Part 3
Nefertiti’s Ghost Stories
The Night after the Funeral
I awoke with a start and immediately my head started pounding to the sound of the screen door banging open and close on the front porch. I tried to shut it out and convince myself to sleep it off. I wasn’t ready to get up. But my head was throbbing and why was that screen door making so much noise? I had fallen asleep on my Mom’s love seat to the sound of laughter as my brothers and sisters revisited crazy memories of our beloved Granddad.
December 5th, he passed. One day before my 31st birthday. My Mom and her brothers had to make the emotional decision to let him go and to take him off life support. He just wasn’t coming back from that heart attack. The funeral was sad, just really sad. So many people depended on my Granddad for their well being, especially my mother. She could count on Granddad for everything. I remember when I was a junior in high school, I had to drop two of my sisters off at the elementary school because they missed their school bus. And because I basically cursed them out the entire ride to their school, they decided that they weren’t getting out of my car when I pulled up at the corner, up the street from their building.
“Get out, before you make me late too!” I demanded.
“No,” replied my 11-year-old sister Ranavalona. “Mom says drop us off at the school. We’re not getting out till you drive us to the front doors!” Then Rana looked at my eight year-old sister and said, “Tie, don’t move!” And Titusleta looked at Rana and then back at me and said,
“Yeah, we’re not getting out here!”
“Fine,” I resolved, “but I’m going to my school with or without you two.” And I drove off towards Bryan Station Senior High. It grew silent in my car. My sisters didn’t know what to say. Ten minutes later I pulled in to the parking lot of my high school.
“See ya,” I said as I slammed the car door and ran toward the school building. I headed straight for the bathroom. I really didn’t care if I was tardy. I only wanted to give them a hard time for getting on my nerves. I intended on waiting a few minutes and then heading back to the parking lot. But five minutes later, as I made to leave the bathroom, I heard my name blasted over the intercom...
“Nefertiti Jenkins please report to the principle’s office, Nefertiti Jenkins, please report to the principle’s office.”
I hastily made my way thinking, no way, but yes, as soon as I walked through the principal’s office door, there sat my two younger sisters crying their eyes out! The receptionist looked at me and asked if they were my sisters.
“Yes Ma’am,” I said.
“Well your sisters called your Mom and your Granddad is on line two waiting for you.” She pointed to a phone on a table across the room.
“Hello Granddad?” And out with a roar Granddad answered from the other end...
“Girl, I ought to come down there and beat your behind!”
Granddad did arrive at the school, not to give me a spanking, but to pick my sisters up. My Mom couldn’t leave her job, but as always Granddad stepped in. We weren’t the only ones who leaned heavily on my grandfather. Granddad was truly a pillar of the community. Everyone knew Clarence Campbell and no one messed with Clarence “Pops” Campbell. My Granddad had a reputation for being able to take care of things. One way or another the job always got done.
The night after the funeral I was exhausted. Not only had I driven down from Indianapolis the day before after work, but along the way I had stopped by Northern Kentucky University to pick up Titusleta and my other sister Onierita. Because they couldn’t afford to miss too many days of classes. We had already discussed getting up early the morning after the funeral so that I could drive them back to NKU, which is about two hours north of our home town of Lexington.
I don’t remember falling asleep. But after a few seconds of registering the sound of the screen door, I remembered where I was. I still wanted a few more minutes of sleep, but my head was just killing me. I slowly opened my eyes to check the time, and there sitting in the chair across from me with his arms folded and legs crossed, was my Granddad! He looked at me, shook his head and said,
“Girl, you need to get up!” I quickly closed my eyes, thinking okay, I’m still dreaming. But with that, the screen door started pounding louder and louder and the intensity of the wind howled at me for attention.
I sat up and checked my cell phone for the time. It was only four in the morning, but I decided to get up anyway. I needed to take something for my killer headache and plus I might as well get an early start and go ahead and take my sisters back to school. I turned on the living room lights, found my purse and took a couple of pain killers. I then opened the front room door. The porch light was on so I felt safe. Of course my overnight bag was still in the trunk because I had fallen asleep before I got a chance to bring it in. But when I made my way to my little red Neon parked in the driveway, I saw the door to the driver’s seat wide open and the trunk to my car popped open. Someone had broken into my car. I ran back through the living room to find my brother Thomas who had fallen asleep on a couch in the family room. He had driven up from Columbus, Georgia for the funeral. Tommy then ran back out to my car with me.
We discovered that who ever had broken in had actually snatched the dome light out to do his dirty work in the dark. He stole my portable CD player and most of my CD’s, as well as the jewelry out of the jewelry bag in the luggage case in the back trunk. This thief got me good. Granddad tried to warn me. I think he used the wind to scare off the intruder and bang the screen door open and shut. So although the family had laid him to rest, like always my Granddad’s spirit decided to stick around because we needed him.
