Every Accident She Had Was Within a Mile of That Woman

“EXORCISM” by Ray Bradbury | When her mailman husband delivered a package of forbidden books to the woman up the street, Elmira Brown finally had proof of what she'd suspected all along — and she wasn't about to let a witch win another election.

IN THIS EPISODE: The name Ray Bradbury immediately brings to mind such fictional tales – classics, many of them… some of which I’ve narrated here in the podcast such as “The Jar”, “Skeleton”, and “The Small Assassin.” But as good as Bradbury was at writing about the paranormal, he could also write comedy – and in tonight’s story he combines the two. “Exorcism” is a fun short tale about a nosy housewife who suspects an older woman in town is studying to become a witch… and decides to confront the old lady to voice her disapproval. 

SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“Exorcism” by Ray Bradbury, from the book “The Stories of Ray Bradbury” from Rosetta Books:https://amzn.to/49nrJTG
Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.
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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46
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Originally aired: December 05, 2024

CUSTOM LANDING PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/ExorcismRayBradbury

ABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.
#WeirdDarkness #RayBradbury #Exorcism #WitchStory #HorrorComedy #ClassicFiction #Witchcraft #ParanormalFiction #VintageHorror #ShortStory

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness.
Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and
unexplained coming up in this episode. The name Ray Bradbury

(00:30):
immediately brings to mind fictional tales classics, many of them,
some of which I have narrated here in the podcast,
such as the Jar Skeleton and the Small Assassin. But
as good as Bradbury was at writing about the paranormal,
he can also write comedy, and in tonight's story, he
combines the two. Exorcism is a fun short tale about

(00:54):
a nosy housewife who suspects an older woman in town
is studying to become a witch, and decides to confront
the old lady to voice her disapproval. Now, bult your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with
me into the weird Darkness. She came out of the bathroom,

(01:24):
putting iodine on her finger, where she had almost lopped
it off, cutting herself a chunk of coconut cake. Just then,
the mailman came up the porch steps, opened the door
and walked in the door slammed. Elmira Brown jumped a foot. Sam,
she cried. She waved her iodine finger on the air
to cool it. I'm still not used to my husband

(01:46):
being a postman. Every time you just walk in, it
scares the life out of me. Sam Brown stood there
with the male pouch half empty, scratching his head. He
looked back out the door as if a fog had
suddenly rolled in on a calm, sweet summer morn. Sam,
your home early, she said. Can't stay, he said, in

(02:08):
a puzzled voice. Spin it out. What's wrong? She came
over and looked into his face. Maybe nothing, maybe lots.
I just delivered some mail to Clara good Water up
the street. Clara good Water, Now, don't get your dad
dor up books. It was from the Johnson Smith Company,

(02:28):
Racine wiscudsin title of one book, Let's see No. He
screwed up his face, then unscrewed it. Albertus Magnus, Yeah,
that's it. Being the approved, verified, sympathetic and natural Egyptian
Secrets Or. He appeared at the ceiling to summon the

(02:49):
lettering white and black art for bad and Beast, revealing
the forbidden knowledge and mysteries of ancient philosophers. Clara good Waters,
you said, he walking along, I had a good chance
to peek at the front pages. No heart in that
hidden secrets of life unveiled by that celebrated student philosopher, chemist, naturalist, psychobist, astrologer, alchemist, metallurgist, sorcerer,

(03:17):
explanator of the mysteries of wizards and witchcraft, together with
recondite views of numerous arts and sciences, obscure, played practical,
et cetera, et cetera. There, my god, I got a
head like a box brownie, got the words, even if
I haven't got the sense. Elmira stood looking at her

(03:40):
iodine finger as if it were pointed at her by
a stranger. Clara good Water, she murmured, looked me right
in the eye as I handed it over, said good
be a witch, first class, no doubt, get by diploma
in no time, set up business, hex crowns and individuals.
Oh that young, big and small. Then she kinda laughed,

(04:05):
but her nose in that book and went in. Albira
stared at a bruise on her arm, carefully tongued a
loose tooth in her jaw. A door slammed. Tom's faulding
kneeling on Almira Brown's front lawn looked up. He'd been
wandering about the neighborhood seeing how the ants were doing
here or there, and had found a particularly good hill

