It was almost a family reunion when we gathered for the wedding of one of our clan. Some of you here may know that I have 52 first cousins. Half who at the time were married and had started a family with children of their own.
My aunt’s old rambling home was the center of activity. Everyone was going to the wedding reception except the children. The fact that a sitter was needed to care for them had been avoided all day long. Finally as the ninth hour approached someone noted that a relative was going to have to step up there was no way anyone wanted 15 children at the dance/reception. My cousin Danny said he would do it. He didn’t like to dance and really would rather relax and watch some TV. Danny at that timed lived in Corpus Christi and a lot of visiting had gone from morning the day before and into this day. He was just tired. 
The fact that he would be the only adult was not bothering him in anyway. This proved to be just crazy thoughts as the night progressed with all the children running wildly through out the house. In efforts to settle them down he made everyone sit on the floor of the den to watch TV. All of the children complied and behaved from that time on.
In my previous post “This is a True Halloween Story” I described the north side of my aunt’s home. The den was on the south side of this rambling old Victorian home and sat at the back of the house. Each of the room’s four walls held a doorway into another room. From what I have seen most old Victorian homes have this feature. My aunt decided to panel one of the walls and doorway with brick façade paneling. It made wall space to put a sofa and TV for the family and guests. On the other side of the now pannelled wall was a closed in sun room. The house in olden days had a screened in sun porch and as the years past one of the long gone owners walled in the sun room to create an extra room.
My cousin Danny turned on a scary weekly show called “Weird” for the children to watch. Remember back then there were no tapes, CDs, or DVDs you were pretty much a slave to what was being shown on the black and white TV. To make it really spooky Danny turned all the lights in the house off with the exception of the lights in the den.
While he reclined in the chair he heard a knocking sound where the walled in door had been, someone was on the other side knocking on the wall. The knocking quickly elevated into a pounding and it looked like the kid on the other side was going to tear off that section of paneling off the wall, it was actually bowing in from the other side! He quickly jumped to his feet wondering which one of these kids had sneaked into his aunts sewing room; as he started the round about way to get there to yank that kid back into the den.
He was so angry that he did not realize that the lights were all out and he had to turn them on as he progressed toward this room. When he got to the dark sewing room he flipped on the light and no one was there. This was a situation where it is one way in or out and he had passed no one. It was then he noticed that it was cold…so very cold that he could see his breath. The hairs on the back of this neck rose.
He relayed to me that it was at this point he remembered the stories and was so very scared. Running back to the den he gathered all the kids who were by this time screaming and crying because they too were scared. He put them in his tiny car and drove off to another cousin’s home for the remainder of the evening. Leaving behind the house with the lights and TV on!
As he told me about this event he nervously laughed and said, "I will never be caught in that house again after dark!"
To lighten the mood I told him, "Well you did it now…"
And he said, "What?"
"…You have just proved how many Mexicans you can get into a little car," I said. With that we all laughed and talked of more cheerful things.
Día de los Muertos feliz Mis Amigos!
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