The Cemetery Fence

I began telling Jimmy about Vinny’s apartment. I told him not to tell anyone. He was very interested; he stared at me with his mouth wide open as I told him about what went on over there. I mentioned that Vinny had other stories about it and he was going to tell them to Mike. Jimmy and me were dying to hear all about it, but we knew Vinny wouldn’t share them with us.

While Jimmy and me were talking, my Mother and Mike got into a conversation about what they believe is my gift. My Mother doesn’t usually bring up stories like these but after all that has been going on she recalled a very interesting moment. She told Mike about a night back when I was about three years old. Dad and Jimmy were sleeping in Jimmy’s room. Mom used to use a walkie-talkie, a device that would allow her to stay in her bed downstairs while she listened to me in my crib upstairs.

Mom remembered in detail how she was watching The Johnny Carson Show about to doze off when she started to hear some sounds on the walkie-talkie. She raised the volume a bit. “I heard little Stevie start to cry a little. He started to sound like he was getting comfortable and I began to hear what sounded like a lullaby. It started as a humming and then I began to hear some words. Baby go to sleep. Baby count your sheep. Baby its okay. Baby Jimmy didn’t go away. The singing faded away and then I heard a woman’s voice say, St. Peters is a very mysterious place. I jumped out of bed and ran up the stairs into Stevie’s room and he was sound asleep. I felt a strange presence, I don’t know who or what came to visit. I had chills throughout my entire body. I took Stevie back to my bedroom and held him close to me for the night. To this day I believe he has someone watching out for him, someone from the other side. I still get goose bumps when I think of that night.” Mom recalled. Mike was shocked and speechless.

Jimmy and me went downstairs for dinner and Mike stayed to eat with us. Nobody at the table mentioned Vinny’s apartment. It became a closed subject while we ate. I guess Mike didn’t want to talk about it and I certainly wasn’t going to bring it up. During dinner my Mother mentioned that she was going to be taking Mrs. Stages to her crisis counseling session tomorrow night. Mom was interested to see what went on there. My Dad commented that it might be good for all of us to hear what they have to say. Mike agreed and told Mom to take notes.

After dinner we all sat around and watched TV. Afterwards Jimmy and me went up to bed. Mike fell asleep on the living room couch. I joked to Jimmy that Mike was afraid to go home and sleep because of what we seen at Vinny’s. Jimmy told me that he would be afraid too, if he ever seen anything like that.