New Voices 002

Stories by S. H. Marpel | Ghost Hunters-2

“How could Death be a bargain?”

“Like everything, there are established forms and sequences. When living things die, then they should move on. Nature then digests what was left behind. That’s the deal, the bargain.”

“You mentioned ‘we’?”

“Oh, of course. My associate should be here any second.”

As if on cue, there was a loud thump in the cabin. It sounded like some weight had dropped a few feet to the floor. Darkness filled the cabin, and seemed to flow out of the screens on the open windows and doors. Someone or something was coughing inside.

I jumped to my feet and reached to open the screen door. Sal met me there, and put her hand on mine. “Just wait a second. She likes to be dramatic. Let the dark settle out.”

With her warm touch, I kept my hand on the screen door handle. And waited, looking into her eyes for a signal.

At last the darkness quit flowing out and the coughing stopped. Sal nodded, and I opened the door.

IIITHERE WAS A RAVEN-HAIRED beauty looking at me, one hand to her mouth as the tears welled in her dark-brown eyes. She wore a slinky, low v-cut, long-sleeved black dress that flowed to the floor and then some. Tall, dramatic collar. Long, wide sleeves showed with one arm holding her hand to her mouth and teary eyes. Thin eyebrows raised and forehead creased as if apologetic for casting a wrong spell.

Sal spoke. “This is Judeth. Or Jude, as she goes by these days.”

Jude took her free right hand and extended it my way. While wiping the tears from her eyes with the other. “Glad to meet you.” She coughed once more.

Sal frowned. “Jude, the coughing doesn’t seem to do well with all the darkness.”

Jude looked at her with still bleary eyes. “Yea, there’s work to do on the entrance. That darkness can suck the air out just when you need it most.”

The darkness had evaporated by then. We were all three now in the tiny cabin. Which had even less room with that many people standing there.

Sal noticed my discomfort. “John, Jude, it’s a beautiful day, let’s take this talk outside.” Looking at Jude’s dress she said, “And why don’t you change into something more appropriate. With sturdy shoes.”

Jude looked down at what she was wearing and raised her head with a thin smile. “Guess you’re right. Please excuse me.”

Jude then turned around and made a gesture I couldn’t see from behind her. The dress shrank around her legs and arms, retracting into itself. It formed into a black satin suit jacket over tight black flare-legged jeans. Her feet were now in black boots, visible only as toes just stuck out beneath the jeans in front.

Jude then turned back around. A black blouse, with high collar, but unbuttoned well down her chest, completed the outfit. Jude tugged down the cuffs of her shirt sleeves inside her jacket. All with a broad smile.

Looking direct to me, Jude asked, “How to you like it?”

I closed my dropped jaw, and stuttered out, “Looks good on you.”

“Thanks.” She said, pushing a stray lock behind an ear, while she continued to look deep into my eyes.

Sal interrupted. “I’ll be just outside. Jude, you coming?”

Jude curled her smile into a wistful grin. “Sure. John needs his boots and somewhere to put them on. We girls don’t need to crowd him so much.”

The two women left, and I could smell their different fragrances in the cabin. One of violets, the other of roses.

I sat on the bunk/couch and pulled my workbooks over, tugging my feet into them. Grabbing my ball cap and brown chore jacket, I was ready for an outdoor conference with these two ladies.

Outside, I saw that Jude now crouched in front of Bertie, who found another fast friend. Bertie’s tail was wagging and Jude had another wide smile on her face. Sal was standing nearby, with a wistful grin of her own.

Sal looked at me, “It’s like you have a little piece of heaven here.”

I answered, “In the Spring, everything is fresh and green and alive. Heaven would be a good word for it. Especially now, with the young calves birthing and hatchlings of all types.”

“Let’s head out to the hill top,” I suggested. “The dew won’t be so heavy there.”

Passing through the open, faded red wooden gate, we entered the well-grazed pasture. While there were cow-paths we could use, they had cropped the grass so short over winter it was easy walking it three abreast. The new growth was still short enough to hold little dew. I thought of this in regard for my visitor’s long pants and city-type footwear.

We walked for a time in quiet as I saw these women were reveling in all this natural beauty. Like they didn’t get to enjoy this often. The farm has that effect on people. It’s why I came here to write.

My curiosity finally prompted me to speak, “OK, tell me who you really are and what you really need from me.”

Sal looked across at Jude, who was walking on the other side of me, both were smiling. “Well, if you stop here we’ll give you the explanation you deserve.”

We stopped. The two girls moved to my front, facing me at a conversational distance. The sun to their backs gave more highlights to their hair. My ball cap visor kept the sun out of my eyes so I didn’t have to squint.

“John, we are not normal humans, in fact, we work for Death.”

IVOK, THAT’S A BIT WEIRD. Working for Death. I had no reaction to this as I knew more was coming. No, they weren’t “regular humans.” Appearing out of nothing, and changing clothing wholesale, already got me over any idea of that.

