At Mount Pleasant this past Saturday
Halloween was in full swing. Read on if you dare….
We met at the gates as always at
8:30am. We were about 15 minutes into our walk when Rorie announced Bev had
arrived late at the gates. She (Rorie) and Catherine looped back to meet her. About
10 minutes later Bev joined us. She had not seen Rorie and Catherine. Where had
they gone? Bev turned back in search of them. Hearts thumping, and three members
less, the rest of us kept going.
About 15 minutes later, Shelley,
not before seen, popped out unexpectedly from another path. She had arrived by
mistake at 8:00 a.m. and had started her walk early. She had been wandering
through the tombstones lost and alone. She joined us gratefully. With Shelley
we were now one more but the original four were still in absentia. Suddenly a
skeletal hand brushed my ankle. I jumped away quickly, ready to do battle, but
by the time I looked down it had disguised itself as a simple dead branch.
Someone cried out that Linda had
disappeared and courageously went back to look for her near the washrooms. The
rest of us surged desperately onward, dead leaves swirling around our feet.,
skeletal trees looming before us. Linda
appeared, walking briskly toward us, alone. Where was her rescuer? And still no
Rorie, Catherine, Bev or Natalie. Our numbers were diminishing quickly. What
evil was this?
Suddenly four of us realized we
were completely on our own, separated from the others. We hastened toward the
gates before we too got taken. One last turn, one last hill, and there they
were, those welcome pillars. I burst through gratefully. Ah, the sweet joy of freedom and on to a
well-earned breakfast.
(Note: This little story
demonstrates how well we look out for each other, but also how easily things
can go awry. Hopefully everyone will be seen healthy and well at Harbord House
(and all at the same time) later this month.)
