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The Call - Eleven paranormal activities, and even though they ceased, Ted’s life didn’t resume a usual course. His relief was brief, shattered by something entirely new. It began in the middle of the night, and this time Ted wasn’t dreaming. Something made him wake up, and as he sat up in bed, Ted saw a dim glow of colored light moving into his room, right through the wall. The colors grew brighter and more distinct as he watched in wordless amaze- ment. Then the purple and emerald glows coalesced into a definite shape. At the foot of his bed stood a large black woman, and she was staring intently into his eyes. Dressed in an old- fashioned garment, the woman looked for all the world like Aunt Jemima, or a character from Gone With the Wind, except that this mammy’s long gown shimmered with purple and green light. Ted stared back in astonishment, and then the astonish- ment turned to utter fright. Before he could move, however, the woman began to communicate to him, although no words were spoken aloud. “Please be calm,” she told him telepathically. “I am not going to hurt you.” Still speechless, Ted drew himself up in the bed, never once taking his eyes from the glowing apparition. He reached out for the bedside lamp and flicked it on, hoping the image might disappear with the darkness. But instead he could see the woman even more distinctly. The whole situation was completely bizarre, but this apparition looked very, very real. He kept staring, studying every detail of the woman’s appearance, and he noticed that a mist formed around her face, growing so dense that he couldn’t see her hair clearly any more. Ted eased slowly out of the bed and stood up, his back to the wall. He began to move, inching around the perimeter of the room towards the door. His only thought was to get away from whatever this thing might be and make his way to Mike, asleep in the other bedroom. Aunt Jemima, however, was right beside the door. His only path out of the room would force him to pass close to Masquerade of Angels 106 The Call - Eleven her. He paused, considering just how to accomplish this, when the woman once again spoke mentally to him as if reading his thoughts. “Do not come too close,” she said, and Ted understood these words as a warning of some danger. “Do not touch me, you must not touch me,” she cautioned. “No, ma’am, I sure won’t!” he thought, still unable to make a sound. He certainly needed no warning. Touching this strange figure was the very last thing on his mind. Ted started inching forward again, determined to escape. And as he neared the doorway, he noticed that the woman glided back from him, keeping a steady distance. It occurred to him then that the woman might be as afraid of him as he was of her. Emboldened by her shying away, Ted suddenly changed his mind and decided to touch her. He desperately wanted to know just how real the apparition really was. A few more inches, and the woman was within arm’s length. But when he put out his hand toward her, she quickly turned around and disappeared back through the wall. This little trick was more than Ted could handle. He dashed through the door and tore off down the hall, scream- ing, into the living room which was on the other side of the wall into which Aunt Jemima had vanished. He flipped on the light switch and looked around the room in fright, but it was empty. Awakened by Ted’s screams, Mike shot up out of the bed and hurried into the living room. ‘Turn on all the lights!” Ted yelled, already running into the other rooms in the apartment and searching for the wom- an. “What?” Mike called after him, bewildered. “What in God’s name is going on here?” Ted didn’t bother to answer until he’d looked through every possible hiding place and assured himself that Aunt Jemima was no longer in the apartment. And then, smoking one cigarette after another, he calmed down enough to tell Mike what had just happened. “It was a ghost,” Ted kept saying, “the ghost of an old Masquerade of Angels 107