1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. It's the Cool Zone Media Boom Club 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: Spooky Month Edition. I don't know exactly when Spooky Month 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: starts and ends, but I never know when Spooky Month 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: starts and ends because one of my favorite songs is 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: my Ministry. Well it's not really one of my favorite songs, 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: but it's an interesting song. It's called every Day Is Halloween, 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: and I like the concept of it. But you know 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: what bothers me the most about that song, every Day 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: is Halloween. There's no space between every day and every 10 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: day when you're talking about every single day is two words. 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: Every day is instead and adjective describing something that is commonplace. 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: And so that song bothers me. But that's not why 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: you're here. You're not here to hear my pedantic takes 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: on old goth songs. You're here for the cools On 15 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: Media book club, the only book club where you don't 16 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: have to do the reading because I do it for you. 17 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,479 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, And for Spooky Month, I'm 18 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: going to read you spooky stories. Only this first one 19 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: that I want to read you, the one I'm going 20 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: to read you today. Okay, you know how I like 21 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: reading you all old vampire stories. I'm probably gonna do 22 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: that a whole bunch more because I really like the 23 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: old vampire stories. I like the old stories old horror 24 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: because they were super earnest. You didn't have to talk 25 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: about how everyone knows everything about vampires and you know, 26 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: whatever mythical creature, you just do it. You could just 27 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: talk about things earnestly, as if you weren't in conversation 28 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: with all of the things that came before it. But 29 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: then this week's story, it's from nineteen oh two, and 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: it is in conversation with previous vampire fiction, but in 31 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: an interesting way. One of the stories that I read 32 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: you a long time ago was The Vampire, and it 33 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: was basically about how Lord Byron is pretty much a vampire, right, 34 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: And it's pretty literal, and it draws clearly from the 35 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: vampire legends of Eastern Europe, in which they're a little 36 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: bit more like they're more like general monsters in the 37 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: older stories, right. And the Vampire from I want to 38 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: say eighteen, like fifteen or something, but I can't remember. 39 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: It's the first time you of the aristocratic vampire, and 40 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: so you start getting this idea of the vampire as 41 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: this kind of class indicator of the way that the 42 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: rich suck the blood out of everything. Now, what if 43 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: you took a story like that and you left only 44 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: the metaphor, you might get a story like Mary Wilkins 45 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: Freeman wrote a story called Luella Miller, and that's what 46 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: we're going to read today on Spooky Month, about the 47 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: way that spooky rich people to extract our value. Don't worry, 48 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: it's not like quite as over the top as that, 49 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: although it's not that far from it. I hope you 50 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: enjoy it. Lluella Miller by Mary Wilkins Freeman. Close to 51 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: the village street stood the one story house in which 52 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: Lluella Miller, who had an evil name in the village, 53 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: had dwelt. She had been dead for years, Yet there 54 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: were those in the village who, in spite of the 55 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: clearer light which comes on the vantage point from a 56 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: long past danger, half believed in the tale which they 57 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: had heard from their childhood in their hearts, although they 58 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: scarcely would have owned it was a survival of the 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: wild horror and frenzied fear of their ancestors who had 60 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: dwelt in the same age with Lluella Miller. Young people 61 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: even would stare with a shudder at the old house 62 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: as they passed, and children never played around it, as 63 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: there was their wont around an untenanted building. Not a 64 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: window in the old Miller House was broken. The pains 65 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: reflected the morning sunlight and patches of emerald and blue, 66 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: and the latch of the sagging front door was never lifted, 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: though no bolt secured it. Since Lluella Miller had been 68 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: carried out of it, the house had had no tenant 69 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: except one friendless old soul who had no choice between 70 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: that and the far off shelter of the open sky. 71 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: This old woman, who had survived her kindred and friends, 72 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: lived in the house one week. Then one morning, no 73 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: smoke came out of the chimney, and a body of 74 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: neighbors a score strong, entered and found her dead in 75 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: her bed. There were dark whispers as to the cause 76 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: of her death, and there were those who testified to 77 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: an expression of fear so exalted that it showed forth 78 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: the state of the departing soul upon the dead face. 79 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: The old woman had been hale and hearty when she 80 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: entered the house, and in seven days she was dead. 81 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: It seemed that she had fallen, a victim to some 82 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: uncanny power. The minister talked in the pulpit with co 83 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: overt severity against the sin of superstition. Still the belief 84 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: prevailed not a soul in the village but would have 85 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: chosen the almshouse rather than that dwelling. No vagrant, if 86 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: he heard the tale, would seek shelter beneath that old 87 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: roof on hallowed by nearly a half century of superstitious fear. 88 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: There was only one person in the village who had 89 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: actually known Luella Miller. That person was a woman well 90 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: over eighty, but a marvel of vitality and unextinct youth, 91 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: straight as an arrow with the spring of one recently 92 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: let loose from the bow of life. She moved about 93 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: the streets, and she always went to church rain or shine. 