WEBVTT
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The door slams on its own, and the Grandfather clock
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starts counting toward midnight. You've got one key, two angry ghosts,
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and a haunted manner that doesn't like quitters. But on
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the night before Halloween, are you brave enough to play
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by the house rules where winner takes you?
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There's a shill in the air. Must befall? Join me
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for a Tale of Halloween. You will experience tales over
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our own ghosts, and dam it is not recommended for
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the week at heart. Join me for a tale of oul.
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Is Weekly Spooky. Hello, my spookys, It's the day before Halloween,
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the Big One, the most eerie day of the year,
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and the sixth anniversary of Weekly Spooky. I'm your host
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and narrator, Enrique Kuto, and don't you worry. We have
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something scary for you to enjoy as you get ready
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for your mischief night, and I want to remind you
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that tomorrow we'll be back yet again with a scary
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story from Weekly Spooky original Shane Migleyovaka that I know
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you'll enjoy. So make sure you're subscribed on your favorite
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podcasting app and be aware that on Saturday, November one,
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we'll have a little something to help you wash down
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the spooky Halloween hangover, So subscribe on your favorite podcasting
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app and leave us a five star rating while you're
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at it. It really helps new listeners find the show.
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But before we brave grim manner, I want to thank
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our latest sponsor here at Weekly Spooky Cozy Earth with
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cozyearth dot com. But now, as for tonight, gather close,
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my spookies. What if a dare on Halloween led you
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into a manner that remembers every footstep, every whisper, every mistake.
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What if the only way out was hidden behind riddles,
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old keys, and the patience of the dead. Tonight we
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test courage the way October intended inside a house that
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decides who leaves and who stays forever. Halloween Night at
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grim Manor by Rob Fields in strict Field's chill, the
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pumpkins leak light. The backwoods roads wallows all the night
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at grim Mannor's porch, the hinges all grin. The door
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sighs open and pulls travelers in August and Dorothy Hush,
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banish all din still every quarrel the house drinks in
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one night for one key before the last chime fail,
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and the manner collects you in time. The game room
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deal circles of cards and wheel bets turn to bindings
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that tighten like steel. Is Sidoku scrolled in chalk and
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bone solve every crossing, or hardened to stone. In the parlor,
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portraits refuse to agree, spot what has shifted, or lose
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the right key. The grandfather clock choose the minutes like bread.
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Twelve black crows roost on the hands overhead. He may laughs,
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brave as a harvest. Queen Carnelian boasts that fear won't
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be seen. Truck Tucker stands quiet, broad as a wall
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Jasper Jinx whispers the numbers to call sheet white phantoms drift,
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smile it and slight, lantern eyes, salt every corner with night.
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Remember this warning carved under eves. Turn back at the
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birch where the backwoods leaves. If pride bites hard and
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you follow the sea, do not go to grim Manor
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on Halloween. Boy, time sure flies, doesn't it. I mean,
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one minute I was a preteen at Strickfield Junior High.
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Now I'm sitting in front of my computer and ride
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my memoirs. You'd think Strickfield was just some little hole
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in the wall in Ohio that time seemed to have forgotten.
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It was like this village stopped around the end of
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the nineteen eighties and almost never evolved after that. There
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were arcades with games only costing a quarter per play.
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There were daily newspapers with carriers on bicycles delivering them.
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There was even a live operator when you dialed zero
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on landline telephones. I could go on and on just
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talking about how vintage Strickfield is, mainly in downtown village
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and some of the outskirts. Let's be honest here, not
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a whole heck of a lot has changed since I
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grew up. I did know people who couldn't wait to
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get out of Strickfield, not me. Not only did I
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go to college here, I ended up getting a job
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here right after graduation. Down the road, I bought a
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house and eventually married a woman from here. I just
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didn't want to leave. I also have other family living here.
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Speaking of family, you know, you'll always have yours when
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it comes to your parents and siblings, if you have any.
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But there are those times in your life when you
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go out and make a whole other family with your friends.
