Life with Fred and Lucy: An Interview with Elsie Kerns

                            

 
I am so excited that my humorous memoir about the two ghosts in my attic is finally done. I did a big book launch this past Saturday, and everyone who bought a book have been telling me just how funny it is. It is a tribute to my parents and growing up in South Philly during the 50's and 60's. Here is the interview. Thank you Elsie Kerns for doing this.

The Perils of a Self-Published-Tech-Challenged-Author

                                                          

I’m a good writer. I love writing. I’ve been writing since I was ten, but where my stories are excellent, I suck at the mechanical part of writing. Hence, I rely on my wonderful editor, Patti O’Brien, to remove the extra comma or to make sure the story flows, and that the reader isn’t lost in a swirl of science fiction jibber jabber. Once the editing is done, I send my manuscript to Create Space, the publishing arm of Amazon. I always order the special package that gives me my own team who will format the book for me, assign the ISBN, then after my illustrator, Shelley Szajner, submits the final book cover, publish the book on Amazon and Kindle. All I have to do is promote and sell my books. What could go wrong with such a great system? Find out after the jump.

Format Hall of Horrors

I’m not that great with math. I blame it all on fractions. I was an honor student for all twelve years in Catholic School, but even though I was good at addition, subtraction, multiplication and long division, when it came to fractions, my mind came to a full halt. I think my lack of direction when driving is connected to the same chromosome that controls my stupidity about fractions. The nuns at school could not figure out how I was able to excel in all subjects except math, and after several noted episodes, they’d learned to never send me on an errand that involved me finding my way to the school office. Really, I am that bad at directions and often wonder how I ever found my way through the birth canal.

                                                      

When I began using Create Space, I was overjoyed with the fact that my assigned Create Space team would handle everything. I had writer friends who also used Create Space. Some were successful in formatting their own manuscript without paying for the extra service, but some were not, and it showed in the finished product. I wanted my book to be professional and the price of having your own team was worth every penny. I had already published four books through Create Space. My Roof Oasis Sci-Fi Series was very popular because the books looked just as good as the ones published through traditional publishers.

 Fred and Lucy

I am a psychic/medium who has been seeing the dead since I was a toddler. This gift runs in the family. My mother and father were also able to see the dead. I grew up in South Philly, and worked in my parents’ grocery store. My parents weren’t the easiest to love, and my siblings and I weren’t the easiest to raise. I had begun to post weekly blogs about growing up in the grocery store and the hilarious antics of my father and mother. People loved my weekly blogs called “Life with Fred and Lucy” and soon they were asking when there would be a book. My parents who were both dead, had taken residence in my attic. They were also anxious for this book to be written. So you can imagine my shock when I learned that Create Space was no longer offering the complete author service, especially since this book would have twenty or more black and white photos included within the different chapters. What the hell was I to do?

Conclusion

I kind of lost it when customer service explained that this paid and complete service was no longer available. NO! No! No!  I even explained to the manager that Fred and Lucy would not be happy and would haunt anyone who prevented this book from being published. I may have scared the shit out of the poor guy, but luckily, he stayed on line as I submitted my manuscript. I am not sure if the site will automatically format this book as well as “The Team” did.

                                                           

I’ve tweeted Amazon about my unhappiness with their new rules, but so far, no answer. “Life with Fred and Lucy” is a humorous memoir of growing up in South Philly during the ’50s and ’60s, but it is also a true ghost story. I will keep you all updated on how the book is going.

Luckily, I have a good friend in my writers’ group who is taking on this project. Shelley will be professionally formatting the entire book, photos and all. So if there are any self-published authors out there who are clueless about formatting your book onto Create Space, or need a kick-ass book cover...Shelley is the person to contact. I know that Lucy and Fred are happy that this book is in good hands.
                                                               

My Ghostly Protector

                                                                  

I not only see dead people, but I have two deceased family members hanging out in my home. Everyone knows about my Fred and Lucy stories from my blog, but what they don’t know is that Fred and Lucy remain quite active in their family’s lives even though they have passed to the other side.

Everyone has ghostly family members who check up on them. You do, too. Your deceased family member will make an appearance using several methods to let you know they are there:

Smell

We associate certain scents with family be it perfume, cologne, cigarette or cigar smell and even food. I always smell my mom’s perfume, but it is one that she hadn’t used for years and years; Evening in Paris. I guess Heaven keeps a healthy supply of that particular perfume for some strange reason.

