Friday, February the 25th, 2005
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After clambering out of the bog, Blodgett went to a hop. It was free of ghosts. Blodgett danced a hoocha with a bewitching floozie. She literally bewitched him, using her turquoise earring magnets. For the next three weeks, Blodgett was under her spell. She took him to the harbour and put him on a boat. It was a steam packet. They went on a voyage north, until they encountered pack ice. The bewitching floozie was skilled in the mariner's arts, but even she pooh-poohed pack ice. They turned back and sailed for home and the hop. Blodgett in his entrancement had been commanded to keep the ship's log, and as they came into harbour the floozie snatched it from his hands and with a twist of one turquoise earring magnet she released him from her spell. They walked arm in arm from the harbour to the hop and danced the night away. Blodgett remembered nothing. He was astonished, years later, passing through the town near the bog, to find in a chandlery bargain bin the ship's log, in his distinctive curlicued handwriting. He bought it and took it home and put it on his mantelpiece, where gathering dust was a fading snapshot of the floozie, in her cloche hat and turquoise earrings.