SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

Chapter Ninety Two

“One more day,” Alan said to Rose and Awinita as they got ready for bed.

They were currently staying in a Holiday Inn in Rockford, Illinois. It was October 30th and they had been exploring Northwest Illinois, staying near Chicago after they decided that it would be the best place to find a Halloween party and some haunted houses. Rose had found both and researched a few other places they could go while they were there earlier that day at the local library. She smiled at her fiancé while she sat on the edge of the bed and took off her shoes and socks.

“One more day until you can wear your cow costume,” she said to him.

“Yes and one more day until I can see you with big balloon boobs,” he replied.

“I don’t know if I’m gonna be doing that,” she said.

“You have to, it’ll be hilarious,” he said. “You have to do something to stand out so the judges will award us first place. What better way to get their attention than to have big Dolly Parton breasts under that farm girl costume.”

“I think you want me to do it just so you can ogle my chest.”

“Well, that too but I’m also thinking about the contest as well,” he said. “Other than that, the party you found sounds fun. It looks like it’ll be a huge shindig.”

He smiled.

“My very first Halloween party,” he said, taking off his shoes and socks and lying back in bed.

“I s’pose since we’re doing that and the haunted houses, that means you won’t be pulling the trick or treat stunt,” Rose said.

“No, I’m doing that too. I told you I would.”

“Alan, you’re gonna get shot or arrested especially if you show up at the door dressed like a bleedin’ cow! You wanna get sent to the insane asylum?” Rose said. “I know you had your heart set on doin’ that but we were just kidding. No one is gonna give you sweets. They’ll be standing there in shock wondering why a man dressed as a cow is at their door trick or treatin’. Come on, be sensible!”

He sighed.

“Oh, alright. I just thought it would kinda funny to do that and see people’s reactions,” he said.

“Yes, but I wanna keep you safe. You don’t know Chicago. You don’t know the neighborhoods and I don’t wanna watch you bleed to death from a gunshot wound. That’s not how I wanna remember Halloween night. We have a party to go to and a couple of haunted houses, be happy with that.”

He smiled and pulled her close.

“As long as you’re with me, I’ll be very happy,” he said.

He kissed her. Rose breathed a sigh of relief, happy that Alan wasn’t going to go through with his dangerous stunt. They turned on the TV and all of them lay on the beds watching it. The news was on. A man was talking about a Chicago ghost named Resurrection Mary.

“Hey, I remember hearing about that,” Awinita said.

“Really?” Alan said. “Where?”

“A long time ago on Unsolved Mysteries.”

They listened to the report. The man described how a woman got killed by a hit and run driver coming back from a party one night and how she would often get picked up by people by the side of the road and disappear from the cars when they reached the cemetery.

“Creepy,” Alan said.

“Yeah, I remember seeing the show and they said several people have picked her up or seen her outside the cemetery walking around. We oughta drive by there before going back to the hotel and see if we can see her.”

Alan glanced at Awinita and looked at Rose.

“What about it, Rose? Fancy going on a quick ghost hunt after the party?” he said.

“That doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll have to check again tomorrow at the library before we head into Chicago and see where Resurrection Cemetery is. Although…if they’re talking about it on the news, I have a feeling there’ll be a ton of people driving past there at all hours of the night. If there really is a ghost I’m sure she’ll be scared off by all the commotion.”

“It’s worth a look though,” Alan said. “It’s probably an old graveyard with ancient gravestones. Just the thing to drive past on Halloween night.”

“Actually, there’s another thing I just thought of that I read about a long time ago. I think it’s in Chicago if I remember right,” Awinita said.

“What?” Alan said.

“Um, someone showed me this book when I was in high school. It was on American serial killers and the first one that they know of was some guy that operated a drug store, I think, and he would lure people into his house and there was this secret basement where he’d cut them up and dismember them and dump their bodies and I remember he had another secret room that he could put people in that was soundproofed and he could gas people in it. They think he murdered over 100 people at least before he got caught. But I though I read that they gave tours of where he murdered people and stuff.”

“Hmmm, that might be interesting too,” Alan said. “You don’t recall the man’s name?”

“Not offhand.”

“I can try to look it up tomorrow too,” Rose said. “But he was a chemist?”

“No, he had a drug store.”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Oh, sorry, yeah…at least that’s what I think he did. He had a shop and he’d lure people in. it was late 1800’s.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can find it then. What are we going to do until tomorrow night though? It won’t take that long to drive into Chicago.”

“How ‘bout the Ferris Bueller tour?” Alan said.

Rose looked at him.

“Huh?”

He grinned.

“Have you seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?” he asked her.

“Yeah.”

