Two months off the mountain and I was finally feeling semi normal.

  The contractors were done with my new pool, and the thick galvanized steel grating had been dropped off two weeks ago. I began carrying the sections down the stairs to my work shop’s basement. Laying the sheets acrost the pool I began placing them on the large three-inch steel sinker bolts that lined either side of the pool. It didn’t take too long to set the grates over the entire pool surface.

  As I was sinking the nuts down over the bolts with my impact driver, prepping for the next step of installation which would be to welled the nuts and bolts together before I painted them, I heard knocking coming from my shops door and a woman’s voice calling down. “Hello, is anyone home?”

  Leaving my work, I walked back up the stairs. A woman in her early forties, dressed in jeans, ankle zip up boots and a flowing long sleeve shirt stood looking into my shop.

  Had I taken my Rose tee today? Hum, wonder if she caught sent of me and followed me back from the Hardwar store. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “How can I help you?” I asked.

  “I am, Ann Shelden, with Halloween hills, spooks and thrills theam parks.”

  “Really?” what a fake sounding name.

  “Yes can I come in?” she asked.

  “Can you?” I smiled.

  “Well, that would be up to you.” She smiled back.

  She didn’t look like a vampire. But I was not exactly hitting the identification out of the park, this year.

  “What do you want?” I asked after a moment.

  “Well we are looking to acquire some land for our next theme park. I am scouting out possible locations, your property is in a prime spot, the fact that it still has its grand fathered tax exemptions makes it an even more desirable location. Would you be interested in sitting down and having a conversation?” Interesting, this one had done a little research before showing up on my door.

  “Sure, we can go in the house and sit at the kitchen table.” There was no way on earth I was going to be selling my property to a developer. But with a Name like Halloween hills, spooks and thrills, I really doubted she was with a developer.

  “Great,” she smiled at me. And I led her into the kitchen where I started a pot for my rose bud tea. It wouldn’t be long before I knew if she was telling the truth or not. Probably not.

  “Would you like a glass of tea.” I offered.

  “No thank you.” She smiled. Setting her things on the table.

  I leaned on the counter, letting her have a seat as I boiled water. How was she going to try to go about killing me? You see, I wasn’t prepared for the binder she pulled out of her bag. A big three-inch thing stuffed with paper.

  “This will be our third theme park. We are a seasonal business. Our first location is on a farm outside of Menfess. We have been renting locations and setting up on existing infrastructure but we are at a point that we need to establish a small year round location that our visitors can travel to at any time, as well as a new headquarters. Your property’s location is a good middle ground for our future expansion throughout the state.”

  She scooted the binder acrost the table. I leaned over, seeing some marked up plans. No way, she might actually be telling the truth. She flipped a page revealing more plans. “These are our basic requirements, if you are willing, I would like to walk around your property and see if it might be a good fit. We are able to pay cash If we decide to make you an offer.”

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “I can take you on a walk around.” My water was done. I popped in three roas buds and a hint of ginger. Took a couple sips, she didn’t seem to react at all. I was having a hard time believing it.

  “Mmm,” I flipped through pictures of their various seasonal parks. This might be a legit offer. I would know for certain in about twenty minutes. “Let’s go on a walk.”

  ***

  We strolled around my property; we skipped my cemetery. I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or pleasantly surprised after fifteen minutes into our walk I came to the conclusion she was most likely a regular person and not a vampire, wolf, or some kind of siren.

  “So, you’ve heard my spiel, I can tell you’re still thinking it over. She was saying. “So, on a separate note, what is it you do for work?”

  Aw yes, that question always seemed to come up with regular people. “I take government contracts for things I can’t talk about, but in my free time I’m a Ghost hunter.” I smiled.

  She looked at me as we walked back down the gravel road. “Really? You like spooky stuff?”

  “You could say that.” They didn’t really like me back, well the wraith in my pond didn’t seem to mine me much.

  “You find anything interesting on you hunts?” She asked. As if in response the thing in my newly acquired thousand-gallon water tank rapped the inside, sending an eerie watery ping. I pretended nothing happened but miss Shelden glanced at the tank. It pinged again then there was the sound of large skittering legs as it dashed from one side of the tank to the other. Probably hungry, it ate like a pig.

  “You know normal things, ghostly images strange knocking. That sort of thing the norm.” I continued.

  “Do you often go…”

  The thing in the tank hit the side again. Ting, ting.

  “What’s in your tank?” she asked.

  “A ghost.” I joked. “For real though it’s, a crocodile, my buddy dropped him off I’ve been taking care of him.”

  “Why are you keeping a crocodile in a steel water tank? That doesn’t seem humane?” The woman gave me a look.

  Mm, good question. “His indoor tank had a catastrophic failure, this set up is temporary, I’m going to have to clean the whole thing out with a power washer and bleach before I can use it again. It’s not a long-term solution.”

  “Oh.” Another very un-crocodile bang came from the inside if the tank. She looked at me, “He sure is upset.”

  “You’re not wrong, it’s about time I feed him. He’s got a bit of an attitude. Anyway, what do you think of the property?”

  She looked at her binder. “It’s nice, could be a good fit for us, I’ll have to talk to my Boss there are a few others we are looking at but definitely top three.” Clang, I looked at the tank. Then back to Miss Sheldon.

  “Well, like I said I’m not really looking to sell at this time though maybe someday.”

  “Would you care if I followed up?” She was writing something down in her binder.

  Another clank. “Sure, how about you give me a call.”

  “That works, do you have a business card?”

  Clank, Clang… Clank. “I don’t, you got a piece of paper?”

  She handed me a blank sheet. As I wrote the thing in my water tank started to rhythmically tap the side.

  “He, he sure doesn’t like it in there.” She said taking the paper back.

  “No, he’s accustomed to roaming around a big outdoor enclosure.”

  “Here, she handed me a pair of tickets, and a business card. “For your time. If you hear of any one in the area with a similar property, a call would be appreciated.”

  More clanging came from the tank. “I’m sorry, he’s hungry, I had better see if that turkey is dethawed.”

  “No worries, you have a nice day.” She quickly returned to her car.

  I nodded heading to the freezer in my shop. She was soon pulling down the driveway and out of sight. That was so strange, the only person who ever came down that road who I didn’t know and wasn’t trying to kill me were delivery drivers.

  I pulled the freezer door open and retrieved two turkeys. I walked over to my tank and carefully unlocked the improvised trap door. I flicked the latch open with a thick three-foot section of rebar. Then pushed the trap door open with the same rebar. Immediately there was a rush, disruption in the tank joined by the skittering of large legs. A massive claw stuck out of the trap door pinching, opening and closing slowly.

  I unwrapped the turkey and stuck it on the end of the rebar. The Claw took the turkey. There was another rush as the thing scuttered back to the other end of the tank, I plopped in the second turkey in the same way, using the section of rebar. If that claw grabbed me, that would probably be it. Slapping the lid down I flipped the latch over and replaced the lock. I walked back down to the basement under my shop and resumed securing the steel grates to the top of my pool.