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The Call - Fourteen Minutes later, Harriett arrived. She saw that Ted was pale and shaking uncontrollably. He took her into the apartment and showed her the shattered glass in the sink. When he told her what had happened, Harriett became as nervous as Ted. “Now do you see why I didn’t want to talk about ghosts? he said. “The spooky things that went on the past were just too much for me. I don’t want those spirits anywhere near me! And then you started talking about it again, and look what happened. You’re going to cause me to have a nervous breakdown if you don’t leave me alone. And if those women bug you again about wanting to meet me, you just tell them T’ve moved out of town!” “Sure, Ted, just calm down,” Harriett said. “I won’t ever mention it again, I swear.” They cleaned up the splinters of broken glass and talked a while longer, until Harriett was certain that Ted had regained his composure. But when she left, Ted decided he wouldn’t stay in that apartment a minute longer than necessary. Within weeks, he found a new place to live and once again moved, hoping to leave the eerie influences behind him. His new home was an upper-floor apartment in a beauti- ful complex miles away from the first location. It overlooked a small lake and a stand of trees, all of which he found very soothing. Walking through the woods again, Ted was reminded of his days in Sun Valley and the comforting effects he had felt in the natural surroundings. He determined to put memories of all the strange events completely out of his mind, especially the shattered glass. And he was thankful that Harriett, true to her word, didn’t mention ghosts or the psychic classes again. A few days after settling into the new apartment, Ted was enjoying a quiet evening alone when the doorbell rang unex- pectedly. He opened the door and saw two women standing there, one of whom was holding a Bible. “Great,” Ted groaned inwardly, “Jehovah’s Witnesses. How the hell do I get rid of them?” “Hello,” the first woman said, but Ted interrupted quick- Masquerade of Angels 136 The Call - Fourteen The woman, however, stuck her foot in the way and began inching into the room, ignoring Ted’s words. He backed up helplessly, unable to react rudely to the women, who were talking their way through the door. Besides, he could tell by the looks on their faces that they wouldn’t take no for an answer. So he relented and ushered them inside, expecting to spend the rest of the evening bombarded by warnings of hellfire and damnation. But the first words the woman spoke blew away his expectations. “Tm Julia Black,” the woman said, “Harriett’s friend. And this is Marie Jackson.” “T’m going to kill Harriett,” Ted thought miserably, “and they’ll have to bury her tomorrow.” But aloud he was a gentleman and offered the women seats in the living room. He took a position as far across the room as possible, in a chair beside the fire escape window. If glasses started floating and crashing again, or anything else spooky occurred, he wanted a quick exit route, and the women could deal with the ghosts without him. Marie looked squarely at Ted and began to tell him about her psychic development class, pinning him down with her relentless stare. She was doing this work, she explained, under the auspices of the National Spiritualists Association, and she assured him that her work was all done through “Td really like for you to come over and participate,” she said. “We very much want you in our group.” “Excuse me, ma’am, but why?” he asked. “Harriett told me about this a while back, that you were interested in me. But I don’t understand any of this. I told her to keep you away from me. Why is it so important that I come and be part of your study group?” Marie and Julia hesitated a moment, looking at each other mysteriously. “Why don’t you tell him, Julia?” Marie finally said. Julia nodded and opened the Bible she’d been holding, to reveal a sheet of paper stuck in its pages. ‘A little over a year ago,” she began-and Ted imme- diately counted back in his mind, realizing that would have Masquerade of Angels 137 “T’m not interested,” he told her, starting to shut the door.