Though I Live Alone, I Always Have Company

      I've written in the past about the houseguests Scott and I shared our apartment with when we roomed together in Rochester.  Some people believe; others think I came up with a nice piece of fiction.  All I know is what I've experienced and lived through first hand.  Occurances like these have been commonplace in my life, so I'm used to it and almost come to expect it.  I'm not saying I have all these "powers", but I do possess something special.  I think we all do; it's just that some have more finely tuned skills and are more open to the unexplained.

      Children and animals are supposed to be more receptive to events due to their unspoiled innocence, giving them a more objective look because they haven't learned these are occurances that don't just happen every day to everyone.   When I was a child, I really don't recall much of anything out of the ordinary.  There were just a few times when I was around  10, I "felt" the elderly lady who used to live with her husband upstairs before she passed away.  It was only when I was out on our enclosed front porch.  Though she died in her sleep in bed, her enclosed porch directly above ours was her favorite place to spend time...out in the sunshine.  I didn't see anything, but it was just a feeling I had that she was sitting on our couch out there behind me.  I would turn and look and never had a sighting. 

      As I turned into a young adult, I would have this feeling someone was always watching over my shoulder; not in the sense of standing behind me, but they had my back...they were watching out for me.  I would think it was a guardian angel when my hide would be saved from would should have been fatal situations.  Usually, human bodies being struck by moving vehicles result in "splat".  I got enough owies...and lived to suffer through them.  I noticed that "force" would feel stronger and more ever-present whenever I had a female romantic interest in my life.  Whenever I had a steady girlfriend or was co-habitating with a fiancee, whomever it was that was keeping an eye on me became more active.  I would get more "feelings" about things and there would be occassional "disappearances"; kind of along the lines of a poltergiest, but I knew it wasn't that.  It was more like some kind of signal or message I needed to "get".  I'd go to get my car keys knowing right where they were...and they weren't there.  I'd search and ask and they were nowhere to be found.  A short while later, I'd walk by that spot...and there they would be; right where I knew I had left them and couldn't find them earlier.  Little things like that would happen.  They had to be for a reason.  I just accepted them...and was glad to have my keys back.

      When I was on the air doing radio, we had a psychic who used to appear on a regular basis...and the listeners tuned in en masse.  Phil would take calls live and do miniature readings; usually one question would be asked and we moved on.  They started calling half an hour before Phil come on and were still trying to get through after he had left.  I was skeptical at first, but he didn't claim to be all that.  He boasted of an 80% success rate; even psychics don't get everything.  He would good enough that one sheriff's department used his talents to help find missing persons; which he's located several.  It wasn't until he told me a couple things there was no way possible for him to know that I started thinking this guy was onto something.

      He talked about guides we all have; not a guardian angel, but a person who sees over all we do and is kind of like our conscience.  I had three that he could tell.  The main one I felt all the time was connected through my mother.  It was an elderly lady by the name of Ethel who was blind and used to sit in a bay window and sew.  When my mother was a little girl, way before my time, there was an old widow who had lost her eyesight who used to sit in her bay window being bathed and warmed by the sunlight while she did needlepoint.  She lived across the street on the opposite corner from my mother when she was growing up.  Though her name was Ruth Sweet, maybe he was seeing the "th" associated with both names.  He couldn't tell me much about the other two as they were minor figures in the background; one was a native American Indian brave and the other was an elderly oriental man.  Now that I am alone with no partner in my life, the influence by my guides has been sparse.

      Living at Buckingham Palace in the city, I had gotten used to other types of occurances taking place with our little "family of spirits"; Man, Woman and Tad.  I know I mentioned I would miss them when I left.  Moving back to my home stomping grounds, I knew a bit about the communities, including the home I was taking up residence in.  At one time in the not too distant past, it had been a small, two story house being rented by a guy in his mid to late 30's.  There was a fire one night and he was trapped upstairs, where he perished.  Eventually, the damaged structure was purchase and converted into a floor covering store.  They had their carpet, linoleum, tile and hardwood displays in two rooms downstairs...the reason for my huge 18 foot by 7 foot front window.  As their business grew, they built a larger showroom elsewhere and the store was converted back to residential. 

      My bathroom, master bedroom and storage are upstairs.  Though I don't know his name, that's where the guy died in the fire.  Things don't really happen, but I'll hear a slight knocking from my shower stall every once in awhile.  There have even been times I thought I heard a telephone ringing off in the distance faintly, but it's one of those things you just don't know if you're hearing or if it's just a ringing in your ears.  My F.N. Kat likes to go in the shower and will just sit there looking up at nothing.  He always wants to go in the bedroom, too, which I pretty much use as a catch-all room.  Most of the time he ignores it because he knows I won't let him go in there and rummage.  He'll sit outside the door once in awhile and stare.  I wonder about the times he tries opening the door and seems to have a need to go in; an intent on entering.  I just know I didn't feel comfortable sleeping up there when I first moved in.  I've got no problem crashing in the smaller room down in the back.

      I was surprised when I had an experience or two downstairs; in the back room that used to be the floor store's small office.  That seems to be where I gravitate the most; my bed, desk, computer, a TV and my phone.   I was alone in total silence one evening when I heard a female voice.  I jumped because no one else was in my house and how did this girl get in?  I make sure I keep my door locked because people have mistaken my home for a store in the past.  I'm not sure what was said; "How are you?" or "Who are you?"; but there was no one standing there that could have asked either when I turned around.  It was the voice of a young lady.  I have since heard the same tones say "Hello"  once since. 

      Her favorite thing to do is knock on the back room door, which I leave closed to keep the heat in during the winter, but have open for the air conditioning to cool it down in the summertime.  It doesn't matter which position the door is in; it sounds as if there is someone on the other side knocking in the manner you would on a front door when you're looking for it to be answered.  More than once it has awaken me from a deep sleep.  She has also knocked on the back door, which has a totally different sound being hollow plywood, so I can differentiate which she's at.  I'll politely ask her to refrain while I'm sleeping and she complies.  My cat will "watch" her when she's in the room as his head will follow her around or stare at her standing in the doorway.

      Though I invited "Tad" from the city to hop in one of the boxes and move with me, I don't know for sure if he took me up on my invitation.  While I don't feel his presence all that much like I did before, there are times when things remind me of him.  I'll have some club dance music playing and will feel a "bump" against the back of my chair...like at The Palace.  I've also felt his "breeze"; a cold rush of air across the top of my legs, only not touching the rest of my body...on a warm summer day.  I can't determine if it might just be the young lady or if Tad only comes in occassionally knowing it's the girl's room and he stays out in the box he "moved" here inside stored in my rear entryway. 

      Believe what you may.  I have no explaination for things that go bump...or knock...in the night...or the daytime.  Some just chalk it up to an old house settling.  I've never had one hide my keys or greet me.  Maybe this is just a talented buidling.  It's got to be something...or someone.  I just let happen what happens and try to share my space...in the spirit of things.