Sal interrupted my thoughts. “Jude and I work together, as we have since Time was young. We help people move on after they die. And recently, we’ve been told that our methods haven’t been efficient enough.”

“You mean, there’s management running your operation?”

“In so many words, yes. There are laws and rules, ‘company policies’ within that metaphor, and we have to stick within those guidelines. Our ‘job description’ is helping our clients to stay within those guidelines. This is where you come in.”

“You’re going to either say I’m about to die, or become one of you?”

Jude smiled and c****d her head. “Not that we wouldn’t mind having a hunk like you around, but no. Neither of those options are on the table. Only regular humans can solve our ‘client’s’ problems.”

Sal continued. “The problem we are having is with our clients. Too many of them aren’t able to stick to the guidelines, and so don’t transition.”

I was catching on. “So you mean there’s a certain percentage of acceptable ‘ghosts’ and ‘specters’ and you’re ‘over quota’?”

“Exactly.” Sal and Jude looked at each other, relieved.

Jude said to Sal with a quiet voice, “I knew we picked out a good one this time.”

Sal just smiled more and turned my way. “So what questions do you have?”

I had dozens. “The first point is why should I accept this job? I already have two - writing and managing this place.”

“Because the way we operate, you won’t miss any time from either of them. We bring you back within minutes of leaving. Here, let’s show you how that works.”

Sal and Jude took each other’s hands, and each took one of mine. The scenery shimmered and became the inside of the tiny cabin. We were just inside the door where there was enough space for all of us to fit.

Sal spoke first. “We don’t have to hold hands every time, but this cabin is so small, it helps us fit better when we arrive.” They then let go of my hands.

“Now, fill up your coffee mug.”

I’d brewed my coffee this morning and had emptied my first mug-ful with breakfast. The coffee maker was in reach of my desk, the mug nearby. So I turned around, picked up the mug, and filled it up again. Then turned back to face them. The warm coffee inside the mug steamed with its thick aroma.

“OK, now put it down on your desk. You see the steam rising off of it?”

I nodded.

The women took my hands again. The cabin shimmered.

VWHEN THE SHIMMERING cleared, we were in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. Its Observatory parking lot. All was almost pitched black outside the street lights and architectural lighting for the buildings. The moon was high in the sky, and the L. A. streets twinkled through their own lights as they stretched off toward the ocean. Behind us, the mountains were dark and nearly invisible in their gloom.

While we could hear the sirens and street traffic, there was none around us, and the parking lot was bare of cars.

“This isn’t just early morning, is it?” I asked.

“No,” Sal said. “This is two weeks before we were in your cabin. That moon was a sliver on the horizon when we left your place and now it’s nearly full, high in the sky.”

Jude added, “Different place, a different time. Now, watch.”

An apparition shifted from a fog-like mist on the west side of the parking lot to take a near-solid form. It looked solid, real. Except there was something unreal about it. Maybe it was the staring eyes and the fact that its feet walked through the parking curbs instead of stepping over them.

The straight line it was walking didn’t deviate. And it was coming straight toward us.

“So this is one of your ghosts you need to deal with?” I asked,

“One of them. Not our worst.” Sal replied.

“Worst is what? This one is darned spooky. It would keep most people wondering for months of nightmares,"

“True enough. But there are ghosts who are far spookier, and more dangerous.”

The specter was a slight young girl, dressed in something out of the 50’s, it looked like. Sweater over a simple blouse. Full skirt below the knees, bobby-socks, and saddle-back black-and-white shoes. Her face was blank, her eyes focused on something beyond us.

She got closer and never saw us or slowed down. She kept going, walking right on through us. I flinched, but the girls didn’t.

I turned around to see her dissolve right through the front wall of the Observatory tourist shop without slowing her pace.

Just then, Sal shouted, “Look out!”

I turned to look and there was some cosmic pinwheel-shaped rift in the sky. A few feet off the ground. Just where we had seen the girl appear. A red-orange fireball pushed out of it and shot right toward us.

Sal grabbed one of my hands at the same time Jude grabbed the other.

The view shimmered, just as the fireball was nearly on us...

VIWE WERE BACK IN MY cabin again. It was daylight.

No fireball. No Griffith Park.

My mug of coffee still steamed on my desk. The spring air was still wafting through my screen door and windows. A mockingbird was singing in a tree outside. While a momma cow lowed for her babe in a distant pasture.

I picked up the mug and sipped it. Still hot and sweet, with a dark mix of chicory and Brazilian beans.

“Ok, you proved your point. Time and space aren’t limits to you two.”

I rolled out my desk chair. “I need a seat. There’s a folding chair behind the door, or you can both use the couch.”

I sat. Sal pulled out the folding chair, another solid wood arrangement. She set it up and sat down on it, crossing her jean-covered legs in one smooth motion. Jude flounced onto the couch and felt the quilted comforter with her hand. Then reclined as her hand slid across, down to her elbow, and then back up to prop her head. And smiled again.