Magic in the Moonlight Page #3

wrong part of the world.

I import coffee beans

and cocoa from Brazil.

Wow! Well, I didn't... Really?

I think it's

time we moved along.

Sophie's had

a strenuous afternoon.

It is rather exhausting communicating

with the unseen world.

Well, I'm sure Mr. Taplinger doesn't

believe in the unseen world.

On the contrary, I always

thought the unseen world

was a good place

to open a restaurant.

Time to go, Sophie.

The spirits have

to eat somewhere.

Mr. Taplinger

is rather obnoxious.

Obnoxious, but he's not

entirely unappealing.

Congratulations, Stanley,

you've managed to alienate the entire

household in a single afternoon.

Oh, she's nothing

I haven't seen before.

Pretty young thing with a stage

mother who handles the promotion,

and who knows what else when the

lights are out at the seance.

I want you to see her working.

More importantly, I want to be

there when you expose them.

Well, I mean, she's not

even a good actress.

I get the impression

of the Orient. China. "

What utter bilge.

Well, I thought

that was quite good,

considering you

are Wei Ling Soo

and you have just

been to Germany.

Yes, it's all very tantalizing.

Oh, careful, she's tricky.

And yet, she's a fraud, Howard.

Because there is

no sixth sense.

There are five senses,

and no spirit world.

But there are coincidences.

Maybe she's made

some lucky guesses,

but we have to be careful not to

build them into something more.

Your daughter is going

to try to make contact

with my dear

departed Harry tonight.

Well, she's been waiting for

the right moment. Uh-huh.

Sophie needs

the proper vibrations.

Now, of course, we need to

purchase or build an establishment

suitable for the operation of

our foundation. Of course.

There will be various

assorted costs,

and naturally, all the

students will pay a fee.

And, I assume, profits will

go into psychic research?

Oh, most of them, uh...

Minus operating

expenses and sundries.

You can count on my support.

I've always known

there had to be

more to this life

than meets the eye.

How could it be that what we see

is all there is to everything?

And, that's such

a bleak thought.

Why would God

go to so much trouble

if everything comes to nothing?

Hmm.

Well, Sophie is...

Sophie is living proof that the

world is alive with hidden things.

She's such

an uplifting creature.

No wonder my son, Brice,

is so smitten with her.

I'm always chasing

Rainbows

Watching clouds

Drifting by

My schemes

Are just like all my dreams

Ending in the sky

Some fellows look

and find the sunshine

I always look

and find the rain

Some fellows

make a killing sometime

I never even make a gain

Believe me

I'm always chasing

Rainbows

Waiting to find

a little bluebird in vain

You know that

I'm in love with you?

You mustn't give your

heart away so quickly.

You looked into my eyes,

and without even knowing me,

you knew me better

than I know myself.

You knew my dreams

and my ambitions.

Please, don't tell me you're

in love with someone else.

Oh, no, no, of course not.

I never had time

to fall in love.

Mother and I were always

traveling, you know?

Unlike you, we're members

of the working class.

That's over.

I'm gonna take care of you and pamper

you for the rest of your life.

Do you like to travel?

I mean, on yachts?

Do you like to go to parties and buy

jewels and clothes and go dancing?

I'm a very good dancer.

I'm sure I could get used

to yachts and jewels.

I had an interesting chat

with Mr. Taplinger, as he's called.

You did?

Yeah, I'd say he has a classic

neurotic personality disorder.

Yeah, brilliant parents

who didn't get along,

closer to his aunt than his

mother, obsessed with mortality,

believes in nothing, finds

life to have no meaning.

Just a perfect depressive, with

everything sublimated into his art,

and he is quite an artist.

Oh, he began as

an escape artist.

Interesting choice if anyone ever

wanted to escape from reality.

But, like Freud,

he will not permit himself

to be seduced

by childish thoughts

just because

they're more comforting.

Very unhappy man.

I like him.

Ah, Miss Baker. Hello.

Rested, I presume?

Uh, yes, I had a bath.

I had a little nap.

And now, you're refreshed.

Well, no, not entirely.

I had an unpleasant dream.

I've had my share.

I dreamt I was being followed

by a sinister Chinese.

You have the Far East

on the brain.

What do you think it means?

I don't know.

Good evening.

I understand you're

holding a sance tonight.

She's been waiting

for the right moment,

and now, she says,

"The planets are in alignment".

And what do they have to

be in alignment with?

Your vertebrae?

Can you do the sance if someone

in the room is a non-believer?

And when you

contact the spirits,

will we be able

to see the souls?

And how are they

different from ghosts?

Or are they ghosts?

I should think souls

are quite different.

Have you ever heard of ectoplasm?

Ectoplasm?

Now, isn't that a milky

substance rather like yogurt?

Oh, you are a joker,

aren't you?

So, you're saying it

might look like yogurt,

but it will be Mrs. Catledge's

former husband.

Dinner.

Sophie, come to dinner.

Wife.

Isn't the light perfect,

Mother?

Really, what exactly

happens at a sance?

You know, I don't

believe you're so naive

as you make out

about the occult.

I will admit, my Uncle Charles

once attended a sance

where the medium made a lot

of amazing things happen,

and weeks later, she was

unmasked and sent to prison,

for defrauding people out of

substantial sums of money.

Charles. Uncle Charles.

Death by water.

What did you say?

What? Oh, I was just...

I was receiving some mental impressions.

Excuse me.

Come, Stanley, let's go to...

You look stunned.

I had an uncle who

drowned many years ago.

And when I mentioned him,

she lapsed into

a kind of fugue state

and muttered "Death by water".

Well, she knew

that my sister married

on March the seventh

to a bank manager.

There's absolutely no way

she could know that unless...

Oh, not you, too, Howard! No!

I'll make short work of her

tonight during the sance.

I would like us

now to join hands,

as we summon

the unseen world.

Now, we're here tonight

to contact the soul

of the departed husband

of Grace Catledge,

father of Brice and Caroline.

Now, I will try to achieve

a trance state.

I'm falling deeper,

and deeper,

into a trance.

Harry Catledge, give me a sign.

Give us a sign!

Harry?

Is that you, Harry?

Spirit?

Signal us once for "Yes".

Twice for "No".

Harry, are you okay?

Are you happy?

Ah!

Spirit, if you can hear me,

give me a sign.

That's not possible.

I mean, damn it, Stanley,

we've both done levitations.

I once raised a real tiger,

but we both have our tricks.

There was nothing supporting this

candle, no threads, no wires,

it was floating

until I brought it down.

Um...

I... I was just

telling Mr. Pepperidge here

how marvelously you made that candle

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