"Gabe and The Ghost in the Church Yard"

BS Google

The wind shield wipers on my little red, Chevy Nova couldn't keep up with the rain that was hammering against its glass and so I pulled off to the side of the road to wait out this veritable monsoon. Big mistake.

The macadam road I was traveling on sloped off toward the curb and so much so that my little red Nova soon became a little red row boat! There was a, 'gasp' and a 'sputter' as the engine 'died' and I could only watch, helpless, as my little vehicle pitched and yawed in the muddy stream flowing outside the window.

I had only been living in the little Hamlet-On-The Hudson called Rhinebeck a few weeks and I really didn't know how far I was from the nearest phone. But I did know that it was getting dark and I had better make a move and quickly.

Rumblings of thunder could now be heard in the distance accompanied by brilliant flashes of lightening.

Here, I put my shoulder to the car door and, mustering all the strength I could, I managed to force it open just enough to squeeze my slim figure out of the car and into knee-deep water. I had waded through the water for nearly one city block, staying beneath the many large oak trees that alight the village street, when suddenly, off to my right I observed an old victorian home with a single, yellow light beaming as a beacon from a upper -most stained glass window.

I began to make my way toward the house and the light when suddenly, as quickly as it had begun, the rain ceased!

And nearly as quickly, the deep waters that had engulfed my little care flowed rapidly it large storm drains!

Here, I tilted my face to the heavens. "My goodness," I thought. "Mother nature sure is fickle".

I was about to return to my car when my eyes were pulled to a small churchyard behind the house where the light had been. In the pelleting rain I had failed to view the churchyard. But now, there it was in full view. And standing beside a huge granite stone was a small, gray-haired old woman, whom I had also failed to notice. "My God," I thought she must be lost". Here I hurried to take long strides in an attempt to reach her before she met with a terrible accident.

Reaching the stone, I extended my hand outward to offer assistance. But they met only with thin, moist air!

Like the storm that had just passed. the old woman vanished as quickly as she had appeared.

With my face waxing confused, I again turned and started down a small incline in the direction of where my car was parked.

Barely had I reached the base of the incline when my senses detected smoke and my eyes caught sight of several flashing lights. As I drew closer, I could see a fire truck, a large felled oak tree smoking from an apparent lightening strike; and beneath the tree, a red Chevy Nova that looked like it had been through a hydraulic press! Arriving at the horrific scene I explained to the authorities everything that had happened ,up to and including the old lady in the churchyard.

"Well," said a policeman, the lady you described in the churchyard sounds like Mrs. Grady, she used to own the house and was caretaker of that little cemetery you saw there. However, she died about ten years ago".

"Then who, what..?" I stammered.

The policeman shook his head in bewilderment, "I don't know who you saw or went back to help, but I do know if you hadn't, and you were in this car, you would have been been crushed like a peanut"!

"Well, " I thought to myself, "There are those things far greater in heaven and earth".

Thank you, Respectfully, Gabe Renzo

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