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"I turned ht for no apparent reason and I saw a s of people, to above the buckled and crowded cohtened at all In fact, I think I thought, 'Oh, so these are the ghosts that everybody talks about,' and I was silently stunned looking at them, at the way that all of them seemed to be made of the same translucent substance, and the way that they floated as though created mostly of air

"Goblin saw them after I did, and for one mo, and then he becaet down out of the tree and conals by now, so there was no question of it But I had no intention of leaving

"I stared at the cluster of people, wondering at their blank faces, their colorless matter, their simple clothes and the way that they all looked at me

"I slid down the branch of the oak and went towards the cast-iron fence The eyes of the ghostly gathering reaze at theed somewhat in their expression They becah of course I didn't know those words then

"Gradually, they began to fade, and to er there I could hear the silence that followed theer sense of the raveyard itself and then the overpowering oaks I had a peculiar and distinct feeling about the oaks -- that they atching me and had seen ilant and had a personality of their own

"A real horror of the trees was conceived indarkness of the swaiant cypress trees were possessed of the sa all around them with a deep slow respiration which only the trees themselves could see or hear

"I became dizzy I was al, and then very slowly there caain, the very same collection, as pale and wretched as before Their eyes searched estures, until suddenly I backed up, nearly stu for the house

"I went, as always, straight to the kitchen door, with Goblin skipping and racing beside me, and told Sweetheart all about it, which immediately put her in a state of alarm

"Sweetheart was already very stout by that time, and a permanent fixture in the kitchen, as I've described to you, and she took me up in her arhosts down there and I should stay away froether fro as I was, but I knehat I had seen, and no one could dislodge it from my mind

"Pops was busy with the guests in the front part of the house, and I don't re

"But Big Ra in the kitchen with Sweetheart, was very curious about the ghosts and wanted n of the women's dresses and that the hosts, I knew she did, and she launched into the farandfather Williah the drawers of the Louis XV desk

"But to return to the folks of the cemetery, the Lost Souls, as I've cohtened at all this and said it was tiarten, where I'd meet other children and have lots of fun

"And so one , Pops took me in the pickup to a private school in Ruby River City I was kicked out within two days Much tooin half words, and not being able to cooperate with other kids Besides, Goblin hated it Goblin made faces at the teacher Goblin took my left hand and broke my crayons

"Back it was to where I wanted to be -- either spying on Patsy and herwith Pops as he planted a row of beautiful pansies along the front of the house, or eating the cake icing mix that was left in the bowl in the kitchen, while Sweetheart and Big Ra 'Go Tell Aunt Rodie' or 'I've Been Working on the Railroad' or songs I've long forgotten, songs I've lost, much to my shame

"I saw the Lost Souls of the graveyard several times after that, and I've seen theer and they stare and nothingmass from which no one spirit can detach itself I'm not even certain they have personality, as we know the word But the way that they folloith their eyes argues that they do