(04:27):
with a big hole in which all kinds of fiery,
bright pismires were tumbling about, scissoring the air and wildly
carrying little packets of dead grasshopper and an infinitesimal bird
down into the earth. Now Here was something else. Missus
Brown swaying on the edge of her porch as if
she'd just found out the world was falling through space

(04:47):
at sixty trillion miles a second. Behind her was mister Brown,
who didn't know the miles per second and probably wouldn't
care if he did know. Yo, Tom said, Missus Brown,
I need moral support and the equivalent to the blood
of the lamb with me. Come along, and off she rushed,
squashing ants and kicking tops off dandelions and trotting big

(05:11):
spiky holes in flower beds as she cut across yards.
Tom knelt a moment longer studying Missus Brown's shoulder blades
and spine as she toppled down the street. He read
the bones, and they were eloquent of melodrama and adventure,
a thing he did not ordinarily connect with ladies, even
though Missus Brown had the remnants of a pirate's mustache.

(05:34):
A moment later he was in tandem with her. Missus Brown,
you sure look mad. You don't know what mad is? Boy,
Watch out, cried Tom. Missus Elmira Brown fell right over
an iron dog lying asleep there on the green grass.
Missus Brown, you see, Missus Brown sat there clear a

(05:55):
good water did this to me? Magic? Magic? Never mind, boy,
here's the steps. You go first and kick any invisible
strings out of the way. Ring that doorbell, but pull
your finger off quick. The juice will burn you to
a cinder. Tom did not touch the bell. Clara good Water,

(06:16):
Missus Brown flicked the bell button with her iodined finger.
Far away, in the cool, dim empty rooms of the
big old House, a silver bell tinkled and faded. Tom
listened still farther away, there was a stir of mouse
like running. A shadow, perhaps a blowing curtain moved in
a distant parlor. Hello, said a quiet voice, and quite

(06:40):
suddenly Missus Goodwater was there, rush as a stick of
peppermint behind the screen. Why hello there, tom Elmira, Oh
what don't rush me. We came over about your practicing
to be a full fledged witch. Missus Goodwater smiled. Your
husband's not only a mailman, but a guardian of though
law got a nose that day here. He didn't look

(07:05):
at no mail. He's ten minutes between houses, laughing at
postcards and trying on mail order shoes. It ain't what
he's seeing. It's what you, yourself told him about the books.
You got just a joke, going to be a witch,
I said, and bang off gallops Sam, like I'd flung

(07:26):
lightning in him. I declare, there can't be one wrinkle
in that man's brain. You talked about your magic other
places yesterday. Ah, you must mean the sandwich club, to
which I pointedly was not invited. Why, lady, we thought
that was your regular day with your grandma. I can

(07:48):
always have another grandma day if people had only asked
me places. All there was to it at the sandwich
club was me sitting there with a ham and pickle sandwich.
And I said out loud, at last, I'm gonna get
my witches diploma and studying for years. That's what came
back to me over the phone. Eight modern inventions. Wonderful,

(08:13):
said Missus Goodwater. Considering you've been president of the Honeysuckle
Ladies Lodge since the Civil War, it seems I'll put
it to you bang on the nose. Have you used
witchcraft all these years to spell the ladies and win
the eyes? I have it? Do you doubt it for
a moment, lady, said Missus Goodwater. Elections tomorrow again, and

(08:34):
all I want to know is you run in for
another term? And ain't you ashamed? Yes to the first
question and no to the second. Lady. Look here, I
bought those books for my boy cousin, Raoul. He's just
ten and goes around looking in hats for rabbits. POTS
told him there's about as much chance finding rabbits in

(08:56):
hats as brains and heads of certain people. I can,
but well, look he does, and so I got these
gifts for him. Wouldn't believe you on a stack of bibles,
God's truth? Anyway. I loved fun about the witch thing.
The ladies all yodeled what I explained about my dark powers.