94 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: She had never married, and she had lived alone for 95 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: years in a house across the road from Llewella Miller's. 96 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: This woman had none of the garrulousness of age. But 97 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: never in all her life had she ever held her 98 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: tongue for any will save her own, And she never 99 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: spared the truth. When she essayed to present. She it 100 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: was who bore testimony to the life evil, though possibly 101 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: wittingly or designedly so, of Lluella Miller, and to her 102 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: personal appearance. When this old woman spoke, and she had 103 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: the gift of description, although her thoughts were clothed in 104 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: the rude vernacular of her native village, one could seem 105 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: to see Luella Miller as she had really looked. According 106 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: to this woman, Lydia Anderson, by name, Luella Miller had 107 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: been a beauty of a type rather unusual in New England. 108 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: She had been a slight, pliant sort of creature, as 109 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: ready with, as strong, yielding to fate, and as unbreakable 110 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: as a willow. She had glimmering lengths of straight, fair hair, 111 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: which she wore softly looped round a long, lovely face. 112 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: She had blue eyes, full of soft pleading, little slender, 113 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: clinging hands, and a wonderful grace of motion and attitude. 114 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: Luella Miller used to be sitting in a way nobody 115 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: else could if they sat up and studied a week 116 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: as Sundays, said Lydia Anderson. And it was a sight 117 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: to see her walk. If one of them willows over 118 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: there on the edge of the brook could start up 119 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: and get its roots free of the ground and move off. 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: It would go just the way Luella Miller used to. 121 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: She had a green shot silk she used to wear too, 122 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: and a hat with green ribbon streamers, and a lace 123 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: veil blowing across her face and outside ways, and a 124 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: green ribbon flyin' from her waist. That was what she 125 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: came out bride in when she married Erastus Miller. Her 126 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: name before she was married was Hill. There was always 127 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: a sight of El's in her name, married or single. 128 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: Arrastes Miller was good lookin' too, better lookin than Luella. 129 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: Sometimes I used to think that Luella wasn't so handsome. 130 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: After all, Erastus just about worshiped her. I used to 131 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: know him pretty well. He lived next door to me 132 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: and we went to school together. Folks used to say 133 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: he was waitin on me, but he won't. I never 134 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,119 Speaker 1: thought he was, except once or twice when he said 135 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: things that some girls might have suspected meant something. That 136 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: was before Lluella came here to teach the district school. 137 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: It was funny how she came to get it for 138 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: Folks said she hadn't any education and that one of 139 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: the big girls Lottie Henderson used to do all the 140 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 1: teaching for her while she sat back and did embroidery 141 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: work on a cambric pocket handkerchief. Lottie Henderson was a 142 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: real smart girl, a splendid scholar, and she just set 143 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: her eyes by Lluella as all the girls did. Lottie 144 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: would have made a real smart woman. But she died 145 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: when Lluella had been here about a year, just faded 146 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: away and died. Nobody knew what ailed her. What I'm 147 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: thinking ailed her was that she didn't have the products 148 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: and services that support this show. If only she'd had 149 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: those products and services, maybe she would have survived to 150 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: become that smart scholar. Indeed, and we're back. She dragged 151 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: herself to the schoolhouse and helped Luela teach till the 152 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: very last minute. The committee all knew how Luella didn't 153 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: do much of the work herself, but they winked at it. 154 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: It wasn't long after Lottie died that Erastes married her. 155 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: I always thought he hurried it up because she wasn't 156 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: fit to teach. One of the big boys used to 157 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: help her after Lottie died, but he hadn't much government 158 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: and the school didn't do very well, and Luella might 159 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: have had to give it up, for the committee couldn't 160 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 1: have shut their eyes to things much longer. That boy 161 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: that helped her was a real honest, innocent sort of fellow. 162 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: And he was a good scholar too. Folks say he 163 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: overstudied and that was the reason he took crazy the 164 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: year after Lluella married. But I don't know. I don't 165 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: know what made Erastus Miller go into consumption of the 166 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: blood the year after he was married. Consumption wasn't in 167 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: his family. He just grew weaker and weaker and went 168 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: almost bent double when he tried to wait on Luella, 169 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: and he spoke feeble like an old man. He worked 170 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,599 Speaker 1: terrible hard till the last, trying to save up a 171 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: little to leave Luella. I've seen him out in the 172 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: worst storms on the wood sled he used to cut 173 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: and sell wood, and he was hunched up on top, 174 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: lookin more dead than alive. Once I couldn't stand it, 175 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:14,959 Speaker 1: I went over and helped him pitch some wood onto 176 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: the cart. I was always strong in my arms. I 177 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: wouldn't stop for all he told me to, And I 178 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: guess he was glad enough for the help. That was 179 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: only a week before he died. He fell on the 180 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: kitchen floor while he was getting breakfast. He always got 181 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: breakfast and let Luella stay abed. He did all the 182 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: sweepin and washin and ironin and most of the cookin'. 