Greetings and welcome into the Pawtuxet General. I am your host, Jess. Today's poem is from our dear friend Jenn at www.healininsights.blog. Please check out her stuff. I love it. We couldn't be more proud of our fellow Townee! Moon's Darling. The moon greeted me this morning. The upper half was overhanging and slant in the blue sky. Does she balance on above that empty space? Pure magic. Pure belief that she is held. And so am I. There is no doubt. Only trust. I too want to feel that blind leap of faith. That an invisible net will catch me before the fall The lure of an illusion of ground looseness is strong. And I try as I might to truly believe. Like the magic of seawater in a glass. The salt settles only if it is absolutely still then it can embody its true nature. There is only one way, and that is to act. It is a mean trick that fear plays that I'll appear a fool hurt myself or others. And to be that darling, I know I am. There is only a door that is blocking out the light in the night. There is no view or glimpse of what beholds on the other side. I can grab a hold of the doorknob, pry it open as the hinges squeak and creak, adding to the mystery. Now all I have to do is step over the threshold of my mind and take that leap to being Moon's darling in day and night. We dance as one in our exuberant embrace. There is no separate ocean, no fear to interfere with this serene space We'll hear more from her in the future. We have two recipes with Mint this week to refresh you on these warm days. And a mint julep to finish your hot day. But first, we would like to thank our Patreon subscribers. These festive people are the grilled hamburgers and chips at the picnic table. That is the Pawtuxet General. If you would like to join them at the table, the link is in the show notes. So thank you. Let's get to it. Our two recipes today are the vegan mint cucumber salad and a vegan mint cucumber smoothie. So admittedly, here in Pawtuxet this weekend, it's quite steamy for me, just as we were enjoying the height of open window season. Well, I was thinking it might be a good idea to break out some of those hydrating, delicious dishes we save for summer. I go into my garden to discourage deer and wild bunnies from munching out. Do I often have to weed it back into submission? I have an excess all season long. How about a few mint recipes between these two in the mint julep to follow? We've got you covered. There are versions of this salad all over the place. But this is my way for this salad. You will need two large store bought English cucumbers, or four or five good sized local pickling cucumbers, which is the tastiest way but never used waxed cucumbers. You have no idea how old they are, but worse, you can't eat the skin and so you miss out on all the vitamins just underneath that. And they taste funny. Yeah. One large red onion peeled top and bottom cut off. Then sitting up, cut it in half, put that side down. Then moderately, thinly sliced from top to bottom, which will give you rounded shards, two tablespoons of oil of your choice, salt and pepper, a quarter of a cup of honey, zest and juice of one lemon, half a cup of cider vinegar. One good sized bunch of mint stemmed and chopped, one a good sized bunch of dill stemmed and chopped into a good size mixing bowl. Add the honey oil vinegar, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper. Give it a brisk and fabulous whisk. Then add the onions to pick a little. So depending on what kind of cucumber you decide, you might choose to see them if they are juicy. Like an English cucumber or not like a pickling cucumber. Cut them into one inch pieces and toss those in as well. Stir in the finely chopped herbs. And there you go. Very refreshing on a hot day and you won't get scurvy. This next recipe is so quick. Almost no fuss or muss. For this smoothie, you will need ice, one seeded cucumber, two rounds of peeled ginger, one half inch thick, the juice of one lemon, the juice of two limes. One good sized sprig of mint stemmed a quarter of a cup of honey and a large blender until your blender half way with ice Throwing the ginger, cucumber, mint, honey and juices blend. Pour into slushy, appropriate glassware so that you can chill and enjoy This next drink is so lovely and refreshing. It became the official drink of the Kentucky Derby in 1938. The beauty of this drink is that it is so chock full of ice that it is meant to very slowly be sipped as it melts to sip it quickly kind of defeats the purpose for it's really potent that way. Not as tasty because water is part of the drink. Perfect and hot steamy days and simple to boot let's make mint juleps. For this recipe, you will need a silver copper cup or an old fashioned glass one and one half teaspoons of superfine sugar. Well, crushed ice, seltzer water, two and one half ounces. Whiskey of your choice. Rightio. First, you remove the leaves from the stems of the mint, put them in the bottom of your glass with the sugar and muddle. This bartender talk for crushing the mint into the sugar. Add a splash of seltzer, then fill the glass three quarters filled with, well, crushed ice. Then add the whiskey and top off with a nice break and another splash of seltzer. Try to slip slowly this week and enjoy. I want to tell you about my friend Mike and his Electromagnetic Pinball Museum and Restoration Arcade. It's an all inclusive place to relax and share anything related to modern pinball and pinball and arcade games. A group of pinball and arcade fans with an addiction to games of all kinds and Lego to $10 gets you free play on pinball and arcade games all day. You can find them at 881 Main Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island or online at WW W dot electromagnetic pinball museum dot com This week we continue the reading of the case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft. Chapter four. Section two Not long after his mother's departure, Charles Ward began negotiating for the protective bungalow It was a squalid little wooden edifice with a concrete garage perched high on the sparsely settled bank of the river, slightly above Rhodes. For some odd reason, the youth would have nothing else. He gave the real estate agencies no peace to one of them, secured it for him an exorbitant price