Month: May 2022

The knock at the door really shook me out of my research. My mind first went to the bad guys who broke in not long ago, but they probably wouldn’t knock. The best bet was to see who was at the door.

A blast of cold November air hit me as I opened the door. It was going to be one of those gloomy, low-hanging cloud days that we always got just before winter.

Standing in front of my house were the Revenant Rangers. They held card stock posters and looked at me very expectedly.

“Hi mister Hunt,” said the oldest, I thought his name was Jake. “We have a favor to ask,” he said. “We have to do a civics project for our social studies class at school and we want to raise money to fix the playground at the park; it’s a real mess. We thought a zombie walk would be awesome. Unfortunately the city says we can’t do that ourselves; we need to have an adult make all the arrangements and be in charge. Naturally, we immediately thought of you. We’ve made a presentation to help with this. Can we show it to you?” I think he got that out all in one breath.

It was obvious that they really wanted to show me what they made. It was also really cold and windy out, so I decided they had better come in. I directed them to the living room area and closed the door behind them.

“I’m happy to listen to your proposal, but I’m not promising anything.” I knew they were really eager, but I didn’t want to get their hopes up.

The younger, red-haired Ranger, I think his name was Logan, said, “I hope you like our presentation, we worked on it all night.” They really had worked hard; their posters of information looked like they did their research.

Jake the older Ranger started off the presentation. “Here’s why we think that a zombie walk would be the perfect thing to raise money for the playground at the park.”

Zack, the middle oldest if I remembered correctly, flipped to the next poster. He pointed to some text and a printout of a bunch of people in zombie makeup walking down a city street. “A zombie walk is when a bunch of people in zombie costumes gather together in a single location to raise attention for some purpose. In some cases, it is to raise awareness of a social issue and in others to raise money for a cause.” He flipped to the next poster, one covered with newspaper clippings and printouts from news websites.

Logan took up from there. “There have been zombie walks in other Iowa cities such as Des Moines, Iowa City, and Keokuk. They have been very successful and have drawn in a lot of tourists and tourist dollars.”

Zack flipped to the next poster with a map of Abish county.

Jake took over. “There are no tourist attractions in our county and no way to pull in extra revenue. That’s one of the reasons why our park and its playground are falling down. If we hold an activity that is newsworthy, it may attract people to come to our county.”

The next poster showed a colored pencil drawing of a zombie walk as well as a couple of printouts with numbers.

Jake continued, “We figure that two thousand dollars and some volunteer labor would help fix the worst problems at the park. If we charge twenty dollars a person to participate in the zombie walk, we would only need a hundred people to show up. Any of those people from out of town would need to spend money to stay at our hotels. Everybody would need to eat at our restaurants or otherwise buy stuff from the stores, making this a good deal for the whole community.”

Zach flipped to a poster with the logo from my Zombie Abatement Service website. He smiled a bit more and continued their pitch. “If you are the primary organizer, with our help wherever we’re allowed, then your business and website will get lots of publicity for almost no cost.”

So far, they had been making reasonable sense, even if I wasn’t sure that a hundred people would be willing to drive to our little county just to walk around dressed as the undead. The idea of promoting my website was something else.

Ever since that school trip, I took zombies pretty serious. It wasn’t that I wanted to make a lot of money from zombies, but I wanted everybody else to be on the lookout. It was the responsibility of every person to be aware and to be ready to deal with the undead. Extra publicity for the website would help with that goal.

The last poster just had the words “Thank you” surrounded by more drawings of zombies.

“Thank you for listening to our proposal,” Jake finished. The others echoed with their thanks.

“Well, guys,” I started. “It is obvious you put a lot of thought into this and take it very seriously. It sounds like it might be a good idea, but I’m going to have to get into it more. How many people showed up to those other zombie walks?”

Jake answered, “Each event pulled a hundred-fifty or more, sometimes a little over two-hundred. There’s like social media pages for it and everything.”

