Free Feta Attraction by Susannah Hardy Page B

appear, either to the naked eye or just in photographs, in places with paranormal activity,” Jerry piped in. “They are spherical concentrations of energy, without any sort of consciousness or intent. They can also be dust illuminated by our lights and cameras.”
    That theory would certainly get my vote. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of orbs flying around my house at night, landing on me as I slept. Yikes.
    â€œThe next area we’d like you to look at is in the cupola area. The view from up there, by the way, is spectacular.”
    â€œYes. With eight windows facing in every direction, we can see for miles, well into the countryside and across the river into Canada,” I said.
    A pair of what appeared to be junior investigators sat in the highest point of the house, one in an old midcentury-style armchair that Sophie had never been able to part with, it having belonged to her dead husband. The other guy sat in one of my dining room chairs that they must have dragged upstairs. The investigators got up and walked around, picking up some of the old books, theatrically blowing off the dust and looking at the covers. Some of Cal’s old toys were up there too. An anorexically thin bespectacled guy picked up a stuffed purple dinosaur and dangled it over the edge of the railing.
    â€œHow much will you pay me to drop him?” he clowned around. If the toy fell, it would drop three full stories, maybe four if they could aim him just right for the basement and avoid him bouncing off the railings below. This didn’t bother me much, as that talking critter was extremely annoying, but Cal had loved him and I felt defensive for her.
    â€œI love you!” the toy said in its goofy cartoon voice as the dangler squeezed his tummy.
    â€œI love you too!” The other guy cracked up. He picked up something from the table facing the upriver window and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you fifty bucks if you drop him down into the basement and then drop this on him.”
    â€œHey, man, what is that thing anyway?”
    â€œDude, I don’t have any idea.” He fiddled with the round end, which spun around with an audible whizzing sound like the chamber of a gun being spun in a game of Russian roulette. “Looks like a telescope. Heavy. It’s too dark to look through it, though.”
    I supposed this was just an act they put on for the show, but it wasn’t funny to me. I continued to stare at the screen, as Gary broke in. “Here’s what we wanted you to see. Watch over in this corner here.”
    I didn’t see anything at first, but when the tape was replayed, an amorphous shadow drifted past the window.
    â€œWe don’t know what that is, if anything. There haven’t been any reports of apparitions here, have there?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDespite many hours of tape shot all through this building, that is the only thing of interest we caught on video.”
    Fine by me. Looked like a plain old shadow. Could have been cast by anything, and I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t paranormal. I breathed a little sigh of relief. This interview needed to be over, and soon. I had way too many things to think about.
    â€œNext we’ll listen to the EVPs.”
    â€œEVPs?”
    â€œElectronic voice phenomena,” Gary explained. “Sometimes spirits communicate with us in ways that are not audible when they are happening, but they can be picked up by our recording equipment.”
    â€œOh.” I wished they’d hurry up. My foot started to jiggle, but I pressed my heel to the floor to stop it.
    â€œHere we had our equipment set up in the staircase area,” Jerry went on. “We had several hours of audio to go through. We found something interesting.”
    Gary pointed to the laptop screen, which was bisected by a white line. “Watch and listen.”
    A crackly recording ensued and I could see the noise