Whoa! Didja get the numbers off that truck?!?

2001-08-18 - 11:22 p.m.

We went for a bike ride today. Son1 was in full on "pissed off" mode, so it was Son2 and me. The bikes themselves deserve mention:

My steed was a 1981 Peugeot. I bought it new from my friend Mike Purcell when he owned a bike shop. It's pretty respectable, even after 20 years. I rode it all over back then... but I married Spidey and became a dad and bike rides became a low priority.

Son2 was on Spidey's 1982 Ross. Ross made decent bikes and this one's fairly ambitious, it mostly has all the right parts. The back wheel's kinda wavy but not enough to interfere with the brakes. Spidey bought it before she met me. She wore boots with heels while buying it, so when she brought it home it was too big for her. Brilliant. She NEVER rode it, and I got custody of it in the settlement. It's like new. Dusty but new.

We decided to ride back to the old neighborhood. It's clear across town. Son2 has fond memories of the old neighborhood, but for me it reminds me of things I want to forget. Except for those wonderful nights there with my Intended after Spidey moved out.

When we moved to Illinois in 1993 we looked at houses all over and decided to buy a brand new house. We saw 2059 all done on the outside, but still unfinished inside. It was in one of those production built neighborhoods where there are 5 different house plans and seven different colors and they all look the same. What do we care? It's New! The builder's agent happened to mention that this house had been on three previous contracts and they had all fallen through for one reason or another.

We picked out the interior colors, and they finished the house for us. We moved in just before Christmas in 1993. Wow, all new... nothing to fix. This was a big change from the house we left behind in Michigan. Mr. Handyman JohnnieV had rehabbed four rooms, the kitchen and the hallway.

Son1 swore the place was haunted. He told of seeing people walking around his room at night. They didn't do anything to him, they were just curious about all the stuff in his room. He said they looked like Indians, err excuse me - where are my manners? Native Americans. I believed him.

I had to sell that house in the divorce settlement. We had so damn much equity in it from the whopper profit we made on the Michigan house, I couldn't afford to cash her out. It never felt like home to me anyhow. It was always too sterile, I felt like a guest in the place.

So we made the nine mile trip to Caton Crossing. Son2 was amazed at how effortless the ride was. He was used to his little BMX wannabe bike. We stopped in to see Tina.

Tina and Tim are the only ones I know there anymore. They have about a hundred kids. That explains their sense of humor, there's always activity in that house. I got all caught up on who's living where and who moved in/out. What she said convinced me that my old house was possessed.

We lived there for two years before the marriage turned to shit. I'm convinced it was a ticking time bomb, but it ended at that address. After I packed up and left, another couple with 2 small kids bought it from us and moved in. They lived there for about two years. He discovers that she's got some "extra-curricular activities"; their marriage turned to shit and they divorced and sold the place. Family number three moves in. This is a young guy and his wife with small kids. He comes home from work and takes a shower... and starts having an asthma attack. He can't get to his medicine in time and drops dead in the kitchen. He was smart; insurance paid the mortgage so she's still living there.

It's possessed, I tells ya. Those Indians, err Native Americans want their plot of land back. When Son1 was telling me about his nocturnal visitors, I called a well-known psychic to get his take on things. He mentioned that the area I lived in was known as an ancient Indian, err Native American burial ground.

Ever seen Poltergeist?

the last one -*- the next one