The Shadow Knows

Started off a cloudy, cool morning with Chocolate Chip Pancakes and my old Monster Mash Party Music Halloween cassette. I picked this up from I think the CVS in Wildwood around 2002. Until the last few years, it was the only even remotely Halloween-oriented music I owned. It's your basic covers of mildly horror-oriented pop and rock songs like "Monster Mash," "Spooky," "Bad Moon Rising," and "Abracadabra." (Along with "Macho Man" and for some reason "Batdance.")

Work was busy all afternoon. The sun was coming out, and though it was windy and cool, it was also an increasingly nice day. There were lots of things going on today, including hay rides, fall fairs, and the Eagles-Panthers game tonight. And I accidentally dropped one of the 6-packs of soda cans that are on sale this week. It sprayed all over the register, mostly on me. And of course, it was diet orange soda, one of the hardest to get out of clothes. I'm glad I was wearing my older Eagles jersey that I bought from a thrift shop for five dollars. I cleaned the register and me as best I could, but I still felt sticky.

As soon as I got home, I dumped my wet clothes in the laundry basket and went right in the shower. Normally, I would have waited on the shower until later in the evening, but I still felt sticky, even after washing my arms and wiping off my jersey in the back lounge room at work. I do feel better now, especially my arms.

Went on the computer to do some writing for a little while. Maple LaMarsh is a witch. She's not a very good witch. Her concoctions are notorious for never doing what they're supposed to do. She tends to accidentally turn people into rabbits and give them mustaches when she wants to cure sniffles or make soup.

I made pasta and turkey meatballs with spinach salad and (canned) "red gravy" (tomato sauce) while listening to episodes of The Shadow. Orson Welles was the original star of this long-running pulp fiction radio show. The title character is Lamont Cranston, a playboy who learned the secret of "clouding men's minds" in the Orient and now uses it to appear invisible to criminals as "The Shadow." Margo Lane is his devoted girlfriend who (unlike many other superhero love interests) is very much in on his secret and is as tough as he is.

The first story I did, starting it before I went to work, was "Poison Death." Innocent citizens are turning up poisoned all over town...and someone is leaving notes saying that The Shadow is the cause. Lamont sets out to clear himself and find out who's really behind the poisonings.

"The Bride of Death" is a personal favorite. This time, Lamont and Margo are visiting a seaside village where a priest and four members of his congregation were killed by a bomb. The late priest's daughter is being held prisoner by the head of a cult who is trying to convince an old woman to give up her fortune.

Bret Morrison had taken over the Shadow role by the time of "The Cat That Killed." Lamont and Margo are on a scavenger hunt when they see a huge cat leaping over rooftops. That "cat" has killed at least three watch men at a warehouse owned by a young man. The youth is in despair of finding anyone to replace them. Lamont dresses as an old man to find out who this "cat" is what they're really after.

And...darn it. The Panthers remain undefeated. They out-ran the Eagles 27-16.