The Victorian House was on Illinois Avenue. The Old Man was five. A fireplace in every room. A coal furnace in the basement. Sounds throughout the night. Scampering of little feet. Life changed from Chicago. A sealed well in the backyard that sounded like someone was in it.

It was the first day of school. Walking with cousin Brenda. She was beginning eighth grade. Neva J and Bill were having marital trouble. Was the Victorian House haunted, or did the haunting come with the family?

‘I swear that is a big rat,’ Chet said as he looked at the dead rat in the bathtub. ‘Neva J found the rat in the tub, you say?’ Chet said. ‘Have you noticed the shadows when the High School Football Lights are on? They’re spooky,’ Chet continued. ‘This year we shall have the Halloween Party at the Old Vic,’ Chet winked. ‘We do things a bit differently in the south,’ Chet smiled. ‘We will explore what is behind the locked door on top of the well,’ Chet mused.

‘Come into my web said the spider to the fly,’ Neva J said to the first graders. ‘I have punch and Merlot and scary surprises,’ Neva J said, smiling a devilish smile. ‘We will bob for apples and drink cider, but before that we are going out back to the well to knock three times on the lid,’ Neva J winked. ‘It is said that if you enter the well, you never leave,’ Neva J danced on one foot and then the other.

‘Look, there is a winding staircase,’ Jane said. ‘At the bottom is a man and woman eating dinner,’ Jane continued. ‘They look like they are from the 1940s,’ Jane mentioned. ‘I wonder if they climbed down the winding stairs as we did,’ Jane asked.

‘Well, I’ll be, Fred, we have company,’ Sybil said. ‘No one has visited us in some time,’ Sybil continued. ‘I wonder if they are worried about the bomb as we were,’ Sybil asked. ‘They are dressed for Halloween and have Merlot and cider,’ Sybil exclaimed.

‘Welcome, all,’ Fred said with a broad smile. ‘We built this bomb shelter when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,’ Fred explained. ‘We have been reluctant to come above ground and have become quite satisfied with our community of underground dwellers,’ Fred noted. ‘We have stores and a theatre, churches and spas,’ Fred laughed. ‘There are miles of liminal space, but we miss knowing what year it is,’ Fred said quizzically.

‘It is October 1962, and there is fear of nuclear weapons being used due to a crisis with Cuba,’ Chet said. ‘President Kennedy has given Premier Kruscheve an ultimatum,’ Chet said, fearfully. ‘If a Nuclear War begins, it will be the end of all of us,’ Chet observed.

‘Truman is no longer President,’ Sybil asked. ‘We have only been down here a few months,’ Sybil said. ‘The world we knew has changed, and we were not a part of it; due to our infatuation with the liminal space of the underground, we have been under a spell,’ Sybil exclaimed. ‘Time has fooled us,’ Sybil said.