183 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 1: He couldn't bear to have Lluella lift her finger, and 184 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: she let him do for her. She lived like a 185 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,560 Speaker 1: queen for all the work she did. She didn't even 186 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: do her sewing. She said it made her shoulder ache 187 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: to sew. And poor Erastus's sister Lily used to do 188 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: all her sewing. She wasn't able to either. She was 189 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: never strong in her back, but she did it beautifully. 190 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,439 Speaker 1: She had to to suit Luella. She was so dreadful particular, 191 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: I never saw anything like the fagot in and hemstitch 192 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: and that Lily Miller did for Luella. She made all 193 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: of Luella's wedding outfit and the green silk dress after 194 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: Maria Babbitt cut it. Maria, she cut it for nothin', 195 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: and she did a lot more cutting and fittin for 196 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: nothin for Luella too. Lily Miller used to live with Luella. 197 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,560 Speaker 1: After Erastus died, she gave up her home, though she 198 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: was real attached to it and one a mite afraid 199 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: to stay alone, she rented it and she went to 200 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: live with Luella right away after the funeral. Then this 201 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,680 Speaker 1: old woman, Lydia Anderson, who remembered Lluella Miller, would go 202 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: on to relate the story of Lily Miller. It seemed 203 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: that on the removal of Lily Miller to the house 204 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: of her dead brother to live with his widow, the 205 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,079 Speaker 1: village people first began to talk. This Lily Miller had 206 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: been hardly past her first youth and a most robust 207 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: and blossoming woman, rosy cheeked, with curls of strong black 208 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: hair overshadowing round candid temples, and bright dark eyes. It 209 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: was not six months after she had taken up her 210 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: residence with her sister in law that her rosy color 211 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: faded and her pretty curves became wan hollows. White shadows 212 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: began to show in the black rings of her hair, 213 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: and the light died out of her eyes. Her features sharpened, 214 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: and there were pathetic lines at her mouth, which yet 215 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: always wore an expression of utter sweetness. And even happiness. 216 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: She was devoted to her sister. There was no doubt 217 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: that she loved her with her whole heart, and she 218 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: was perfectly content in her service. It was her sole 219 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,080 Speaker 1: anxiety lest she should die and leave her alone. The 220 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: way Lily Miller used to talk about Luella was enough 221 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: to make you mad and enough to make you cry, 222 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: said Lydia Anderson. I've been there sometimes towards the last, 223 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: when she was too feeble to cook, and carried her 224 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: some blancmange or custard, something I thought she might relish, 225 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: and she'd thank me. And when I asked her how 226 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 1: she was, she said she felt better than she did yesterday, 227 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: and asked me if I didn't think she looked better. Dreadful, pitiful, 228 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: and say, poor Luella had an awful time taking care 229 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: of her and doing the work. She wasn't strong enough 230 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: to do anything when all the time Luella wu wasn't 231 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: lifting a finger, and poor Lily didn't get any care 232 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: except what the neighbors gave her. And Luella eat up 233 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: everything that was carried in for Lily. I had it 234 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: real straight that she did. Luella used to just sit 235 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: and cry and do nothing. She did act real fond 236 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: of Lily, and she pined away considerable too. There was 237 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,959 Speaker 1: those that thought she'd go into decline herself. But after 238 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: Lily died, her aunt Abby mixture came, and then Luella 239 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: picked up and grew as fat and rosy as ever. 240 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: But poor Aunt Abby begun to droop the way Lily had. 241 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: And I guess somebody wrote her married daughter, miss sam Abbott, 242 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: who lived in bar for She wrote her mother that 243 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: she must leave right away and come to make her 244 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: a visit. But Aunt Abby wouldn't go. I can see 245 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: her now. She was a real good looking woman, tall 246 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: and large, with a big square face and a high 247 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: forehead that looked of itself, kind of benevolent and good. 248 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: She just tended out on Luella as if she had 249 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: been a baby, And when her married daughter sent for her, 250 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 1: she wouldn't stir one inch. She'd always thought a lot 251 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 1: of her daughter too, but she said Lluella needed her, 252 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: and her married daughter didn't. Her daughter kept writing and writing, 253 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: but it didn't do any good. Finally she came, and 254 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,439 Speaker 1: when she saw how bad her mother looked, she broke 255 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: down and cried, and all but went on her knees 256 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: to have her come away. She spoke her mind out 257 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 1: to Luella too. She told her that she'd killed her 258 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: husband and everybody that had anything to do with her, 259 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: and she'd thank her to leave her mother alone. Luella 260 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: went into hysterics, and Aunt Abby was so frightened that 261 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: she called me after her daughter went, missus sam Abbott. 