During the first week of August, Jack Berman was alone at home while his wife, Rose was visiting her sister in Texas. He was beginning to miss her, for this was the first time she had gone away for more than a day in their thirty-five years of marriage. The situation might have been easier to deal with had his son, Kerry, still been living there instead of moving into his own apartment after recently graduating from college.
Since retiring a year ago as principal of the local high school, Jack began the day walking Louis and Clark, his two Chihuahua dogs, eating breakfast, and then checking out any e-mail. He enjoyed using his computer. It was an easy and efficient way of communicating with the many friends and acquaintances he had made throughout the years. The only message he got that day was from someone listing himself as a “former student.” He was shocked by what he read.
“Because you’re a mean old man, get ready to die.”
There was no name signed.
Jack quickly erased the message.
“Probably a prank,” he thought, trying to unsuccessfully dismiss the threat. When the phone rang a short time later, he jumped up.
“Did you read my e mail yet?” a muffled voice said. “Be ready to pay for your actions. I’ll enjoy watching you squirm before ending your miserable life.”
“Who is this? I have no idea what you are talking about!” Jack shouted into the receiver. But all he heard was static, then the phone went dead.
Years ago, this type of threat wouldn’t have bothered him at all. During his prime he had little fear. Tenacious and aggressive, nothing stood in his way. In those years, he felt any kind of adversity could be overcome. As a senior citizen, he lacked the stamina and mental alertness that once had made him feel so invincible. Recently, the doctor had found some problems with his heart and suggested he come for a complete physical.
“Calm yourself down,” he told himself. “You are doing exactly what that jerk wants you to do, so don’t panic. It’s probably all a bluff.”
Still, Jack couldn’t get over that anyone could hate him so much. He didn’t remember doing anything so badly that would precipitate someone to behave in such a way.
Happily, there were no more such incidents for the rest of the day. When his wife called in the afternoon, Jack considered telling her what happened, but then changed his mind. It would only scare her. He was overreacting. It was just some silly prank. Everything was fine now.
That night after walking Luis & Clark, he couldn’t get back into his house. He was sure that he had left the back door open, but it was locked when he returned. There was an odor of something burning in the kitchen. Quickly he retrieved the spare key hidden under the door mat and then tied the dogs to the back porch railing. Opening the door, he saw a large empty pot smoking on the stove. This puzzled him, since he had shut off the stove after heating up his dinner. Hearing the dogs bark, he went out to get them. To his dismay, they weren’t there.
Searching his two acres proved futile. He got into his car and drove around the neighborhood, hoping to spot them. Usually the dogs stayed together and never ran far from the house, but now there wasn’t a trace of them. Disheartened, Jack returned home, tears in his eyes.
Back in the house, he heard water running in the bathroom. When he went to check, water was overflowing from the bath tub and sink. After shutting off the faucets, it took him at least thirty minutes to clean up the mess. He was getting scared, so he tried calling Kerry. All he got was his son’s voice mail.
“I need a cup of tea. It will calm my nerves,” the distraught man thought. Just as he began sipping it, a loud crash came from the den. Rushing into the room, his expensive new computer lay smashed on the floor.
“I’m not going to let you get away with this, whoever you are!” he screamed out, “I’m calling the police!"
But none of his land-based phones worked, and the cell phone was missing.
“Think you’re clever?” he shouted out to the unknown intruder in the house. “I’ll go to my neighbor and telephone the police from there.”
Jack walked to the front door and tried opening it, but it wouldn’t budge. The same thing happened with the back door. Suddenly, the poor man heard barking coming from below in the cellar. Running to the stairs that lead to the basement, he flicked on the light switch to see where he was going. A jolt of electricity went through him. He lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs as all the lights in the house went out. He hit his head on the cement floor and lost consciousness. When Jack came to, there was a bad gash on his head. He peered through the darkness. Luis and Clark were not there.
Groping his way up the stairs, he washed off the blood from his wound and put on a band-aid. He figured the best way to escape from the house was to climb out of the large window in the living room. In the hall, he tripped over something lost his balance and fell for the second time.
He heard laughter. Looking up, a ghostly figure stood over him. He glowed in a bluish phosphorescent color. The facial features of the specter were blurred.
“Who are you?” Jack nervously asked.
“Shut up, Old Man,” the specter answered. “Get ready to die.”
The anger in his voice made Jack shiver.
“Such hate! What could I possibly have done to you?”
The phantom shook his head in disgust. “Plenty.”
“This entire situation is ridiculous. Besides, you can’t hurt me. A ghost doesn’t have that kind of physical power.”
“Is that so?” The phantom’s pulled out a large knife from his long robe.
Jack tried to get up, but the spirit pushed him down, proving he did have substantial physical power.“How your wife will be shocked when she comes home and sees you lying on the floor with your heart cut out.”

“Please, can’t we talk this over?” Jack pleaded. “There must be some other rational way we can settle this. I still don’t know what I’ve done. ”

The phantom laughed again, even louder. He seemed to be enjoying himself immens “No, Principal, I’m not interesting in having any kind of a discussion. Goodbye. Rest in peace.”

The phantom’s knife touched Jack’s chest but never pierced his body. Still, the principal felt a sharp pain in his heart. He couldn’t catch his breath. Within minutes he lay still.
The specter bent down and checked for any vital signs. There were none. Slowly the figure stood up and removed his clock and gloves, then took off what turned out to be a Halloween mask. He put it in a bag near the front door, went outside and threw it in a nearby dumpster. From his car parked up the block, he brought in two pet carrying cases and let out Luis and Clark.

“Sorry, Dad. Too bad you always treated me more like a student than a son. When I asked you to lend me some money to pay off a gambling debt to avoid being beaten senseless, you refused and said it would be a good lesson to cure me of gambling. There was no choice after that. I knew you left me lots of money in your will, so when you recently told me about your weak heart, I knew what had to be done.”

He went to the phone and dialed 911.

“Hello, police? My name is Kerry Berman. I just came into my father’s house and found him lying dead on the floor. I think he had a heart attack. The address here is . . . ”

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