by Alexie Aaron
“Let’s save it for sharing time,” Ted said sidestepping the subject. “Come on. If we don’t get in the kitchen soon all the good cupcakes will be gone,” Ted said and pulled her out of the rocker and hopefully out of her doldrums.
“I like the ones with the pink icing.”
“Of course you do, you’re a girl,” Ted said lamely and received a punch in the arm as his reward.
Chapter Twelve
Jeff Harbaugh sat sipping coffee in his sedan, making sure to only run the engine long enough to clear the fog from the windows. He had worn his hunting thermals and sat on the heating pad his wife gave him for sitting in the bleachers during their son’s soccer games. He didn’t understand soccer, but his son was amazing at it according to his coach. So Jeff was a fixture at all the games, drinking coffee, watching the field, hoping one day to figure out how anyone could call this a sport. Macy said it could be worse, it could be cricket. He watched 1634 for any sign of activity. Aside from a neighbor picking up the paper and the mail from the street-side mailbox after work, the house had been quiet.
He entertained himself by musing over what he would have done if he was in Archie’s shoes. Surely the aliens wouldn’t have gotten the drop on the big man. He was in the middle of a daydream where he had the little fuckers by the necks when a black Lincoln Town Car pulled up to the house. Right after, an SUV entered the drive followed by a F150 truck. He grabbed his camcorder and adjusted the lens and began filming. He saw a family of five exit the SUV, the homeowners perhaps? They entered the house via the open garage door.
Angelo’s driver spotted the watcher as he drove by. He noted the license plate. “You got eyes on you across the street,” he informed Angelo.
“Run his plates, make sure he’s not law enforcement,” Angelo ordered and added, “Good eyes.”
The driver smiled and got out to open the door. He watched his passenger unfold his massive frame as he exited the Town Car. Angelo had added a long, black wool coat to his normal black-suited attire. It made him look more like a mob boss and less like the gentle man the driver had come to know over the years of working for him.
He smiled as the inhabitants of the pickup truck walked by him. The small young woman was clearly in charge of the two tall men who accompanied her. She pointed to the sedan discretely. One by one, the men eyed the vehicle before entering the house.
Mia smiled as she entered the kitchen. The lemongrass-colored walls sparkled as the light hit them. She could see that Julie was very interested in cooking by the clean but worn appliances. The pots that hung from the copper rack were scratched and stained but of good quality. The room smelled like the fruit that was ripening in the glass bowl on the counter.
Angelo unbuttoned his coat as he took in his surroundings. Americans have so many gadgets. All he needed was a sharp knife, a pot and a gas flame. “This room, how does it feel to you, Mia?”
“Clean.”
“Well naturally, it has to be sanitary.”
“Sorry, I mean I am picking up nothing other than us here.”
“Me too. Let’s go upstairs.”
Mia motioned for Ted and Cid. “You may want to hang back a little. We’ll look over the wainscoting situation after Angelo reads the room.”
Cid nodded, and Ted gave her a wink. Mia knew that Ted wouldn’t be too far away. He had a stealthy way of moving for such a tall man.
Mia stepped aside as Henry came bounding down the staircase carrying a duffle. “scuse me,” he said and disappeared around the corner.
She heard Lizzie upstairs talking to a friend on her cell phone as she passed her room. Julie stood at the door to Gwen’s room, unable to turn the nob. Angelo hung back and observed the woman.
“Would you like me to go in first?” Mia asked.
A look of relief flooded the woman’s features. “Please.”
“Your family is so polite,” Mia mentioned as she traded places with her.
“How so?” Julie questioned.
“I just passed Henry on the stairs carrying down his luggage, he said excuse me.”
“My Henry?” Julie asked dubious.
“Looked like him to me,” Mia said.
“First of all, he couldn’t be packed already. Second, if he seems polite, he has already set up a prank to play on you so watch your step,” she warned.
“I’ll consider myself warned.” Mia nodded her head towards the door. “Ready?”
Julie and Angelo nodded.
Mia turned the knob and entered the room. The first thing Mia noticed was the absence of the burnt smell. The room appeared to be empty. Mia walked over and opened the closets and lifted the dust ruffle and looked under the bed. “All clear, the DTDs er ATzxes have all departed as far as I can tell,” she announced.
Angelo strode purposefully into the room and ran his bare hand along the wainscoting. He knelt down and picked at a few places where the natural knots in the wood had come loose from the smoothed and bleached board. “I see you!” He poked his fingers in the hole and pulled out a small wiggling mass. “Mia, run and get me a jar with a lid.”
“Let me, I know where there are some,” Julie said and left the room.
