Folks,

Dux:

Surely you of all people would not shy away from a ghostly encounter? You who have written so many spine chilling tales on these very pages. They were all impressive. I will never forget the chilling word picture that you once painted of those ghostly hares dancing in the moonlight.

I got 'BoB I' up and running again tonight. I had to make some major changes in the configuration. I can now run the thing full bore with a much higher resolution. The graphics are nicer and there is no stutter. I bagged a couple of 109s and got my own tail waxed for my trouble. I also shot down a pesky Butcher Bird Fokke Wulf in Jane's WW2 fighters. Great fun... once I got my joystick sorted that is. Not much joy until then. Tomorrow I will try out MiG Alley and Flying Corps too, perhaps even EAW. Yes, I have all the ancient titles. The restored Sound Blaster 128 is also doing well. I have the sound turned up just one tiny notch past lethal. Lovely.

Right after a surgery, whilst recuperating at home, I found myself loaded with pain killers and sleeping in my den in a recliner. I was in moderate pain and it was the only place that I could find relief. After what seemed like several agonizing hours I finally fell into a fitful sleep. Suddenly, I was awakened with a start. The room seemed unusually cold and dark. I was still half awake I suppose and there was enough oxycodone in me to stun an elephant with a tusk ache. Anyway, I was desperately trying to move and finding myself unable to do so, when I chanced to gaze through the gloom over toward our couch. I swear there was a black robed and deeply hooded ... something ... rising slowly from a seated position. It never turned my way nor did the apparition threaten me in any way. It simply faded into the gloom. I'm sure that as I squinted into the blackness that my eyes were as big as sewer lids.

There was an icy chill tingling my spine and my heart was approximating the tempo of the "Flight of the Bumblebee" as I tried desperately but unsuccessfully to move. Suddenly, I found that I could move my arms and then my legs...and boy did I ever move my legs....

On reflection, even in the light of the next day, it seemed to me to be real. I believe that whatever it was it had been just sitting there as I slept, waiting...watching...waiting for what I will never know. It must have been a drug and pain induced hallucination says Lady T. Perhaps so? I have taken pain medications and downed my fair share of booze but never have I had such a thoroughly terrifying, unnerving experience before or since. It seemed real enough to me.