A HALF-TRUTH

There wasn't much to be said about Saturday at Niagara Falls. Rory couldn't have been happier. He was still young, he was in love, it was the spring. But, as the universe wasn't as malleable as the flow rate of the waterfalls, he and Natalie made some minor changes to their plans.

The tourist attractions by the falls were best seen in the morning, or so the desk clerk advised them on checkout. She warned of the large crowds and long lines in the afternoon. So the couple hit the falls first.

Rory and Natalie took the short incline railway down the cliff to Table Rock House. They wandered about the lip of the falls (with several selfies); then they decided to go to take the elevators to the tunnels behind the falls. The viewing platform just to the south of the falls was okay (and wet), but Rory and Natalie were disappointed by the tunnels that went behind the falls themselves. For many years now, the end of the tunnels had been closed off because of cliff-side erosion and related safety concerns. One had to stand well back to see the white wall of water cascading at the end of the narrow tunnel. So far back one didn't even get wet.

Getting wet wasn't a problem on the Maid of the Mist. Rory and Natalie stood at the railing of the lower deck to get the best of it. The Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls poured nearby.

Clifton Hill was considerably more fun, to Rory's thinking, what with the roller coasters, haunted houses and wax museums. And various junk food to go along with it. "Clifton Hill" itself a short stretch of street going up a steep hill from the cliff bordering the Niagara Gorge to Victoria Avenue, which was on level with the rest of Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The hill also had video game arcades, where Rory could show off his skills to Natalie. Rory wasn't as good as Benny or Ethan, to be sure; but he was experienced enough to show off to Natalie who (Rory discovered) didn't play but liked to watch . . . and sometimes make suggestions. But then again, could anything be more compatible than a girlfriend liking to watch you play video games? Rory would have found it weird in a guy, but it was natural in Natalie.


Since this was real life, Rory found out that although he and Natalie had plenty of interests in common, there were some differences. Natalie loved being scared by haunted houses, clasping onto Rory and pointing out the scare. Rory, part of a monster-fighting team, wasn't scared but he found it just as fun as he had found watching Doug Falconheart's Scare Finder show many years before.

Natalie hated bats. She looked disgusted at a cage full of live bats as they left one of the haunted houses. Rory had always thought they were cool; before and after his vampire days.

"When I was a little girl, we had a barbeque one night" Natalie explained to Rory.

"What does that have to do with bats?"

"A bat flew into my hair. They were afraid it bit me, so I had to take rabies shots."

"I'll never bring you any bats" Rory pledged. "Are you okay with fakes?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have this bat-shaped chain I have, back from when I played with my bros in a group" said Rory.

"No, it's only real bats I don't like" said Natalie, as the two walked out into the daylight. "I even like Batman!"

"Yeah, criminals are afraid of him because they're a superstitious cowardly lot" said Rory. "We're . . . I'm . . . not cowardly . . . ."

"You look as if you've seen a ghost" said Natalie. "A real ghost!"

"I've seen lots" said Rory, with a frown and his "deep-thought" expression. "I mean . . . uh . . . let's go to that arcade."

"The haunted house scared you, didn't it?" teased Natalie.

"Nuh-uh" said Rory. "It couldn't scare me."

Rory rubbed his neck above the jugular vein; Natalie mocking the idea of Rory seeing a "real ghost" had given him a shock.


Natalie reminded Rory of someone he knew who didn't really take the supernatural too seriously, but liked a good show about ghosts and monsters. Someone who might have believed Doug Falconheart was the real thing, but knew the supernatural would never cross his path.

That is to say, Rory himself when he had just turned fourteen. His initiation into the world of the supernatural was unwittingly attending a vampire party and being bitten by Erica.

Rory'd have to tell her about Team Sabre sometime. And he should probably say it sooner than later. Natalie should know that one of Rory's main hobbies was helping his friends fight supernatural evil. Natalie'd have to know that sooner or later if Rory did marry her.

