Dharma grabbed her Ouija board and sashayed into the living rom with Benjamin and Matilda trailing behind her. The children, whose eyes popped out of their sockets at Aunt Dharma’s “come, children, let’s stir up the spirits and frighten the neighbors” and whose hearts pumped in anticipating wise pronouncements from the ghosts of Crazy Mr. Carruthers and Pithy Mrs. Pendleton, seemed to hang on every one of Dharma’s words.
Dharma smiled to herself. What else did she have to live for, but to bring excitement into these poor children’s lives? With Jeremy and Cloris as their parents and guardians, not to mention the Baptist Church of Southwestern Virginia, they deserved any mind-broadening experiences she could give them. They’d certainly never get it in Charlottesville.
Dharma sat down, Mr. Pendleton and Mrs. Carruthers across from her. The children sat on either side, staring intently at the Ouija board. Dharma spun it around and around. She closed her eyes, spread her arms above the board – and began to speak in a low tone.
“What is this I hear, Isabelle” Dharma intoned in the voice she remembered Wilbur Carruthers having,“that you’re sleeping with Austin Pendleton? Can this be my sainted Isabelle who remained faithful those thirty years?”
“How could he possibly know? And we were married forty years, not thirty –“
“Yes, Isabelle, I knew about that one, ten years before I died,” Dharma said, and then switched over to a squeaky soprano, “But you, Austin, why’d you promise Isabelle my mother’s diamond necklace? I wanted that to go to Jennifer … not to those nasty Carruthers brats.”
Dharma opened an eye to peak at Isabelle and Austin. They looked at each other and ran out. When they were gone, she burst out laughing – and the children followed her.
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