Mr. Poe's Birthday Party

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 8/31/2009

The old graveyard out on the edge of town was a favorite meeting point for Tommy Allen and his friends. You may say that this was a strange place for young men to get together for a bit of fun and fellowship, but they shared a love of mystery and the macabre. Here, they could assume the mindset of their hero, Edgar Allan Poe, and swap ghost stories in the dark hours after sunset. The graveyard’s caretaker, old Farrell, allowed the young men to spend several evenings a year in the oldest part of the cemetery, far away from the newer portion and sporadic visitors.

Tommy and his friends Stephen Cowan, Connor Hardison, Skylar Jordan and Anthony Beam had several causes for celebration on this first meeting night of the summer. Connor and Skylar were graduating from the city college, and they were acutely aware that 2009 marked the 200th birthday of their idol. They had wished to hold this meeting on January 19, Poe’s birthday, but winter nights were too bitter to meet in the graveyard and it had been an exceptionally cool and rainy spring. They had agreed to wait until school was out bringing drier, warmer weather before meeting for “Mr. Poe’s birthday party.”

The young men brought snack suppers and blankets to sit on. Although the parties were usually over by midnight, occasionally they would doze off when the weather was nice and not leave the cemetery until the early hours of the morning. Once, a couple of years ago, they did not leave until almost 4:00 am. On that morning, even the brooding Stephen Cowan was affected by the darkness and sounds of the old cemetery.

Darkness neared as the sun began to set. As the friends arrived at the meeting place, which was a huge oak tree in the far corner of the old cemetery, Tommy noticed that Stephen did not have a backpack or blanket. He had a small paper sack with a sandwich and drink, but that was all.

Tommy began speaking when the last of the group arrived. He saw that everyone else had a backpack and either a blanket or jacket. Although the weather was warm, the temperature could cool quickly after sundown. He said, “Greetings to you, my friends and fellow Poe lovers. Tonight, we will eat cold sandwiches, consume warm soft drinks and tell stories. We also celebrate the 200th birthday of Mr. Poe, although we are a few months late.”

After a few more words from Tommy concerning the life of Edgar Allan Poe, Connor opened the soft drinks and set the snack food out on a card table he had brought for the occasion, and then the friends “toasted” Poe with aluminum cans filled with soft drinks. No beer or liquor was allowed at these meetings, out of respect for Mr. Poe’s documented troubles with alcohol and to stay on good terms with old Farrell.

Skylar uncomfortably noted that he was the only one not dressed in black in honor of Mr. Poe. He was dressed in a light pullover sport shirt and khaki shorts.

After the snack supper, the boys traded stories. All were encouraged to author a new story for recitation at each meeting, but this was not mandatory. Tommy and Anthony did a couple of Poe readings, but Stephen, Connor and Skylar offered original tales. Skylar’s story about a haunted house with a 110-year-old occupant was particularly chilling.

Around 10:30, the boys began to get drowsy. The weather was warm and the moonlight invited sleep. Soon, all were asleep. That is, except for one.

When he was certain the others were comfortably asleep, the one who was still awake went into action. Quietly, he set up a miniature carved wooden tombstone dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe approximately 30 feet from the oak tree and placed a single shot of cognac and three stemmed roses in front of it. When his work was done, he quickly returned to his “spot” by the tree.

Anthony awoke shortly after 11:00 pm (by his wristwatch) and briefly saw a dark dressed person fumbling with something a few yards from the tree. Although there was ample moonlight in the old cemetery, Anthony was groggy and quickly returned to sleep.

Everyone slept soundly until almost 5:00 am. The sun rose early, and it was almost light when Tommy awoke. He felt slightly nauseated, like he always did when taking any kind of medicine. For this reason, it was rare for him to take any kind of medicine, let alone drugs or alcohol. His stomach simply would not tolerate them. Checking the time, he quickly woke everyone else up. He feared old Farrell would not be too happy with them spending the entire night. He wanted to clean the area and get out of there before he showed up. Farrell was known to arrive at the cemetery early.

As the boys hurriedly cleaned up the area and prepared to leave, Stephen pointed to the miniature tombstone and said, “What is this?” The sun was now up as they walked the few feet over to it; they discovered a dummy tombstone with Edgar Allan Poe’s name on it, plus a small glass of cognac and three roses. All of the boys were well aware that these items were left at the real burial site of Mr. Poe by unknown persons on his birthday and had been every year since the 1940s. Tommy quickly sized up the situation. Grinning, he said to the others, “One of you has played a trick on us.”

“How do we know it wasn’t you?” Anthony asked.

“You don’t,” Tommy replied, “but I see we are going to have to figure this out. Farrell will be here soon.”

Tommy found a small bottle of liquid doz-a-way by the picnic table. Doz-a-way was an over the counter sleeping medicine. The prankster had obviously added small amounts to each of the soft drink cans the night before. The dosages were obviously very mild and did not go into effect until after storytelling and relaxation.

Anthony told the others of what he saw shortly after 11:00. Tommy told them of his slight nausea and his reluctance to take any kind of medicine. They swore on their friendship to the others that each was telling the truth.

After few moments, Tommy broke an intense silence. He stated, “I believe I know who our Poe admirer is.”