262 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: She went away fairly, crying out loud in the buggy, 263 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: and the neighbors heard her, and well she might, for 264 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: she never saw her mother again alive. I went in 265 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: that night when on Abbey called for me, standing in 266 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: the door with her little green checked shawl over her head. 267 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: I can see her. Now, do come over here, miss Anderson, 268 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: she sung out, kind of gasping for breath. I didn't 269 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: stop for anything. I I put over as fast as 270 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: I could. And when I got there, there was Luella 271 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: laughin and cryin altogether, and Aunt Abby tryin to hush her. 272 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: And all the time she herself was as white as 273 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: a sheet, shaken, so she could hardly stand. For the 274 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: land's sakes, Missus Mixter says, I you look worse than 275 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: she does. You ain't fit to be up out o 276 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 1: your bed. Oh, there ain't nothin the matter with me, 277 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: says she. Then she went on talkin to Luella. There 278 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: there don't don't, poor little lamb, says she. On Abby 279 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 1: is here, she ain't goin away and leave you, don't 280 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: poor little lamb, do leave her with me, Missus Mixter, 281 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: and you get back to bed, says I. For Aunt 282 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: Abby had been lyin down considerable lately, though somehow she 283 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: contrived to do the work. I'm well enough, says she. 284 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: Don't you think she had better have the doctor, Missus Anderson, 285 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: the doctor, says I. I think you had better have 286 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: the doctor. I think you need him much worse than 287 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: some folks I could mention. And it looks right straight 288 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: at Lluella Miller, laughing and crying and going on as 289 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: if she was the center of all creation. All the 290 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: time she was acting so seemed as if she was 291 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: too sick to sense anything. She was keeping a sharp 292 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: lookout as to how we took it out of the 293 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: corner of her eye. I see her. You could never 294 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: cheat me about Luella Miller. Finally I got real mad, 295 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: and I run home, and I got a bottle of 296 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: valarian I had, and I poured some boiling hot water 297 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: on a handful of catnip, and I mixed up that 298 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: catnip tea with most of half a wine glass of Valarian, 299 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: and I went over with it to Luella's. I marched 300 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: right up to a Luella holding out that cup, all smokin' now, 301 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: says I, Luella Miller, you swallow this? What is it? Oh? 302 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: What is it? She sort of screeches out. Then she 303 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: goes off a laughing enough to kill poor lamb, Poor 304 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: little lamb, says aunt Abby, standing over her all kind 305 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: of tottery and trying to bathe her head with camphor. 306 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: You swallow this right down, says I. And I didn't 307 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: waste any ceremony. I just took a hold of Luella 308 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: Miller chin and I tipped her head back, and I 309 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: caught her mouth open with laughing, and I clapped that 310 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: cup to her lips, and I fairly hollered at her. Swallow, swaller, swallower, 311 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: and she gulped it right down, she had to, and 312 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: I guess it did her good anyway. She stopped crying 313 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: and laughing and let me put her to bed, and 314 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: she went to sleep like a baby. Inside half an hour. 315 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: That was more than poor on Abby did. She lay 316 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: awake all that night, and I stayed with her, though 317 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: she tried not to have me, said she wants sick 318 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: enough for watchers. But I stayed, and I made some 319 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: good corn meal gruel, and I fed her a teaspoon 320 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: every little while all night long. It seemed to me 321 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: as if she was just dying from being all war out. 322 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: In the morning, as soon as it was light, I 323 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,560 Speaker 1: run over to the Bisbees and send Johnny Bisbee for 324 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: the doctor. I told him to tell the doctor to hurry, 325 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: and he come pretty quick. Poor on Abby didn't seem 326 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: to know much of anything. When he got there. You 327 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,199 Speaker 1: couldn't hardly tell she breathed, she was so used up. 328 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: When the doctor had gone, Luella came into the room 329 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: looking like a baby in her ruffled nightgown. I can 330 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,360 Speaker 1: see her now. Her eyes were as blue, and her 331 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: face all pink and white, like a blossom. And she 332 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: looked at Aunt Abby in the bed, sort of innocent 333 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: and surprised. Why, says she. Aunt Abby ain't got up yet. No, 334 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: she ain't, says I. Pretty short, I thought I didn't 335 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:26,600 Speaker 1: smell the coffee says Luella. Coffee says I, I guess 336 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: if you have coffee this morning, you'll make it yourself. 337 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,360 Speaker 1: I never made the coffee in all my life, says she, dreadful, astonished. 338 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: Erastus always made the coffee as long as he lived, 339 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: and then Lily made it, and then Aunt Abby made it. 340 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: I don't believe I can make the coffee, Miss Anderson. 