(09:18):
I wish you'd been there. I'll be there tomorrow to
fight you with a cross of gold and all the
powers of good I can organize behind me, said Almira.
Right now, tell me how much other magic junk you
got in your house. This is goodwater, pointed to a
side table inside the door. I've been buying all kinds
of magic herbs, smell funny, make Raoul happy. That little

(09:42):
saka stuff that's called This is rue, and this is
sabisa root. And there's ebben rbs. Here's black sulfur, and
this they claim is bone dust, bone dust. Almira skipped
back and kicked Tom's ankle. Tom yelt, And here's wormwood

(10:06):
and fern leaves, so you can freeze shotguns and fly
like a bat in your dreams. It says in chapter
ten of a little book here. I think it's fine
for growing boys heads to think about things like this. Now,
from the look on your face, you don't believe Raoul exists. Well,

(10:26):
I give you his Springfield address, yes, said Almira. And
the day I write him, you'll take the Springfield bus
and go to General Delivery and get my letter and
right back to me in the boy's hand. I know you.
This is brown. Speak up. You ought to be the
president of the Honeysuckle ladies lodge right. You run every

(10:50):
year now for ten years. You nominate yourself and always
wind up getting one vote yours, Elmira. If the ladies
wanted you, they'd landslide you in. But from where I
stand looking up the mountain, ate so much as one
pebble come rattling down, save yours. Tell you what I'll

(11:14):
nominate and vote for you by salf come noon tomorrow.
How's that damn for sure, then, said Elmira. Last year
I got a deathly cold write an election time, couldn't
get out and campaign back fence to back fence. Year
before that broke my leg. Mighty strange, She squinted darkly

(11:35):
at the lady behind the screen. That's not all. Last
month I cut my fingers six times, bruised my knee
ten times, fell off my back porch twice, you hear
twice I broke a window, dropped four dishes one vase
worth a dollar forty nine at Bixby's. And I'm billing
you for every dropped dish from now on in my

(11:58):
house and environs. I'll be poor by Christmas, said missus Goodwater.
She opened the screen door and came out suddenly and
let the door slam. Elmira Brown, how old are you?
You probably got it written in one of your black books,
thirty five. Well, when I think of thirty five years

(12:21):
of your life, this is goodwater. Pursed her lips and
blinked her eyes, counting hmm. That's that's about twelve thousand
or seven hundred and seventy five days, or counting three
of them per day, twelve thousand odd commotions, twelve thousand

(12:43):
much ados, and twelve thousand calamities. It's a full, rich
life you lead, Elmirah Brown, shake hands, get away. Almayrah
fended her off. Why, lady, you're only the second most
clumsy woman in green Toown, Illinois. You can't sit down
without play in the chair like an accordion. You can't

(13:04):
stand up, but watch you kick the cat. You can't
try to cross an open meadow without falling into a well.
Your life has been one long decline, Elmira Alice Brown,
So why not admit it? It wasn't clumsiness that caused
my calamities, but you being within a mile of me

(13:24):
at those times when I dropped a pot of beans
or juiced my finger in the electric socketed home lady.
In a town this size, everybody is within a mile
of someone at one time or another in the day.
You admit to being around, then I admit being born here. Yes,

(13:46):
but I get anything right now and have been born
in Kenosha or Zion. Elmira, go to your dentist and
see what he can do about that serpent's tongue in there, oh,
said Almira, Oh oh, oh, you pushed me too far.
I wasn't interested in witchcraft, but I think I'll just

(14:06):
look into this business. Listen here, you're invisible right now.
While you stood there, I put a spell on you. You
are cleaned out of sight. You didn't course, admitted the witch.
I never could see you. Lady Elmira pulled out her
pocket mirror. There I am. She peered closer and gasped.

(14:28):
She reached up like someone tuning a harp, and plucked
a single thread. She held it up Exhibit A. I
never had a gray hair in my life till this second.
The witch smiled charmingly. Put it in a jar. Still water.
Be an angleworm. Come morning, oh Elmira, look at yourself
at last, won't you all these years blaming others for

(14:52):
your own mallet feet and floaty ways. You ever read Shakespeare,
there's little stage directions there. Alarums and excursions. That's you, Elmira,
alarums and excursions. I get home before I feel the
bumps on your head and predict a gas at night
for you shoe. She waved her hands in the air,

(15:14):
as if Elmira were a cloud of things. My the
flies are thick this summer, she said. She went inside
and hooked the door. The line is drawn, Missus Goodwater,
Elmira said, folding her arms. I'll give you one last
chance withdraw from the candidacy of my honeysuckle lodge, or
face me face to face tomorrow when I run for

(15:37):
office and wrest it from you in a fair fight.
I'll bring Tom here with me, an innocent good boy,
and innocence and good will win the day. I wouldn't
count on me being innocent, Missus Brown, said the boy
my mother says, shut up. Tom Good's good. You'll be
there on my right hand. Boy, Yes, him, said Tom.