Dreams

Sometimes, our lives are so hectic that the only way the deceased can contact us is through dreams. Don’t dismiss the messages you receive in dreams. They offer support or warnings.
                                                                    

My dad likes to visit often, but he doesn’t come alone. Fred usually brings other recently departed souls to meet me. Most of the time they want to tell me how they died. At first, I was frustrated because I didn’t understand what I was required to do with this information. I soon realized that I was only required to listen and that took the stress away from the visits...that is until my dad brought a recent victim of ISIS for a visit. The man just wanted to tell me how he died. The vision he sent was graphic. He also gave a warning..."Don't allow adult male refugees into the country." I

Music

Sometimes, when you’re thinking of a loved one, a song will come on the radio that you know they liked. With my mother, it’s usually a funny Italian song that she would sing to us when we were little.
 

Electrical Activity

Lights or the television goes on or off without explanation. Some spirits can even change the channel on the TV to get your attention.

Displaced or Moved Objects

Our loved ones will try everything possible to let you know that they are there. Sometimes, they can help you find a lost item. A year ago, after my husband lost a lot of weight per doctor’s orders, he lost his wedding band. We looked all over, even in the almost freezing pond because he had been cleaning the aeration set up in the pond. We searched for an entire week. Nothing! I was doing the dishes when I heard my dad tell me where to find the ring. I told Dan to check his gloves. Bingo! The ring was in his work glove. My sister knows when Fred and Lucy visit her home because they move things and make lots of noise.

Touch or Sense

If the spirit is strong enough, they can tug at your hair or touch your cheek in a loving manner. Sometimes, they don’t have to do a thing, but you can sense them in the room.

Animals

Seeing certain animals over and over every time you’re thinking about a loved one is definitely a sign that they are trying to communicate with you. I always see the cabbage butterfly for my dad...even in the dead of winter, and I see a moth for my mom.
                                                             

Fred and Lucy

My dad is with me all the time. Maybe he feels the need to protect me because I am a psychic and I do ghost investigations. Maybe, because I was the eldest of the four children and he seemed to favor me. Maybe it’s because he knows that I can be reckless. Whatever the reason, other Mediums and psychics always sense him standing behind me. I’m okay with my dad being with me. I feel safe, especially, when investigating places with a dark history. My mom also stays at my house, but lately, she’s been hanging with the grandchildren.

Conclusion

Do you sense a deceased loved one? Do you receive hints that they are around? Do you acknowledge your loved ones when they do visit? DEATH is not dead. Death is just a change of form from the physical to the spiritual. I know my parents look out for me and it makes me feel good.
                                                               

My daughter and grandsons are not afraid of the dead. They know that Fred and Lucy are watching over them. I’ve told my daughter and grandsons that I intend to visit often after I die. My grandkids are looking forward to the visits, but they're hoping I come back as a zombie.

 

Life with Fred & Lucy: The Curtain Man

                                                             

                                                  Me and Mom

Back in the days, before Cable, Super Walmart’s and, online shopping sites, most people ordered what they needed for their homes from the ‘Curtain Man’. I’m talking about the late ’40’s and ’50’s when doctors made house visits and milk, eggs and butter were delivered to our doorstep by the Abbotts milkman.

                                                          

Even our fruit and vegetables could be purchased fresh daily during summer months from a horse-drawn wagon. In South Philly, we even had a man who would show up every Friday afternoon to sharpen the neighborhood’s knives and scissors on his grinding stone pushcart. But, the person who families anticipated the most was the Curtain Man. As soon as the lanky salesman with the big brown suitcase walked up our street, housewives would grab their payment books and cash.

The Wizard

I don’t remember the Curtain Man’s name, but by the time I was three years old I had begun to associate our next door neighbor’s knocking on our front door with my mother’s running for her purse. The curtain man, always dressed in a suit, was young and wore thick glasses. It wasn’t him that made the ladies drool, but what he had in his suitcase. It wasn’t until much later, and after seeing The Wizard of Oz, that I understood the magic of that suitcase.

This man had samples of just about everything a housewife would need for her home: curtains, pots and pans, dishes, glassware and kitchen towels. My mother would order what she needed and once the product was delivered the following week by Mr. Curtain Man, my mother would make weekly payments which she’d mark down in her payment book.

