Roger Gilman is not a superstitious man. He doesn't believe in ghosts, the luck of a rabbits-foot, crossed-fingers, or the proverbial step-on-a-crack-break-your-momma's back. No, Roger considers himself to be firmly rooted in the physical realm of reality -- a place from which until recently -- he did not often stray. Right now his eyes are red and show lines of worry. He looks tired, and lost. Troubles in the matters of the heart.
"Love'll do things to a man" as he puts it.
Yes, it will Rog'.
Roger began dating Margie Ferris three years ago, a woman he describes as a "Cute little-hippy-type." Since she moved in with Roger twenty-nine months ago, Roger says he'd noticed a softening of some of his rougher edges. "All in all though, I'm still the same dude."
Margie's presence in the home brought two drastically different world views into close proximity, as evidenced by the large three-by-three-foot watercolor painting of a grazing Caribou displayed incongruously on the living room wall.
"She says it's her spirit animal. I'd think a little thing like her would have a bunny or something... oh well... I'll tell you what I'd do... I'd shoot that sonafabitch" said Roger, firmly pointing at the majestic creature. "Right between the goddamn eyes. Good eatin'"
His shrine to NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt remains in its place, towering over the painting in sheer size. Roger made it clear that no matter how much he cares for Margie -- that Number Eight will never move. However, his slightly smaller Al Unser shrine was relegated to the garage to make room for Margie's painting. "Love's about compromise, I guess" he says.
Roger has had some other things on his mind as of late as well. Five months ago, Roger's cousin, Billy Campbell, was shot to death by police after after a botched robbery attempt. "Billy had a lot of problems. Drugs mostly. I'd say they were the root of most of it... boy just couldn't get his act together. He had spirit though, ingenuity. No marketable skills to speak of... no education. For a guy that sat on his ass most of the time he managed to live pretty comfortably... cept that time I kicked the crap out of it for him trying steal my VCR for drug money."
Weekly, Margie would have a group of friends over, where, among other activities of a spiritual nature, Seances would be performed.
"I'd just hang out in the garage. Her and those ladies would be in there doing some weird shit. Burning incense and holding hands and chanting and such. I stayed outside and gave her her space."
Margie recalls the night in question:
"Me and the girls were sitting around the table. We had Pure Moods playing in the background and we were burning some Nag champa. Luanne was downloading a Natal chart on the computer... and I suddenly felt this sense of well being. We were talking about contacting Billy and I said I wasn't sure if it would be right. I know that Roger wouldn't like me doing something like that, and I hardly knew Billy and then it happened...."
Margie said the Natal chart download abrupbtly stopped. "I was in mid-sentence when it happened -- and then the internet cut out all together. The monitor started flickering too. Luanne was really freaked out. We all were. I felt like he was watching over us. I knew he wanted to speak with us. That's when Roger walked in."
"I tried marijuana a time or two, but I was never no junkie." He said, explaining his clear-headed, unadulterated thought process.
"I remember walking into the room for another six-pack and the girls were silent. They looked all freaked out or something."
Luanne Harwood recalls: "We were all starin' at Rog' as he walked in and he was just like 'What the hell's wrong with you girls.' I know that he wasn't into this stuff, so I didn't say anything.
The women were correct in their assumption that Roger would not take well to their activities.
"I seen all that hippy-love-your-brother crap way back. I lived through the sixties, man. I Never took no el-ess-dee. I remember my ol' pal Stu... man this time out there down by highway out there... he was talking bout' ghosts and whatnot. I was like: 'Stu... you gotta pull your head out of your rear my man!'"
"Roger accepted my practices, but I never tried to push them on him. This was different. This had to involve him." Margie recalled, as she took a long drag off of a Virginia Slim.
"I don't know what the hell those women were thinking. In life, that boy didn't know the first damn thing about a computer. I am one-hundred percent sure he didn't know how to turn one of those things on or off. So you tell me: How the hell could a man who didn't know his goddamn urethra from a yew-ess-bee suddenly be a damn computer engineer in death? Stoppin' a down-er-up or whatever-the-fuck load? I don't think so!
The future of Roger and Margie's relationship, is, as of right now, unclear. Margie has been staying with Luanne for the last month, and although still on speaking terms, the couple has yet to really address the issues raised after Margie's investigation into the facts behind what she claimed were "Words directly from Billy himself."
"You know, I honestly think she's fucking crazy. I don't believe a lick of that garbage she spouts out about what she heard from Billy's spirit or ghost of whatever. People can just get so caught up in denial that they start believing their own bullshit. I can't stop loving her though. But I just can't be with her right now, much as it pains me not to have her little incense smellin' head round' here."
More details on just what exactly Margie claims to have uncovered to follow. I can say this one is going to get real interesting, kids.
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