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The Call - Twelve beginning to wonder if Ralph wasn’t trying to set him up for some reason, but both men were adamant they were guiltless. It just didn’t make any sense. Ralph couldn’t accuse Ted of theft-after all, the jewelry never left the house or disappeared-but their friendship was starting to deteriorate. By early February, when several such incidents had hap- pened, there was clearly a feeling of breached trust between the men. And neither of them would give an inch as far as their complicity in disturbing Miss Flowers’ belongings was concerned. Ted realized that Ralph probably regretted having him as a roommate, but he didn’t know what to do to reas- sure him that the incidents were as mysterious to him as they were to anyone else. They continued to share the house, but the atmosphere was decidedly cool. When the early springtime weather turned unexpectedly warm, Ted noticed that the lawn and shrubbery were starting to bloom ahead of schedule. Ralph was too busy with his studies to take care of the lawn, so Ted decided one day to make a special gesture of friendship and do some work out- doors, cleaning and watering the grounds. Miss Flowers had obviously spent a lot of time to make them as lovely as the house, and Ted wanted to perpetuate that beauty. Ralph came home, saw what Ted was doing, and imme- diately blew up in anger. “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Don’t you realize that I’m on a very limited budget? I’ve barely got any pocket money left after I take care of the necessities of paying the utilities around here. You’re just running up a big water bill!” “Calm down,” Ted said. “I’d be glad to pay more on the bills, if I’m not chipping in my share, Ralph. Man, I thought you’d be happy for me to work on the yard. Look at these plants. They’re going to die if we don’t water them. Don’t you want to keep them in good shape?” “No, the lawn doesn’t matter,” Ralph told him. “When I graduate, I’ve already made arrangements to sell this prop- erty to Miss Flowers’ church. And they’re going to tear the house down and build a new rectory, so the yard will be destroyed anyway. It doesn’t matter if the azaleas die, so please don’t run up the water bill any more, okay?” Masquerade of Angels 114 The Call - Twelve “Okay,” Ted agreed, “if that’s the way you want it.” “That’s the way I want it,” Ralph confirmed. A couple of mornings later, Ted’s sleep was interrupted by Ralph complaining in a loud voice, on his way up the stairs to Ted’s room. “T can’t believe you didn’t listen to me!” he snapped. “Didn’t I tell you to leave the lawn alone? I’m not made out of money, for God’s sake!” Ted sat up sleepily and stared at Ralph in confusion. “Slow down,” he mumbled. “What are you talking about?” “The sprinklers, that’s what I’m talking about!” Ralph shouted. “They’re on again, out in the yard, and I want to know why!” Ted was astounded. “Look at me,” he said, “I’m still in bed. I haven’t even been downstairs yet, so how did I turn them on? By magic?” “Well, if you didn’t do it,” Ralph asked suspiciously, “then who did?” “God, I wish I knew,” Ted told him with a growing sense of resentment. “Go yell at someone else, will you? I never touched the damn sprinkler.” For several days they didn’t speak to one another, until the sprinkler was found turned on again. Another argument followed, and by then Ted was heartily sorry he had ever moved into the grand house. The electric bill was the next thing to cause trouble, when Ralph came home and found several lights burning in empty rooms. He stormed at Ted again, warning him to quit run- ning up the bill, but Ted stood his ground and refused to accept the blame for things he wasn’t doing. Before long, the two men were ready to strangle each other, and neither of them could catch the other turning on the lights. No matter how much they talked about these strange events, they simply couldn’t come up with a sane explana- tion. At one point in another of their endless arguments, Ted broached the idea that maybe a ghost was to blame, but Ralph wouldn’t consider such an absurd possibility. “There’s nothing like that going on here,” he insisted. “These are physical events, not supernatural.” Masquerade of Angels 115