Crazy Life

There was a man whose pregnant wife craved ramps,  His next door neighbor had a beautiful garden full of wonderful fresh produce. Each night the wife would beg for ramps to fulfill her craving, so one night after dark her husband snuck into the neighbors garden and picked some ramps for his darling wife. The next night, his wife was sighing for more and once again he snuck into the garden, only to be caught by the owner, who happened to be a witch.  She agrees he may have all the food from the garden his wife desires but when the baby is born it will belong to her. Being afraid, he agrees. He promises she may have the baby. Fairy tales were often used to illustrate a moral. There was another story. A boastful miller claimed his beautiful daughter can spin straw into gold. The king hears of this and sends for the girl. He shows her to a room full of straw and tells her that if it not turned to gold by morning she will die. A little evil Rumplestiltskin shows up to help ...

 In Junior High I developed an interest in the occult. I think many children show a passing interest in this kind of "magic" and then move on to other things. I studied numerology. I had a pamphlet from some teen magazine, maybe Seventeen magazine. I read 16, Tiger Beat, all those, hoping for articles on Bobby Sherman - oh, those blue eyes. Reducing my name to one digit on their very scientific formula A=1 etc. I was a two. I am sure whatever description given for a two I met completely. Then I found an old Ouija board in the utility room. My friends and I all gathered around the coffee table. That would be the same table I had already accidentally set on fire playing with candles and bubbled the varnish off of. We asked the typical pre-teen questions. Does John, Jeff, Mike, Donny Osmond love me? Then I started asking the Ouija board questions about itself. "Who are you?" I would demand over and over and the plaquette would swirl around rapidly on the board ne...