierce relaxed a little bit and smiled. "That's good to know."

'Nice one,' Carol added. She startled Amanda who had forgotten that Carol was now awake.

"Mom, Have you spoken to Carol's mother recently? It has been over a month since I have heard from her. I don't think that Roger has spoken to her recently either."

"I thought that you knew," Mrs. Pierce replied. "She had some vacation time accrued at her job, so she took two weeks and boarded a cruise to St. Thomas. She is probably home now. She should have gotten back a few days ago. Call her at work and see if she has any time available this evening for you to drop by and see her. Maybe, you could take Jeremy with you too."

Amanda thought about it for a moment then addressed Carol, 'I think that we should share all of this with your Mom just like we did Roger. I think that it would help her get over her grief if we did. She lost both you and your father so closely together. It has to have been twice as hard on her. She would be thrilled to know that you talked to your father at the graveyard.'

'I agree,' Carol replied.

XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO

Carol teleported herself back to her childhood bedroom later that evening. She floated downstairs to observe her mother puttering around the kitchen fixing an evening meal for herself and her expected guests. Jeremy loved for his Mam-Maw to cook her New Orleans style Red Beans and Rice. Mrs. Jennifer Anderson had been raised in Metairie as Miss Jennifer Robicheaux. As was traditional for families of that region, she had learned to cook at the apron strings of the three matriarchs of the family. It was a tradition, not only of Louisiana, but throughout all of the Southern United States.

She considered her mother's mother to be the best cook she had ever met in her lifetime. If either of her grandmothers or her mother had caught her using just any brand of kidney beans, they would have felt scandalized. It was Camellia^® brand or nothing at all! The best kidney beans on the planet were grown in South Louisiana then shipped to Harahan. Mrs. Anderson chuckled to herself at that thought. Once all of the spices had been added to the salt pork in the pot, she dumped in the beans that had been soaking in the water since that morning. Next, it was time to start slicing the Andouille sausage. For this, only Savoie's^® Brand from Opelousas would do. Luckily, she never had a problem getting either of these items from her local HEB^® Grocery store.

At just two minutes before seven that evening, her doorbell chimed announcing the arrival of her guests. Opening her front door, Mrs. Anderson was not at all surprised by the sudden attack on her legs. Little Jeremy had attached himself to her just like a remora to a shark. He only hesitated for a moment when she reached down to gently pry his arms off of her. He knew what was coming. He reached up for his Mam-Maw as she lifted him into her arms and held him close, smothering his chubby cheeks with lots of kisses. "I wuv you Mam-Maw!"

"I love you too, honey bunch!" Mrs. Anderson stepped back to give Amanda plenty of room to enter her home. They exchanged kisses on the cheek. "I'm so glad to see you! How are you, dear?"

"Honestly? After the events of the past few days, I am doing extremely well. Part of the reason that I wanted to visit with you this evening is that I have something very important to share with you. I'm reasonably confident that before I leave this evening, you're going to feel absolutely fabulous too."

Jennifer eyed her adult guest with curiosity.

"I have something to show you and you're going to be amazed, but if you can please be patient we will do it after dinner. For now, I want you to spend lots of time with your grandson. Then once he tires out and goes down for the night, we will chat."

"Okay dear, if you really think that is best. I think that dinner is ready, so let's go sit down at the table and eat."

The dinner was absolutely delicious and afterwards, Amanda helped Jeremy get all of the Hot Wheels parts out of the toy box. They set up a track with the starting drop coming down from one of the end tables in the living room. It only took about an hour of play before the little tyke tired himself out. Jennifer led the way into the guest bedroom where she kept the toddler bed that her own daughter had slept in as a child. It now served as Jeremy's nursery away from home. They laid Jeremy down and covered him with his favorite blanket. Once they were back in the hallway and the door was gently closed, Amanda motioned for Mrs. Anderson to follow her to Carol's old bedroom.

"Let me start out by telling you that my life has been dramatically altered in the past few days." Amanda patted the edge of Carol's double bed inviting Mrs. Anderson to sit beside her. "Your life is going to change tonight as well, but trust me when I say that it is going to be a GOOD change. What I am about to reveal to you will end most of the grief that you have felt since we lost Carol."

"Roger proposed! I am so happy for you, dear! I know that Carol would be happy too!"

"No, hun." Amanda corrected. "Roger and I...well we're not quite there yet, but I think that will certainly be the path that he and I eventually take. But for right now, this is something entirely different. What I am fixing to share with you is going to make you think that I have had a nervous breakdown and lost my sanity. But, I promise you that everything I am going to share with you is absolutely true. I also promise that before tonight is over, you will become a believer yourself.

"You already know that Roger and I have a tradition of visiting Carol every year on the anniversary of the day when she was taken from us. This year started out no different than any other. When we were standing graveside, Carol came to me and spoke to me from the other side."

