WHAT MIGHT COME BACK
By Sheila M. Curtin

If you're someone who loves scary places and haunted houses then enter the WNX Most Haunted Houses competition for a chance to win ten thousand dollars. The advertisement continued in much smaller print near the bottom of the page, you and your family must remain within said premises one entire night (sundown to sun up) to be eligible to win.

Verdin turned the magazine over again to the cover, looking for that love story she'd wanted to read next, How I Finally Got My Man To Look Up and Notice Me, page 69. I must learn your secret she thought sardonically to herself as she flipped through the pages, coming once again upon the same advertisement, scrawled across the top of a glossy bright page in dripping bloody red letters. It was a come-on for contestants to vie for a spot on WNX's new Friday night fright show, Most Haunted Houses On Earth. Just for the hell of it Verdin filled out the coupon and dropped it into the mailbox on her way off to school. She'd completely forgotten about it when a month later she received an invitation from the show's producers for her and her family to come to WNX's New York City studios for a screening.

Not one member of the Paulson family was impressed with the studio's invitation at first, perhaps its reception would have been warmer had it been a round trip all expenses paid, but Verdin was hooked on the studio's response and the possibility of winning ten grand. She certainly wasn't afraid of any haunted houses, the only spirits she believed in were Smirnoff's and Jack Daniels, and win, lose or draw, if they were selected, they'd be on TV. So she pressed her point to her father, inevitable decision maker and final arbiter of all disputes.

Daddy, she continued as she sat at the table playing guilt over mind games, causing the man's dinner to remain suspended in his throat,

think of it as a graduation present, and you  did promise me a car. Ted Paulson just gave his daughter a vacuous, mindless stare, oblivious to her ritual histrionics, all the while thinking no way Jose was he going to sink his hard earned vacation money on a trip to the Big Apple. Big Rotten Apple as he remembered it. A warning regarding his daughter's power of persuasion ran through his mind like a red flag running up a pole, however, it was too little too late to be of any defense against his daughter's well-planned semantics. But Daddy, she continued, sweet and soft as freshly weaved cotton candy until she had him nodding his head in agreement, we really could use ten thousand dollars, you know, it could pay for my college education, and besides, you promised me a car for my graduation, this is a whole lot cheaper, Daddy. Once she had him in her power and agreeing to one thing, she just worked her daughterly wiles until he acquiesced and gave her the graduation present she so ardently desired.

The actual decision to go brought a party-like atmosphere to the Paulson's house, and within the week, the entire family had gotten caught up in Verdin's euphoria and were just as excited as she was about going to New York and the possibility of being on TV. They were having fun with the idea of staying the night in a haunted house, comparing it to the funhouse at Pirates Cove, the theme park they'd go to in the summer and fall. Verdin worked the idea till she had everybody believing they would be selected and would be featured on the show.

She told everybody she met on her way between school and home, the bus drivers, old ladies with shopping bags, the guys down at her father's machine shop. By the time they were ready to take off, just about everybody in the tiny community of Hunter's Point knew the Paulson's were going to be contestants on Most Haunted Houses on Earth, just about everybody promised to tune in and watch the show, and just about everybody wished them luck as they were off, that is, everybody save Mrs. Grier, Hunter's Point's most vocal naysayer and consummate know it all.

Mrs. Grier's advice to Doris Paulson was more dire than usual, and Doris thought to herself, well the

old biddy's finally lost it, but she stood there politely as the old woman wagged a crooked finger under her nose and went on, be careful, there are all types of spirits that haunt, watch that you don't bring something more than that ten thousand back with you. Mrs. Paulson smiled graciously and thanked Mrs. Grier both for her advice and her well wishes, slid into the front seat of the Volvo beside her husband and began to think of all the shopping she'd do during their stay in New York.

Welcome to WNX, a little pixie of a girl held out her hand in greeting as the family arrived in the lobby of Thirty Rockefeller Plaza for their screening. My name is Heather and I'll be your escort during your stay here at WNX. How are you all today she inquired, and without waiting for a response, continued with her monologue, please, this way to Mr. McMurray's office.

Mr. McMurray's office was a suite taking up just about the entire forty-ninth floor, and the Mr. McMurray wasn't there in person, of course, one of his assistant producers met them in his office and conducted their interview, Mr. Denke, or as Verdin remarked to her sister Liz, Boris Karloff's long lost twin. His canned personality was just as artificially flavored as Heather's was. After administering the Idiot Test to the entire family, they finally got down to business.

Do you believe in ghosts... have you ever had a paranormal experience... After determining to his satisfaction that the family didn't consist entirely of a bunch of nuts or morons, he invited them back for a second interview and then a third and final interview with Mr. McMurray himself, who would make the final decision as to whether they would be on his show. Verdin was sprawled across the bed in her hotel room dreaming of winning the money when the studio called with the news they'd be featured on the very next episode, to be taped the following night at the Maagsten House, a turn of the century manor sitting in the center of a sprawling hilltop estate overlooking the Hudson River. Its reputation was as sordid as its neighbors were distant, the nearest living souls being at least five miles in any direction, and

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