As he spoke, he pulled a folded stack of papers from his pocket and handed them to me. “We know you’re really busy, so we printed out all our research for you. We also printed the city rules and the forms so you wouldn’t have to look those up. And our phone numbers and email addresses too.”

All three stood, grinning and waiting for me to respond. This was all out of the blue, so I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to crush their hopes, but I didn’t want to agree to anything without any thought.

“Alright,” I said, “I’m going to look this over to make sure there aren’t any real issues. I’m going to talk to my advisor guy and get his say in things. Then, as long as everything checks out, I’ll do it. But, as I said, only if everything checks out.”

Logan and Zach high-fived each other. Jake was practically crawling out of his skin while trying to maintain a mature demeanor.

I held up my hands to try to settle them. “There’s the other matter to deal with. You said this was for a class? What do you need for that and what’s your timeframe?”

That was a question they hadn’t prepared for. They quickly chattered among themselves before Jake answered. “We have to turn in all our stuff in three weeks. It will be these posters and we have to write a report on what we did, why we did it, whether it worked or not, and what we would do differently next time. So even if you can’t help us, we still appreciate you listening to us and we’ll put it in our report either way.”

That was a relief. I was afraid they would end up failing some class just because I didn’t help out. Still, it would be nice if they could see their zombie walk put into action. If successful, the playground would get fixed and these guys would have a great experience, possibly one that would put them on the path to positive civic involvement.

“We don’t want to take up any more of your time, so we’ll go,” Jake said. “Thanks again for listening to us and for agreeing to look into it. That means a lot.” The others repeated the sentiment in their own words.

They all shuffled to the door, posters tightly held against their bodies in anticipation of the wind. With that, they were gone.

I walked back to my desk to look over the papers Jake gave me. Many of them were the same items from the posters. The city ordinance papers just explained the licensing for an event and the requests to block a street, as well as the rules for blocking streets. It looked in order to me, but that wasn’t my area of expertise. It was time for a call.

Rick Novak answered politely, as he always did.

“Hi Rick. It’s Timmy Hunt.”

“Hi Timmy! What can I do for you today?” He always asked that to everybody as his most polite way to drum up business.

“Well, I’ve been asked to head up a city-wide event and I think I need advice.” I described the visit from the Revenant Rangers and all my concerns.

“I can see where this would be a little outside of your normal activity. If it’s doable, are you comfortable doing it?” he asked.

That hadn’t occurred to me. My life had been very isolated for a long time. Recently, things seemed to be changing. I never would have been involved in someone’s emotional crisis like I had been with Stan’s situation. Before, I would never have suggested a meeting between Mary and Stan. The relationship with Hannah was all new. And now, I was considering getting involved with a city-wide, possibly county-wide activity at the request of high-school-aged zombie abatement groupies.

“You know what, I think I am comfortable with this. I’m not really sure what I’m getting into, but I think it will be okay.”

“Glad to hear it.” There was a brief pause and it sounded like he may have been shuffling some things on his desk. “Okay, here’s what I would like you to do. Can you scan or photograph those documents from the kids and then send them to me?”

“Sure,” I said. I kept a rarely used scanner in a desk drawer in case I ever needed to scan any ancient document, which never ever happened.

“Then,” he continued, “sit tight for a bit. I’m going to have an attorney friend look over everything and draw up any documents that we need and to figure out what kind of insurance is required. You said the kids only gave you the rules for the city level; an attorney can help us look for laws from the county, state, and so forth, you know, just to keep us out of trouble.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll just wait until I hear back from you. Do you think I’ll need to make more space for dealing with this, or will my desk be enough?”

“Ooh,” he said, “that’s not a good idea. This type of thing usually requires a few volunteers, some of whom you will not want in your house. You will need to get an office somewhere. I can have a realtor look around and find something adequate but cheap. It will have to be able to accommodate the volunteers, signs and posters, and still be accessible to everybody. Are you okay with that?”