from a somewhat reluctant owner. And as soon as it was vacant, he took possession under cover of darkness, transporting in a great closed van the entire contents of his attic laboratory including the books, both weird and modern, which he had barred from his study. He had this van loaded in the black small hours, and his father recalls only a drowsy realization of stifled oats and stamping seat. On the night the goods were taken away, after that, Charles moved back to his old quarters on the third floor and never haunted the attic again to the Pawtuxet bungalow. Charles transferred all the secrecy with which he had surrounded his attic realm seats, and he now appeared to have two sharers in his mysteries. A villainous looking man from the South Main Street waterfront and a thin scullery stranger with dark glasses and a stubbly full beard of dyed aspect whose status was evidently that of a colleague. Neighbors tried vainly to engage these odd persons in conversation. Gomez spoke very little English, and the bearded man who gave his name is Dr. Allen, voluntarily following his example. Ward himself tried to be more affable, but succeeded only in provoking curiosity with his rambling accounts of chemical research. Before long Queer Tales began to circulate regarding the all night burning of lights and somewhat later after this burning had suddenly ceased. There was still queer tales of disproportionate orders of meat from the butchers and the muscles shouting, declamation, rhythmic chanting and screaming, supposed to come from very deep cellar below the place. And most distinctly, the new and strange household was bitterly disliked by the honest bourgeoisie of the vicinity It was not remarkable that dark hints were advanced, connecting the hated establishment with the current epidemic of vampiric stick attacks and murders especially since the radius of that plague scene now confined wholly to Pawtuxet and the adjacent streets of Edgewood. Ward spent most of his time at the bungalow, but slept occasionally at home and was still reckoned a dweller beneath his father's roof. Twice, he was absent from the city on weeklong trips whose destinations have not yet been discovered. He grew steadily paler and more emaciated even than before, and lacked some of his former assurance. When repeating to Dr. Willette, his old, old story of vital research and future revelations will let Austin waylaid him at his father's house. For the elder, Ward was deeply worried and perplexed and wished his son to get as much sound oversight as could be managed. In the case of so secretive and independent and adult. The doctor still insists that the youth was seen even as late as this and a deuces many a conversation. To prove his point about September, the vampirism declined. But the following January, ward almost became involved in serious trouble for some time. The nocturnal arrival and departure of motor trucks at the Turks, a bungalow, have been commented upon. And at this juncture, an unforeseen hitch exposed the nature of at least one item of their contents. In a lonely spot near Hope Valley had occurred one of the frequent by wailing of trucks by hijackers in quest of liquor shipments. But this time the robbers had been destined to receive the greater shock for the long cases they seized. Proved upon opening to contain some exceedingly gruesome things so gruesome in fact, that the matter could not be kept quiet among the denizens of the underworld. The thieves had hastily buried what they discovered. But when the state police got wind of the matter, a careful search was made. A recently arrested vagrant under promise of immunity from prosecution on any additional charge. At last consented to guide a party of troopers to the spot, and there was found in that hasty cache a very hideous and shameful thing. It would not be well for the national or even the international sense of decorum if the public was ever to know what was uncovered by that awestruck party. There was no mistaking it. Even by these far from studious officers, and telegrams to Washington ensued with feverish rapidity. The cases were addressed to Charles Ward at his Pawtuxet bungalow and state and federal officials at once paid him a very forceful and serious call. They found him pallid and worried with his two odd companions and received from him what seemed to be a valid explanation and evidence of innocence. He had needed certain anatomical specimens as part of a program of research whose deaths and genuine. This anyone who had known him in the last decade could prove and had ordered the required kind and number from agencies which he had thought as reasonably legitimate as such things could be of the identity of the specimens he had known. Absolutely nothing was properly shocked when the inspectors hinted at the monstrous effect on public sentiment and national dignity, which a knowledge of the matter would produce. In this statement, he was firmly sustained by his bearded colleague, Dr. Allen, whose oddly hollow voice carried even more conviction than his own nervous tones. So in the end, the officials took no action, but carefully set down the New York name and address, which Ward gave them as a basis for a search which came to nothing. It is only fair to add that the specimens were quickly and quietly restored to their proper places and that the general public will never know of their blasphemous disturbance. On February 9th, 1928, Dr. Willette received a letter from Charles Ward, which he considers of extraordinary importance and about which he has frequently quarreled with Dr. Lyman. Lyman believes that the note contains positive proof of a well-developed case of dementia praecox, but will, on the other hand, regards it as the last perfectly sane utterance of the hapless youth. He calls a special attention to the normal character of the penmanship, which those showing traces of shattered nerves is nevertheless ward zone. The text in full is as follows. 