The Curtain Man never complained when I would look through the suitcase, touching the curtains or lacey hankies and, he never came empty-handed for the kids. There was always a lollipop waiting for me before he left our home. Around the month of November, he would even sell a few items for Christmas: dolls, train sets, books.

                                                   Me and Dad                             

One day, my dad happened to be home when Mr. Curtain Man stopped by. My dad was a conductor on the trolley system; the old PTC system that later became Septa. My dad was making good money at the time and on the day he was home, Mr. Curtain Man had something new to sell. At that time, no one on our block owned a television set.

                                                        

When Curtain Man explained the payment system, my dad was hooked and the set, ordered. It wasn’t that big of a screen, maybe 8 by 10 inches, but every Saturday night, most of the neighbors came over to watch a variety show. In 1949, there were only three stations and a handful of shows to watch. All were done live. Eventually, as the economy got better and our neighbors were making better money, they began to purchase their own sets.

                                                                

 

As more cars filled up our empty street and as people became more mobile, my mother and the other women would head out to Gimbel's or Wanamaker’s in Center City Philadelphia and, the magical Curtain Man came to our house, less and less.

Conclusion

Everyone drives to the malls nowadays to do their shopping, or they order online. We buy our groceries from big mega shopping centers. Strangers at our doors are seldom welcomed with open arms. The world has grown caustic, and now, we worry that the salesman at the door might possibly be a thief or worse.  

When I tell my grandchildren that milk was delivered fresh to our door every day, they assume we kept a cow in our backyard. When I tell them about the Curtain Man and his magical suitcase, I get blank stares or sarcastic comments, “Was this during the dinosaur days?”

                                                               

I’m surrounded by stand-up comedians! My grandkids look at a suitcase as nothing more than a container for their vacation clothing. But to a three year old child in 1949, the Curtain Man was a wizard and his suitcase held loads of treasure.

Friends, Ghosts and, Robots

                                                                 

How’s that for a title? This past week was a whirlwind of activity because a very good friend and the fearless leader of Biff Bam Pop, Andy Burns, came down from Canada to visit his South Jersey Posse. I think the Jersey staff outnumbers the Canadian staff, for now. The South Jersey division of Biff Bam Pop all belong to the South Jersey Writer's Group and includes Glenn Walker (assisting editor of BBP & board member of the SJ writers' group) standing next to the seated Andy, with Loretta Swearington Sisco (BBP) and Steampunk Granny (BBP) on the right. From the left we have Janice Wilson (SJ writers' group) and Jean Ramalho (a fellow ghost investigator & friend). Next to Jean, we have the very talented Robin Renee (BBP & writer & entertainer (www.robinrenee.com) and James Knipp (BBP & registrar for the Philadelphia Writers Conference) 

          

                                                               

                Breakfast at the Pop Shop in Collingswood with our leader                                 

I had asked Andy what he wanted to see while on vacation. He wanted to see the Rocky statue.

                                                                    

 
                                                 And the Liberty Bell
                                            

                        And, he wanted to go on a ghost investigation.
                                                              

Luckily, I was able to set up all three requests, saving the investigation for that night with Medium, Marti Haines. Andy and I will be writing more about this investigation on the Biff Bam Pop site www.biffbampop.com

                                                                  

Patty

In my Roof Oasis Series, there is a character that happens to be a robot and about the size of a small child. In book one of the series, Roof Oasis, the little robot was just a minor character, but as every writer knows; sometimes the characters take over the story. Patty wasn't happy being a minor character and she quickly made this clear to me when I was working on the second book. Patty is not your average robot. She is evolving, but you’ll have to wait until book two, Saving Solanda, is out this summer to find out why we should be worried.

I needed a doll as a prop for when I do my book signings. The only doll that would fit the requirements of what I had imagined when I wrote the robot character was the Patti PlayPal doll.

                                                                         

      
My sister Lucy had a Patti PlayPal when she was little. She loved that doll, but my brother Michael had operated on Patti and she didn’t survive. It's a long story, but ou can read about it here.

                                                                      

A good friend of mine, Cinsearae Santiago Reniniger: writer, publisher, artist, and designer, who also makes all kinds of spooky jewelry and cute zombie dolls, was able to find a doll for me. Here she is. I know she doesn’t look like a robot yet, but she will once I get my designer granddaughter, Allie Gilbert, to make a Steampunk, robotic outfit for her.