As for telling Natalie that he had actually been a vampire for one year and ten months . . . NO WAY! NUH-UH! He couldn't! Years ago, he thought it would have seemed to cool to a girl to know that her guy had superpowers. But to tell Natalie he had been wandering about undead and bloodthirsty . . . .

Rory, being an easy-going guy, forgot all about the supernatural until much later.


The two shared a late lunch at a restaurant near the top of Clifton Hill. When they reached their drinks, it was only then Rory remembered to bring up the monster-hunting . . . .

"I want to tell you . . . uh . . . something about me and my friends" said Rory in a low voice, but in a rapid-fire manner. "You're not going to believe it! It's awesome-cool, but hard to take! Me, Ethan Morgan, Sarah Fox-Morgan, Benny Weir . . . we're all people of science, like Spidey, but we're like those ghost-hunters you see on TV. In our spare time, and mostly when we visit our hometown . . .Whitechapel."

There was a moment's pause while Natalie tried to understand what her boyfriend just said.

"So . . . you go to haunted houses to look for ghosts?" Natalie asked skeptically.

"Yeah" said Rory. "Really. And other . . . supernatural stuff.

"How long have you been doing it?" she continued cooly.

"Since we were fourteen . . . and Sarah was about sixteen" said Rory. "We've got a team name . . . Team Sabre. Sarah, Benny, Rory Ethan."

"How did you get into it?" asked Natalie.

"Erica" said Rory bluntly, rubbing his neck again.

"Who's she?" asked Natalie.

"Erica Jones" said Rory. "She's an actress."

"I've heard of her" said Natalie. "I remember hearing she's a Canadian."

"She grew up in my hometown" said Rory. "We're good friends" Rory exaggerated.

"Oh, I get it now!" said Natalie, smiling. "She began her career in one of those Dusk plays. She was probably into vampires and the supernatural and dragged you into it."

Rory looked at her, with a silly-looking grin.

"Yeah . . . you can say that's how it happened" Rory said, again rubbing his neck. "But the ghost fighting . . . hunting . . .also began with Benny's grandmother. She's an . . . an . . . expert on the supernatural."

"And you've been having an awesome time looking for ghosts and fighting the forces of evil ever since!" Natalie hinted.

"Yeah, but it's more serious than you think" said Rory. "Really!"

"I think it sounds great" said Natalie eagerly.

"You do?" said Rory.

"I might want to go along sometime and look for ghosts" said Natalie. "Only if I ever actually saw one I'd be scared."

"So you'd only want to go if you didn't see anything supernatural?" asked Rory incredulously.

"It's not as if I could" said Natalie.

"Yeah" said Rory, with a shrug. "My parents don't believe in that . . . stuff either. I think Ethan, Benny and me are the only engineers at McMurdo Abbott who do. I promised the guys I'd never mention it at work."

Rory still had the odd grin on his face. He was disappointed that Natalie didn't take the supernatural seriously . . . but that was natural! Seeing was believing. After all, Rory knew how the first adventure had gone down. Ethan didn't believe Jane. Benny didn't believe Ethan. And Rory didn't Ethan and Benny when they told him to leave that party. And he had suffered the consequences . . . though while a vampire he only once admitted it sucked, even to himself.

"You're not hurt that I don't believe in ghosts?" asked Natalie, seeing the thoughtful look on Rory's face.

Rory looked perplexed for a moment, but quickly realized that Natalie used "ghosts" as shorthand for anything "supernatural".

"You've gotta be joking Natalie?" laughed Rory. "I never believed in it either until I started."

Rory thought he had come clean.

"I have to be honest" Natalie added, in a tone that almost stopped Rory's heart, "I don't mind Doug Falconheart and the rest, but I can't stand Dusk. I like my romances without morbid- depressed sparkling vampires."

Rory was happy.

"Whoa!" said Rory. "That's what I think! You want a bloodsucker . . . you put them as the bad guys in action, adventure or horror! Never a romance. Maybe you could have a fun-adventure sitcom with good vamps, but you can't just sentimentalise it! Man, I used to love Vampire Sasquatch!"

