Sister Soul and I are crouched behind a mausoleum watching 2 grave robbers .

Do they have modern day grave robbers ?I asked

Sister retorted what do you think?

All I could think of was Ebenezer Scrooge watching his future as his possessions were being picked at by vultures. What irreverence

There was a freshly planted grave not too far away and these two were shoveling away robotically. They were not frightened nor perturbed about disturbing the departed nor his neighbors.

Sister Soul and I were walking through the cemetery earlier that morning. We go once a week for 2 hours to admire the monuments - watch the birds and take in the spectacular fragrances of the trees.

I mentioned to Sister that there was a post on Facebook asking if you would work in a cemetery at night for 80 bucks an hour- we both agreed YES !

But I would like to just spend a night and just walk about with our little lanterns and hear the wind through the trees- I said out loud .

Sister’s eyes widen and said “let’s do it” “When ? “ I asked. Tonight! “Wow - ok”

“How”? We’ll come back an hour before closing- and hide. “

We went home ate our late lunch "coffeed up" and tested our little REI lanterns. Everything in working order- now to start our adventure-

We parked the car on the street and walked through the gothic gates of our favorite cemetery of the city.

“Where shall we hide?” I asked my leader. “Let’s go to the Valentine Angel she said - there are a few family mausoleum’s around and we can sit and hide behind them if we hear the security cars drive by. “

So we walked to the center of the cemetery - we paid reverence to the Beard Bear monument and to Rex who had tributes of fetching sticks in front of him.

Night was falling and we felt good. Usually during our day time walks we are quiet and thoughtful, tonight I was verbose. Sister blurted out “ Shut Up!”

2 minutes later I asked her “ Do you think we will say shut up to one another in the spirit world?”

“ Yes ! “ she uttered through clenched teeth. I just laughed and was relieved that we would be together forever even on the other side.

We reached the Valentine Angel and plopped ourselves down and waited for total darkness to fall. We dimmed the light on our iPhones and put them on silent.

It was a full moon that night and the sky was clear so - we were able to walk without much use of the lanterns - we walked past the big pond listening to the fountain gurgle life to the water. We soon came upon the life size Statue of Athena and her faithful owl Glaukopis. We suddenly heard scraping upon the earth. We stopped and listened carefully... now it was metal on stone. Sister and I froze then scrambled for cover. We knew by memory that the Rosacrucian monument was to our left. “ The sphinxes will protect us.“ I whispered. Sister just smirked , she didn’t believe in the supernatural. We heard more digging. Let’s go! Sister squealed.

We ran behind the scaled down pyramid and caught our breath. Do they have modern day grave robbers I asked? What do you think? Sister retorted. This is an Ebenezer Scrooge situation I said as I shook my head...

“Hee hee hee” chuckled one of them “this one was buried with a priceless pocket watch” I saw it before they closed the casket in the funeral home today . “ The other dreamt out loud about the return they would get and what he would do with his share. “A car I’m gonna get a car like the Fast and the Furious. “

Really!? Sister texted me. “I know I can’t believe it. “ I scribed to her. “We have to do something...”

"Our lanterns!" " The monuments - we can scare them with shadows "

I shone the light on Athena and yelled “ Who doth shake the hero from his slumber?! “

What ? Screamed one of them

“Who doth shake the hero from his slumber?!”

“ Glaukopis - scratch out the eyes of these treasonous fiends!!!”

I don’t know why I said this? The sphinxes were near and all

I could think of was Oedipus. But all of sudden a Great Big Owl flew from the trees and swooped down on those two. Sister shone her lantern on the Beard Bear and did her baby bear growl. She’s tiny but ferocious.

It was enough - they raced down the path huffing and puffing.

We followed them on a parallel and came upon Rex - Sister shone her light on the Golden Retriever and I started to hurl his fetching sticks at them while I performed my best bark. “WOOF!”

They cleared the fence. They sped down 24th Street. I swore I saw sparks coming from their feet.

We stuck our faces through the grates of the gate as far as we could to watch them flee.

We stepped back . Sister and I stared at each for about a minute.

“Can you believe those two infidels? “ I asked.

How’d you make that owl appear ?” Sister Soul asked

“You’re good “she added . “You’re my favorite witch!”

I'm proud of us" I added. "Do you think Mami and Daddy were witness to what occurred? " I'm sure " said Sister. "At least they would've gotten a great big laugh watching us use our imaginations and props to do the right thing for that poor new dead man." " You know how they cherished and encouraged our artistic talents."

Tee hee hee we giggled as we walked to Alcove Path to visit our parents and the "Buho" monument to them and wait for the light of day.

As we waited, the aroma of baking bread wafted through the morning air. With our eyes closed our noses rose to meet this luscious fragrance. Sister opened her eyes and said, "Sister, they were with us - open your eyes." On our family monument, the Buho is the Owl in Spanish.