Friday, August 21, 2009

The Life and Times

Alright, so I was having my windshield replaced at a car-care place and the "waiting room" was a few cast-off chairs set against the wall in the cramped payment office. Defense mechanized book in hand I decided to roam down the road looking for a place to park it and wait for the phone to vibrate "It's ready Mr. Tate." I happened upon Mt. Olive Baptist Church. It was a large church on a very large piece of property that was no longer properly maintained. Everything about the grounds was proof that every organism arcs, that no tree grows unabated to the stars. The place was kinda spent. Anyway, I circled the church in click-clackety dress shoes, khaki pants, and a nice button-up collared shirt - I was headed to the hospital first thing. I began to stroll through the church cemetary reading the epitaphs and sketching out what might or might not have been the biographies of the departed under foot. It was then that I noticed a teenage boy and a teenage girl walking carefully toward me - they were creeping, truth be told. They weren't really looking at me - they were actually staring. I wondered to myself if this was an avoid and conquer situation. It clearly was not. I turned and started walking towards the two. They stood perfectly still now - we were all alone. "Are you two members here?" I asked pointlessly. The girl leaned in and with voice quavering asked "Are you a ghost?"
C'mon. Are you serious? I'm being taken for an apparition now? I need to get out more. Shake things up. Something.

5 comments:

barefootkangaroo said...

Well? Are you?

Tricia said...

Too funny!!! Are you for real? I hope so, because that's a great story. I think you seem like the friendly ghost type....not the mean, haunting kind.

Roxanna/Aunt Roxanna/Aunt Roxie said...

Oh my - what a wonderful story - a great late night laugh. What happened that you needed the windshield replaced?

sarah said...

Maybe you need a tan.

And why does your phone address you as, "Mr. Tate"? I would have thought that you two would be on to more personal terms by now.

john tate said...

For the record I'm not a ghost - a doppelganger maybe - but not a ghost. The windshield was cracked by what I suppose was a kicked-up rock that struck as I was rolling down the road. Whatever it was - it gave the glass a good hard lick. I had an interesting talk with those two by the way. I thought it was funny when the guy looked over at the girl and said "See. I told you he wasn't a ghost."