(15:59):
If that's it, said Almira, I can live through the
night with this lady making wax dummies of me, shoving
rusty needles through the very heart and soul of them.
If you find a great big fig in my bed
all shriveled up, come sunrise, Tom, you'll know who picked
the fruit and the vineyard and looked to see Missus
Goodwater President till she's one hundred and ninety five years old. Why,

(16:22):
lady said missus Goodwater, I'm three hundred and five now.
Used to call me she in the old days. She
poked her fingers at the street. Abracadabra, zimbitizam. How's that?
Almira ran down off the porch tomorrow, she cried, kill,

(16:44):
Then lady said missus Goodwater. Tom followed Elmira, shrugging and
kicking ants off the sidewalk as he went. Running across
a driveway. Elmira screamed, Missy's Brown, cried Tom. The car
backing on of a garage ran right over Almira's right
big toe. Missus Elmira Brown's foot hurt her in the

(17:13):
middle of the night, So she got up and went
down to the kitchen and ate some cold chicken and
made a neat, painfully accurate list of things. First illnesses
in the past year, where he holds four mild attacks
of indigestion, one seizure of bloat, arthritis, lumbago what she
imagined to be doubt, a severe bronchial cough, incipient asthma,

(17:39):
and spots on her arms, plus an obsessed semi circular
canal which made her reel like a drunken moth. Somedays, backache, head, pains, nausea.
Cost of medicine ninety eight dollars and seventy eight cents. Secondly,
things broken in the house only twelve months just passed.

(18:02):
Two lamps, six spaces, ten dishes, one soup tureen, two windows,
one chaer, one sofa cushion, six glasses, and one crystal
chandeliered prism. Total cost twelve dollars and ten cents. Thirdly,
her pains this very night. Her toe hurt from being

(18:23):
run over, her stomach was upset, her back was stiff,
her legs were pulsing with agony. Her eyeballs felt like
wads of blazing cotton, her tongue tasted like a dust bump,
her ears were belling and ringing away. Cost she debated
going back to bed, ten thousand dollars in personal suffering.

(18:45):
Try to settle this out of court, she said, half aloud.
Eh said her husband awake, she lay down in bed.
I simply refuse to die. Big pardon, he said. I
won't die, she said, staring at the ceiling. That's what
I always claimed, said her husband, and turned over to snore.

(19:10):
In the morning, missus Elmira Brown was up early and
down to the library, and then to the drug store
and back to the house where she was busy mixing
all kinds of chemicals, where her husband sam came home
with an empty mail pouch. At noon lunches in the
ice box, Almira started a green looking porridge and a
large glass. Good lord, what's that, asked her husband. Looks

(19:32):
like a milkshake that left out the sun for forty years,
got kind of a fungus on it. Fight magic with magic.
You gotta drink that just before I go up into
the Honeysuckle Lady's Lodge for the big doings. Samuel Brown
stiffed the concoction. Yeah, take my advice, get up those

(19:53):
steps first, then drink it. What's it? It snow from
angel's wings, Well real menthal the cool hell's fires that
burn you, it says in this book. I got it
the library. The juice of a fresh grape off the
vine for thinking clear, sweet thoughts in the face of
dark visions. Says also red rhubarb, cream of tartar, white sugar,

(20:15):
white of eggs, spring water, and clover buds, with the
strength of the good Earth in them. Oh, I could
go on all day. It's here in the list good
against bad, white against black. I can't lose. Oh, you
wit all right, said her husband. But will you know it?
Think good thoughts. I'm on my way to get Tom

(20:36):
for my charm, poor boy, said her husband, innocent like
you say, and about to be toured Lib from lib
bargain basement day at the hooeysuckle ludge. Tom will survive,
said Almira, and, taking the bubbling concoction with her hid
inside a quicker oats box with the lid on, went

(20:56):
out the door without catching her dress or snagging her
new ninety eight sent stockings. Realizing this, she was smug
all the way to Tom's house, to where he waited
for her in his white summer suit, as she had instructed. Phew,
said Tom, whare'd you get in that box? Destiny, said Elmira.
I share hope, so said Tom, walking about two paces

(21:19):
ahead of her. The bodysuckle. Lady's lodge was full of
ladies looking in each other's mirrors and tugging at their
skirts and asking to be sure their slips weren't showing.
At one o'clock, Missus Elmira Brown came up the steps
with a boy in white clothes. He was holding his