341 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 1: You can make it or go without, just as you please, 342 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: says I. Ain't aunt Abby gonna get up, says she. 343 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: I guess she won't get up, says I, sick as 344 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: she is. I was getting madder and madder. There was 345 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 1: something about that little pink and white thing standing there 346 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: and talking about coffee when she had killed so many 347 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: better folks than she was and had just killed another 348 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:07,719 Speaker 1: that made me feel most as I wish somebody would 349 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 1: up and kill her before she had a chance to 350 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: do any more harm. Is aunt Abby sick, says Luella, 351 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: as if she was sort of aggrieved and injured. Yes, 352 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: says I, she's sick and she's going to die, and 353 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: then you'll be left alone and you'll have to do 354 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: for yourself and wait on yourself or do without things. 355 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: I don't know, but I was sort of hard, but 356 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: it was the truth. And if I was any harder 357 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: than Lluella Miller had been, I'll give up. I ain't 358 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,720 Speaker 1: never been sorry that I said it. Well, Lluella she 359 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: up and had hysterics again at that, and I just 360 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: let her have them. All I did was to bundle 361 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: her into the room on the other side of the entry, 362 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: where Aunt Abby couldn't hear her if you want past it, 363 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,959 Speaker 1: and I don't know what she was, and set her 364 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: down hard in a chair and told her not to 365 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 1: come back into the other room, and she minded. She 366 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: had her hysterics in there until she got tired. When 367 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,360 Speaker 1: she found out that nobody was coming to call her 368 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: and do for her, she stopped, at least I suppose 369 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: she did. I had all I could do with poor 370 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: aunt Abby trying to keep the breath of life in her. 371 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: The doctor had told me she was dreadful low, and 372 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 1: give me some very strong medicine to give her in 373 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: drops real often, and told me real particular about the nourishment. Well, 374 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: I did as he told me, real faithful, till she 375 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: wasn't able to swallow any longer. Then I had her 376 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: daughter sent for I had begun to realize that she 377 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't last any time at all. I hadn't realized it before, though, 378 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: I spoke to Luella the way I did the doctor. 379 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: He came, and Missus sam Abbott when she got there, 380 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: it was too late. Her mother was dead. Aunt Abby's daughter. 381 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,879 Speaker 1: Just give one look at her mother laying there. She 382 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: turned sort of sharp and sudden and looked at me. 383 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:53,120 Speaker 1: Where is she? And I knew she met Lluella. She's 384 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: out in the kitchen, says I. She's too nervous to 385 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: see folks die. She's afraid it'll make her sick. The 386 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,640 Speaker 1: doctor speaks up. Then he was a young man. Old 387 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: Doctor Park had died the year before, and this was 388 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,439 Speaker 1: a young fellow just out of college. Missus Miller is 389 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: not strong, says she kind of severe, and she's quite 390 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:14,880 Speaker 1: right in not agitating herself. You are another young man. 391 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,199 Speaker 1: She's got her pretty claw on you, thinks I. But 392 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: I didn't say anything to him. I just set over 393 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,439 Speaker 1: to Missus sam Abbot that Luella was in the kitchen, 394 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: and Missus sam Abbot she went out there and I 395 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 1: went too, and I never heard anything like the way 396 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,199 Speaker 1: she talked to Lluella Miller. I felt pretty hard to 397 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: Lluella myself, but this was more than I ever would 398 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 1: have dared to say. Lluella, she was too scared to 399 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: go into hysterics. She just flopped. She seemed to just 400 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: shrink away to nothing in that kitchen chair, with Missus 401 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: sam Abbot standing over her and talking and telling her 402 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: the truth. I guess the truth was most too much 403 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,200 Speaker 1: for her, and no mistake, because Lluella presently actually did 404 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: faint away, and there won't any sham about it, the 405 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,919 Speaker 1: way I always suspected there was about them hysterics. She 406 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,679 Speaker 1: fainted dead away and we had to lay her flat 407 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: on the floor, and the doctor he came running out 408 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: and said something about a weak heart, dreadful fears to 409 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: Missus sam Abbott. But she wasn't a mite scared. She 410 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: faced him just as white as even. Lluella was laying 411 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: there looking like death, and the doctor feeling her pulse weak, 412 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: hert says she weak, hert weak, Fiddlesticks, There ain't nothing 413 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 1: weak about that woman. She's got strength enough to hang 414 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: on to other folks till she kills them weak. It 415 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: was my poor mother that was weak. This woman killed 416 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: her as sure as if she had taken a knife 417 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: to her. But the doctor, he didn't pay much attention. 418 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: He was bending over Luella, laying there with her yellow 419 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: hair all streaming in, her pretty pink and white face 420 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 1: all pale, and her blue eyes like stars gone out, 421 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: and he was holding onto her hand and smoothing her 422 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: forehead and telling me to go get Brandy in on 423 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: Abby's room. And I was as sure as I wanted 424 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:52,120 Speaker 1: to be that Lluella had gotten somebody else to hang 425 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: on to. Now Aunt Abby was gone, and I thought 426 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 1: of poor Erastus Miller, and I sort of pitied. The 427 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,119 Speaker 1: young doctor led away by a pretty face, and I 428 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: made up my mind I'd see what I could do. 429 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: And so she used the products and services in this 430 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: show to defeat the greater enemy that is the metaphor 431 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: for the rich upper class and how they don't do 432 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: anything and expect the working class to do it, and 433 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: then act like they are the rich ones and get 434 