Storytime Tapestry E-zine

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Halloween Contest

November 1, 2007

Today’s Announcement

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PINA MARTINELLI: Pina1101@aol.com

LEIGH VAUGHN:  lalav1@softcom.net

We have another new writer who is joining us for the first time and entering the Halloween Contest to bout.  Everyone email Larry Siemens, writer #442, to Storytime Tapestry and please let him know how much you enjoyed his poetry.

Halloween contest   

Some points to clarify.  There will be two contests running simultaneously.  We will have a Halloween Contest for the best writer for Halloween stories and one for the best poet for Halloween poems.

Contest closes for submissions on November 5.  That means I will not accept anymore submissions after that, but I will continue to run the stories as long as they were sent in to me before that date until they there are no more stories or poems left in the queue.

There will be the main e-zine and the special treat issue will be replaced with a place for an additional contest entry.  This additional entry is by no means to be treated as if it is the publisher’s choice.  I am simply replacing the special treat feature with this one to be able to get more entries out at a time. You, the voter will decide who is the best writer, and who is the best poet.

Each day I will run stories and poems, and I will have a running list of what has been published to date at the bottom of the main e-zine.  These, I repeat, are published to date.  Do not write to me and tell me that your story or poem does not appear in this list.  It won’t until I have actually published it.  However if you are not sure if I received your entry at all you can always email me to enquiry about that.

The link to the archives will be posted with the published entries.  Your job is to read the submissions and if you have missed any or you would like to reread any, by all means go back to the archives, they will all be there according to the day they were published.

Voting takes place after the last entry is published; details to follow.

Halloween Stories

~**~**~

 The Other

 B.J. Cassady

         On my way home from a particular frustrating day at work, I

stopped at an out of the way bar to have a beer and reflect before going

home.  There in the smokey room it was just one other patron and I

other than the bartender.  He appeared to be Native-American and was

waving a feather in the smoke.  As I watched, he looked at me, grinned

and vanished....

         To say I was freaked out would be an understatement.  I paid

my tab and left.  In the parking lot, I approached my car when a hand

touched my shoulder causing me to jump.

         "Didn't mean to startle you stranger."  said the stranger from the

bar as he held out his hand in a handshake.

         "That's okay.  I was thinking and not expecting anyone out here."

I responded.

         "You are carrying a load.  That is, you have two persons inside

you.  One is evil and one is you.  How will you deal with the evil one?"

He asked.

          "You are kidding me.  I am fine."

         "I can tell.  You have a hatred for somebody at your work.  Your

boss I think.  You need to let it go or it will become destructive.  I am a

shaman in my tribe and I read these things."

          "I think your mumbo jumbo is crazy.  I had a tough day at work.

My boss stole some ideas I had and passed me over for a raise and

promotion...again.  I am ticked off yes.  It happens a lot at work. 

Angry?  Yes, but I will get over it."

           "I see in your eyes this time you will not.  I have a potion I

could give you."

           "What is it?"

           "The potion will bring out the other that is in you.  Make it a separate

person."

           "Ha that is crazy.  Okay give it to me."

           He gave me a bag of powder.  I took it and left and drove home.  Funny

thing...as I drove home I could swear I saw someone in the passenger seat..an

indistinct outline of a person.  When I arrived home, the outline was clearer.

           I think it was about 4am when the police arrived and banged on the door.

           "We have a warrant for your arrest."

           "What for?"

           "For the murder of your boss, Mr Sanchez."

           "I was here all night with my wife, ask her.

           "You were seen at Mr Sanchez's house, identified as the person who shot him. Your gun was at the scene with your prints on it.  Your car was seen leaving his house and your tags were traced to your name.  Your wife might be standing by your, but we have too many witnesses.  You will have to come downtown."

            "I didn't do this.  I am innocent.  It had to be my other."

            "Other?"

            "If I tell you, you will think I am crazy."

            Just then the front door crashed open and my 'other' came in with a gun.  The police looked at the 'other', at me and back at the 'other.'  The 'other' was part of me and I guess trying to protect me it raised it's pistol and fired a round wounding an officer.  The officers fired back and the 'other' was down and started to fade away...

            "I don't know what to do." exclaimed the officer in charge.  "I guess we still need to take you in for your statement.  I think I will believe whatever you say." 

            It was about then I noticed the blood coming from my chest.  The shots that hit the other had transferred to me.  I guess hate like love has no bounds... I tried to stand but could not and collapsed.  I gasped my final breath and said,  "I am guilty of harboring ill and thus I have paid."

                     The end

BJ Cassady

BJ.Cassady@af-group.com

~**~**~

Pumpkin Head 

Corina Carrasco

Kindergarten is a place of beginnings. For me it was a place where I became someone else. Using my middle name, I became Joy. With my new name I saw new things; heard new things; and learned new things.

One day my teacher, Mrs. Hart, brought a big orange ball to school. It was a little funny and it wobbled because it was not smooth but lumpy. She said it was a pumpkin and we were going to watch it change into something different. Then Mrs. Hart read us a book about a pumpkin named Jack. Jack lived with a lot of other pumpkins in a great big field. Then one day, a man came and took Jack away with him.. Jack was sad to be leaving his home but then when a family took him home with them, Jack was happy again. The father of the family cut a face into Jack and he was happy because his face was happy and it would make children laugh.

After Mrs. Hart finished reading the story, she put our pumpkin on the floor, on top of a lot of old newspapers and she cut the top off. We all got to take turns putting out hands inside the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds. How did we want her to cut it, she asked? Did we want teeth in the smile or not? We got to tell her how we wanted our pumpkin’s face to look. When she finished, I liked our pumpkin because it had a great big smile with lots of teeth. Mrs. Hart showed us how we could put a little candle inside, like in the book she had read and finally, the class named our pumpkin Georgie. Our pumpkin sat on top of the piano and watched us learn and play.