                                                                   

The New Ladies of Fairy Tales

                                                           

In the olden days, the formula for a successful fairy tale was: Princess in trouble + Brave Prince Charming + Prince rescues Princess =  Happy Ever After. Yeah, right!

Maybe I bought this formula when I was five years old, but by the age of ten. I knew better. I was a child from the era that gave us, The Korean War, The Cold War,  Civil Right's Movement, the bra burning Women's Liberation Movement, the Space Program and, last but not least, the war in Vietnam. You realized right away that the world did not offer happy ending fairy tales. I was born to Italian Immigrants in good ole South Philly. We were a middle class working family. The entire family worked in my father's grocery store. As soon as we four siblings reached the age of seven, my father tied an apron around our waist and said, "Get to work!" 

                                                          

We four kids worked seven days a week along with my mother and father, the famous Fred and Lucy.  We went to Catholic school where the nuns focused on teaching the necessary skills to turn us into productive tax payers, even if they had to beat the lesson plans into our skulls. The nuns of the Immaculate Heart of Mary had no patience for fragile princesses in their classes and, they tolerated a Prince Charming even less.

                                                                     

South Philly girls were tough. We had to be. The world in which we lived in was not conductive to princesses or fairy tales. Unfortunately, the Disney Fairy Tales from my generation, did not mirror my upbringing or my daughter's. Sad! I was never a weak maiden in need of rescuing. I was the one usually rescuing others. This may be why I love "The Walking Dead's female heroines Carol and Michonne. 

I brought up my daughter to be a strong woman, also. She's a tiny package looking more like Snow White...that is until you try to hurt her family...then she becomes Wonder Woman... who will gladly send you flying into the next fairy tale. So you can imagine our opinion of weak princesses in Disney Films.

                                                                

This is why we both enjoyed Walt Disney new take on "Doesn't Need Saving" Princesses. Here are two samples

Yes indeed! Walt Disney Pictures/ Roth Films has brought fairy tales into the future and Malificent was proof of this. Women have always been able to do the same jobs as men and, just recently, the military said women could fight on the front lines.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/24/us-military-lifts-ban-women-combat

                                                                  

It was with the premier of the film Malificent starring Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning and Sam Riley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleficent_(film) that I noticed the new direction,  the Disney Studio had taken.

It was Angelina Jolie's Malificent's kiss that woke the princess, and then, saved Princess Aurora from the selfish, demonic King Stefan. It didn't matter that it was Malificent who placed the curse on Aurora in the first place; Malificent was a little pissed off with the treacherous Stefan for stealing her powerful wings by the time Aurora was born. She took her revenge out on the person she assumed meant the world to Stefan.

                                                                 

What Malificent didn't count on was for her and her shape changing familiar (Sam Riley) to become the secret protectors of baby Aurora. The infant's guardians, who were also fairies, were comically incompetent. Malificent grew to love the child and the child, her.

In the end, it was the love of a strong woman who saved the fair Princess Aurora and her Prince Charming. This was the best version of Sleepy Beauty that I've seen yet.
Angelina Jolie did a stunning job in the film as the angry fairy queen of the forest who falls in love with the child she' cursed. Love conquers all!

                                                               

This past weekend I went to see Cinderella with my niece and great niece. I had wondered if Disney Studio would do as good a job with this film as they did with Malificent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_(2015_film)

Cinderella which starred Lily James in the title role was a visual feast for these old tired eyes. Richard Madden (Game of Throne's Rob Stark), Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter and the very talented Nonso Anozie from the series Dracula.

The story went by the normal formula of princess saved by prince except for a few twists which I picked up on right away. Yes, the stepmother played deliciously wicked by Cate Blanchett was selfish and abusive to Cinderella, but we see what sparked the hatred.

                                                                       

When Cinderella's father (Ben Chaplin) died away from home, he sent one special gift back and that was for his daughter. The wife received nothing, not even a note proclaiming his love. Lady Tremaine lets slip that she was a happy wife and mother to her true love, first husband, until his untimely death.  Maybe she married Cinderella's father for convenience and security for her and her two brats, but I think she had also allowed herself to dare fall in love again with husband #2.  Lady Tremaine realized that she was not treasured and she took out her revenge on Cinderella. 

                                                              

Cinderella was a sweet, forgiving girl, but her courage did not reveal itself in battle. No, Cinderella proved her bravery with her refusal to allow Lady Tremaine to take advantage of the king's love for her. Cinderella was willing to stay the family slave in order to protect the new king. Bravery comes in all forms and I'm hoping we will see more kick ass princesses on the horizon.

