Along some country road, I was waiting for the schoolbus to pick me up and take me to school. The weather was overcast and cool, almost as if it had just quit raining. The bus didn't look like it was going to show up, so I began to move down the road myself... although instead of walking, I sort of crouched over and ran using my legs and my arms, kinda like a gorilla - but much faster. I covered several hundred yards before I came upon a couple of old houses.
The weeds had grown up around these houses, but one of them was still being used by someone as their home. I made my way across his lawn, through the weeds and bushes, and then took a shortcut through the abandoned little home that was next door. I was a little afraid to go all the way inside, because I felt like something was in there to get me - so I just kind of ran/jumped across the front porch, down into the storm cellar, and then back out into the field towards the road.
Mom picked me up, since the bus obviously wasn't coming, but we were headed in the wrong direction. I looked down at the clock in the car and it said 8:40am - and I had to be at school by 9:00am. I knew we weren't going to make it, and we were getting stuck at every red light in town. I guess mom thought I had forgotten something and we had to go back to the house to get it.
Before I made it to school, I ended up getting dropped off at a big barn along the road that heads to Millersport. It was suddenly night time, but I was still concerned with being late for school. Since I didn't have any way to get there now, I decided to head in the barn and go up into the loft. The loft had been converted into an old-time saloon. There were old fixtures everywhere, and lots of old people drinking and chatting. The only lights seemed to be coming from oil lamps hung around the room, so it was very dark. The bartender/host was demonstrating his ghost-capturing machine to me, which was on display to the right of the bar.
You would stick your hand into this small wooden hole, which looked quite a bit like a guillotine, and pull on a lever. He said something about the ghost "leaving the chamber" and travelling along the cable at 9.5 mph. I looked up and saw that the cable was strewn about the room, going through various other wooden contraptions that were hanging from the ceiling. I pulled the lever a few times... dust flew from the device, but no ghosts seemed to be alarmed.
I checked my watch again, and it was now 9:40pm. I was still in somewhat of a hurry because I had to be at school by 10:00pm - but this time I just gave up and accepted that I wasn't going to make it today. I was just hoping that I had enough "points" that I could miss a day without getting into trouble. The bar was closing, so I stumbled over to where I put my shoes... yeah, apparently everyone takes their shoes off in this barn... a couple of old men commented that I was late for school, to which I replied that I knew and didn't care.
