Chapter 13 -- "The Séance Begins"

Opal was in her element. She had never actually conducted a séance before (or, for that matter, even attended one), but the presence of the dearly departed casually standing behind her made her more than confident that she could pull this off. Everything looked right. The lights in the room were appropriately dim, thanks to the candles Maria had lit. Maria, Sam, Maddie, Brooke, Stuart, Marian and Lily had taken seats around the table, which was round and absolutely perfect for the occasion. Only one thought was bringing Opal down. "I should have brought along Petey's camorder. Or at least a tape recorder. I could've sent it to the 'Exposer' as conclusive proof of the existence of the spirit world. I bet they would have paid a pretty penny. Drat."

"Excuse me, Opal," said Maria, who was fairly calm, considering that her entire future as a mother was riding on what was about to happen around that table. "Did you say something?"

"I bet I could've gotten on Oprah," Opal grumbled, following her own train of thought.

"Opal unless you begin contacting me within the next ten seconds, I'm turning the proceedings over to Lily. Is that okay with you, Lily?"

Lily was too busy smiling at Sam to answer. "Sam, do you already have a girlfriend?"

Sam slowly shook his head and smiled back at her.

"Edmund, I think young love is rearing it's beautiful head," Opal observed.

"WHAT did you say?" Brooke cried out. "Opal, are you talking to Edmund?"

Never being one not to go with the flow and/or ride with the tide, Opal got down to business.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to make contact with the dearly departed Edmund Grey, dear friend of Brooke, Stuart and Marian, beloved father of Sam and Maddie and adored husband of Maria."

Maria was sure she detected a hard note of sarcasm in Opal's twang.

"Please let us join hands."

Lily made a small strangling sound.

"Touching doesn't come easily to Lily," Edmund told Opal.

Lily nodded vigorously.

"Everybody but Lily join hands," Opal amended. "Lily, honey, you just concentrate on Edmund and forget all about Sam."

"I can concentrate on Edmund." Lily smiled shyly at Sam, who smiled not quite as shyly in return.

Opal cleared her throat as everybody around the table but Lily joined hands (which meant that Stuart and Marian had to reach over Lily, who was sitting between them). "Edmund are you among us? If you are among us, please give us some sign."

"Like what?" Edmund asked between his teeth.

"Oh, I dunno. Move the curtains or raise the table or something."

"Can he do any of that stuff?" the popcorn kernel formerly known as Zetz telepathed to his confederates. "Can he have any physical effect on reality?"

"Not without our help," Zartz replied. "He's a spirit now, remember."

"Are we going to help him?" Zift asked.

"Only when it suits us," Zartz replied.

"We helped him contact Brooke," Zift reminded them.

"Yes, but we only did that for laughs," Zetz recalled.

The curtains and table stayed in place.

"Opal, Darling," Marian spoke up, trying to help out, "I saw this movie once where the dead hero entered the Medium's body and spoke through her, using her voice."

"That sounds like fun," Edmund said dryly.

"Look, Edmund, I'm not Whoopie Goldberg and you're certainly not Patrick Swayze! Now make that dang curtain move!"

But the dang curtain stayed motionless while outside the storm intensified. Lightening flashed into the semi-darkened room, making Lily jump. Rain began pounding the windows as the wind gusted.

"Show time!" Zartz announced to the other kernels.

Edmund Grey began to materialize.

How will Maria and Brooke react to the newly materialized Edmund? Will they help him find the time machine before all material reality goes BOOM? Lots of chapters, lots of surprises still to come! Please read on! Your Review is welcome!