(21:40):
nose and screwing up one eye so he could only
half see where he was going. Missus Brown looked at
the crowd, and then at the Quaker oats box and
opened the top and looked in and gasped, and put
the top back on without drinking any of that stuff
in there. She moved inside the hall, and with her
moved a rustling as of taffeta, all the ladies whispering

(22:00):
in a tide after her. She sat down and back
with Tom, and Tom looked more miserable than ever. The
one eye he had opened, looked at the crowd of
ladies and shut up for good. Sitting there, Almira got
the potion out and drank it slowly down. At one
thirty the President, Missus Goodwater, banged the gavel, and all

(22:21):
but two dozen of the ladies quit talking. Ladies. She
called out over the summer sea of silks and laces
capped here and there with white or gray. It's election time.
But before we start, I believe Missus Almira Brown, wife
of our eminent graphologist a titter, ran through the room.

(22:41):
What's a graphologist? Elmira elbowed Tom twice? I don't know,
whispered Tom, fiercely, ey shut, healing that elbow. Come out
of darkness at him, wife, As I say of our
eminent handwriting expert, Samuel Brown of the US Postal Service, continued,
missus goodwater, Missus Brown wants to give us some opinions,

(23:05):
Missus Brown. Elmira stood up. Her chair, fell over backward
and snapped shut like a bear trap on itself. She
jumped an inch off the floor and teetered on her heels,
which gave off cracking sounds like they would fall the dust.
Any moment, I got plenty to say, she said, Holding
the empty Quaker oats box in one hand with the Bible,

(23:26):
she grabbed Tom with the other and plowed forward, hitting
several people's elbows and muttering to them, what's what you're doing?
Careful you to reach the platform, turn and knock a
glass of water dripping over the table. She gave Missus
Goodwater another briskly scowl when this happened, and let her
mop it up with a tiny handkerchief. Then, with a
secret look of triumph, Elmira drew forth the empty filtered

(23:48):
glass and held it up, displaying it for Missus Goodwater
and whispering, you know what was in this? It's inside
me now, lady. The charmed circle surrounds me. None can cleave,
no hatchet breakthrough. The ladies all talking, did not hear
Missus Goodwater nodded, held up her hands, and there was silence.

(24:11):
Almira held tight to Tom's hand. Tom kept his eyes shut.
Wincing ladies, Elmira said, I sympathize with you. I know
what you've been through these last ten years. I know
why you voted for Missus Goodwater. Here. You've got boys,
girls and men to feed. You've got budgets to follow.
You couldn't afford to have your milk sour, your bread fall,

(24:34):
or your cakes as flat as wheels. You didn't want mumps,
chicken pox, and whooping cough in your house all in
three weeks. You didn't want your husband crashing his car
or electrocuting himself on the high tension wires outside town.
But now all of that's over. You can come out
in the open. Now, no more heartburns or back aches,

(24:56):
because I've brought the good word and we're going to
exercise this witch we've got here. Everybody looked around but
didn't see any witch. I mean your president, cried Elmira.
Me this is goodwater waved at everyone today, breathed Elmira,

(25:16):
holding onto the desk for support. I went to the library.
I looked up counter actions, how to get rid of
people who take advantage of others, how to make witches
leave off and go. And I found a way to
fight for all our rights. I can feel the power growing.
I got the magic of all kinds of good roots
and chemicals in me. I got. She paused and swayed.

(25:40):
She blinked once. I got cream of tartar, and I
got white hawk weed and milk soured in the light
of the moon. And she stopped and thought for a moment.
She shut her mouth, and a tiny sound came from
deep inside her and worked up through to come out
the corner of her lips. She closed her eyes for

(26:00):
a moment to see where the strength was. Missus Brown,
You're feeling all right, asked Missus Goodwater. Feeling fine, said
Missus Brown. Slowly, I put in some pulverized carrots and
harshly roots cut fine juniper berry. Again she paused, as

(26:21):
if a voice had said stop to her, and she
looked down across all those faces. The room she noticed
was beginning to turn slowly, first from left to right,
then right to left. Rosemary roots and crowfoot flower, she said,
or rather dimly. She let go of Tom's hand. Tom

(26:43):
opened one eye and looked at her bee lee's nestercium petals.
She said, maybe you better see it down, said Missus Goodwater.
One lady at the side went and opened a window.
Dry pedal nuts, lavender and crab apple seed, said Missus Brown,

(27:05):
and stopped. Quick. Now let's have the election. You gotta
have the votes. I'll tabulate. No hurry, Elmira, said Missus Goodwater.
Yes there is Almira took a deep trembling breath. Remember, ladies,
no more fear, do like you always wanted to do.