Side note: I wasn't sure what my great niece took home from the film. This being her second movie date of the year with me. Yesterday, she came home from school and asked me to dance with her; a waltz; just like Cinderella and Kit danced. I asked her if I was to play the part of Prince Kit because I would need to lead the waltz. Isabella looked me straight in the eye and said, "Aunt Marie, I'm a princess and I'll lead my own waltz."

                                                           

Damn right, you will!!! Long live the Warrior Queen! 

Life with Fred & Lucy, Episode 38: Surviving Zombies

                                                           

 

Zombies can be downright scary, but most people love watching movies and television shows that feature those pesky little shuffling bags of rot. Did you ever wonder why they are so popular? I’ve heard the theory that zombies seem to be most popular when the economy is bad and vampires are the big hit when the economy is good. I don’t know how accurate this theory is, but it does make sense in a way. We love to be frightened and nothing can get that adrenalin moving like a hungry zombie coming over your way for a snack and, you’re the snack.

                                                                    

Vampires are usually portrayed as sexy and financially well to do, for example, True Blood, Twilight and, even An Interview with a Vampire. So sexy and rich might represent good times. On the other side of the coin, zombies are not sexy, there is no prospect of them earning money and, the people running for their lives definitely have no time to make a buck. Zombies represent a civilization that has collapsed. There is nothing but hopelessness as seen in the series, “The Walking Dead” and World War Z. But besides giving people nightmares, how are zombies and the fear of a zombie apocalypse a positive thing?

Survival

To understand why my father and mother and other people living from their generation were so end of days ready, we need to see what life was like when they were born. Fred was born in 1014 and Lucy in 1923. My father was three years old when World War 1 broke out. He and my mother were youngsters when the Great Depression hit.

                                                               

They would tell us stories of how families had to make the best of a horrid situation just to keep their families fed. If nothing else, the Great Depression left the people who lived through it with great survival skills. When you have nothing or you’ve lost everything, then you learn the real meaning of survival. You also get the full meaning of that old saying, “Only the strong survive.” Would we be able to do as well today?

Maybe, the people who are my age, yes I’m talking about us baby boomers, could survive a zombie apocalypse. After all, we had the better of two worlds. We picked up the survival tips from our parents and we benefitted from all the cool inventions that arrived on the scene due to the Space Program.

                                                                

Fred always preached that people should take responsibility for their own survival. He was witness to a nonfunctioning Government with the crash of 29. Life was hard, there were no jobs and people were starving. That’s something that stays with you. Thankfully, Roosevelt came into office and to the rescue. http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-d-roosevelt-9463381

Fred taught all four of his kids to be “street smart”, which leads me to Fred and Lucy’s Helpful Survival Techniques. My parents wanted their offspring ready for any emergency whether a blown out apocalypse with zombies, or an invasion  of the United States by the Communist Army. Fred was a survivor and he was practicing bugging in and out before there was even a Zombie Squad www.zombiesquad.org

                                                                  

I grew up learning to always be prepared for a disaster, but sometimes, you find yourself getting lazy and you say “What could happen” or “I’m sure the government can handle any problem that comes down the road.” Then Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast and we saw for ourselves that we could not count on government to rescue us. http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina Talk about an epiphany!  

How have zombies prepared us to survive? Shows like “The Walking Dead” and World War Z got us to think outside the box. The first thing that goes in any major crisis is communication. Do you have a CB radio in case the internet, television and radio are gone? Do you have enough fresh drinking water? What happens if there isn’t fresh water? Do you know how to make the water safe to drink? You can only last three days without water.
                                                   

Do you have enough canned food in your pantry to last for a week, two weeks? How would you heat the food? What about heat? Do you own a gas powered generator? Do you know how to keep warm if you had no heat for a week or more? Do you have an extra supply of necessary medicines? You will still need that blood pressure pill even during an apocalypse. What if you’re injured? Do you have a medical kit? Do you have weapons? I mean legal, licensed weapons to protect you from marauders?

                                                                 

My father taught us as children how to survive. He made the four of his children street smart and, we in turn, taught our children and grandchildren the same lesson. I think my father could have served as an advisor for “The Walking Dead” in fact, he thought of things the producers of the show had not.