On the last day of school before Halloween, Mrs. Hart said she was going to give Georgie to one of us children to take home so their family would enjoy him on Halloween. She put our names in a plastic pumpkin and before she pulled one out, I closed my eyes and wished real hard that Mrs. Hart would call my name. Then I heard her call the name. It was MY name! I couldn’t believe it – Georgie was for MY family! After school Mrs. Hart told me to wait until my big brother, David, came to look for me so he could carry it home. She said that if I carried Georgie, I might drop him and he would break into small pieces and no one would enjoy him. So I waited for David.

When David came to pick me up, Mrs. Hart gave him the pumpkin. David said it was a jack-o-lantern. He said he’d seen jack-o-lanterns before but he had never had one. On the way home David held Georgie and said funny things in a funny voice and pretended Georgie was saying them. At home, my brothers and sisters were excited to have Georgie and that night we got to put a candle inside his head. We all went out and stood on the sidewalk to see Georgie’s great big yellow smile.

That was the first time and the last time our family had a jack o lantern.

Corina Carrasco

CorinaJoyC@cs.com

DEMON
By Vance Agee

In 2001 my next-door neighbor grandma, my family’s adopted grandma, had lung cancer and went to final stages. Hospice entered to help. Her son-in-law is a RN, and this enabled her to stay home. She has (God is the God of the LIVING.) five children and us (wife, daughter, and me).

We were all there every evening praying for her and keeping company.

Then DEMON/S arrived! It/they entered her weakened body and did the following. Mary yelled at her kids. She (it) was so nasty, mean and horrible, that her grown children left her room crying. She also told them to keep me out with my praying! I knew.

I had never done an exorcism, but as a Christian, I knew that it (unlike our stupid movies) HAD to leave at the Name of Jesus. However, I also felt that to work for Satan, it/they had to be really stupid and might not yet understand English! LOL.

I have had 8 years of Latin. It/they had had thousands of years to learn that!

But I did not have a Latin Bible from which to draw messages. I drove down our road to the famous Fatima Shrine and to the home of the Barnabite Fathers. I asked one of the Fathers if I could borrow a Latin Bible. Yes!

Armed, I returned to Mary’s house.

I entered the room with a Crucifix and stood over Mary. “Damoni mali exite statim impero in Nomine Jesu Christi!....” (Demons evil go out immediately I command in the Name of Jesus Christ!)

He/they did NOT leave. The first time. In the movies, which tend to glorify Satan, demons and evil by having them defeat the efforts of dozens of people and priests, this would have been the start of my hanging off the wall, Mary levitating in her bed and all kinds of imagination!

I was angry. I went back in. I repeated my COMMANDS several times. When it/they left, my daughter and Mary’s granddaughter were somewhat “freaked” by a cold breeze blowing by them in a house with no open windows or doors. It/they had gone back “home”, which I had told them to do.

The next night a grandson dreamed/saw a great-grandma, about whom he had never been told, in the room with Grandma Mary! He awakened his dad to tell him.

Mary passed on peacefully to the Kingdom. In fact, the house was so full of peace that a clergyman came by just to FEEL the peace in that home.

P.S.
Please feel free to contact me, if you are troubled by evil. If you live in WNY near Buffalo, perhaps we could join forces to defeat these ignorant nasty enemies. Enjoy Hallowe’en, but do not be too scared! LOL vgagee@roadrunner.com (when it works!). Vance

Halloween Poetry Corner

~**~**~

The Halloween Bonehead

By: Larry Siemens

Looking for monsters

of late October.

Chase them down

run them over.

This the night

once a year.

Squeal my tires

spread some fear.

Don’t pay attention

think about candy.

Cross that street

fine and dandy.

Just look down

not straight ahead.

Coming for you

the Halloween bonehead.

Larry Siemens

frogasaurus@shaw.ca

~**~**~

On the Highway to Halloween

By: Larry Siemens

The streets are quiet

or so it would seem.

Off in the distance

you hear them scream.

Burning up pavement

and going too fast.

This night so different

from the last.

For lots of kids

are on the street.

Trying to scare up

Their favorite treat.

As ghosts and goblins

They really do scare.

But all you monsters

please beware.

Something’s coming

that’s hard to be seen.

Flying down the road

on this Halloween.

Larry Siemens

frogasaurus@shaw.ca

Readers Feedback

Published Stories and Poems to date; only works that have been published already will appear here.

If you would like to review some the entries before voting please go to this link:  http://archives.zinester.com/98907

Story Contest

Name:                          Title:                                                                Date:

Tanja Cilia                    Present Tension – The Novel                            Oct 30

Violet Apted                 Whatever Happened to Grandma?                    Oct 30

Bill Walker                   The Devil’s Night                                              Oct 30

John Pagan                   Fury In The Garden                                          Oct 31

Janice Marler                Pandora’s Box                                                 Oct 31

David Wainland            Bullet Hole View                                              Oct 31

Hart Dowd                   I’m Alive, I’m Alive                                          Nov 1

Hart Dowd                   Evangeline Your Neighbourhood for

                                    Halloween                                                        Nov 1

B.J. Cassady                The Other                                                         Nov 1

Corina Carrasco           Pumpkin Head                                                  Nov 1

Vance Agee                 Demon                                                             Nov 1

Poetry Contest

Name:                          Title:                                                                 Date:

Cynthia Groopman       October Happenings                                         Oct 30

Conrad S. Cardinal       Three Witches                                                  Oct 31

Larry Siemens              The Halloween Bonehead                                 Nov 1

Larry Siemens              On the Highway to Halloween               Nov 1