I really do not believe in spirits or ghosts. We have had some interesting things happen in the Tattered Suitcase that we have rather jokingly attributed to Joy. (For more about Joy, click on the menu item "Story of Joy") For example, I have had the door securely fastened and have actually heard the handle turn and then the door open - no wind - and I heard it turn. So, sure there is probably a natural explanation, but what is it?
Then there was the rocker that would start rocking. Again, no wind, no obvious natural cause. Who knows why it rocked, but it rocked until I sold it.
So all has been quiet for quite some time, but then this past week, I kept hearing a little electronic tune from the vicinity of my office which is on the opposite end of the shops from the Tattered Suitcase where the other "events" occurred.
I couldn't quite tell where it was coming from so I stood there and waited. No sound. I gave up and started back to the other side, when it started again. I walked back by the office and nothing. It was quiet again. I waited for it to start again but after a couple of minutes I gave up and started back out of the room again. As I got to the doorway, it started again. Back to the office. This time I 
waited and waited. Nothing. Still waited and finally there were a few notes, then it stopped. Unlike before, it just played a little instead of the whole tune. I waited and then it played again. It was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from. I waited some more and then it played. I could tell it was coming from the storage rack. I went there and started looking for something electronic that may have made the noise. On the top shelf was a little poker machine and it was on. I picked it up and looked at it. How it had turned on, I didn't have a clue. I know that thing was sitting there for over a year. Never once in that year had it come on. There was nothing near it that could have turned it on or bumped it somehow. Yet it was on and making the sounds that it made when someone pushed the buttons and played it.
I took it over to the checkout counter and told the dealers there what had happened. They knew about the other events with the door and rocker, but had not heard the game going off before.
The game sat there quietly without playing again (no one was pushing the buttons then) and after a couple of minutes it turned itself off as it does when not touched for a while.
So how did it turn on? How was it being played? When it turned on over in my office, why didn't it time out and turn itself off? It should have unless someone was playing it.
Joy, was it you? Have you taken up wandering in other parts of the shop now? Are you playing poker?
I still don't believe in spirits, but this is a little strange.
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Well, it finally got to us. The huge yellow cranes feeding dozens of dump trucks have rolled past the Tattered Suitcase and across 10th Street. For over a year we have watched as it slowly headed our way. We heard the wails of dispair from other shop owners and businesses as they saw their sales and activity drop to next to nothing (and sometimes to nothing).
Just in case you have missed it, one of our dealers, Shirley Patxot, is also an artist. Is that ever an understatement!
George Irvin Wentz, 64, of Beaumont, passed away Saturday, March 6, 2010. A native and resident of Beaumont for most of his life, George was born September 27, 1945, and was a well known artist and poet. He also worked as a florist in Beaumont, Nederland, Austin, Texas and California. George was a graduate of South Park High School and studied art at Lamar University under the late Jerry Newman. He was a long time member of The Art Studio, where he taught art classes. For many years, George was an active member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Beaumont. He was an expert on antiques, and during the 1980's, he wrote a regular monthly column on antiques for the Antique Collector's Guide. His parents, Esca Ray Wentz, Sr. and Annie Wentz preceded him in death. Survivors include his brother, Ray Bubba Wentz and his wife Jennifer of Ben Lomond, California; aunt, Bertha Morgan of Wildwood, Texas; numerous cousins; and many friends in the Beaumont and Southeast Texas Arts Community. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 1:00 p.m., Saturday, March 13, 2010, at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church with interment to follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park under the direction of Broussard's, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont. A Christian Vigil will be held 7:00 p.m., Friday, March 12, 2010, at Broussard's. Memorial contributions may be made to The Art Studio, Inc., 720 Franklin, Beaumont, Texas 77701.
