The Night Of The Goat Excerpt 2

INTRODUCTION: I would have to guess this is ANOTHER excerpt from D Is For Damien 2: The Night Of The Goat. In fact, I almost typed it up along with the previous excerpt until I realized that they were separate! It seems to be from the same five-subject notebook, but I can't explain why I wrote two excerpts in the same place; perhaps I was bored. *shrug* In any event, here you go. (Oh, BTW, I do NOT think any text is missing--it's likely I did start it right in the middle of the scene, breaking a nonexistent sentence in half. I tend to do that in excerpts sometimes when I want to get to the good stuff.) Likely 1991.

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Psyche said. "Anybody wanna join me?"

"Nah-uh," Skeet said. "I've heard bad things 'bout those pieces of wood."

"C'mon, somebody," Psyche said, looking around.

"Oh, well," Martin sighed, getting up and sitting down in front of Psyche.

"Good," Psyche said. "Now, place your fingers right here and don't do a thing--don't laugh, don't smile, don't move, don't breathe--"

"Don't think," Crusher put in, and stifled a laugh.

"Shh! We must concentrate," Psyche said. She closed her eyes. "Is anybody there?" she asked, lifting her head.

"Oooooooooo!" Crusher and Dorey howled, giggling.

"Shut up!" Psyche shouted. She and Martin started over again. "Is anybody there?"

The indicator moved so fast that Psyche and Martin opened their eyes, startled. [Note--"indicator" is what I called the planchette included with Ouija boards--I couldn't remember what it was called. See King Kuts 3 for more on that.]

"What'd you do that for?" Martin asked.

"Me?" Psyche said. "I thought you did it!"

Dorey and Crusher started in on The Twilight Zone. [Note--I meant they were singing/humming it.] Psyche glared at them, then continued.

"Is there an evil force amongst us?" she asked.

The indicator moved to YES.

"At this college?"

YES.

"Maybe it wants a doctor's degree," Crusher smirked. [Note--I don't think they have doctor's degrees at LRU!]

"Are we in trouble?"

YES.

"Are you lying, or no?"

NO.

"Are you evil?"

NO.

"Who are you?"

DOESNT MATTER NOW.

"Where can we get info?"

LADY IN BLACK.

"Lady in black?" Psyche repeated.

"Lady in black?" Damien said. He felt that strange feeling again.

"Who's the lady in black?"

The message was chilling. YOULL FIND OUT.

"Why are you warning us? Why should you care?"

CARE ABOUT SAFETY. SOMETHING AWFUL WILL HAPPEN.

"Who are you?" Psyche tried again.

The Ouija board still didn't answer. DOESNT MATTER NOW. ALL THAT MATTERS IS YOUR SAFETY.

"Can we defeat this evil?"

YES.

"How?"

DEFEAT THE GOAT.

"Oh, man," Skeet said nervously. By now Crusher, Dorey, Janie, and Jamie were starting to laugh, but at the board's mention of the lady in black Damien had gone dead serious. [Note--recall from the original draft of Sidekicks that Crusher, Janie, and Jamie were part of Damien's old "gang." Dorey is not DJ (Dorinda Jane) Broderick; it's someone else.]

Psyche went on, "Is this goat what's evil?"

YES.

Psyche started to ask another question when Crusher howled and dropped a glass, then banged on the dresser.

"Shut up, Crusher!" Psyche shouted.

"Yeah, you're cutting us off," Janie laughed.

"Come on guys, pipe down," D. J. said. "I wanna see if there's anything else."

Crusher went on laughing, then, suddenly, gasped and grabbed at his throat.

"Stop it and sit down!" Psyche snapped.

Crusher didn't reply. He kept trying to gasp for breath and stumbled to the side of the room. Everyone--Damien, Psyche, Martin, Janie, Dorey, D. J., Ferret, Jamie, Skeet, and Ritzie--went silent. [Note--good Lord, did I overdo it with characters in this scene.]

"He ain't kiddin'!" Skeet wailed. After a moment though, Crusher started coughing and catching his breath.

"What happened? What went wrong?" Martin asked, confused.

Psyche put in, "Crusher, we--"

"Keep that thing away from me!" Crusher gasped.

"But it's only--"

"Keep it away!" Crusher staggered downstairs.

Ritzie swore under his breath. D. J. rested her head on her hand, staring down. Martin looked at the now-motionless Ouija board on his lap, speechless. Dorey, Janie, and Jamie finally looked serious.

"Well, now what?" Psyche asked. "Should we continue or not?"

"No way!" Skeet exclaimed. "Nuh-uh, not me. Nothin'd make me use that thing!"

"I say we go to bed," Damien said, feigning sleepiness. In reality he knew he wouldn't sleep well.

"Great idea," Ritzie muttered. "It's late, anyway. Come on, let's go." [Note--safe to say that if/whenever the novel gets written, this crap is not going to be in it.]