Things that go bump in the Tea Room

My mother was great about reading stories to me at night when I was a child.. They could be really scary or very bland, but they ALL had a moral. I loved them, but there was a problem, I slept on the third floor of our old farmhouse. When Mom would read 'Little Orphant Annie'to me and got to the part about the little boy that wouldn't say his prayers, I was tight against her! She'd read these stories with great conviction, emphasizing the parts about the results of your misbehavin'. When she was finished I had to pry myself away and climb those stairs. The thing was, I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that I didn't WANT to say my prayers EITHER!!!! Oh boy! Talk about the FEAR FACTOR! I became obsessed with trying to think I
DID want to say them, but this little voice kept saying 'no you don't'. No
wonder I was a bed wetter! To top it off, in the attic, stored in his own
black wooden box, was a real, human skull. I was convinced the rest of his
body would one day be coming looking for his head, and it would come right
through my bedroom.

My brothers found it one day at the bottom of an old outhouse, owned by a deceased doctor. Don't ask me what they were doing looking in there. It was a treasure for sure. Charlie (that's what we called him) went to school with me every Halloween. He scared countless children,and even was a part of a scary story my brother Terry told to my 4-H horse club one night at a Halloween party we were having over in the woods. After a scarecrow contest, where every child brought his own scarecrow to set up in
a circle in our pasture, to be judged by the good natured county agent, we
lit a fire in the woods and everyone sat in a circle around it. Terry was
disguised as an old woman. He told a really scarey story to these wide eyed
innocents who had never been scared by a professional before. At the end,
Shirley, his equally professional wife was dressed up and appeared out of
the darkness with Charlie perched on her head like it was really HER head.
One poor little fella was so scared he actually fell off his log and in his
terror to get away, fell and broke his arm!!! How's THAT for child abuse?
Charlie still lives here on the farm, but not in MY house. He is over at my
brother Terry's. Let him rattle around in HIS closet! There was talk that at
one of the Fall Farmer Teas, he was spotted in the garden, making his way to
the back door of the Tea Room. I'm sure it was just a rumor. Someone said
they actually saw two glowing eyes drifting over the bed of Anemones, making
a soft noise. It sounded like someone biting into a scone they said. Now I
can't say this is true. I didn't see it myself with my own little eyes.
Charlie has never hurt anyone in the past, as far as I
know........................