Which, so far, hasn't included getting rid of the sharp turns and detours his conversations tend to take.
“Then what the hell was all that about?” I sputter.
“I was talking about ghosts in general,” Xavier shrugs. “I don't know anything about the show.”
“I can actually speak to that. It really is fascinating,” Sam speaks up as he reaches for another cinnamon roll. “It isn't just a team of people walking around haunted houses yelling at ghosts, and they very, very rarely sit down with a Ouija board, thank you, Emma. I know that was the next thing about to come out of your mouth." It was. "They use all kinds of scientific tools and equipment.”
“What do you mean scientific tools and equipment?” I ask. “They really are Ghostbusters!”
“They’re not Ghostbusters,” he counters.
“I can't believe you don't know about this,” Bellamy says.
"Should I?" I ask.
"I mean… it seems like you."
“I chase down the living nightmares,” I say. “I haven't had a whole lot of time to care about going after the dead ones.”
“Then you don't actually know how you feel about it,” Eric says. “I'm not one to immediately jump on the haunted hayride and say I think there are ghosts wandering around everywhere. But I'm fascinated by the possibility. And some of these investigations are interesting. And if nothing else, they're entertaining.”
“I want to know more about the scientific tools and equipment,” Xavier says. “What do they do?”
“All kinds of things,” Sam offers. “There's a whole community of scientists who designed different types of equipment to detect various things thought to be related to spiritual activity.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
Sam smiles and winks at me.
“Some of the tools detect changes in temperature and electromagnetic energy. There are motion detectors and special cameras that detect the movement of energy and forces that are invisible to the naked eye. There are recorders for EVPs.”
“EVPs?” Xavier asks.
“Electronic voice phenomenon. It's voices that you don't hear with your ears when they happen, but they show up on recordings. There's the Spirit Box that cycles through radio waves. That's thought to give the ghosts the ability to form words,” Sam says.
“What about being dead makes it so these people can't speak anymore?” I ask.
“It's not that they can't speak. It's that being in two different planes of existence makes it more difficult to communicate,” Sam says. “So they cycle through different electromagnetic and radio frequencies that could theoretically be easier for spirits to access and communicate through, rather than through the audio waves we hear with human ears. It gives them an interface to work through.”
“Again, who are you?” I ask.
He laughs. “As Eric said, it's interesting. I don't know what they think they're going to find at this campground, but I'd like to watch and find out.”
“Me, too,” Xavier says.
“I'm in,” Bellamy says.
“So, we're going to do this?” I ask. “We're going to watch the live ghost hunt?”
“You can consider it further study into the human mind,” Eric offers. “We all know how much you love trying to figure people out. So now try to figure out some dead ones.”
“Or the live ones that try to find them,” I reply.
“Or that,” Eric says with a grin. “Besides, they always get into the deaths that happened and why they think there would be hauntings in the area. Even if you don't want to listen to the paranormal evidence, you might be interested in the disappearances and murders that happened there.”
"That might be interesting. It's a little more up our alley, right, Dean?" I ask.
I look over at Dean. His eyes have dropped away from us and he's staring into the middle distance. He jumps slightly when he realizes I've said his name.
"What?" he asks.
"The campground," I say. "Those Ghostbusters want to watch the investigation—”
“They’re not Ghostbusters!”
“And anyway, I was saying it would be interesting to hear about the disappearances and murders that have happened there."
"Oh," he says, nodding as he sits up straighter and seems to shake himself out of whatever thoughts dragged him away. "Yeah."
"How would one go about building some of these tools?" Xavier asks.
Dean looks down at his mug and stands. "I'm going to get another coffee."
He walks out of the room, and I follow him just as Sam tells Xavier he can order some of the tools online. I have a feeling he might regret imparting that knowledge soon.
I get to the kitchen as Dean pours coffee into his mug and heads to the refrigerator for the milk.
"You okay?" I ask.
He glances over the door at me and nods.
"I'm fine. Why?"
"You just seem to be somewhere else. You didn't say anything about watching the investigation or anything," I say. “We had a whole symposium on the nature of life and death and spirits and you didn’t even make a peep.”
He shrugs and pours far more milk into his coffee than I know he likes.
"Nothing to say. I don't know if I believe in ghosts. It's not something I've put a lot of thought into. But if there's anywhere they would be, maybe it's there. And I think people should stay away from it."
"Why?" I ask.
He takes a deep gulp of his coffee, nearly draining the mug, then stares down into it.
"Because maybe there are things that are abandoned for a reason." He finishes his coffee and rinses the mug before setting it in the sink. "It's getting late. Xavier and I should go."
I follow him into the living room.
"They were made out of millet, which, of course, is different than what we think of when we think of noodles. But can you imagine? They were just sitting there under that bowl for four thousand years. But that's nothing compared to the flatbread found in the Black Desert in Jordan. It was in a stone fireplace and had been sitting there for fourteen thousand, four hundred years. Oh, and the popcorn found in Peru. It wasn't quite seven thousand years old, but that's still pretty
