The idea for this story actually happened on Christmas Eve in 1968. Three of my girlfriends and I were riding around in my 1954 Ford, I called her Beulah, and as we made our fifth trip around the Dairy Delite, we began talking about the old house in Matthews. Linda D. shouted from the backseat above the Turtles singing "It Ain't Me Babe" on KTSA AM Radio. I couldn't afford the new FM radios yet, but no matter, it sounded good playing from the twenty speakers I installed before "surround sound" became a thought in anyone's mind.

Well, I've always been creative in my mind. I suppose that's why Terry Causey and I wrote a science fiction novel in the sixth grade, which I wish I could find in all my keepsakes. No such luck.

But, back to my carload of girlfriends. I told Linda D. she was crazy to even think about exploring the old house. We might get caught. Almost simultaneously, Loueva K. and Frances H. said, "chicken!"

Well, do you think a first-string linebacker on the Eagle Lake High School football team was going to back down from that? You've got another thing coming.

So, off we went to Matthews, Texas.