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: real upset when you call them on a shit. That's 435 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: the products and services, that's what they can do for you, 436 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: and we're back. I waited till Aunt Abby had been 437 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: dead and buried about a month and the doctor was 438 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: going to see Luella Steady and folks were beginning to talk. 439 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: Then one evening, when I knew the doctor had been 440 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: called out of town and wouldn't be round, I went 441 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: over to Luella's. I found her all dressed up in 442 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: a blue muslin with white polka dots on it, and 443 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: her hair curled just as pretty when a young girl 444 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: in the place could compare with her. There was something 445 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: about Luella Miller seemed to draw the heart right out 446 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: of you, but she didn't draw it out of me. 447 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: She was setting rocking in the chair by her sitting 448 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: room window, and Maria Brown had gone home. Maria Brown 449 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: had been in to help her, or rather to do 450 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: the work for Luella want helped when she didn't do anything. 451 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 1: Maria Brown was real capable, and she didn't have any ties. 452 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: She went married and lived alone, and so she'd offered. 453 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: I couldn't see why she should do the work any 454 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: more than Luella. She wonn't any too strong, but she 455 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: seemed to think she could, and Luella seemed to think 456 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 1: so too, So she went over and did all the work, 457 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: washed and ironed and baked while Luella sat and rocked. 458 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,520 Speaker 1: Maria didn't live long afterward. She began to fade away, 459 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: just the same fashion the others had. Well, she was warned, 460 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: but she acted real mad when folks said anything. Said 461 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: Luella was a poor, abused woman, too delicate to help herself, 462 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,640 Speaker 1: and they'd ought to be ashamed. And if she died 463 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:02,120 Speaker 1: helping them that couldn't help themselves, she would, and she did. 464 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,640 Speaker 1: I suppose Maria has gone home, says I to Luella, 465 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: when I had gone in and sat down opposite her. Yes, 466 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,880 Speaker 1: Maria went about a half hour ago, after she had 467 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,439 Speaker 1: got supper and washed the dishes, said Luella in her 468 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: pretty way. I suppose she has got a lot to 469 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: work to do in her own house tonight, says I. 470 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: Kind of bitter, but that was all thrown away on 471 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: Lluella Miller. It seemed to her right that other folks 472 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,120 Speaker 1: that won any better than she was herself should wait 473 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: on her. And she couldn't get it through her head 474 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: that anybody should think it wonn't right, Yes, said Luella, 475 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: real sweet and pretty. Yes, she said she had to 476 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: do her washing tonight. She has let it go for 477 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: a fortnight along of coming over here, why don't she 478 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: stay home and do her washing instead of coming over 479 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: here and doing your work when you're just as well 480 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: able and enough sight more so than she is to 481 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 1: do it, says I. Then Luella looked at me like 482 00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,159 Speaker 1: a baby who has had a rattle shook at it. 483 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: She sort of laughed as innocent as you please. Oh, 484 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: I can't do the work myself, miss Anderson, says she. 485 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: I never did. Maria has to do it. Then I 486 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: spoke out, has to do it, says I has to 487 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 1: do it. She don't have to do it either. Maria 488 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: Brown has her own home and enough to live on. 489 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: She ain't beholden to you to come over here and 490 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: slave for you and kill herself. Lluella she just sat 491 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: and stared at me for all the world, like a 492 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,160 Speaker 1: doll baby that was so abused that it was coming 493 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: to life. Yes, says I, she killin herself. She's gonna 494 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: die just the way Erastus did and Lily and your 495 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: aunt Abby. You're killing her just as you did them. 496 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: I don't know what there is about you, but you 497 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: seem to bring a curse, says I. You kill everybody 498 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,119 Speaker 1: that is fool enough to care anything about you and 499 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: do for you. She stared at me, and she was 500 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:54,160 Speaker 1: pretty pale. And Maria, ain't the only one you're gonna kill, 501 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 1: says I. You're gonna kill doctor Malcolm before you're done 502 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 1: with him. Then a red color came flaming all over 503 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: her face. I ain't going to kill him either, says she, 504 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 1: and she begun to cry. Yes, you be says I. 505 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 1: Then I spoke as I never spoke before. You see, 506 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: I felt it on account of erastus. I told her 507 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: that she hadn't any business to think of another man 508 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,360 Speaker 1: after she'd been married to one that had died for her, 509 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,400 Speaker 1: that she was a dreadful woman. And she was. That's 510 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: true enough, But sometimes I have wondered lately if she 511 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: knew it, if she wan't like a baby with scissors 512 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: in its hand, catting everybody without knowing what it was doing. Luela, 513 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: she kept getting paler and paler, and she never took 514 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: her eyes off my face. There was something awful about 515 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: the way she looked at me and never spoke one word. 516 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: After a while, I quit talking and went home. I 517 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: watched that night, but her lamp went out before nine 518 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: o'clock and when doctor Malcolm came driving passed and sort 519 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: of slowed up. He see there won any light, and 520 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 1: he drove along. I saw