“What is it?” Mia questioned.
“A small one, I think it was left to spy. I believe Gwen calls this one Beanie.” Angelo cupped his hands. “Come here, let me show you.”
Mia inched her way over, loathe to get too close to the snakelike black mass. “How did you know it was there?”
“I heard it singing. First I thought it was a mouse. Mice sing all the time. The melody is not good for dancing, but it still is sweet. This one sings, bee bee bee bee. Gwen would have heard him when he was trying to hide in her ears. So that is why he is Beanie. Bubba would sound like Buh buh buh. Blast, well you get the idea. I am sure if Beanie is here, the other two are close by.”
Mia watched as Angelo let Beanie crawl over his fingers. “Beanie, where are your friends?” The DTD stopped and swayed. “It understands me.”
Julie trotted into the room. “Here’s the…What the hell is that?”
“Beanie,” Mia and Angelo said in chorus.
“That’s what attacked Richard?” she asked incredulously.
“Many older and larger ones, but basically, yes,” Angelo answered.
“Mind if I squash it?” Julie said sarcastically.
“Yes, I do. This little guy may give us information to defeat the others. Open the jar.”
Julie did and watched as Angelo gently extracted the entity from his hand and moved it into the jar. He took the jar from Julie and put the lid on it and tightened it.
“Shouldn’t you poke holes in it?” she asked.
“It doesn’t breathe. It isn’t a living being,” Angelo informed her.
“Found another one,” Mia called, her head inside of Gwen’s toy box. “What kind of wood is this?”
Julie put her hand on her chest. “Oh my god, I forgot about this. It’s made from the same wood.”
“Anything else in this room made from the wood?” Angelo asked as he walked over and handed the jar to Mia who held a longer wiggling snakelike shadow with two fingers. She looked at him, and he jerked in realization. “I’ll open the jar.” He unscrewed the jar, and Mia dropped the DTD in.
“Which one is that?” Julie asked.
Angelo held the jar to his ear. “Bubba.”
“Mrs. Kowalski, the wood?” Angelo reminded her.
“The headboard. We got a deal. Wait, I have an invoice! I’ll be right back.” Julie turned heel and left the room.
Angelo and Mia moved to the small bed. She ran her hands over the surface while Angelo listened. He pointed to the center. There pretending to be a series of raised wood grains was Blast. He was faster than the others and Mia launched herself towards the errant serpentine creature. Angelo moved backwards but not quickly enough. Mia’s shoulder hit him in the shoulder hard causing her to drop down on the mattress. She rolled over and looked up at the large
Italian. “Sorry.”
He smiled. “Didn’t feel a thing.”
“Ahem,” Ted’s voice came from the doorway.
Mia craned her head around. “Oh hi, Ted. Guess what we found. It’s large, snakelike and wiggly.”
Ted winced.
“Oh not that.” Mia blushed. “Here come take a look.” Mia wiggled out from under Angelo and reached out with the covered jar.
Ted, trying to play it cool, took the jar and looked at it. Two wriggling snakes, one flat, the other cylindrical moved in the small enclosed space. He whistled.
“Put your ear to the glass,” Mia encouraged.
He did so and heard, “ Bee, buh, buh, bee, bee, buh.” He looked at her and grinned. “Beanie and Bubba.”
“Yes!” She hit Angelo on the shoulder. “See I told you he was a genius.”
Angelo ignored her and continued to examine the headboard of the bed. “There!” He pointed.
Mia squinted and saw the change in the wood grain pattern. She moved fast and raked her nails over the wood until she found a bit of the DTD she could get a hold of. She tugged it away from the wood. An ear shattering sound erupted from the entity. Mia swung the noise maker against the wall hard. It stopped. She walked over to Ted, and he helped her secure the thing in the jar with the others. She shook her head and opened her jaw to pop her ears. “Blast,” was all she said.
Angelo had his hands over his ears. He released them and shook his head. “How did that one go unnoticed for this long?”
Julie’s footsteps pounded down the hallway. “What was that?”
“Blast,” the three of them said.
“I thought something of Henry’s exploded,” she explained.
They had their answer.
“Is that the list?” Mia asked, willing her headache away.
Julie handed it to her and Mia smiled. “Just one more item. Work bench top,” she read. “It’s in Henry’s room.”
Richard walked in. “I was in the garage getting out suitcases when I heard… What?”
“Blast,” Julie joined in the chorus, making it four.
“Okeedokee. Gwen’s Blast?”
They nodded.
“Better get her ears checked while we’re at it.”
“Not a bad idea. Have you seen our son?” Julie asked.
