Read Online Out of the Mist by EvergreenWritersGroup - Free Book Online

its
saucer. Her hand thrust forward as if to fend off a confrontation.
“No, no, not yet! Can’t you see, we’re drinking tea? Come back
later, Dearie, when I’m having my trance.” She placed the cup and
saucer on the table remarking, “Oh, they can be so impatient. You
have to let them know when you’re ready.” Family and friends sat in
an awkward silence for a few moments. The air raid sirens went off.
“Ignore them,” said Mrs. Grimes. “Our friends up there are already
telling us that we’ll be safe for tonight.”
    “Well , that’s reassuring,” remarked Grandma . “Let’s carry on then. I’ll set up Lilly’s Ouija
board on the smaller oak table. We can move from the dining table
to it when Mrs. Grimes begins the séance.” She moved over to a
round oak table, next to our family dining area , and set up for consultations with the spirits.
    Quickly, the waitresses, using
their backs, pushed open the frosted glass door from the kitchen to
the dining room and backed in with trays carrying hot bowls of soup
and tureens filled with potatoes and steaming cabbage. Giggling,
turning to approach the dinner table, they negotiated their way
between the candles in the flickering light, and set down the
trays.
    “Did you get a bet on the grand
national , love? ” Lilly directed the question at my Grandfather
as she loaded plates with food.
    “Mr. Sims took it on the phone.
I put five pounds to win on Hot Toy. We’ll see if Mrs. Grimes’s
last consultation with the spirits pays off.”
    “Now , darling ,” responded Mrs. Grimes, who had
just wriggled her enormous self into place next to Grandmother.
“They judge horses like we do. There’s nothing special about their
ability to predict a winner.” She set a small, red, battery powered
light on the card table. Someone switched out the overhead lights.
Combined with the candles, the red light gave the room an eerie
presence.
    “Ere ‘ang on ta this , l o v e .” Lilly handed out plates loaded with vegetables
to the adults. “Well , I put a quid on
Hoof Hearted.”
    “Nice to hear you using your
H’s for a change ! Got a tip straight from the horse’s arse did ya?”
Grandfather roared with laughter at his joke.
    “Billy,” uttered Grandmother
disapprovingly.
    “Gawd , no! Young ‘arry ‘ere told me it was a winner. And
you know he picked last year’s wiv 20-20,” Lilly replied, ignoring
Grandfather.
    “Uhh uhh … ” Grandmother, open mouthed, pointed to a cup
rising from the table; its shadow from the candlelight flickered on
the wall.
    “Bleedin ‘ell.” Lilly dropped a
plate on the floor and fled to a corner of the dining room.
    The cup twisted erratically as
it ascended, a trace of white cotton thread glittered in the candle
light. It was above Uncle Ted, who had a benign smile on his face.
Mrs. Grimes went into a trance , eyes
turned upwards, lips flapping, jaw quivering, her puffed cheeks
turning gun metal grey.
    “Be gone, be gone, we’re not
ready,” she commanded. The cup descended. Ted, still smiling,
reached up and gently, with one hand, guided it back into its
saucer.
    “Good thing my tea hadn’t been
poured,” he snickered.
    Mrs. Grimes hastily emerged
from her trance . “Betty,” she addressed
Grandmother. “How can I be expected to make contact with children
present?”
    “I’m not a child,” Ted
retorted. “I am almost old enough to die for my country.”
    “Ted, here’s
sixpence . W hen
dinner is finished, look after Harry upstairs until his bedtime.
Oh! And take Winston , too.” Winston, who
lay on the carpet, whimpered and pricked up his ears at the mention
of his name. Grandmother handed over the coin, which Ted happily
pocketed.
    After dinner, Ted and I left
with Winston and retired to the box room. Carefully we laid out the
track to Uncle Ted’s treasured Hornby OO clockwork train set.
    “You can be Paddington
Station.” This required that I stand with one foot on either side
of the track and