her sort of shy out 521 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: of meat in the next Sunday too, so he shouldn't 522 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: go home with her, and had begun to think maybe 523 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: she did have some conscience after all. It was only 524 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: a week after that Maria Brown died sort of sudden 525 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: at the last, though everybody had seen it was coming well. 526 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: Then there was a good deal of feeling in pretty 527 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: dark whispers. Folks said that the days of witchcraft had 528 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: come again, and they were pretty shy of Lluella. She 529 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,879 Speaker 1: acted sort of offish to the doctor and he didn't 530 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: go there, and there won't anybody to do anything for her. 531 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: I don't know how she did get along. I wouldn't 532 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: go in there and offer to help her, not because 533 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: I was afraid of dying like the rest. But I 534 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,879 Speaker 1: thought she was just as well able to do her 535 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: own work as I was to do it for her. 536 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: And I thought it was about time she did it 537 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: and stop killin other folks. But it went very long 538 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: before folks began to say that Luella herself was going 539 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: into decline. Just the way her husband and Lily and 540 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: Aunt Abby and others had, and I saw myself that 541 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: she looked pretty bad. I used to see her go 542 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: and pass from the store with a bundle, as as 543 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: if she could hardly crawl. But I remember how Erastus 544 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: used to wait and tend when he couldn't hardly put 545 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: one foot before the other. And I didn't go out 546 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: to help her. But at last one afternoon I saw 547 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: the doctor come driving up like mad with his medicine chest, 548 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: and Missus Babbitt came in after supper and said that 549 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: Luela was real sick. I'd offer to go in and 550 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: nurse her, says she, But I've got my children to consider, 551 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: and maybe it ain't true what they say, but it's 552 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: queer how many folks that have done for her have died. 553 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: I didn't say anything, but I considered how she had 554 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: been Erastus's wife, and how he had set his eyes 555 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: by her, and I made up my mind to go 556 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 1: in the next morning unless she was better, and see 557 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: what I could do. But the next morning I see 558 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: her at the window, and pretty soon she came stepping 559 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: out as spry as you please. And a little while 560 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: afterward Missus Babbitt came in and told me that the 561 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: doctor had got a girl from out of town as 562 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: Sarah Jones to come there, and she said she was 563 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: pretty sure that the doctor I'm going to marry Luella. 564 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: I saw him kiss her in the door that night myself, 565 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: and I knew it was true. The woman came out 566 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: that afternoon, and the way she flew around was a caution. 567 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: I don't believe Lluella had swept since Maria had died. 568 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: She swept and dusted and washed and ironed. Wet clothes 569 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: and dusters and carpets were flying over there all day, 570 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: and every time Lluella set her foot out when the 571 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,479 Speaker 1: doctor wasn't there, there was Sarah Jones helping her up 572 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: and out and down the stairs, as if she hadn't 573 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: learned to walk. Well. Everybody knew that Lluella and the 574 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: doctor were going to get married, but it wasn't long 575 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 1: before they began to talk about his looking so poorly, 576 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: just as they had about the others, and then they 577 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: talked about Sarah Jones too. Well. The doctor did die, 578 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:32,920 Speaker 1: and he wanted to be married first so as to 579 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: leave what little he had to Luella. But he died 580 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: before the minister could get there, and Sarah Jones died 581 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: a week afterward. Well, that wound everything up for Lluella Miller. 582 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: Not another soul in the whole town would lift a 583 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: finger for her. There got to be a sort of panic. 584 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 1: Then she began to droop in good earnest. She used 585 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: to have to go to the store herself for Missus 586 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: Babbitt was afraid to let Tommy go for her. And 587 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: I've seen her going past and stop in every two 588 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: or three steps to rend. Well. I stood it as 589 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: long as I could. But one day I see her 590 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: coming with her arms full and stopping to lean against 591 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: the Babbitt fence, and I run out and took her 592 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: bundles and carried them to her house. Then I went 593 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: home and never spoke one word to her, though she 594 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: called after me, dreadful, kind of pitiful. Well, that night 595 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: I was taken sick with a chill, and I was 596 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: sick as I wanted to be for two weeks. Missus 597 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,480 Speaker 1: Babbitt had seen me run out to help Luella, and 598 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: she came in and told me I was going to 599 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: die on account of it. I didn't know whether I 600 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: was or not but I considered I had done right 601 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: by Erastus's wife. That last two weeks, Lluella she had 602 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: a dreadful hard time. I guess she was pretty sick, 603 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: and as near as I could make out, nobody dared 604 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: to go near her. I don't know, as she was 605 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,680 Speaker 1: really neat in anything very much, for there was enough 606 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: to eat in her house, and it was warm weather, 607 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: and she made out to cook a little flour gruel 608 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: every day. I know, but I guess she had a 609 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: hard time. But