“I think so, but this is starting to sound expensive. Can I afford to get wrapped up in this?”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you will be alright. We’ll try to keep the expenses down and see how much of it can be a tax write off. Besides, the kids were right; this can be good publicity for your website, so maybe you can sell more of your merchandise.”

“Well,” I said, “if you think it’s okay then, let’s run with it. It kind of sounds like fun.”

“Let me talk to the others and see what I can find out. Either way, I’ll give you a call in a couple of days just to let you know the status.”

We said our goodbyes, and that was that.

At no point had I been involved in any type of community project. Most of the time, I wasn’t even part of a community. I wasn’t even really part of online communities. I read some of the things, like lurking on Dr. Willy’s websites and social media. For a while, I interacted a bit on a forum related to Woodland Norman’s Bigfoot blog, but drifted away from that too. I just wasn’t a “belonger”.

That seemed to be changing.

I dug out the scanner and connected it to my new laptop. After the few-minute-wait for all the drivers and whatever other software to load, I could start scanning the documents. The one with the Rangers’ contact information was on top.

I decided to email them to let them know where we stood. That would probably make them happy.

As I finished that, I got a quick call from Deputy Hargrave. Johnny Franks was arrested on Wurtemburg Avenue on the south side of town. Also, there was another grave disturbed and the deputy wanted me to go along to take a look.

Hannah was going to be working all day, so we didn’t make any plans. I really wanted to spend more time with her, but I knew that grownup relationships didn’t work like that. I also wanted to ask more about her interpretation of my behavior. The world had other plans for my day, starting with an email.

The email arrived and required immediate attention. Sent by Doctor William Pilone, it got my heart racing.

Dr. Pilone, known to his fans as Dr. Willy, held a position of great esteem in the paranormal investigation realm. His books, podcasts, and other media activities made him a star. If he was interested in something I was doing, it had to be important.

The text of the email explained that Dr. Willy saw my online question about the coral amulet. His researchers found information and he wanted to discuss it with me over the phone.

I responded immediately, giving my phone number and explaining that my schedule was open. There was no reason to expect my phone to ring just minutes later.

“Am I speaking with Timmy Hunt?” the voice asked. The voice sounded older and aristocratic, from what I knew of those things. It was the kind of baritone you expect from an old-fashioned professor or wizard.

“Yes, sir, I’m Timmy Hunt. You can just call me Timmy.”

“Nice to meet you, Timmy. This is Dr. Willy. I found your post about your amulet and thought it was very interesting. Do you still have the amulet?”

I thought it was an odd question; why would I have gotten rid of it? “Sure, I’ve been keeping it in my pocket to keep it safe. We’ve had break-ins in my area.” Actually, I wasn’t sure why I kept it in my pocket. There was absolutely no good reason to keep it in my pocket, but it just seemed like the thing to do. My mind was about to head down that path of exploration when the other voice snapped me back.

“That’s good, Timmy. You don’t want an amulet of unknown powers floating around.” He said it sagely, like a preacher or teacher giving advice. I guess that’s what he does for a living. “You had questions about the lettering. You are correct that it looks somewhat Greek but definitely not Greek. We think it is Minoan, probably Linear A just as it transitioned to Linear B.”

Minoan, from what I could remember, developed on the island of Crete thousands of years ago, even before Greece started its journey to being a thing. A volcano or something wiped them out.

“If it is Minoan,” he continued, “that is very important. They were a truly advanced people for their time. They built amazing palaces, had plumbing, and traveled throughout the Mediterranean. Some have even speculated that they were the fabled Atlantis until struck down by disaster.”

Okay, I thought, at most it would mean that the amulet was old, but it didn’t explain anything else. Why did it drive dogs crazy? I rolled the amulet between my fingers, feeling its surface. “Do you know anyone who can translate the writing?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “Sadly, no one can translate Linear A, and they have only made a little progress translating Linear B. The boundary point between the two is a mystery.” He cleared his throat a little, causing a pause. “Would you mind me asking, how did you happen to acquire the amulet?”

