Rose Gets Spooked By A Spook


The summer of 1973 seemed to last forever. After Geno's little fiasco with the dimes it settled into a nice easy rhythm that consisted of laying in the hammock watching Geno repeatedly mowing the yard or playing with my Dog Duke. Some afternoons John and I would look at Geno and remark that good brothers would help him out. Then we'd both laugh and drink some more cold pop.
As part of Geno's punishment he was also now the one who had to bring in fresh water from the well. John and Rose told me that when I was the "Water Boy" , Geno would pour half empty water jugs down the sink. I knew that they had probably done it as well, but when they suggested I do the same to Geno I told them that I wasn't going to slink down to Geno's level.
I poured out the water jugs way before they were half full.
Geno shot me many hateful looks. He had taken to blaming me for his misfortune. I suppose he needed to blame someone and I was it. At one point I found him with my cigar box full of G.I. Joe treasure. Afraid of what he might do I yanked it out of his hands a screamed for Mom. When it was safe I snuck up to the attic and hid it under the floorboard with the little bear I had bought for my new brother or sister. Geno also tried to scare me about how my bedroom was always cool. He taunted me by saying that my room was haunted and everyone knew it, even my dog. I told him I wasn't bothered by it.
In truth I was bothered a little. I never felt afraid when I was alone in the room ,but I had noticed that it had gotten just a little cooler. Dad still refused to believe there was anything amiss , and was openly mocking us for even suggesting it. My Mom was not so cynical about it. She thought perhaps we should move. All of us including Dad thought that was a bad idea. I was 8 years old and could remember moving 6 times . As a family we were getting collectively sick of going from town to town.
Dad told Mom that we weren't going to move just because there was a cold breeze in my room.
Soon summer drifted away and we began to prepare for school. I was actually very excited about going to school that year for a couple of reasons . One was that I was starting the cub scouts that year . Mom and Dad had bought my uniform and I couldn't wait to wear it. The other reason was my new teacher, Miss Sandburg. The newspaper had her picture and a little article about her. She was straight out of college and very pretty. Dad told me if his 3rd grade teacher had been that good looking he'd still be in school. Geno and John both agreed they wished they were still in grade school.
Four nights before school started I was in my room trying to decide if I should wear a clip on tie for my first day with my new teacher, when Mom called everyone downstairs for a family meeting. As we all walked down the stairs my brothers and sister all looked at each other trying to figure out who had gotten in trouble this time. Mom and Dad told us to sit down in the living room. To our disappointment we found out it wasn't a "So and so got in trouble", meeting. We were going to talk about the baby.
With the baby only 3 months away Mom wanted to discuss what we should name it. Everyone started throwing out names each worse then the last one. At one point John suggested Muhammad Ali . Dad pointed out that since we were Catholic that might send our church the wrong idea.
I thought of a name that I hoped Mom would like. In fact I was sure she liked it because that was what my name was originally going to be.
When I was born my name was to be Timothy Hilario Hernandez. Timothy after one of Dad's twin brothers and Hilario after his Dad who went by his middle name of Leo. When I was born Dad was dead drunk. He showed up at the hospital and did the whole sitting in the waiting room thing that was popular back in the 60's. When the nurse came out and showed Dad his new son she asked him what the name was. Dad was so drunk that he couldn't remember what my name was supposed to be.
When Dad's family arrived shortly they were shocked to find Thomas Leo Hernandez , in place of Timothy Hilario Hernandez. No one was more shocked then my Uncle Tim who had arrived with a large stuffed tiger for me. He was so heartbroken that he gave the tiger to Dad and left the hospital. My Dad didn't see him for almost 3 months. My Uncle Tom , Tim's twin was very pleased.
I suggested we name the baby Tim if it was a boy to make up for what Dad did. Mom loved the idea. John thought this was a bad idea. "What if Dad's drunk again and we end up with two Tom's?", he said.
Geno agreed. "One Tom is bad enough", he said.
Dad glared at John until he got up and went back upstairs. He then looked at Mom and agreed the baby would be named Tim if it was a boy. Rose came up with the name of Penny Sue if it was a girl. I disliked the name simply because Rose came up with it. Everyone else however liked it and I was outvoted. Later I would concede to Mom that it wasn't a bad name for a girl.
After we had agreed on the name issue we settled down to watch an evening of television. When Gunsmoke came on Rose went into the kitchen to do the dishes. She had only been in there for a short while when we heard the sound of a glass breaking. Rose then started screaming hysterically. She screamed so loud that even John came running down the stairs to see what was wrong.
We got Rose into the living and after we calmed her down she told us what she saw.
While Rose was in the room off the kitchen washing the dishes she looked into the darkened kitchen and thought she saw Mom standing by the stove. She said something to the figure who just stood there. Holding a glass in her hand Rose turned on a light and saw it wasn't Mom , but some other woman wearing what appeared to be a nightgown.
This woman then turned and walked into the wall.
That's when Rose said she dropped the glass and started screaming. Dad had John clean up the broken glass and finish washing the dishes. John muttered he didn't believe her, but made sure to spend as little time as possible himself in the kitchen.
I was now seriously spooked out. When Mom later asked me to go in the kitchen and get her a glass of water I was very hesitant. I turned on all the lights and opened the fridge.
Damn. I had dumped out the last of the water.
Wanting to be out of the kitchen as fast as possible and afraid Dad would make me go outside to the well for fresh water, I went over to the sink and poured Mom a glass of water. I went in to the living room and gave Mom a drink. She took a drink and gave me funny face.
"Is this water from the faucet ?"
I looked at Mom and lied straight to her face. "No Mom."
Mom looked at me with her best ,"I'm so disappointed look". I could lie to anyone but Mom when she used that look.
"Tom , this water is bad for the baby. If I drink it , it could hurt the baby. Do you want me to drink it?"
Mom just wasn't playing fair I thought.
"No Mom."
"Will you go outside and bring in some fresh water?"
I looked into the dark kitchen. I would rather mow the yard for the next month,I thought. But this was my Mom asking. I put my shoes on and walked into the kitchen and grabbed a water jug. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. I walked to the back door and opened it up. Normally I wasn't afraid of the dark , but it seemed especially dark that night. I called Duke to go out with me. My dog and I ran out to the well and I began to pump the water. The jug was almost full when I heard a menacing growl. I stopped pumping. I stood there a moment afraid to move. Then the growl came again louder this time. Duke bolted to the house with me close behind. I dropped the water jug and water began to spill out. Not wanting to have to come back out I ran back and picked it up. When I got into the house it was less then half full , but enough for Mom to have a drink.
When I got back into the house I found out what made that growl. Dad had went out the front door when I went the back door and circled around the house. He watched me at the well for a second and then growled. He thought it was so funny when I ran into the house he couldn't stop himself from laughing. Rose still shaken by what she said she saw , was even laughing. Even Mom had a smile.
I was less then amused.
From that night on Rose refused to go into the kitchen alone when it was dark. I refused to admit that Rose may have actually seen anything, but I also made sure that I didn't go into the kitchen alone at night any longer myself. I also made sure that we had plenty of fresh water before it got dark.