“Well, he went all over Chicago. Let’s do what he did,” he said as Awinita giggled.

“Are we gonna hold hands as we go through the museum?” Awinita asked.

He snickered.

“If you want to,” he said.

“Um, okay,” Rose said, “so he went to the museum, the Sears Tower…”

“The ball park, the stock exchange, a parade,” Alan said. “Wouldn’t some of that stuff fill up the day?”

“I really don’t fancy going to a ball game or the stock exchange and I seriously doubt we’re gonna find a parade but the other two things sound okay,” Rose said. “Especially the Sears Tower. I’d like to go up there and see the view.”

“And take the lover’s plunge into downtown Chicago?”

“What is it with you and wanting to jump off tall things?” Rose said as Awinita laughed.

“I just find it romantic, is all,” he said, winking.

“If that’s your idea of romance, leave me out of it.”

“Besides I’m sure the windows are unbreakable up there.”

Rose snorted.

“If anyone could find a way to break unbreakable glass, it’d be Alan,” she said to Awinita.

“Why thank you, dear. I’m glad you have that much confidence in my abilities,” he said.

“Well, I’m just taking the person you sprang from into consideration and that’s all I’m gonna say about that,” she said.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

“Well, I told you I’d try to live up to him and I intend to keep that promise,” he said. “If that means being forced to find a way to construct a hyper sonic laser ray light break unbreakable glass gun to break the window then I will do that.”

“I’ll come visit you in prison then,” Rose said.

He chuckled and gave her a kiss. All of them got under the covers, turned off the light and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, they woke bright and early and checked out. They went back to the library and Rose got online. She found Resurrection Cemetery and wrote down the directions. Then she did a search for the serial killer Awinita described.

“Okay, I found this guy named Herman Webster Mudgett,” she said to Awinita. “Does that sound familiar?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. I just skimmed through the chapter on the guy.”

Rose read on.

“This sounds like the guy. He did work as a chemist. But the actual house where the murders took place was across the street. He lured people into it during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1890 when he set it up as a hotel. He put ads in newspapers offering employment or just looking for ladies to marry and that’s how he was able to get them into the house and then they’d disappear right after they moved in with him. It says…The Castle was a three-storied building with turrets, bay windows for the various shops located on the lower floor. The top floor held the living quarters for Mudgett and “guests” of the hotel. On the second floor the police found 100 windowless, soundproof rooms of torture with secret staircases, false walls and ceilings. The basement held two huge acid vats, surgical instruments, rooms with gas vents, an overly large furnace that investigators believed was used for a crematorium, large chutes leading from the rooms to the basement, a variety of human bones and several complete female skeletons. It soon became evident Mudgett used the chutes to transport the bodies from the middle floor to the basement. Also in the basement investigators found a heavy metal door placed in the floor that opened into a giant lime lined pit. In all, officials felt there could be up to one hundred possible victims.”

“Blimey, the man was certainly a busy guy,” Alan said.

“When he was on trial, he changed his story and claimed he had murdered more than 200 people,” Rose said. “They aren’t sure because he disposed of them so thoroughly. But they did hang the bastard on May 7, 1896.”

“Do they give tours?” Alan asked.

“Yes. But it’s part of a tour package called Weird Chicago Tours where you see it and several other sites and it’s 400 bleedin’ dollars.”

Alan and Awinita’s mouth fell open.

“And there’s nothing else? There’s no single tour of just his house?” Awinita said.

“Hold on, let me look,” she said, bringing up Google.

She shook her head.

“No, they don’t offer anything else.”

They groaned.

“What a rip off,” Awinita said.

“Yeah, you can’t see one house unless you take their entire tour?” Alan said. “That’s idiotic!”

“I know, guys, but that’s all they offer.”

“That’s almost as much as Disneyworld,” Awinita said as Alan nodded in agreement.

Awinita sighed.

“Well, thanks for looking, Rose.”

“No problem. At least we learned something. I had no idea who this guy was before today and I’m certainly glad I never met him.”

She noticed the grin on Alan’s face and guessed what he was thinking.

“And before you open your gob and say anything…No, as soon as we get the TARDIS we’re not going back and pressing our luck with this guy.”

Awinita laughed when he slammed his hand on the table in mock frustration.

“Can you guys think of anything else while I’m sitting here?” Rose said.

“Are there any other haunted places?” Awinita said. “I mean real haunted places.”

“Yeah, any ghosts and ghoulies besides Resurrection Mary?” Alan added.

Rose looked it up.

“There’s several. Do you mean Chicago or just haunted places in general?”

“Um…both,” Awinita said. “I mean, we don’t have to go to places like that just on Halloween. I’m just thinking of things we can do once we leave Chicago.”

