Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tam laughs softly and gives Kero a hug. "She's a growing girl... dulcha. And besides... I fixed an extra packet... or did you forget?"

Fortuny shakes her head no and gives Salunia a stern look when it looks like she is going to ask for more, which leaves only Kero and Hopian to share the fish however they want.

Everyone laughs and looks at Salunia, but Fortuny puts a stop to that. "She can have it for a bed time snack, if she eats any more, she's going to pop like a puff ball if she poked."

"Mama..." she whines. "I weally wont pop will I?"

Tam smiles wickedly, wiggling his borws. "Oh, I know some good ghost stories... "

Fortuny draws herself up and frowns. "I'm not so sure that..."

But Salunia leaps at the chance. "Pwease, Mama... pwease... can we... pwease...."

**I'm afraid this is straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.... from a site that allows copying for kids... but I don't feel like retyping right now...**

Tam smiles and tells everyone to gather around. He sits on the low and begins his tale

There once was a crazy ghost over Poughkeepsie way that got folks so plumb scared that nobody would stay more than one night in its house. It was a nice old place, or was, until the ghost began making its presence known. It got so no one would enter the house, not even kids on a dare, and you know what they are like!

Now when my friend Joe heard a fancy old house in Poughkeepsie was selling dirt cheap, he decided to go have a look. He asked me about it and I told him about the spook, but Joe just laughed. "I don't believe in ghosts," he said and went to visit the agent selling the house.

Tam smiles...

Well, the agent gave Joe a key, but refused to look at the old house with him, which should have told Joe something. But Joe's a stubborn man who won't listen to reason. He even waited until after dark to visit the house for the first time, just to prove his point.

Joe got to the house around nine p.m. and he entered the front hallway. It was a large entrance and well-proportioned, but neglected-looking, with creepy cobwebs and dust everywhere. As Joe paused near the door to get his bearings, he heard a thump from the top of the staircase facing him. A glowing leg appeared out of nowhere and rolled down the steps, landing right next to Joe's feet. Joe gasped out loud and stood frozen to the spot. An arm appeared and rolled down to meet the leg. Next came a foot, then another arm, then a hand. Glowing pieces of body kept popping into existence and plummeting down the steps towards Joe.

Tam nods and warns her ghost stories are scary.... then he finishes the story.

Joe held his ground a lot longer than anyone else ever had, but when a screaming head appeared at the top of the steps and started rolling towards him, Joe had had enough. With a shriek that could wake the dead - those that weren't already up and haunting the house that is - Joe ran for his life; out of the house, out of the street, and right out of town, leaving his car behind him.

He called me the next day and asked me to drive his car down to the hotel where he had spent the night. Joe was headed back to Manhattan and refused to come within fifty miles of Poughkeepsie ever again. The agent gave up trying to sell the house after that, and the house fell into ruin and was eventually torn down.

Tam lifts one eye brow and asks Salunia what she would do if someone told her a house was haunted.