I'm Liz Sauer, and this is Ghosts in the Burbs, a podcast about the people of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and the ghosts and monsters who haunt them.

A warning. Adults who use adult language tell me these frightening tales. These ghost stories aren't for kids.

Hello again. All of a sudden there is a gray wall of fog where the world of fatal fall fest once was in my mind.

Just like that, I can't seem to contact the

characters, so I'm going to have to respect their privacy for the time being and hope, hope, hope

that sooner rather than later, they invite me back into their world. I know how strange and infuriating

that sounds. I apologize. I do, however, have a neighbor interview to share and stay after for the story

to listen for updates regarding moving my books to Barnes & Noble publishing. Okay, now the dogs

are all here, so don't be surprised if you hear them in the background. We're on to go story

number 81. I was lonely. I was waiting in the car for one of the girls to come out of theater

practice, playing fishdom solitaire on my phone and re-listening to Agatha Raisin and the potted

gardener when a loud rapping on the passenger side window, Dam near gave me a heart attack.

I looked over to see a woman bundled in a puffy black jacket, chunky scarf, and pom-pom-topped hat, waving a mittened hand at me. Hi, she said, her voice muffled. I forced to smile and press the button to roll down the window, and as I did, she went ahead and opened the door, plopped into the passenger seat, and slammed the door behind her.

Caught completely by surprise, I blurted, oh dear.

It's fucking freezing out there, the woman said, shifting to face me and leaning her elbows on the center console.

I stared.

I'm Devin. Our girls are in the play together.

Oh, I'm Liz.

I know. I've been trying to get up the courage to talk to you.

Okay. I hate these late pickups. We should carpool. Before I could come up with a way to decline this idea politely, Devin continued, so your blog. Oh, I breathed, grieving the moment I thought I'd had to

myself. I just pulled the trigger on the $2.99-pink diamonds from the Fishdom Fisci Bank and had really been looking forward to buying decorations for my virtual fish tank. I didn't believe it was real at first, she said conspiratorily. There are just so many plot holes and storylines that drop off a cliff that I figured it must be fiction because it was real life. There'd be answers. Huh. It's so compelling at any rate. In a reality TV kind of way,

you know? Thank you, I sighed. You exaggerate everything, though, right? Embellish? I shook my head.

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