"Amanda Katelyn Pierce!" Jennifer Anderson interrupted. "Of all people! You were the last person that I ever thought would try to pull this kind of thing on me! What in the hell has gotten into you? I am flabbergasted!"

"Please! Hear me out!" Amanda got off of the bed and dropped to her knees in front of Carol's mother. She grabbed up both of her hands with her own. She locked eyes with her. "I promise you, I would never try to deceive you! I have absolutely nothing to gain from this! I am doing this for Carol as much as I am doing this for you! Carol is right here with us right now, and in a moment we're going to prove it to you. Roger knows already. He and Carol had a long talk and he is so much happier now. You will be too. Please trust me! Please, I'm begging you!"

As Jennifer gazed at Amanda, she noticed the wetness in her eyes. In only the shake of a lamb's tail, a tear rolled down her cheek. "Okay dear. I believe that you are sincere in whatever bizarre incident that it was that you experienced. You say that Carol spoke to you? Is she going to speak to me tonight?"

"Yes, Momma. I am," came the reply in Mrs. Anderson's head. "I'm here, Momma. To prove it to you, I want to offer the following thing that no one else but the two of us know. I promise that I kept your secret safe all of these years. I never told another living soul, not even Mandy.

"On the day that I got my first period, I was so distraught that you had a really tough time trying to calm me down. You didn't intentionally overlook having a talk with me about the birds and the bees. It just snuck up on us out of the blue. You had the hardest time trying to convince me that I wasn't going to die from internal bleeding. So, to calm me down you made me a promise. I never shared what that promise was with anyone. Only the two of us know what it is. Mandy, honey, would you get the lights, please?"

"Wait," Mrs. Anderson laid her hand gently on Amanda's forearm. "You can hear her right now too?"

"Yes ma'am. Part of what Carol and I have to do to convince you that everything is real is to show you that she can talk to both of us at the same time. The shared experience thing is very convincing. But she can also talk to us selectively. So whatever this secret is that she is about to tell you is going to remain a secret between the two of you. She hasn't told me what it is, only that she has something really personal that is going to convince you."

"Well, it had better be a good one. She has called you Mandy twice now and that was not her nickname for you."

"Trust me, mom. I still call her Blondie, too." Carol said as Amanda got to her feet and crossed the room to the door and the light switch. As the overhead light winked out, a familiar blue glow lit up the room. Carol's apparition stood about three feet away from her mother in the center of the room. She crossed the remaining distance and knelt at her mother's feet. "I love you, momma!"

Mrs. Anderson reached out to touch her daughter's cheek and her hand passed through the apparition without disturbing it. "Sweet Jesus! My baby!"

"The secret momma. When you look at me, please notice that my lips are not moving. I am sending this to you strictly by my thoughts alone, so that only you and I will know our secret and it remains our secret just between us. Blondie cannot hear me right now. You promised me that if I didn't stop bleeding in 7 days, that you would take me to your OB/GYN. We ended up going to see him a couple of weeks later anyway just because. But the secret that you told me is that you would kiss him on the mouth just like you kiss Daddy if I didn't stop bleeding. And then you swore me to secrecy because you also told me that you were crushing on your handsome doctor. You said that you would never cheat on Daddy, but that your doctor was the only other man on earth that could convince you to stray. That is a secret that I took to my grave."

"It's you!" Jennifer gasped. "Oh dear God! You really are here right now!"

"Yes, momma. Your baby's home, but only for a short while. Jesus has seen fit to give me some extra time to wrap up some loose ends so that my soul can be at peace." Carol's lips had started moving again, forming the words. Jennifer looked over to Amanda who nodded her head that she had heard the most recent words from Carol.

The three of them sat there in Carol's old bedroom chatting in much the same way that they had when Carol was still alive. Carol replayed her encounter with her father and reassured her mother that when the right time came, both of her parents would be reunited in the afterlife. Jennifer wanted to know if Carol planned to visit with everyone before joining her father and daughter on the other side of the veil. Carol explained that there was little to gain from visiting with anyone else now except for Jeremy. The elder Prestons and the Pierces had already come to terms with their grief, so it wasn't going to serve much purpose to have a family reunion per se.

Carol expressed extreme concern to her mother about approaching her son. She knew that she was going to need help with teaching him about secrets. She was concerned that maybe he wasn't old enough to grasp onto the concept that keeping a confidence was not the same as lying. But at the same time, she didn't want him growing up like so many other children who have had a parent abandon them or have lost a parent for various reasons. Those children usually had no memories of their loved one, either good or bad. Carol didn't want Jeremy to grow up having no memories of her to keep with himself throughout his life. Everyone agreed that it would be a group effort to remind Jeremy not to share his special secret because no one else would understand and they would bully him because of it.

XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO XOXO

Amanda left Jeremy with his grandmother Jennifer so that they could have some bonding time. This also meant that Amanda and Roger could be alone for a little bonding of their own. Carol's transfer from any location to another was virtually instantaneous. So she was already back at Roger's apartment at the same time that Amanda was getting into her car for the drive over to Roger's apartment from the home of Carol's mother. During the long conversation that Carol and Roger had on her first visit, they had agreed upon a signal so that Roger would not be immediately startled by her invisible presence if she chose to come to him. Using air increased in density, Carol gently nudged the backside of Roger's left hand.

"Hello my dear! Are you here?" Roger asked to no one in particular. That is when Carol reached out to his mind.

"Yes, Honeybear. I'm here. Blondie and I just had a nice long visit with momma."

"That's nice. How is she doing?"

"She's well, but she hasn't had a chance to pick up a phone and let you know that she is back home from her trip. You really should call her tomorrow. Now that you have both experienced talking with me, I am sure that both of you will have lots to catch up on."

"I'll be sure to do that." Roger paused for a while in thought, so Carol gently touched his mind again.

"What's troubling you, Honeybear?"

"Okay, so don't get me wrong. I understand that you wanting to tie up loose ends right now is all about getting some closure so that you can peacefully cross over. And I took to heart what you told me the other night because we don't know exactly how long we really have before you have to go. But is all of this only about getting closure just for you?"

"No, Sweety! Not at all. And there is not going to be anything like a true, full closure for all of us anyways. I have already told you that you and I will be reunited one day once you have completed the journey that God has planned out for you to take here on earth. You still have a job to do here in the physical realm. Part of that job is raising Jeremy and that is NOT something that you should do alone. So please listen carefully and don't argue with me about what I am going to share with you next.

"You and Mandy make a great team and you two have done a fantastic job with Jeremy so far. You two should go ahead and formalize the arrangement. Before I was killed, I was already aware of the feelings that Mandy has for you. You both care deeply for one another. I want you to marry her."

Roger sensed where this was headed and started to voice his objections, but Carol cut him off.

"Nah-ah-ah! Listen carefully to me, Roger. Our wedding vows said, "Until death do us part." I have died and we are parted, Roger. You have faithfully kept to your vows and completed that task. But even before I died, I would catch you casting occasional glances at Amanda. Please trust me when I tell you that I was never jealous because I was secure in the knowledge that neither one of you would betray me. I was so comfortable and secure that I took a closer look at how the three of us interacted when we were together. After Jeremy was born, Blondie took up my slack until I was back on my feet, and our home continued to function like a well oiled machine! The three of us should have been living together all as one big family even then.

"And then I had a wet dream one night. In my dream, the three of us had already made love and fallen asleep together. We were in the bed that you and I shared, but Blondie was there with us and all three of us were naked. In my dream, you got up in the middle of the night to go tinkle like you sometimes do. You woke Blondie up as you crawled out of the bed, and when you returned she beckoned to you. So you crawled in between her legs and the two of you started making love right there next to me.

"I felt absolutely no jealousy at all, only arousal. Then in my dream you came inside of her. That is when I woke up from the wet dream and had to finish myself off! I'm not lying, Roger. The thought of you getting Blondie pregnant used to make me so horny that I don't have any words to use to describe it. Before I died I was really close to giving you a threesome with Mandy. I had dreamed about it over and over. That started me to thinking about it when I was conscious and awake. It was something that I had already decided that I wanted to happen before I was killed. The problem is that I was never given the chance to act on my decision. If I were still alive today, I would have already found a way to make that dream become a reality for the three of us.

"I have already shared all of this with Mandy. At first, she was a little shocked by it all, but after she had some time to digest it she was all in. If you truly want me to be at peace, Roger, then marry Amanda and make babies with her. If I were still alive and the three of us were together as lovers, I would have still encouraged you to make babies with her. You could have been living the dream that 90% of the men in this world dream of having. Two women loving you and both of them bearing your children without any secrecy or sneaking around."

"You're totally serious about this, aren't you?" Roger asked.

"Absolutely and I want the three of us to be together the first time that you take Blondie to your bed. It will be a way for you and I to make love to each other before I cross over. Mandy and I have successfully worked out the mechanics of 'possession'."

"Possession? Like a demon?"

"Yes, and no. Okay, so as best as I can tell Demonic Possession is totally a myth. The host of angels that fell from grace along with Satan when he was cast into hell are his demons. Angels from Heaven have come to earth from time to time to deliver tidings to mankind. Just like in Luke Chapter 2, Verse 10. But the demons who were former Angels are not allowed to return to earth because God knows that they cannot be trusted.

Satan is the father of lies and they are his children, so they will tell lies as well. They would try their best to interfere in God's Plan whereas the Angels can be trusted to follow their orders and remain messengers only. Only the Angels can be trusted not to interfere in God's Plan or influence mankind in any way, shape, or form. Think about it for a second. Other than Satan himself, the words of demons are not recorded in the Bible or anywhere else for that matter, but the words of the Angels are written down to be passed to all of mankind. That is because Satan's demons are not allowed to return to earth.