I guess she had had a hard time. 610 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 1: She that had been petted and done for all her life. 611 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: When I got so I could get out, I went 612 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: over there one morning. Missus Babbitt had just come in 613 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: to say she hadn't seen any smoke, and she didn't know, 614 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: but it was somebody's duty to go in. But she 615 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: couldn't help thinking of her children. And I got right up, 616 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: though I hadn't been out of the house for two weeks, 617 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: and I went in there and Luella was laying on 618 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: the bed and she was dying. She lasted all that 619 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 1: day and into the night, but I sat there after 620 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: the new doctor had gone away. Nobody else dared to 621 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,959 Speaker 1: go there. It was about midnight that I left her 622 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: for a minute and run home and get some medicine 623 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: I had been taken for I'd begun to feel rather bad. 624 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: It was a full moon that night, and just as 625 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: I started out my door to cross the street back 626 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: to Luella's, I stopped short, for I saw something. Lydia 627 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: Anderson at this juncture always said with a certain defiance, 628 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: as she did not expect to be believed, and then 629 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 1: proceeded in a hushed voice. I saw what I saw, 630 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: and I know I saw it, and I will swear 631 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: on my deathbed that I saw it. I saw Lluella 632 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: Miller and Erastus Miller, and Lily and Aunt Abby and 633 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: Maria and the doctor and Sarah, all going out of 634 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: her door, and all but Luella shone white in the moonlight, 635 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: and they were all helping her along till she seemed 636 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: to fairly fly in the midst of them. Then it 637 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: all disappeared. I stood a minute with my heart pounding. 638 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 1: Then I went over there. I thought of going for 639 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: Missus Babbitt, but I thought she'd be afraid, so I 640 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: went alone. Though I knew what had happened. Luella was 641 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: laying real, peaceful dead on her bed. This was the 642 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: story that the old woman Lydia Andersen told, but the 643 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: sequel was told by the people who survived her, and 644 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:46,479 Speaker 1: this is the tale which has become folklore in this village. 645 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: Lydia Andersen died when she was eighty seven. She had 646 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 1: continued wonderfully hale and hardy for one or your years 647 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: until about two weeks before her death. One bright moonlit evening, 648 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: she was sitting beside a window in her parlor when 649 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: she made a sudden exclamation and was out of the 650 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: house and across the street before the neighbor who was 651 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,760 Speaker 1: taking care of her could stop her. She followed as 652 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,360 Speaker 1: fast as possible, and found Lydia Anderson stretched on the 653 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: ground before the door of Luella Miller's deserted house, and 654 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: she was quite dead. The next night there was a 655 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: red gleam of fire athwart the moonlight, and the old 656 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 1: house of Lluella Miller was burned to the ground. Nothing 657 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: is now left of it except a few old cellar 658 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: stones in a lilac bush, and in summer, a helpless 659 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: trail of morning glories among the weeds, which might be 660 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:41,760 Speaker 1: considered emblematic of Luella herself. The end, that's the story, 661 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,279 Speaker 1: and I find it so fascinating because I'm like, I 662 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: wonder how far back the idea of the sort of 663 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: psychic vampire goes, and I like, how like its first incarnation. 664 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously this is very gendered, right, but it's 665 00:34:55,760 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: about the helplessness of people who aren't working and are 666 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: expecting others to do the work for them. And obviously right, 667 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 1: because it gets real complicated when you put it in 668 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: the conception of like disability and understanding disability. I think, 669 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,080 Speaker 1: based on what I understand of Mary Wilkin Freeman's other work, 670 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: this is more of a class thing. Specifically, Mary was 671 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,959 Speaker 1: very actively a proto feminist and also wrote specifically about 672 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: the underclasses a lot. And that doesn't mean that everything 673 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: she did was like good and perfect, or that the 674 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: story is good and perfect, but I just like, I 675 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:30,239 Speaker 1: find it so fascinating also because it's still kind of 676 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: a vampire story, right. You're stripping away the like can't 677 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 1: go in the sun, afraid of crosses, hungry for blood, 678 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: but it's still this like slow draining of everyone around 679 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: you that comes that's like mapped to the upper classes. 680 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: And then also that last bit, the last little like 681 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,920 Speaker 1: actual ghost story part, kind of puts it firmly in 682 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: the this is a little supernatural tale and it's still 683 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: got all the like gothic stuff of the spooky manner 684 00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: and the like now all that's left or the flowers 685 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 1: that road there. So I hope you enjoyed it as 686 00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: much as I did. And next week I'll read you 687 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: more spooky stories unless I read you something different, but 688 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: it'll probably be spooky because every day with a space 689 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: is Halloween. It could Happen here as a production of 690 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, 691 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: visit our website cool zonemedia dot com, or check us 692 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,239 Speaker 1: out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 693 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It could 694 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: Happen Here, updated monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. 695 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.