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It's that family you go through the rest of your
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school years with. After graduation, you might end up going
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your separate ways, and then there are those circles that
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just never part. You might say, I think about my
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other family all the time. Honestly, I think that is
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what's making me write these memoirs. After racking my brain
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trying to think of where to start, I talked with
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my wife about it. She simply said, just start from
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the beginning. So I'm going to start where my other
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family began. Like I said, it was at Strickfield Junior
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High I was only a few months into the seventh grade.
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I was just glad to be out of Strickfield Elementary
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and moving closer to Strickfield High. I just had to
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make a little two year stop in between. First, I
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can just picture October of that year all over again.
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It was fall, chilly and getting closer to Halloween. I
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was walking the halls of Strickfield Junior High, just minding
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my own business. Yeah, there were other kids from my
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part of Strickfield. We'd nod at each other when we
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passed in the halls. Some of us were likely making
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trouble for Principal Benjamin van dist not me, though. My
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parents were the kind of people who believed there was
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a time and a place when it came to trouble.
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School was definitely not one of those places, unless it
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was for a good reason. I'll get to that later.
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I was leaning up against my locker and watching everything.
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You'd know what part of Strickfield I was from just
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by looking at my clothes. Faded jeans torn at the knees,
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a white T shirt under a leather jacket, and my boots.
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Sometimes i'd wear shades. Yeah, I came from what you'd
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call the bad part of town over where the bikers lived.
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They're still there today. In fact, I still have family
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living there, and I go see them when I can. Anyway,
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I was seeing the regulars coming in. Madeline Donnerly just
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walked in with her best friend, Carter Cross. At that point,
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I didn't know either of them personally, but I knew
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for a fact Ariel Miron was lurking around somewhere. See.
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Carter and Ariel had their little feud going on. It
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was no secret that Ariel quickly became the most popular
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girl in our school anyway. Carter Cross had recorded a
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video of Ariel and her little cousin Stuart on his phone,
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eventually posting it to Facebook. Carter and I didn't really
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know each other, but we were friends on Facebook. I
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respected him for being the kind of guy he was,
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so I sent him a friend request. I mostly just
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lurked on his posts. I rarely ever replied to anyone
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on social media unless I felt like I had something
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to say. I hate you, Carter Cross. Ariel suddenly surprised
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Carter by coming seemingly out of nowhere morning Princess Carter
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dropped his books and ran. Ariel was a fast runner,
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so I wasn't sure he got far. As for little
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Madeline Donnerly, she shook her head slowly and muttered, ah man.
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Then she picked up Carter's books and walked after him
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and Ariel. Most everybody called Madeline Mouse on account of
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how short and skinny she was. She was probably the
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most laid back girl I knew. Nothing ever seemed to
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bother her. Speaking of Madeleine, there were actually three of them.
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Madeleine had two cousins that looked exactly like her in
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almost every way. You could have easily said they were
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natural triplets. Madeleine's old her cousin, Aileen, was repeating her
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senior year at Strickfield High at the time. But the
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other cousin I want to tell you about is that
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feisty one who always got everybody's attention, Daisy May Donnerly.
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Unlike Madeleine, this Donnerly triplet was anything but laid back.
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She was kind of like me in terms of wearing
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the same style clothes every day. She always wore light
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blue bib overalls, a red T shirt, and sneakers. While
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Madeline and Aileen always wore their hair down, Daisy May
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almost always wore hers up in pigtails. She also wore
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the same style of glasses as both of her cousins.
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If you've ever seen Velma Dinkley, in the Scooby Do cartoons,
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then you have a pretty good approximation of the Donnerly
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triplet's glasses. And today, little Daisy May Donnerly got real
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feisty when she pointed right at Carnelian Mirran. Most everybody
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called her Carnie. Even though ariel quickly became the most
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popular girl in our school, Carnelian was looking to overthrow
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her cousin. Not only did Carnelian's name stick out, so
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did her wardrobe. Every day she came to school wearing
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a proper pantsuit. Unlike Daisy May and me, she didn't
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always wear the exact same style. I also learned that
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Carnelian had a rapport with some of the teachers. In fact,
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I knew she had a great rapport with coach ed
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Niepher since he had recruited her to be one of
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his assistant coaches. Football season was getting on the tail end.
