Luke and his family were at his uncle’s house for a family get-together. His uncle had a nice house near the beach and they had invited many other relatives, too. During the day, the family surfed, swam, played volleyball and many other games on the beach. After a tiring day, they finally trooped towards the uncle’s house to spend the night there. When the family sat down to dinner around the huge round table, Luke sat next to his uncle. A picture of a doll in the dining room had caught his eye and he wanted to ask his uncle about it. His uncle laughed at Luke’s curiosity. “That picture belongs to your cousin Tina. She does not like it if anyone even touches the picture. She likes to talk to it when no one is looking,” his uncle said with a smile. Luke was fascinated by the picture of the doll.
Luke’s Little Cousin
Luke wondered why anybody would hang up the picture of a doll in the hall. ‘There is definitely something more to this, than meets the eye,’ he thought. So, after dinner, Luke approached his cousin Tina and asked her about the picture. “Is that the picture of your doll in the hall?” he asked. Hearing the question, Tina became very angry. “I am not interested in talking about that picture. Don’t ask me any questions about it,” said Tina, pulling a long face. He was surprised, because he had expected her to be happy to talk about the doll. Luke realised there was some mystery surrounding the doll, so he decided to wait, till everyone was asleep, in order to find out about it. So, Luke stayed up very late till everybody was asleep. He then skulked outside the dining room and stood near its door. He could hear some voices coming from within.
Luke is Shocked
Slowly, without making a sound, Luke crept into the dining room and hid behind some drapes. He then peeped out to check who was making the sounds. Luke could not believe his eyes. His cousin Tina stood in front of the picture of the doll and was talking to it. At first he thought it was just one of her childish games as she was telling the doll about how she had spent the day, what she ate and what she played. Luke decided to leave, but something held him back. There was a second voice in the room. It was booming and very manly. Luke looked carefully and realised that the sound came from the picture. The doll in picture was actually talking! ‘Gosh, does my uncle know about this?’ wondered Luke. He decided to warn his uncle anyway and ran to tell him.
The Spirit’s Voice
Luke told his uncle about the talking picture. At first his uncle did not believe him, but decided to check on what he was saying. So, he ran to the dining room with Luke. However, by then Tina had left and the picture looked as dead as ever. The next night, Luke insisted that his uncle, aunt and cousin should wait up for Tina to come and talk to the picture. They all hid behind the drapes and waited for Tina to come. Tina came and started talking to the picture again. Suddenly, the second voice started talking and his uncle too heard it clearly. They realised that it was a spirit that Tina was talking to. Disturbed, Luke’s uncle decided that this could not go on forever. So, the next morning, he threw the picture in the sea. For a few days, Tina cried over the picture but soon forgot about it altogether.
