Dylan headed down the stairs. It is a rather tall mansion so it took some time. The basement which had before been so well-lit and bright was now dark and gloomy. He said he looked down into the dark and had the following thought: OH GIVE ME A BREAK. Still, his mother had dared him, so he went. He made it into the basement and, at that point, heard something that sounded like someone dropping a fork or a spoon or some piece of silverware. That was about enough adventure for the young man. He grabbed a vase with flowers from the center of the nearest table and then ran.

He made it back into the room panting. He told the story of the trip downstairs. He told of finding the blackness. He told the story of hearing the noise. Then he told the story of running up the stairs. He held a vase with flowers in his hand and he panted.

“Now it’s your turn to bring it back,” His mother said and she pointed at me.

I’d love to tell you I was so brave that I snatched that vase and flowers right up and ran back down there and then took the time to carefully place the vase and the flowers right back on the nearest center-piece-less table. I’d love to tell you that but it would be a lie. I completely and utterly chickened out. I laid an egg. I shed feathers. BAWK! Scott brought the vase back and he did it without so much as a second thought.

We went downstairs for the ghost tour. We met in the parlor which is just inside the main doors and on the right. Across from the parlor is what used to be the brewery office and is where Billy Lemp, the Junior of the William’s, decided he had had enough and shot himself in the chest at his desk. You can eat lunch and dinner there now.

Betsy had set up some pictures near one end of the room. We each paid our $15 and walked in and sat down. There were the others who would be spending the night and then there were others who had called Betsy about the every-Monday tours and asked if they could come along. She told some of those folks to bring flashlights. People began to gather and sat around tables. Some looked nervous. Some looked excited.

Betsy is not a particularly tall woman. She has brownish-red hair. She was wearing a white blouse and dark pants. She has a voice that carries easily. She introduced herself. Her daughter, it turns out, is the thin girl with dark hair who takes your money. She is also the one who holds up some of the pictures that Betsy talks about, holding them in front of her face and head while Betsy points.

She tells the history of the Lemp Mansion. She tells the tale of tale of a family that reached the heights of wealth and power in St. Louis and turned the history of brewing beer and how people celebrated after work on its ear and then lost it all. She points out the map that shows how the underground limestone tunnels looked.

Then she says she is going to talk to some spirits. She holds up to L-shaped copper rods and she calls them “dowsing rods.” She explains that this is the same kind of thing that people have claimed can find water beneath the ground. She says that they are also used by ghost hunters. She says that you can ask yes and no questions with them. As she talks she holds them lightly in both fists and in front of her and they slowly cross across her throat. She asks that they please be moved back somewhere else and they move back.

“Which way will be yes?” She asks. The rods move slowly to her left, our right.

“Thank you,” she says, “now, which way will be no?” The rods move slowly to her right, our left.

“Is this Billy Lemp?” She asks. The rods move slowly toward YES.

“Are you happy, Billy?” She asks. The rods move slowly toward NO.

“Are you upset with me?” She asks. The rods move slowly toward NO.

“Are you upset with one of my guests?” She asks. The rods move slowly toward YES.

I look over at Dylan’s mom. She is smiling at me and she points to me. Dylan laughs at me. Just five minutes before I had been standing at the top of the stairs looking at a portrait of a woman. She is a woman with dark hair and wearing black lace. She is not a very attractive woman. I made a disparaging comment about that woman. I have now come to find out that this was a portrait of Billy’s second wife. Dylan’s mom thinks this may have ticked Billy off.

I have to wonder. She holds up more pictures. She tells how several members of the Lemp family killed themselves and a few of them did it in this very house. She talks about how there are other spirits beyond the Lemps. She talks about how there is the spirit of a young girl named Sarah who lived in the place during its stint as a boarding house. She claims the girl was murdered and the murder was witnessed by the ghost of Charles Lemp. She states there is another ghost that was a caretaker of the place before it became such a tourist attraction that also wanders the halls.

Her presentation lasts about an hour. Then it’s time to walk the mansion. We stand and all of us cram into the area that had been the office. We stand around the tables and we line the walls. She points out the portrait on the wall of the Lavender Lady. She tells us about Billy.

Billy was supposed to be the heir to the throne, but his father decided he liked his younger brother better. Then his younger brother died suddenly and his father shot himself. Suddenly, Billy was in charge. Billy, however, was a man with problems. He was cruel. He had animal fights in the limestone caves. He carried a gun. He was likely to show that gun to a friend, pull it on someone who bumped him in the street and kept it under his pillow…pointed at his wife.

Now it’s on to the bar…

Bryan W. Alaspa’s new novel Dust is now available at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.