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Our win loss record was kind of h Our team
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had people like Carter Cross and Rodney Truck Tucker playing
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for them, but having Carter's muscle and Truck's height and
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weight just wasn't enough. Strickfield Junior High just didn't have
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fast runners. We were down to our last two games
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and had to win both to make the playoffs. Getting
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back to now, Daisy May donnerly showed she wasn't afraid
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of Carnelian and shoved her into some lockers. I'm tired
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of telling you, Carney Merron, she yelled in her rich
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Southern accent. Leave cousin Maddie alone. Just after ariel started
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chasing Carter, Carnelian started giving Madeline a hard time. Truth is,
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I didn't think anyone could get on Madeline's bad side.
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She just simply shrugged her should at Carnelian and walked away,
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never looking the least bit scared. Daisy May saw this
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confrontation and went right at Carney. She smiled her wicked smile. Oh,
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I'm so sorry. I forgot there are two little mice
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walking around our school. I guess I'll just have to
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exterminate you both. Daisy May grabbed Carnelian and took her
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down to the floor. This was one of those times
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when I had to get in trouble. Once I saw
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a few people in the office, no doubt to report
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the fight, I moved away from my locker and went
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to the girls wrestling on the floor. Get off me,
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you little simpleton. Carnelian yelled, Oh, I'll get off y'all right,
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Daisy May yelled back, right after, I'm done whooping your butt.
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When the girls were back on their feet, I got
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right in between them. That's enough. Carnelian tried reaching around
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me to get a cheap shot in on Daisy May.
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I quickly lifted my arm and blocked her. Then our
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eyes met. When I pointed right at her, I said
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that's enough. She glared at me, this is none of
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your business, greaser. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't my
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first time being called a greaser. My hair was combed
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all nice and neat, but I never used product. Other
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members of our community did, though, especially when they were
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working as auto mechanics around Feltner County. Now the girls
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tried getting around me to get at each other again.
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I kept moving in between them to keep them apart.
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This wasn't the first time Daisy May and Carnelian got
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into skirmishes. In fact, Daisy May's family just moved a
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stripfield from Pendleton not too long ago. Carnelian took one
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look at her and immediately started giving her a hard time.
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Daisy May surprised her by going at her. Unfortunately, Principal
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van Deste had seen their first fight and had them
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both in the office. Little Daisy May wasn't even afraid
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to speak up against the principle. Long story short, they
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weren't suspended, but I knew sooner or later they would be.
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I said stop it now. Principal van dest was eyeing
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all three of us. He pointed right at me and
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motioned for me to get away from the girls. Then
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he gave me that look that said he knew I'd
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stopped them, and kinda thanked me for it at the
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same time. Unfortunately, my efforts were all for not. Carnelian
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made it very clear that things were not over. Unfortunately
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for Daisy May, her temper often got the best of her.
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That little spitfire lashed out and knocked Carnelian back to
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the floor. Principal van Deist grabbed Daisy May's arm and
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yelled for her to get to the office right now.
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Carnelian got up and glared at her. It was no
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secret Little Daisy May Donnerly knew how to fight and
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was always ready to do just that. I just wished
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she hadn't shoved Carnelian when Principal van Deist was right
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there to see it. I could only imagine what was
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going to happen. I wouldn't get my answer until close
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to the end of the school day. Daisy May didn't
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get suspended. Carnelian suggested to Principal van Deist that she
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should serve time out on the football field as a
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kind of go water girl, or whatever you'd call it.
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Carnelian couldn't have manipulated things any better. Not only did
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she keep ragging on Daisy May, some of the football
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players were also giving her a hard time. Usually I
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went to the football practices after school. I didn't know why,