Natalie laughed.

"I still have a VS stuffed animal!" she said.

"So do I" said Rory Keener, keenly.

"Don't you love how at the end of the show the . . . ."

"Mysterious mystical magical shaman of the headless valley cured him and turned him back into Valorous Sasquatch, the true protector of the animals of the northwest woods . . . eating nuts and berries and no longer needing the blood of small animals to survive" said Rory and Natalie together, with their pairs of blue eyes seeing not only the closing narration over the final episode, but each other as well.

"At first I thought it was bogus" admitted Rory, "because the show was ending . . . and other stuff. But I soon got it . . . it was the all-time best ending to the show. Who better than the MMMS to cure VS!"


A visit to Madame Tussuads brought them more fun, although Rory called it "old school fun". But life-size wax superheroes were awesome, not to mention the Chamber of Horrors. Rory and Natalie took turns taking a seat in the replica-electric chair.

Posing by the wax astronauts made Rory realize Natalie also shared another dream of his. Rory, more than his buddies, was a fan of the real life NASA and the space program. Someday, and soon, Rory knew space tourism would be a thing. Rory hoped to take a trip to the moon before he was too old, or at least into space. Natalie agreed that would be an experience of a lifetime!


By the time they made it up the hill, there was no time to spare to go to the Whirlpool Jetboats or even the IMAX Theatre movie. The theatre showed the exact same movie day after day, month after month, year after year, for the benefit of tourists. From the ahistorical sacrifice of the Iroquois maiden to the Thunder god, to Marilyn Monroe in the movie Niagara, to the rescue of a seven-year old boy who survived the plunge over the falls in only a life-jacket.

Rory drove Natalie to her brother's apartment. It was really a motel room way out on Lundy's Lane, the old highway leading away from Niagara Falls. The road was bordered by restaurants and hotels until you reached the far end of the city. The place was the "Central Motel". It was an unassuming one-storey motel offering weekly and monthly rates. The building was old, but it had neatly painted red and white siding, a well-groomed lawn and small outdoor pool in front.

"What do you think?" asked Natalie.

"It's not bad" said Rory enthusiastically, remembering road trips in the past. "I mean, it's well kept."

"That's what my brother says" said Natalie.

"It looks like an okay place to visit" said Rory. "It's old school."

"You don't mind people if they're a little old school?" asked Natalie.

"What do you mean?"

Rory considered a moment. What could she mean? And weird things happened to him before?

"You're not the ghost of the Iroquois maiden thrown to the falls, are you?" asked Rory, worriedly.

"No!" laughed Natalie, who thought Rory was joking. "I'm just as much alive as you are! But I'll show you how old school I am tomorrow."

Rory took the tomorrow as a good sign, as he and Natalie passionately kissed goodbye.


On the way back to Mississauga, Rory opened the central counsel of his car. He had there an old birthday gift from Benny. It was the one magical item he owned. A flask of root beer that never went empty (Benny also gave one to Rory).

"It's better she doesn't know . . . yet" said Rory. "But man . . . I'd love to tell her almost everything."

Rory didn't think he'd use the flask to prove magic to Natalie. He's feel way dumb filling mugs and glasses just to prove it couldn't be emptied.

Only Ethan (though his seer-mind powers) or Benny (through spellmaster powers) could prove the supernatural in, well, a natural way.

So Rory used the flask for what he usually used it for. An endless supply of cold root beer.


Rory was more preoccupied with another idea. He had seen, what he considered, cool ads for a jewelry store not far from his condo. Rory managed to get to that store before closing.

The man at the counter was helpful, suggesting Rory look at a chart to the side. Per annum income and how much should you spend on a ring! Rory knew his per annum income. He mentally bid buying an airplane in the next few years goodbye. It would take a year to pay for the ring on the installment plan.

But the ring with the large, shiny white diamond glittered in Rory's eyes. Of course, even expensive diamonds are small compared to what you'd expect in cartoons. But Rory bought it and left the store much poorer but still happy.