(27:29):
Vote for me. And the room was moving again up
and down. The honesty in government. All those in favor
of Missus Goodwater for president, say I, I said. The
whole room, all those in favor of Missus Elmira Brown,

(27:51):
said Almira, in a faint voice. She swallowed. After a moment,
she spoke alone I, she said. She stood stunned on
the roast room. The silence filled the room from wall
to wall. In that silence, Missus Elmira Brown made a
croaking sound. She put her hand on her throat. She

(28:13):
turned and looked dimly at Missus Goodwater, who now very
casually drew forth from her purse a small wax doll,
in which were a number of rusted thumbtacks. Tom said, Almira,
show me the way to the lady's Roomy at them.
They began to walk, and then hurry, and then run.

(28:37):
Elmira ran on ahead through the crowd down the aisle.
She reached the door and started left. Now Almira, right right,
cried Missus Goodwater. Elmira turned left and vanished. There was
a noise like coal down a chute, Almira. The ladies
ran round like a girl's basketball team, colliding with each other.

(28:59):
Only Thisus good Water made a straight line. She found
Tom looking down the stairwell, his hands clenched to the banister.
Forty steps, he moaned, forty steps to the ground. Later on,
and for months and years after, it was told how

(29:20):
like an inebriate Emirah Brown negotiated those steps, touching every
one on her long way down. It was claimed that
when she began the fall, she was sick to unconsciousness,
and that this made her skeleton rubber, so she kind
of rolled rather than ricochet. She landed at the bottom,
blinking and feeling better, having left whatever it was that

(29:42):
had made her uneasy all along the way. True, she
was so badly bruised she looked like a tattooed lady.
But no, not a wrist was sprained or an ankle twisted.
She held her head funny for three days, kind of
peering out the sides of her eyeball instead of turning
the look. But the important thing was missus goodwater at

(30:04):
the bottom of the steps, pillowing Elmira's head on her
lap and dropping tears on her as the ladies gathered hysterically. Elmira,
I promise, Almirah, I swear if you just live, if
you don't die, you hear me, Elmira, listen, I'll use
my magic for nothing but good from now on, No

(30:24):
more black, nothing but white. Magic the rest of your life,
if I have my way Now more falling over iron dogs,
tripping on sills, cutting fingers, or dropping downstairs for you Alyssium, Amira, Elyssium,
I promise if you just live. Look, I'm pulling the

(30:44):
tax out of the doll Almira. Speak to me, Speak now,
and sit up and come upstairs for another vote. President,
I promise President of the Honeysuckle Lady's Lodge, by acclamation,
won't we ladies at this? All the ladies cried so
hard they had to lean on each other. Tom upstairs

(31:05):
thought this meant death down there. He was half way
down when he met the ladies coming back up, looking
like they had just wandered out of a dynamite explosion.
Get out of the way, boy. First came Missus Goodwater,
laughing and crying. Next came Missus Elmirah Brown, doing the same,
And after the two of them came all the one

(31:26):
hundred and twenty three members of the lodge. Not knowing
if they had just returned from a funeral or were
on their way to a ball, he watched them pass
and shook his head. Don't need me no more, he said,
no more at all, So he tiptoed down the stairs
before they missed him, holding tight to the rail all

(31:47):
the way. Thanks for listening. If you like the show,
please cheering with someone you know who loves the paranormal
or strained stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like
you do. Ectorcism is written by Ray Bradbury from the

(32:10):
book The Stories of Ray Bradbury from Rosetta Books. I've
placed a link to it in the show notes. Weird
Darkness is a registered trademark Copyright Weird Darkness. And now
that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you
with a little light. Romans thirteen, verse nine. The commandments
do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal,

(32:32):
do not covet and whatever other commandment there may be
are summed up in this one rule. Love your neighbor
as yourself. And final thought, rudeness is the weak person's
imitation of strength. Eric Hoffer. I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for

(32:53):
joining me in the Weird Darkness. There the