Conclusion

I think all these zombie shows have played an important part in preparing people for any kind of emergency. There are now television shows that teach viewers how to be bonafide preppers aka survivors. Would we have bothered to be so ready if it weren’t for the zombies? I doubt it. So next time you see a television show or movie featuring zombies be sure to thank those pesky little bags or rot. They just may have saved your life.

                                                                          

Sometimes It's Not Ghost

                                                       

 

This is not a new episode of Life with Fred & Lucy, but maybe it should be. My father was the king of practical jokes and I’ve mentioned on the "Life with Fred & Lucy" page the many tricks my father had played on the entire family over the years. That old saying, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, is so true and I’ll go one step further, the gene for practical jokes runs amok in the Maratea family.

I’m guilty of carrying that particular gene and it has also been passed down to my daughter’s three boys better known as the desperadoes, but this post is about a practical joke that I had forgotten all about.

                                                                     

Several weeks ago, my daughter and her husband purchased a new bedroom set. I had stopped over to see the set and to check out the remodeled master bathroom. My daughter was in the kitchen putting on coffee for us and I was about to head down to the kitchen to tell her how much I loved what she and Jim did with the master bedroom.

                                                                 

                                                             

Something stopped me before I left the room. Was it the spirit of Fred, my deceased father? I’d been thinking about him and my mom over the holidays, so maybe it was he who placed the devilish thought into my head. I began to move the little knick-knacks that my daughter keeps around her room to different places. I was on a roll. The St. Joseph statue went from her husband’s side of the bed to hers. Her photos of the kids were moved all over the place and finally after moving her make-up and hair products to different shelves, I placed a teddy bear that belonged to my father when he was sick, in her bathroom with a bathing cap on its head. Done with my mischief, I headed down to the kitchen for coffee.

                                                                      

I had expected my daughter to call me by that night to say she saw what I had done, but she didn’t and over the next two weeks, I forgot all about the prank. Then, I went over her house yesterday to visit with her and the boys before the big snow storm. While there she asked me to take a ride with her and Nathan to Ross and Game Stop. “Sure,” I said.

As we were driving, my daughter was having a problem with the electrical system in her car, and she had remarked, “I don’t know what’s going on anymore, mom. Strange things have been going on at the house and now this car is acting up.”

“What strange things,” I ask.

“I think the house is either haunted, and if it is, you and your friends will have to come and investigate. But, maybe, it’s someone coming into my house when I’m not home.”

This was the first I was hearing about these events, so I said, “Well, you know Fred and Lucy like to visit you and Aunt Lucy when they’re not hanging out in my attic. Maybe it’s their spirits.”

                                                                         

My daughter shook her head. “No, when they visit, they don’t move things around. I’ve been asking the boys if they’re playing jokes on me, but they said no.”

Nathan chimes in from the back seat. “You ask us every day and Josh and I keep telling you that we don’t go in your room.”

                                                                        

“What about Uncle John?” I asked, because my daughter and her husband had been taking care of Uncle John ever since Jim’s mother passed away.

“No, he doesn’t go into my room. I’ve taken to locking my bedroom door when I’m not home, because it’s every day that I find things moved.” My daughter was very upset and I, as of yet, hadn’t put two and two together.

Nathan pipes in again, “Grandmom, she’s been yelling at us because she thinks we’re doing this to her.”

“What things are moved?” I asked.

“Grandpop Fred’s bear, pictures, my make-up....”

BINGO!

“Uh, Re did you say Fred’s bear?” My daughter nods and I glance back at Nathan with this ‘deer in a headlight’ expression on my face. “That was me.”

“What?” my daughter asks as she pulls into the parking spot in front of Game Stop.

“I moved a lot of stuff around in your bedroom a few weeks ago as a prank, but you never said anything and I had forgotten all about it.”

Nathan is laughing his head off and my daughter is staring at me. “Tell me what you moved?” she demands.

I rattle off the items I had moved, then she and Nathan begin laughing. “Mom, because I didn’t notice everything that you had moved all at once, I’m thinking that it was something new each day.”

“Well, at least you know it’s not ghosts,” I say between belly laughs.

Just then her car began to make all kinds of strange noises. We couldn’t turn it off. Not for a while at least. We didn’t know what was going on with the car, but her husband checked it out.  He could find nothing wrong. If it wasn't the electrical system, then maybe it was my father saying, “Good one!” I'd like to think it was.