I go ghost hunting again

So, I was hanging around in the park, having my usual public love affair with the guitar and getting in some quality people watching. Damn, people are weird when they think nobody's looking.

I just about died laughing at this one guy. There were two babies crying - I mean really bringing down the house - in perfect tandem, and he stood there FOREVER bitching and moaning about the noise, with his hands over his ears, and making these loud "hmmmph" noises so we'd all know just how disgusted he was. Dude! It's a big park. You can move!

To be honest, it was pretty gross, and I didn't hang around them too long myself. Their parents had set them down and gone off to eat hamburgers or something hours before, and they didn't even bother to change the kids' diapers. The air was pretty toxic.

I had noticed Pauline Wan indulging what must be her newest hobby, fishing. The whole time I was in the park, she kept right on fishing - but apparently didn't have the good sense to stop for a potty break.

Anyhow, while I was hanging out wondering what to do next, I got the weirdest phone call ever. Some guy at the science lab told me that they were doing some kind of super secret experiments. If I would bring the "remains of a loved one" to the lab I would, he promised, see some truly amazing revelations regarding the afterlife.

Okay, my first thought was if this is so super secret, what are you guys doing making telemarketing calls? In light of my recent fascination with ghosts, however, I paused with my thumb on the delete key. It wasn't as though he was asking me to buy anything. What if I really did get to see something nobody's ever seen before? Even if I just got to stand around and watch a bunch of scientists fool around with beakers and stuff, well, that's something I've never done. Reason enough right there.

Problem was, I didn't have the remains of anybody, loved one or not. I had some very elderly acquaintances, but that wasn't exactly helpful. Say! Maybe I could borrow one of Dax and Ginny's ghosts!

I didn't know just exactly how I was going to contrive this; I had no idea how a ghost was likely to take the suggestion that he have experiments done to him. I mean, you'd think a ghost would have nothing to lose, and would be eager for some new experiences. But I don't know. I only knew one ghost personally, and we'd certainly never talked about experimenting on his dead, errr undead, body! But I was getting ahead of myself; first I had to catch one.

I went home and got cleaned up, stockpiled some pb&j, and settled down for night one of Project Stakeout.

I woke up with the moon high, my head in my plate, and no ghost.

It took three nights for me to hear that eerie laughter and spot the glowing mist across the street. I ran over there so fast I'm lucky I didn't stumble and lose a couple of teeth. I was in luck! It was my music loving ghost buddy, Wyatt Acosta.

We headed over to my house because even ghosts like to sit down and be comfortable. There was an astonishing amount of activity for 2:30 in the morning. I saw Tamara's latest conquest, Elisha somebody - I can't remember his last name - dashing out of her house as if he'd been caught in flagrante delicto. And Lisa Bunch was just coming out of the Kennedy's. She sure is out late. They don't usually let guests stay that late. She must have come home from school with one of their kids and stayed late to finish homework, or something.

Tamara's new guy looked pretty cute, what little glimpse I caught as he sprinted past. I wonder what his hurry was? I'm glad Tamara and Wayne are still friends and still roommates even though they date other people now instead of each other. They're pretty good next door neighbors.

 I made us a bite to eat, but Wyatt said no thanks, he didn't eat anymore, and he headed straight into my bedroom and made my bed. I thought it was kinda cute. All these ghosts certainly are helpful around the house. I suppose the one I saw making sandwiches was just making them for the Egons. Maybe it's habit from when he was alive. Maybe he enjoyed cooking.

 Next thing I knew, Wyatt was sound asleep on my bed - on top of the covers. I didn't get mad, though. It can't be too comfortable sleeping in the ground all the time. Well, what would you have done? With nothing else to do in the dead of night, and being quite sleep deprived, I crawled into my own side of the bed and sacked out. Now I can say I've slept with a ghost. Cool.

I heard him get out of bed after only a couple of hours, so I got up too,  hoping he'd feel like enlightening me about the whole mortal remains thing. We had only the briefest of chats, then he abruptly got up and went over to the refrigerator. I thought he wanted something to eat after all, but suddenly he just went POOF in a puff of blue smoke. It was sooooo cool. I guess the dawn was breaking and his time was up, or something. I thought that was vampires, but what do I know?

Okay, so here's the point. Wyatt was quite amenable to a new and different experience, as I'd hoped. He said that as much as he'd enjoy accompanying a charming young lady anywhere in pursuit of scientific advancement and adventure (don't you just love the way he talks?), the lab would only be open in the daytime, so he'd be unable to accompany me.

 Furthermore, the wording of the request had been for a loved one's mortal remains, and that meant the actual bones or ashes out of a coffin, not the undead spirit wandering forever between worlds. Me? Dig up a body? YUCK. Wyatt shrewdly suggested that I just dig up his gravestone and take it. I clearly hadn't planned this very well on my own.

I made quick work of it - it wasn't as hard as I expected - and headed back to bed for some long overdue sleep. On the way I saw Cycl0n3 on the Kennedy's porch. Wow. What the hell are they doing over there, selling drugs or something? They used to be so reclusive, and now a visitor at 2:30 am and another at 5:30 am?

I didn't stop to talk to Cycl0n3. He doesn't have much to say to me any more. Oh, he doesn't cut me dead in the street or anything, but we're really not friends any more. I think it sucks. I don't care that he has a new girlfriend. I'm sure Demetria's nice, and I don't hold it againt either one of them. Tamara and Wayne stayed friends, didn't they? Maybe she's just really possessive. Maybe he's actually serious about her and doesn't want any entanglements.