 - Last login: 32 hours agoTextuous
- Textuous is a 51 year old guy from Near-N-Yondered, Texas, USA.
- Likes 6 pages • 79 fans • Received 48 reviews
- Member since Mar 30, 2006
Antique Cowboy with tarnished six-shooter, rusty spurs, and swaybacked steed. Garage kept, housebroken, and mannerful. Grammatically textuous, with traces of chivalry and dance-floor etiquette. If you read the blog...the least you can do is leave me a smile.
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GHOST STORY
Along about 1910 or so, three brothers, all of them chemists by trade, were working together in a private pharmaceutical laboratory. Aspirin had only recently become popular, and they were studying it's properties and benefits. At any rate, quite by accident, a bottle of common cough syrup was left uncapped in a closed test chamber containing various other materials, and the next morning, the thick red liquid was found to have solidifed. So without really trying, the brothers had *invented* the world's first cough drops. Perhaps you've heard of them...their last name was Luden.
Within a few months, it was evident that the success of this remarkable new product was beyond anything the brothers had imagined. But having the cautious, meticulous, and somewhat wary attitude of scientists of the times, they worried that this might merely prove to be a passing fad. All agreed that they should invest their money instead of changing their lifestyles.
The oldest brother decided to place his money in the future of gold, a wise and very safe long term investment. The middle brother bought interest in the growing resturant business along the blossoming railroad network. But the youngest brother, being perhaps the shrewdest of them all, found a very lucrative opportunity in real estate.
By doing a bit of research, this young man discovered that many of the old, abandoned plantation homes in the area could be purchased for pennies on the dollar of their original value, simply because they were in minor disrepair. An investor might, for example, purchase one for a mere five thousand dollars, and by risking another five in sprucing it up, the finished product could retail for over fifty thousand dollars. Sight unseen, the young scientist bought three houses, all within thirty miles of each other.
On a bright and warm spring morning, young Luden set out with a horse, buggy, and a sack lunch to inspect his new properties. He spent the better part of the morning wandering through the expanses of the first house, notebook and pencil in hand, carefully making notes for the contractor to work from. He enjoyed his lunch in the shade of a massive magnolia tree in the side yard.
By the time he had located and gone through the second house, taking notes and enjoying the freedom of the open countryside, the day was almost gone. The third house was another seven or eight miles farther up the road, and he decided, rather than waste another day in his pursuit of riches, he would continue, but would have to cut the last inspection short.
The first two floors of the third house were very much in the same state of discord as the others. He made token notes in his book, hoping the contractor would get the general idea of what was needed, but where the staircase passed from the second to third floors, he found a huge gaping hole. The steps had completely collapsed, and as the evening was growing dim, he decided that surely the contractor could work from his other notes. This was going to be major expense. Turning to leave, he discovered a long sturdy board which looked to be of a sufficient length to span the distance between the floors. Struggling beneath it's weight, young Luden managed to position it as a steeply sloping bridge, and in the
semi-darkness, was able to make his way to the top floor.
Quickly working his way down the long hallway, he opened the doors of each room in turn, making mental notes to transfer to his notebook later that night. In almost complete blackness now, he came to the last door, at the very end of the hallway.
It was, no doubt, the master bedroom, it's size alone giving it away. The room was completely empty except for a long dark shape underneath the window...what WAS it? A table?
(continued below)
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