Fresh Coffee

This story happened to an uncle of mine back in 1971.

At the time, he was living in an old house on the corner of Jackson and Elm Streets in Newnan Ga. He was living alone at the time because he and my aunt had separated. Now most of the time, my uncle was a meticulous housekeeper but there were times when he'd get a little lazy and leave his kitchen in a mess overnight after eating supper. On one such occasion, after eating supper, he piled his dirty dishes in the sink, left the counter tops in a mess, and went to bed intending to clean the kitchen up the next morning before leaving for work.

That morning when he got up, not only was his kitchen clean, but there was also a fresh pot of coffee brewed and a fresh cup poured. I mean the cup of coffee was steaming as if it'd just been poured only seconds before. Thinking maybe my aunt had come by, he called her name. No one answered. He looked out toward the driveway to see if he could see her car, but it was not there. Wondering how she could've gotten gone so quick, he shrugged his shoulders and picked up the cup of coffee deciding he would call her sometime afterwhile to ask her why she'd left.

That evening when he got home from work, he called her to find out why she'd left and to thank her for cleaning his kitchen and making a fresh pot of coffee. She tersely told him that she hadn't been over there that morning nor any other time since she'd left him. "Why are you lying?" he asked her then said, "I know you were here this morning. The kitchen couldn't have cleaned itself up!" "I told you I haven't been there!" said my aunt. My uncle, becoming annoyed, angrily shouted into the phone, "I don't know why you're lying but I can do my own housework! Don't come back over here cleaning unless you intend to come home!" Having said this, he hung up the phone.

Later, he fixed himself supper, again leaving the kitchen in a mess. And once again, when he got up the next morning, the kitchen was clean, the coffee brewed, and a fresh cup poured. 'Well, if she wants to come over here and clean up for me and make me coffee', he thought, ' that's fine but I'll be darned if I'll call her and thank her for it again!' Foregoing making up the bed that morning, my uncle left for work. When he returned home that evening, the bed was made. Becoming uncomfortable with the situation, he called my aunt and asked her to please tell him if she'd been there this morning or at any time during the day. She promised him she'd not been there at all since they'd separated. "Have you even considered that this could have something to do with the ring we found downstairs in the old toolbox?; The ring which kept mysteriously disappearing from the headboard every night?" Reconsidering what my aunt had told him about the ring, my uncle began to wonder if maybe she'd been right about there being something not of this world living in the house with them.

That night, before going to bed, he set his clock to an hour earlier than usual, hoping to get up and catch my aunt in the act of cleaning the kitchen and making coffee. He woke up before the alarm sounded the next morning. He could hear movement in the kitchen. He crept quietly out of bed and tiptoed out of his room. He could distinctly hear the sound of water running in the kitchen, and the sound of dishes tapping together the way they sound when they're being put together in the drain board. He tiptoed closer to the kitchen and just before reaching the doorway to where he could see into the kitchen, the running water stopped as did any other movement. He flipped on the light and saw nothing.... except for a clean kitchen, fresh brewed coffee, and a fresh cup poured...Admittedly, he was shaken. Not touching the cup of coffee, he quickly turned and went back to his room, got ready for work, and left the house. He didn't spend another night there. Instead, he rented a motel room and lived in it until he found another house a few days later......