A Record Player With No Records 2

"Grab it, grab it, grab it!"Hattie yelled. Jeff got up from his box and walked over to the player. Picking it up, Jeff let out a gasp. He brought it over to me and I sat it on my lap. My eyes widened as I lifted up the stylus. There was a record.

"I thought you said there weren't any records,"I said. Jeff shrugged and waved Hattie over. She got up and briskly walked over to us.

"Beethoven? Your father listened to Beethoven?!"Hattie exclaimed. I got up as I handed Jeff the player back.

"I personally don't think that's the main question right now,"I said. Hattie shrugged and I looked at Jeff.

“Weren’t you like, a paranormal searcher person, like the Ghost Hunters, or something, when you were my age?”I asked. Jeff shook his head as in disapproval of himself.

“Yes. But it didn’t work out too well. All the places we went were failures. All of the noises and encounters had just been the houses’ old ages. I don’t think I would be any help,”Jeff replied. I nodded in understanding and-standing up-sat the record player on the box I was on.

“I just got an idea. What if that record was already there and Jeff just didn’t notice it? Then, he accidentally hit it and the stylus went down and started playing it?”Hattie reasoned. I let out a sigh and put my hands on my hips.

“Henzi? Henzi! Are you here? Henzi!” I walked over to the door on the floor and opened it. I saw Cici walking up the stairs.

“We’re up here! In the attic!”I called. I stepped back as Cici walked through the hallway and climbed up the ladder. When she got all the way up, she had a coughing fit like me.

“Sorry. Even though we started to clean, it’s still super dusty,”I apologized. Cici nodded and walked over to Jeff and Hattie.

“Hello, I’m Cici. You must be Jeff and Hattie,”Cici greeted. They shook hands as I walked over to them.

“Yes, hello. It’s nice to meet you,”Jeff stated. Hattie smiled as she shook Cici’s hand. I reached out to touch the record player again.

“OW! What the heck?”I shrieked. I grabbed my wrist and put my hand in front of my face. There was a huge burn mark in the middle of my palm, slowly blistering.

“Where’s that bucket of water?”Hattie cried. I looked around and spotted it by the piano. I ran to it and stuck my hand in it. I felt a bit of relief.

“Are you okay, Henzi?”Jeff asked. I looked behind me and saw Jeff walking over to me.

“Yeah, I think so. Go put your hand above that thing and see if it’s warm. But don’t touch it,”I instructed. Jeff crouched down, so Hattie did as I said. She shook her head.

“Nope, not even a bit warm. We need to figure out what’s going on,”Hattie said. We all nodded in agreement as I pulled my hand out of the water.

“Can you grab me that rag up there, please?”I asked. Jeff stood up and grabbed the rag that was sitting on top of the piano and handed it to me.

“Here. Just rap the rag around your hand so that way nothing gets in it,”Jeff ordered. I nodded as I did just that and looked up at him.

“Thank you. Hey, Cici, why were you so late?”I inquired. Cici rolled her eyes as she walked over to me.

“L.A. traffic,”Cici replied as she helped me up. I nodded and took a deep breath.

“Today has been crazy so far and we’ve only been up here for an hour and a half. Do you guys want to go downstairs and have lunch? I bought subs,”I stated. 

“That sounds good,”Hattie agreed. We all climbed down the ladder (I had a difficult time from my hand) and then walked downstairs.

“Just take a seat at the island,”I instructed. I walked over to the fridge and opened it up. I looked up and down until I spotted the big tray of mini subs. I took them out of the fridge and set them on the counter while I shut the fridge door with my foot.

“Eat up!” I walked around the counter and sat down at the empty chair. Cici took the plastic top off of the tray and set it down on the counter. She grabbed a sub and took a bite. I did the same and let out a sigh. I watched as Jeff and Hattie grabbed their subs.

“Someone fill me in on what happened while I was gone,”Cici said. I shared a look with Jeff, and he nodded.

“Well, we were just going through the attic like we planned. When Jeff was cleaning one part, he found that record player. But we couldn’t find any records. We went on cleaning, blah blah blah. When we were taking a break, that stupid record player started playing. We turned it off, and there was a record on it. Then it burned my hand,”I explained. I took a small bite out of my sub after letting out a sigh.

“What if we just go to that antique shop and see if we can sell it to them? That way it’ll be off your hands,”Cici said. I slid my hands down and put my forehead on them.

“Sure. Let’s go tomorrow. I can’t do anything more today, my hand is killing me,”I stated,“You guys can hang out for a bit if you want.” Hattie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I picked my head up and sat up straight.

“Yeah, I think I will. I’m not going right back through the traffic again,”Cici declared. I nodded and put the lid back on the food tray. Getting up, I picked it up and brought it over to the fridge. I put it in there and then turned around and faced my friends again.

“Jeff? Hattie?”I prompted. Jeff looked behind him, up at the clock on the wall.

“Sure, we’ll just stay until we have to go pick up Winter, our granddaughter, at five,”Jeff replied. Hattie nodded while she got up and walked over to the couch, sitting down.

“The remote is on the side table next to you. Watch whatever you want,”I said. Hattie reached over and picked up the remote. She turned on

the TV and switched it to channel fifty-three, the home and garden channel.

“Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you, babe.” The record player!

To be continued...