100 prospects. St Providence, Rhode Island. February 8th. 1928 Dear Dr. Willet, I feel at last the time has come for me to make disclosures which I have long promised you, and for which you have pressed me so often. The patience that you have shown in waiting and the confidence that you've shown in my mind and integrity are things I shall never cease to appreciate. And now that I'm ready to speak I must deal with some humiliation and no triumph such as I have dreamed can never be mine. Instead of triumphs, I have found terror standing. And my talk with you will not be a boast of victory, but a plea for help and advice in saving both myself and the world from a horror beyond all human conception or calculation. You recall those sentiments of the party of Pawtuxet This must be done again and quickly Upon us depends more than can be put into words. All civilization, all natural law, perhaps even the fate of the solar system in the universe. I have brought to light a monstrous abnormality. But I did it for the sake of knowledge. Now, for the sake of all life and nature, you must help me thrust it back into the dark again. You've left that Pawtuxet place forever. We must extricate everything existing there, alive or dead. I shall not go there again. And you must not believe it. If you ever hear that I am there, I will tell you. I see this as I see you there. That I have come home for good and wish that you would call on me the very first moment. You can spare five or 6 hours continuously to hear what I have to say. It will take that long and believe me when I tell you that you never had a more genuine professional duty than this. My life and reason are, at the very least, things which hang in the balance. I dare not tell my father, for he could not grasp the whole thing, but I have told him of my danger. And he has four men from the detective agency watching the house. I don't know how much good they can do. They have against them forces, which even you could not scarcely envision or acknowledge so quickly. If you wish to see me alive, to give hope, to see the casualties and spoke whom any time will do. I shall not go out of the house. Don't telephone ahead for there is no telling who or what may try to intercept you. Let us pray to whatever cause that there may be nothing may prevent this meeting an utmost gravity and desperation. Charles Dexter Ward. P.S. Shoot Dr. Allen on sight and dissolve his body in acid. Don't burn it. Dr. Willet received this note about 10:30 a.m. and immediately arranged to spare his whole late afternoon and evening for the momentous talk, letting it extend into the night as long as might be necessary. He planned to arrive about 4:00 and through all the intervening hours was so engulfed in every sort of wild speculation that most of his tasks were mechanically performed. Maniac, or, as the latter would have sounded to a stranger. Will had seen too much of Charles Ward's oddities to dismiss it as sheer raving that something very subtle, ancient and horrible was hovering about. He felt quite sure. And the reference to Dr. Allen could almost be comprehended in view of what Pawtuxet gossip said. Awards and grammatical colleague Willet had never seen the man, but had heard of his aspect and bearing, and could not wonder what sort of eyes those much discussed dark glasses might conceal. Promptly at four, Dr. Willette presented himself at the Ward residence, but found was annoyance that Charles had not adhered to his determination to remain indoors. The guards were there, but said that the young man seemed to have lost part of his timidity. He had that morning done much, apparently frightened, arguing and protesting over the telephone. One of the detectives said, replying to some unknown voice with phrases such as, I'm very tired in this rest a while. I can't receive anyone for some time. You'll have to excuse me. Please postpone decisive action until we can arrange some sort of compromise. I'm very sorry, but I must take a complete vacation from everything. I'll talk to you later then. Apparently gaining boldness through meditation. He had slipped out so quietly that no one had heard him depart or knew that he had gone until he returned

00, entering the house without a word. He had gone upstairs, where a bit of his fear must have surged back, for he was heard to cry out in a highly terrified fashion. Upon entering his library afterwards, falling off into a kind of choking gasp, when, however, the butler had gone to inquire what the trouble was, he had appeared at the door with a great show of boldness and had silently gestured the man away in a manner that terrified him unaccountably. Then he had evidently done some rearranging of his shelves for a great clattering and thumping and creaking ensued, after which he had reappeared and left at once, but inquired whether or not any message had been left but was told there was none. The Butler seemed queerly disturbed about something and Charles appearance and manner and asked solicitous if there was much hope for a cure of his disordered nerves for almost 2 hours, Dr. Willet waited vainly in Charles Ward's library, watching the dusty shelves with their wide gaps where books have been removed and smiling grimly at the paneled over mantel on the north wall, whence a year before the suave features of old Joseph Curwen had looked mildly down. After a time the shadows began to gather, and the sunset cheer gave place to a vague growing terror which flew shadow like before the night. Mr. Ward finally arrived and showed much surprise and anger at his son's absence after all the pains which had been taken to guard him. He had not known of Charles appointment and promised to notify will it when the youth returned. In bidding the doctor goodbye, he expressed his utter perplexity at his son's condition and urged the caller to do all he could to restore the boy to normal poise. It was glad to escape from that library for something frightful and unholy seemed to haunt it as if the vanished picture had left behind a legacy of evil. He had never liked that picture. And even now, strong nerved as he was there, lurked a quality in its vacant pain, which made him feel an urgent need to get out into the pure air. As soon as possible. Thank you again for joining us here at the PG. We love having you here. And if you have a question, comment or ghost story or want to book us for an event. Our email is Jess@pawtuxetGeneral.COM. But until then, we'll meet you right back here next time at the Pawtuxet General. A something for posterity. Production prerecorded. In Pawtuxet