Nefertiti
09/05/09
Nefertiti’s Ghost Stories
The Night after the Funeral
I awoke with a start and immediately my head started pounding to the sound of the screen door banging open and close on the front porch. I tried to shut it out and convince myself to sleep it off. I wasn’t ready to get up. But my head was throbbing and why was that screen door making so much noise? I had fallen asleep on my Mom’s love seat to the sound of laughter as my brothers and sisters revisited crazy memories of our beloved Granddad.
December 5th, he passed. One day before my 31st birthday. My Mom and her brothers had to make the emotional decision to let him go and to take him off life support. He just wasn’t coming back from that heart attack. The funeral was sad, just really sad. So many people depended on my Granddad for their well being, especially my mother. She could count on Granddad for everything. I remember when I was a junior in high school, I had to drop two of my sisters off at the elementary school because they missed their school bus. And because I basically cursed them out the entire ride to their school, they decided that they weren’t getting out of my car when I pulled up at the corner, up the street from their building.
“Get out, before you make me late too!” I demanded.
“No,” replied my 11-year-old sister Ranavalona. “Mom says drop us off at the school. We’re not getting out till you drive us to the front doors!” Then Rana looked at my eight year-old sister and said, “Tie, don’t move!” And Titusleta looked at Rana and then back at me and said,
“Yeah, we’re not getting out here!”
“Fine,” I resolved, “but I’m going to my school with or without you two.” And I drove off towards Bryan Station Senior High. It grew silent in my car. My sisters didn’t know what to say. Ten minutes later I pulled in to the parking lot of my high school.
“See ya,” I said as I slammed the car door and ran toward the school building. I headed straight for the bathroom. I really didn’t care if I was tardy. I only wanted to give them a hard time for getting on my nerves. I intended on waiting a few minutes and then heading back to the parking lot. But five minutes later, as I made to leave the bathroom, I heard my name blasted over the intercom...
“Nefertiti Jenkins please report to the principle’s office, Nefertiti Jenkins, please report to the principle’s office.”
I hastily made my way thinking, no way, but yes, as soon as I walked through the principal’s office door, there sat my two younger sisters crying their eyes out! The receptionist looked at me and asked if they were my sisters.
“Yes Ma’am,” I said.
“Well your sisters called your Mom and your Granddad is on line two waiting for you.” She pointed to a phone on a table across the room.
“Hello Granddad?” And out with a roar Granddad answered from the other end...
“Girl, I ought to come down there and beat your behind!”
Granddad did arrive at the school, not to give me a spanking, but to pick my sisters up. My Mom couldn’t leave her job, but as always Granddad stepped in. We weren’t the only ones who leaned heavily on my grandfather. Granddad was truly a pillar of the community. Everyone knew Clarence Campbell and no one messed with Clarence “Pops” Campbell. My Granddad had a reputation for being able to take care of things. One way or another the job always got done.
The night after the funeral I was exhausted. Not only had I driven down from Indianapolis the day before after work, but along the way I had stopped by Northern Kentucky University to pick up Titusleta and my other sister Onierita. Because they couldn’t afford to miss too many days of classes. We had already discussed getting up early the morning after the funeral so that I could drive them back to NKU, which is about two hours north of our home town of Lexington.
I don’t remember falling asleep. But after a few seconds of registering the sound of the screen door, I remembered where I was. I still wanted a few more minutes of sleep, but my head was just killing me. I slowly opened my eyes to check the time, and there sitting in the chair across from me with his arms folded and legs crossed, was my Granddad! He looked at me, shook his head and said,
“Girl, you need to get up!” I quickly closed my eyes, thinking okay, I’m still dreaming. But with that, the screen door started pounding louder and louder and the intensity of the wind howled at me for attention.
I sat up and checked my cell phone for the time. It was only four in the morning, but I decided to get up anyway. I needed to take something for my killer headache and plus I might as well get an early start and go ahead and take my sisters back to school. I turned on the living room lights, found my purse and took a couple of pain killers. I then opened the front room door. The porch light was on so I felt safe. Of course my overnight bag was still in the trunk because I had fallen asleep before I got a chance to bring it in. But when I made my way to my little red Neon parked in the driveway, I saw the door to the driver’s seat wide open and the trunk to my car popped open. Someone had broken into my car. I ran back through the living room to find my brother Thomas who had fallen asleep on a couch in the family room. He had driven up from Columbus, Georgia for the funeral. Tommy then ran back out to my car with me.
We discovered that who ever had broken in had actually snatched the dome light out to do his dirty work in the dark. He stole my portable CD player and most of my CD’s, as well as the jewelry out of the jewelry bag in the luggage case in the back trunk. This thief got me good. Granddad tried to warn me. I think he used the wind to scare off the intruder and bang the screen door open and shut. So although the family had laid him to rest, like always my Granddad’s spirit decided to stick around because we needed him.
Nefertiti
09/05/09
My car was broken in to as well. That's horrible.
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