Allie Doesn't Believe In Ghosts!

 Allie was chuckling as she went into the living room and shut off the old television set that had scared her half to death. "Your imagination is running overtime, girl. Get busy upstairs. Maybe you can finally find some proof that you do own this ranch. It's got to be here somewhere." She climbed the stairs and went into what she now called the office. It had an old desk that she had just started to clean out twice now. Something or someone always seemed to interrupt her. Today she had about two hours that she could go through the rest of the drawers before bedtime. The day had been eventful that was for sure. She quickly glanced over to the other side of the room where the old chest of drawers remained facing the wall. "Okay, I have no explanation for that and I'm not going over there. Nope!  I'm going to start on this side and see if Uncle Bill left some important papers for me. When she pulled out the first drawer of the old desk it was difficult to pull out. It seemed like it was warped and didn't fit properly. Then she heard that same weird rusty squeak of wheels that she had heard earlier. "It's nothing. Remember? Houses are not haunted. You know better. It was that old television set." When she jerked the old desk drawer with all her strength the drawer  came completely out and flew on the floor. "Bother! Nothing is going right today. Maybe I should quit for the day and start again tomorrow." She thought she heard that same noise again. She didn't want to look, but she knew she had to. That chest of drawers was turned back the way it was. Then the room started to fill with a kind of misty fog.

Were those hands that were moving the chest? "No way! That's Uncle Bill's cowboy hat! Uncle Bill are you here? Am I seeing things?" She slowly stooped over and touched the old hat with one finger. It was real. She picked it up and set it on the desk. "Okay, Uncle I have never met, what kind of tricks are you playing? Or is this some kind of remote control joke Josh is playing on me? I wouldn't put it past him. I'm done for the day." Allie started walking around the large room in wide circles. She looked up to the ceiling light, above the windows, and behind the curtains, but she couldn't find a camera.  She grinned and yelled, "I'm going downstairs now, ghost! We are done playing for the day and I won't be here tomorrow so you might as well give it up. Okay! You can turn off your camera wherever you have it hidden. Not playing anymore, Josh! Done!" She switched off the light and went downstairs. She was going to get the hang of that old television and watch a movie. Something she hadn't done in years. She was going to forget about ghosts, dressers, and Halloween. She especially was going to forget about that jerk, Josh and his dad. She was going to sit and relax and enjoy her new home. Yes, that's exactly what she was going to do. If she could just stop shaking and make her heart beat a little less than a hundred miles an hour.

As Laura walked out of the feed store, she saw her friend, the sheriff, with Josh and a guy she had only met a few times get out of the squad car. He was Allie's neighbor. He was the one that owned the dog that showed up at Allie's house. "Hmm, wonder what's going on. He surely isn't going to arrest Josh. What did the neighbor man do?  She saw that all three of them had gone inside the sheriff's office. She turned around and grinned when she saw her daughter. She said, "Hey, you. What are you doing in town? I thought you had to work today." Her daughter said, "Not today. I have to work tomorrow. I have Maddox with me. Want to have a bit to eat?" Laura looked down the street and couldn't see the three men any more. "She looked at her daughter and said, "Sure, I'd love to see him. My treat."

They decided to go to the little chili cafe. Their chili was usually very good. Maddox could have something different. He was being so good. He looked out the window and said, "Oma, look. There's a big white car and a big truck. I've never seen a car that big before" Laura looked and thought to herself, "Well, well, well. K.R. has come to town, but not by his choice." She grinned and said, "Yes, it's a really big car isn't it? Okay how about some ice cream?" Laura smiled and thought, "I need to call Rex after while and tell him."

Maddox and his grandmother weren't the only ones who saw the big white car being towed into town. Lill happened to look up at the same time as she waited on Laura and her family. "Well, she thought, I think I'm leaving this jerkwater town. He's probably going to jail, my son isn't going to help me. Plus K.R. swindled me out of a lot of money. Bill, old friend, why did you have to up and die on me? We could have kept that ranch going, you just couldn't get Maggie out of your mind. That's what kept us apart; Maggie. Well, now you're both gone and so am I!" She walked to the office, grabbed her handbag and walked out the back door without a word to a soul.

The phone in the old miner's room had been ringing for quite some time. No one answered it. "Hmm, I wonder where Rex is. I don't know that he has any appointments this afternoon. He better not be driving. He's been warned I don't know how many times not to drive. I'd better get up there and check on him." She put a sign on her desk that she would be back in ten minutes and went to look for Rex.

When she walked into Rex's room it was empty. She called the charge nurse and she said that he told her he was going out for a walk. For some reason the secretary didn't believe that for a minute. She walked out to the resident parking lot and Rex's car was gone. As she walked away she heard his phone ringing. "I wonder if I should go in and answer it. No, I'd better not, but I think I will call his friend, Laura. Maybe he's gone somewhere with her. Hopefully she is driving."