Voice; childhood memoir Week 4

             I grow up religious we went to church three times a week. So my whole life I have been hearing about good and evil. With many days at church spent talking about angels and demons.  We would hear about the spectacular miracles and horrific killings. As a young child I remember hearing the bible provide accounts of people being possessed by the devil, some surviving and some not. This knowledge stays with you forever, not thinking that you will ever need it.   

            My mom always knew the best day and places for yard sales. Lincoln was always on Thursday and Fridays where Bangor.  It was a beautiful summer day and we are up early, heading to Bangor. I wasn’t quite a teenager yet so getting up earlier wasn’t a problem. We have made so many trips to Bangor, that 30 minutes in the car doesn’t seem that long.

            The houses seemed so big and ornate, it looked like an old Victorian movie here; Mom told me we were in the tree street.  I had the newspaper in my hand and called the address to my mother. Mom pulls the car over to the side of the road. We both look at the house there was a small sign on the front lawn that said Garage sale. But I couldn’t see the garage anywhere, but we got out of the car anyway. It just didn’t feel right we walked down the driveway to the back of the house, turned the corner then we finally saw the garage it was in the basement of the house.

            The moment I stepped into the dark musty space, I felt something out of whack. I felt my skin start getting goose bumps I rubbed my arms and tried to shake this creepy feeling. I looked around; it was a pretty small garage with a few tables and some hanging clothes. First thing, I look through the clothes I get a whiff of moth ball, it’s an awful stench. Why do old people use those? After a few minutes I have weeded through all the clothes my hands where covered with dust and dirt. I wiped my hands off on my jeans; I made my way over to the tables.   All the sudden I was taken over by that eerie feeling, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.  I looked up and a few people walk in and quickly look around and leave. But then I saw my mom causality looking through a box of books, she looked fine. Maybe this feeling was just me and nothing was wrong.

            I bring my attention back to the table full of knick knacks I scanned the table and spotted a few weird items.  Bookends that had pentagrams on then, a figurine that looked like some kind of horned beast and tooth brush with 666 on it. A chill went down my spine that’s when I stopped touching anything and just walked out. As soon as I stepped out of the dark space I started to feel better, but I didn’t want to look back. I didn’t even stop to tell my mom that I was leaving.

            I waited in the car for her; I was trying to figure out what just happened. Do I tell her about it?  When she got to the car of all things she could have bought at the yard sale, a bible. At that point I knew that I had to tell mom. I explained how that place made me feel and what I had seen. We had only drove down the road a few hundred feet when we stopped at the first trash can and throw the bible away.