Rose read an entry.

“Hmmm, you know Springfield, Illinois? Well, Lincoln is buried there and supposedly he haunts his tomb among other things.”

Alan glanced at Awinita.

“Something to check out once we get down there,” he said as she nodded.

“Too bad this isn’t April,” Rose muttered.

“Why?” Alan said, “what happens in April?”

Rose read…

“The most interesting haunting surrounding Lincoln is the phantom funeral train. Said to be seen during the month of April on the anniversary of Lincoln’s death, the ghostly train is said to ride those very same tracks that bore his body to Springfield in 1865. Reports indicate that this ghostly funeral procession is actually two trains, with the first steam engine pulling several cars draped in black, adorned with black streamers, and playing the sounds of mournful music. The second train is said to pull a flatcar that carries Lincoln’s coffin. Unfortunately, the train is said to never reach its final destination.”

“Cool,” Awinita said. “That would be neat to see.”

“Well, wait,” Alan said, “the tour guide at the White House said Lincoln supposedly haunts it too. So…during the month of April, he goes on holiday over here?”

Rose laughed.

“I guess so,” she said. “At any rate, we can check this at another time. We have enough to do today and I wanna get going so we’ll have time to do them.”

They nodded. Rose logged off and all of them got up and left the library.

After seeing the Sears Tower and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the three of them checked into another Holiday Inn and prepared to go to the Halloween party. All of them got showers beforehand and once that was done, Rose set down with Alan on the bed with the makeup he had purchased.

“Okay, what do you want to do with this?” she asked him. “You want a white face with some black spots?”

“Yes, I was thinking put a black spot around my right eye and put a little spot on my left cheek and then give me a little black nose and lips.”

Rose nodded. She put her fingers in the white makeup, got a generous portion on the tips of them and began to spread it on his face while Awinita was in the bathroom putting regular makeup on her face.

“Wow,” she said when she got most of it on. “This looks bizarre on ya.”

“Is it that bad?” Alan said, frowning.

“Not bad, just weird. I’ve never seen the Doctor wear any makeup of any kind. Seeing your face all white is odd.”

She finished with the white leaving a huge unfinished circle around his right eye and a smaller circle on his left cheek and she left the tip of his nose uncovered . She went to clean off her fingers and when she was done, she came back and did the black makeup. She giggled.

“Now you really look odd,” she said.

She finished the eye, cheek and nose.

“Open your mouth wide so I can blacken your lips,” she said.

Alan opened his mouth and she spread it on his lips. He closed his mouth and Rose giggled some more.

“Hey, Awinita, come in here and see cow boy,” she said.

Awinita came around the corner and bent over laughing.

“Oh God, that’s great!” she said. “I can’t wait to see the rest of the costume on him.”

She went back in the bathroom while Rose reached into the plastic bag for his cow costume. She took the cardboard backing off and instructed Alan to undress. Alan stripped down to his underwear and Rose handed him the main part of the costume. She giggled uncontrollably when he stepped into it and slipped it up onto his body. Rose walked around and tied it at his neck. She walked back around and laughed harder at the udders that were gracing his stomach.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to stop laughin’ tonight,” she said.

She handed him the head covering and Alan put it on and tied it around his chin. The back of it covered his hair so only his face was visible. She handed him the gloves and he put them on his hands.

“Oh…my….God!” Rose said when he was finally done. “I gotta get my camera. I gotta get a picture of this!”

Awinita walked back out, took one look at him and leaned against the wall laughing uncontrollably.

“That is so you, Alan!” she said, between fits of laughter.

Rose got the camera and turned Alan so he was facing her.

“You have to give me a copy of this picture, Rose,” Awinita said.

“Don’t worry, I will.”

She took a couple pictures of him.

“Okay, now that he’s done, I gotta get into costume and get made up,” she said to Awinita.

They both took another look at him and held their sides laughing.

“You know it looks weird with him having that little face on the top of his head,” Awinita said. “What you shoulda done was blacken his whole face so it looked like he was yawning or something.”

“Well, I have to wear this,” Alan said. “It has my horns and ears and the back is covering my hair.”

“Yes but we’re talking about the little face it has. We shoulda just done what Awinita said and blackened your face and let that be your face up there.”

“Nah,” Alan said.

They snickered when he walked past them into the bathroom. They laughed harder when they heard him laughing at himself. He walked back out.

“No, I like the way my face is now,” he said.

“I just hope you win first place because you certainly deserve it,” Rose said.

“Well, if you two don’t finish up, we’ll never get there in time so I can win,” he said.

The two women looked at each other and hurried into the bathroom while Alan set down on the bed to wait for them.

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