“It was the most surreal, exciting, and scary thing he had ever witnessed.”

I ran into the house trying to get out of the torrential rain that was about to destroy my umbrella.  It was one of those nasty storms we get here in the Northwest.

After checking my voice mail, I turned on the computer and was taken aback by an email address I hadn’t seen in years.  It was from Susan, an old, old girlfriend of mine from back in my University of Washington days.

Susan was one of those people whom you never really knew how she ticked, and I’m not so sure she ever knew herself.

We had dated for a little over two years, and although she was a joy to be around – and I don’t want to tell you about some of the crazy things we did together – she could be quite trying at times because she would vacillate from happy to sad to happy again, in a wink.

Anyway, Susan said she was going to be in Seattle in a couple of weeks and wanted to get together.  Funny thing is she didn’t bother to ask if I were married; frankly, I don’t think she cared.  She was a free spirit, and that was always part of her appeal.

As it was, I am married, but my wife, Edie, is not the jealous type and she didn’t hesitate to give her blessings.

The evening Susan and I had our mini-reunion, I had to admit it was wonderful seeing her again.  After twenty-two years, she hadn’t really changed much.  She was still trim and energetic, and I thought she was sparkling.

Now I remembered why I had put up with so much of her flakiness for so long in college.

The surprising thing, however, was a story she related to me.  She had come to Seattle to interview a doctor for a book she is writing.

The man is a well-known name in the medical industry and had just returned from a safari in Africa in which he saw a dead man come to life.  And he swears it’s true.  After checking out his sources, Susan believed him.

A local fisherman had been accidentally knocked unconscious and had fallen out of his small boat and drowned.  When his body was recovered a full three hours later, the doctor’s party happened to be there and he confirmed there were absolutely no signs of life in the man.

In fact, he said the man had been dead for quite a while.

However, a witch doctor put the dead man on a slab, began chanting, and dancing.  To the doctor’s amazement, the dead man started to regain color and started breathing.  He said it was the most surreal, exciting, and scary thing he had ever witnessed.

I had heard stories about these things because my hobby is paranormal activities, but I was always skeptical.  Not any more.

As for Susan, we renewed our friendship and the next time she’s in town, we’ll have her over for dinner.

B. Towne
Seattle, WA