Marble

The Swamp Road Chronicles^®

"Marble"

When I was a senior in high school (I went to Lakewood High), on "Senior Skip Day" my friend Ron and I were just driving around; we had planned on going to Cedar Point but his car was acting up so we thought that was a bad idea. It's a long walk from Sandusky, Ohio to Hebron, Ohio. So, we were just driving around enjoying the day skipping school, but with no plans. We found ourselves on Swamp Road and decided to visit the old home site that is supposed to be Sally's. It's all just piles of rotting boards and weeds, though. But still, because of the murders and ghost stories, it was interesting, even in the daylight.

When we got there we looked all around but didn't see anything scary or interesting. There were some old rusty houseware items like pots and pans and tin cans, things like that. As we were leaving I saw something in the dirt that was round and shiny; I dug it out, polished it up on my shirt sleeve and found that it was an old marble. It was clear as glass, but it had cracks and shadows in it. I think it is made of quartz, not glass. I say 'is' because I still have it, but I haven't looked at it in years. I keep it in an old cigar box with a lot of odds and ends like an old broken pocket knife, a toy soldier, some old coins and a medal I won in school. To tell the truth, I'm a little afraid to mess with it. I want to tell you why.

That night, at home, I took everything out of my pant pockets as I was getting ready for bed. I found the marble there which I had forgotten about finding. I held it up to the light from the bedside lamp and peered into it. I turned it about as I was imagining how it had probably been played with by some little boy out there in the dirt and he had lost it.

In a matter of a few moments, I was fully immersed in the world I was imagining. I was THERE. I could feel the sun and wind and hear the birds singing. I stood there watching 2 little boys and a young girl playing marbles in the sandy soil. They were having such fun, and laughing! I was starting to kneel down to see if I could join them in their play when my phone rang.

BAM! I was jerked back to the present with such force that it took my breath away. While I was gazing into that marble I completely lost any sense of time or space. I honestly feel that if my girlfriend hadn't called me when she did I might have been unable to return back to my own time, my own reality. I think I would have been trapped in that alternative existence. It felt that real. I felt that I truly belonged there too.

I wonder if that marble is some sort of crystal ball, but a very small one. I wonder if the young girl I saw in that vision of long-ago was Sally. I don't know, but I have never had the nerve to peer deeply into that marble again, but I haven't thrown it away, either. I wonder if I should return it to the Blackstone home. I think I'll keep it for now, maybe I'll look into it again someday.

(Editor's Note: The photo above was attached to the email we received.)

As submitted by Michael Gravely 3-14-23

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