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The Call - Eleven black mammy.” “Sure,” Mike replied, “sure, Ted. How many drinks have you had?” “[m not drunk! I was asleep, for pete’s sake!” Ted argued. “And then I woke up and saw that woman, that ghost, whatever it was, come right through the wall! Man, I wish I did have a drink right now, though.” For the rest of the night, Ted kept Mike up talking, unable to get back to sleep. His nerves were ragged, and no matter how he tried to think about the event, he couldn’t come up with a rational explanation. Mike questioned whether it might really have been a ghost, but they both knew that the apartment building was new and therefore not likely to be haunted by spirits from the past. When they told Mike’s girlfriend, Margie, about the night- time visitor, she was instantly intrigued and set about trying to find a source for the spiritual intruder. She quizzed Ted, looking for any connections, and at last she learned that Ted and his mother had recently made a trip back to the old farm. While they were there, Mrs. Rice spotted an old black cook- ing pot which had been used out of doors, and she brought it back to Tuscaloosa as an antique. “That must be it!’ Margie said excitedly. “What’s it?” Ted asked. “The connection, don’t you see?” Margie explained. “That’s the answer, it has to be. Your ghost must be the old black mammy who used to cook with that pot years ago. I bet she’s unhappy that you all took the pot away from the farm. If you don’t want another intrusion, Ted, you should get rid of that thing. Take it back to the farm.” Ted certainly didn’t want a repeat performance. As soon as he could, he spoke to his mother and told her about the occurrence and Margie’s theory that moving the pot away from the farmhouse had upset her and was to blame for the intrusion. “T think she might be right,” he concluded. “We better just take that old pot back to Grandma’s farm.” “Have you lost your mind?” his mother asked incred- ulously. “Where is that psychiatrist’s phone number? You Masquerade of Angels 108 The Call - Eleven ought to get yourself right back to his office, Ted, and clear this whole thing up immediately.” “T don’t need a shrink,” Ted balked. “I just need to get rid of the pot!” But Mrs. Rice was unimpressed. “Well,” she finally said, “T tell you what. When that ghost shows up here and tells me to take it back, I might do it. But she hasn’t been here yet or told me a blessed thing. So I’m keeping it.” And that was the end of the discussion. Reluctantly, Ted went back to the apartment, and for the next several nights he waited nervously for Aunt Jemima’s return. But it didn’t happen, and eventually he relaxed. Realizing that no harm had come from it, he was even able to laugh about the incident. Besides, he consoled himself, at least the apparition had not brought a message of death or disaster the way his fore- boding dreams had done. In fact, the entire incident seemed to have no real meaning at all, and he came to believe that his involvement was merely random or accidental. Maybe the black mammy was looking for someone else and had simply stumbled upon him instead. The ways of the spirit world were so unknown to him that this explanation made as much sense as any other. Masquerade of Angels 109