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back? As in brought back from
the other world? From ... Stil-de-grain?"
    Hawaiian shirted Paul might look like
a beach comber from hell, but he had a never-fail memory. Though he
and John had hardly talked about the other world, Paul had
remembered the name of the band that contained Hero
Castle.
    "Afraid so."
    "Who?"
    "Platinia."
    "Platinia," Paul mumbled, running the
big fingers of both hands through what as left of his hair. "The
girl."
    "The girl."
    "And here I was thinking that --
living like a monk -- you didn't like girls all that
much."
    "I like girls," John said, careful not
to sound defensive, Paul partial to humorously lewd suggestions
about how John might improve John's love life.
    "Platinia," the big man said to
himself, using the name to trigger memory. "She the waif of a girl
you looked after?"
    John nodded.
    "The one you thought might have
magical control over you?"
    John nodded again, at the same time
waving a heavy hand to show doubt about Platinia's alleged
powers.
    Paul swivelled his protesting chair in
John's direction. Grinned. "So what you're telling your department
chairman is that you've got a little chickie stashed away at
home."
    "I wouldn't put it that way
..."
    "I'll just bet you wouldn't!" Said
with a good natured snort.
    John shrugged. As stupidly as he'd
handled things, he deserved to be kidded.
    Grunting, Paul made up his mind.
"Unless I call to say otherwise, we'll be at your place at
7:00."
    "You sure?"
    "If Ellen ever found out I'd kept
something this juicy from her, I'd be sleeping in the
streets."
    Vintage Paul. Enjoying
himself.
    So it was settled. Paul and Ellen --
at 7:00.
     
    * * * * *
     
    The three of them, plus Cream who was
allowing Ellen to hold her, were in the living room, the Hamilton's
sitting side by side on the near end of the divan, John in a
pulled-up "face" chair opposite them, the coffee table in between.
Paul was at his wrinkled best in a bilious green, Western style
shirt, tucked into the same bright red pants he'd had on that
morning. The way he looked, a distant drunk was apt to report him
as a traffic-light-gone-wrong.
    Decidedly pregnant, Ellen looked
lovely as always, a touch of lipstick glossing her full lips, her
golden hair brushed into a gamin's helmet. She was wearing a dark,
baby-hiding dress with a white, school-girl collar.
    Platinia?
    At least for now, John was letting the
girl hide upstairs.
    The Hamilton's were seated where
they'd been at John's house-warming, the night John learned from
Paul that the house was haunted.
    My God, Ellen was gorgeous! In spite
of the baby-bulge, had the fashion model look you didn't see on
"real" women.
    Everyone settled, Ellen asked the
critical question. "What's the big mystery?"
    Low, lush voice.
    "Mystery," John replied, not ready to
confess just yet.
    "The reason for this evening's
pow-wow. And don't tell me this is just another night of old folks'
fun." Ellen smiled her sleepy smile. "I know my man," she
continued, reaching out to touch Paul. "A woman can tell when
something's up."
    "You going to tell her, or must I,"
Paul growled, pretending to be unaffected by his wife's agonizing
nearness.
    "I will," John said, still unsettled
about how to begin."
    Before Paul and Ellen had arrived,
John had laid a fire. Had brought in the bundle he'd carefully
prepared.
    "This will sound strange," he started
slowly. You remember the last time you and Paul were here? The
house warming party? Just the three of us?"
    "And Cream," Ellen added, nodding,
running her fingers through Cream's white coat, the cat's purr
audible above the crackling of the fire.
    "And we got it out of Paul why he was
so nervous? That he'd heard I'd bought a haunted house, and didn't
know how to tell me?"
    She nodded.
    "It wasn't long after that that I
found the house wasn't so much haunted, as ... noisy."
    "Noisy?"
    "I discovered that ... the 'ghost'
sounds ... were coming from a storage area under the hall stairs."
John paused. Found the going easier now