He was in for a disappointing story. “Back when I was in college,” I didn’t feel the need to mention that I didn’t finish, “a guy gave it to me. He said his girlfriend gave it to him to keep him safe, but after the breakup he wanted to get rid of it. He gave it to me because he thought I was weird and would know what to do with it.” Why was I rolling it in my fingers? I didn’t even remember taking it out of my pocket.

“Hm,” was the only reply, and then another pause. “How long after you got it, did you notice anything unusual about the amulet?”

Another boring answer headed his direction. “It’s been hanging in a frame on my wall for years now; I just thought it was interesting looking. Recently, I had to dog sit for a friend, and the dog started barking at it and wouldn’t stop until the amulet was hidden in a desk drawer.” I also related the incident at the sheriff’s office.

There was another pause as Dr. Willy took in the information.

“Did you ever expose the amulet to dogs before the recent incidents?” he asked.

This time I paused. Thinking back, there was no occasion where a dog came into a place when I had the amulet on display. The stone sat in a box for a couple of years when I left college. Then I hung it up when I moved in here. During that time, no dog ever entered my house. Come to think of it, no animal ever visited. Neither did any people. I moved the amulet from my fingers to my palm and closed my hand around it.

“I don’t remember any dogs seeing the amulet before,” I answered.

“Perhaps there is something about the natural frequency of the amulet. Maybe its frequency is one that interferes with the dogs psychically.”

My physics classes gave me a basic understanding of natural frequency. Simply put, each object has a size and shape that would allow a wave of a particular wavelength to bounce back and forth and cause the item to vibrate at that wave’s frequency. It’s why bridges collapse if the wind makes them sway too much with the wrong timing.

As for psychic frequencies, I wasn’t so sure. I knew there were brainwave frequencies. I suppose stimulating too much of the wrong brainwaves could make a dog irritable, but I didn’t know enough to buy it or dismiss it outright.

“If the natural frequency harmonized with the dog brains,” I asked, “why would the dogs stop barking when the amulet was hidden from view? Shouldn’t those kinds of frequencies pass through a coat pocket?”

“I see what you mean. Maybe there’s something else. Have you had it tested? You know, for sounds or chemicals that may come from it? Maybe there is something visual in a wavelength of light that humans can’t see but dogs can.”

“Nope. Until Sammy, that’s the name of the old dog I watched, until Sammy reacted, I never gave the amulet any thought.”

“It may be something to consider. I will send you the contact information for some reputable agencies that can perform such tests. Can you think of anything else unusual associated with your trinket?”

There was nothing else odd, other than the fact that it had stayed in my pocket for so long with absolutely no reason to be there. Then there was the way I subconsciously handled the amulet while talking about it on the phone. Why was I holding on to the amulet that way? I should have put it back into its frame and hung it back on the wall. Also, for no real reason, I didn’t feel like telling Dr. Willy about that.

“No, just the barking. It’s the strangest thing.”

“Well, you have my contact information now. I would appreciate it if you let me know if anything else happens. It has my curiosity up. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you, Mr. Hunt.”

“It was good to talk to you too. Thanks for all the information.”

The phone call ended.

I looked over the pendant again. No one could interpret the writing, so that was a dead end. Maybe it was something about the physical characteristics of the coral itself. If it was Minoan, it was thousands of years old and priceless. Of course, it could be a knock-off; a coral lump where someone added the Minoan letters more recently. If they believed they made a protective amulet, it was possible. People often believe the magic of ancient things without understanding the actual ancient things.

Dr. Willy sent a follow-up email with the contact information for labs he knew. Most were in New England or California, but one was in Minneapolis, a lot closer to home. I sent a message to the Minneapolis one to get some information.

With that in place, and no new cases of suspected zombie infestation, I made a list of things to keep me busy. I intentionally avoided listing a visit to the convenience store to see Hannah; no need causing her any trouble at work.

Instead, I went online and started looking for anything that could tell me the brainwave frequencies of dogs. That kept me busy until the knock on my front door.