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What is not communicated in this photograph was the two minutes of crying at the ceiling and me trying to figure out what was wrong.

The conversation.

Buddy: Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.
Me: What??
Buddy: Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.
Me: What??

The same conversation, translated.

Buddy: Aliens! There are aliens in the ceiling! Help me! I cannot fight them alone.
Me: What??
Buddy: What? Are you deaf?? Aliens! ALIENS. For the love of GOD. Here they come. God help us.
Me: What??

My agent read the chapters I’ve written so far and wrote, “This stuff is gripping, vivid, cliff-hanging. The characters are amazing. Esp. Rhine. I just love it Stacy.”

Howard read it and said it was one draft away from being great (everything is first draft now, of course, and still needs polishing).

So, I’m giving myself one of my favorite treats, a trip to the beauty parlor! (No one calls them that anymore, but that’s what they were called when I was growing up.)

Here’s a group shot of some of the people I’m writing about. Thank you for living such amazing lives!

They found the records for the 1958 poltergiest case I want to write about!! YAY!! When a family in Seaford, Long Island experienced disturbances they couldn’t explain, they called the police. Who else were they going to call? The police were skeptical, of course, but then an ash tray flew at one of the detective’s heads. I’m in touch with the family of that detective, Joe Tozzi, who went on the become a police chief in Texas. Joe has, sadly, passed on. But his family tells me that while he remained skeptical, he had to admit he didn’t have an explanation for that ash tray, and that always disturbed him.

Gaither Pratt came up from Durham to investigate and he and Tozzi got along well. Gaither found no evidence of fraud.

Joe Tozzi’s wife Carla very kindly Fedex’ed a tape of an interview with Tozzi that aired on a show called The Armstrong Circle Theatre. I’ve been trying to find this. I went to the Museum of Television and Radio, but they didn’t have it. And then Joe Tozzi’s family came through!

Thanks to the Nassau County Police and the family of Joe Tozzi, (Carla, and their daughter Anna) this is going to be a really good part of the book, I think.

It’s September. That’s the beginning of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, which is one of the pieces my choir will be doing this season. It translates to: Celebrate, rejoice, arise, praise these days!

MAKE ME. Just kidding. Although I basically spent yesterday curled up in a ball, and today looks like it might be shaping up the same way. I barely recognize myself these days.

The rest of the Oratorio:

Glorify what has been done by the highest, abandon fear (if only, God knows how long I’ve been working on that one) banish lament (working on it!) raise your voices in celebration and gladness. Serve the highest with glorious choruses, let us honor the name of the lord.

Here’s what I take away from that: Abandon fear, banish lament, abandon fear, banish lament, abandon fear, banish lament, abandon fear, banish lament, abandon fear, banish lament.

Admirable goals, I think. Easier said than done, I can’t resist pointing out, but quit lamenting already (talking to myself).

Howard offered to take me on a drive, so me, Howard and Ruby drove out to Huntington, LI. I wanted to see the swampy, stream-y, pond-y area I lived across the street from when I was little.

First we went here. This was where I lived from 9 to 16-years old. This house was okay. There are woods in the back which I liked.

Another shot to the left.

But the house below is the one I loved. I couldn’t get a good shot because of the way the road turns, and it’s blocked (nicely) by a lot of trees. This house has woods in the back too, and it was across the street from …

… this.

Howard and Ruby walking across very narrow planks.

Howard and Ruby shaking the whatchamacallit because it made me nervous. Real mature Howard and Ruby.

Howard and Ruby on a path. I didn’t take pictures of my favorite parts, weirdly. I loved and still love the streams the best.

I forgot me. Ruby in a tree and me! I was too chicken to climb up on the branch.