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at night. In desperation, he began to surround himself with religious objects every night before retiring. He covered the bed with a total of eleven Bibles, he slept clutching a large wooden cross for protection, and he kept a small night light turned on in the corner of the room. Ensconced in the middle of all this paraphernalia, Ted fervently prayed himself to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep. One particular night, when Larry had turned up the heat in the trailer, Ted was so sweaty that he stripped the heavy covers from his bed and went to sleep with only a sheet over his body. The eleven Bibles were spread all around, the wooden cross was firmly in hand, and overhead the ceiling fan stirred a breeze to cool him even more. He had finally drifted off to sleep, so he was not aware when his cat, Grandma, came silently into the room looking for a spot on the bed where she could curl up for the night. Grandma had always slept with Ted, but since his return from Barbara’s the cat had temporarily abandoned her usual space beside him at night. She must have decided to overlook his weird behavior that night, because she was back. The cat looked around at all the books on the bed, and unable to see a clearing, Grandma leaped over the mess and landed right on top of Ted. “Aaaahhh!” he screamed in panic, certain that the aliens were back to get him. He flailed up from the bed, scattering Bibles in every direction and brandishing the wooden cross as if it were a sword. The sheet flew up and caught on the rotating fan blades, circling like a spinning ghost above him, and Grandma dived for cover. In the dark, Ted had no idea what was moving around him, but he beat defensively at the unknown invader, slapping the cross down again and again, rebuking in all directions, as the creature dived here and there trying to escape the attack. “Aaaahhh!” he screamed again, and the cat squalled out in pain as the sheet swept back and forth across Ted’s bob- bing head. The great commotion woke up Larry, who came hurrying down the hall toward Ted’s bedroom. He barged through the Masquerade of Angels 216 open door, and when he saw the ghostly sheet swirling around in the dimly lit room, Larry screamed out, “Haints! Haints!” Pandemonium reigned, with Larry shouting, Ted scream- ing, and Grandma squalling, all at the top of their lungs. Somebody finally managed to turn on the light, and at last Ted could see just what had invaded his sanctuary. Grandma saw her moment to escape and tore off down the hallway, with Larry in hot pursuit. Ted hurried after them, still clutch- ing the cross, but it was quite a while before they could catch the frightened cat and make sure she was not harmed. Things calmed down at last, and Ted had a good laugh at himself and his paranoia. He and Larry cleaned up the mess in the bedroom and tried to get back to sleep for the rest of the night. “My mama always said that white people were strange,” Larry shook his head, walking back to his room. “She doesn’t know the half of it.” Masquerade of Angels 217 The Light - Twenty-One The Light - Twenty-One