Ghostly Touch

quietly at the table, her crystal ball before her. She inhaled through her mouth and exhaled slowly through her nose. Eyes closed, she listened with all her senses and waited. When she opened her eyes the inside of the crystal ball appeared blue, and then, as if a great wind blew through it, the blue haze disappeared.
    Zula sighed. “Is it too much to ask? I want a boyfriend, a lover, a real man in my life! I’m tired of the only man who touches me being in a dream. Oh, Thad, what do you think? Are you going to be the only man in my life?” Thaddeus merely arched his back and flexed his claws in a lazy stretch, and then meowed loudly, as Zula carried him to the kitchen. “I bet you’re hungry. How about some tuna?” Thaddeus meowed again in response and waited patiently as Zula opened the can and dumped the contents into his dish. “There now. You eat while I get ready. It won’t be long before the trick-or-treaters come knocking on the door.”
                  Leaving Thad to his meal, Zula climbed the stairs to her room and changed into her costume. She wore a long, black gown with flowing sleeves a scooped neckline, and a tall, pointed hat perched on her head. Her legs were covered by red and white-striped thigh-high socks, and she put on ankle-high lace-up boots with heels. She stopped in front of the mirror and wrinkled her nose.
    “I guess it’ll due since it’s what they all expect a witch to look like, ” she said with a laugh.
                  Down stairs she picked up her broom and set it beside the door, turned on the CD player already loaded with haunting music by Enya, and a Halloween CD that featured scary music with howling, and such songs as The Monster Mash , just for fun. In the kitchen she began loading small plastic cauldrons with candy and placed caramel apples, cookies in the shapes of ghosts, and Rice Krispy treats on trays, and set them on a table beside to the door. Next, she dimmed the lights, turned on the ghost and goblin lanterns and waited for the first trick-or-treater to arrive.
                  Halloween was Zula’s favorite time of year and from October first through November second, her house was the spookiest on the block. Zula spared no expense to make sure the neighborhood children got the scare they came looking for year after year. Of course, being the several times great-granddaughter of the original Zula Price helped. Great-grandma Zula had been a witch, as were all the women in the Price family, but Great-grandma had left an indelible impression on everyone who lived in her time, and the story had been passed down from generation to generation.
                  Zula wasn’t sure how much of the legend was actually true, but she was somewhat of a local celebrity as the only surviving relative of the only witch in Greenfield who had been hanged, drowned, and burned at the stake. The one thing Zula was sure of was Great-grandma had passed her powerful magic on to her daughter and all the daughters that followed, until the power had culminated in one very powerful witch.
    Zula sighed at the thought. She was a very powerful witch, and had known the extent of her power since childhood. Sometimes that power had been misdirected, sure, but she had been young and it wasn’t as if she’d actually been able to turn her second grade friend, Christy Showers, into a frog. Of course, she couldn’t do that, but she had been able to make more than two-dozen frogs appear in Christy’s bed, and no one had been amused.
                  Chuckling at her childhood antics, Zula heard the first trick-or-treaters laughing as they came up the walk. She knew when they reached the porch because the chatter instantly stopped. Webs full of spiders hung suspended, glowing in the ghostly light from Jack O’lanterns that flickered their light through ferocious eyes and mouths. Scary music from the CD had begun to filter through the darkening night, but Zula’s favorite part was soon to come.
    As soon as the first brave child stepped onto the porch, a large coffin next to the door creaked open and Dracula popped out, fangs and all. Zula chuckled when she heard the screams and sound of running feet.  She opened the door and stepped outside with a cauldron full of candy and smiled. Parents stood on the sidewalk pretending to laugh because their children had been frightened, but Zula knew the adults were often as scared as the