“Last I saw he was showing Cid his homemade firecrackers in the basement. That’s what I thought the noise was.”
“We have to go into his room after some of these things.” Julie pointed to the jar Ted held aloft. “You know that room’s got to be booby-trapped.”
“I’ll get him.” Richard turned around and left.
“Have Cid come up too. Mom wants me to show him the wainscoting,” Julie called after him.
“Do you think I should get a bigger jar or a couple of them?” Julie asked as she watched the DTDs fight for space in the former pickle jar.
Mia shook her head. “They’ll settle down. Look, the two quiet ones are working together to try to unscrew the lid.”
Angelo tapped the glass and shook his finger. The activity stopped.
“How come the light isn’t affecting them?” Julie asked.
“Perhaps they are different than the big ones.”
“Maybe there are several different kinds,” Mia offered. “The one that attacked me wasn’t afraid of the sunlight but didn’t like getting burned.”
“Ages of development. Like your friend Murphy. How can he not speak to us when other ghosts can?” Angelo offered.
Mia backed into Ted and stepped on his foot with her heel so he thought about the pain instead of Murphy. “Ouch! Minnie Cooper, you have to lay off the snack foods.”
She listened for Henry and pushed thoughts of Murphy down deep where Angelo couldn’t find them. “I hear boy-sized footsteps on the stairs,” she said to distract the mind reader.
Henry appeared and said gruffly, “I understand you want into the sacred sanctum?”
“Pest control. We want to check and see if you have any of these running around your workbench,” Mia informed him.
Henry looked at the pickle jar and shook his head. “You are welcome to look. First let me take care of a few things.”
“I’ll give you five minutes, mister,” Julie said sternly.
They watched from the hallway as Henry opened his door carefully. He ran his hand down along the bottom edge of the door jamb and carefully guided a loop of fishing line off a screw in the wall. He then pushed the door open. Inside on the floor was an array of metal jacks, marbles and Lego blocks.
“Deadly,” Ted said as he rubbed his already sore foot. “I stepped on a Lego block in my bare feet once. Bruised the arch, took two weeks to recover.”
“Pick them up,” his mother ordered.
Henry did as he was told.
“If you are already packed, how come your underwear is still in the drawer?” Julie questioned as she pointed to the half-closed dresser drawer.
“I packed my stuff. No one said anything about clothes,” Henry sassed.
“Go get your father,” Julie said losing her patience.
“Ah, Mom,” he whined but did as he was told.
“I guess the room is yours. I’m going to go and talk to Cid,” Julie excused herself.
Mia walked carefully over to the work bench. She ran her hand over the roughhewn surface. “There’s a dead one,” she pointed out to Ted.
Ted leaned in. Etched in the middle of the table was an DTD that had been bisected with a burn mark. He traced it to a stripped cord of an old lamp. “I don’t think this was done deliberately. I think the lamp shorted out and took a bystander with it.”
Angelo walked into the room, and Mia shifted out of the small space so he could confirm that there weren’t any other creatures in there.
She walked out into the hall and smiled as Lizzie walked by her carrying two suitcases. Lizzie didn’t glare. Mia took this for a good sign.
Cid looked over the project before him. He took out a pad of paper and made some notes. “What would you like instead of the wood?”
“Wallpaper, whatever my mother decrees will be fine. Is it possible to have this done before we return?”
“As long as we don’t have to order any special wallpapers or furnishings,” Cid said. “It’s a lovely room, shame about the beasties.”
Julie sat down on the bed exhausted. “How could I have missed what has been going on for four years? I must be a horrible mother,” she said with a shaky voice.
“Ma’am, if I may be so bold,” Cid asked.
“Go ahead.”
“I’ve met your son. He is an amazing kid, but I expect from the parental view he’s a nightmare. Maybe you had your hands full.”
Julie nodded and gave him a wry look.
“I’ve also met your little girl. She is brave, intelligent and resilient. The rest of her life is going to be a piece of cake. You may have to watch out that she’s not bored. My sister’s like her. She skydives and climbs mountains for a hobby,” Cid warned.
Her eyes widened in realization. “Good advice. Thanks, Cid.”
“You’re welcome. Would you mind if I took some measurements and packed up the toys so I don’t break them with my big feet?”
“Actually, I have to put together a bag of clothes for our trip. Let me get that together then the room is yours.”
“I’ll go next door and see if I can be of help with Henry’s room. I understand there are hazards to be wary of,” Cid said before he left Julie to her packing.
Mia popped her head in the door. “Mrs. Kowalski, do you mind if I make some coffee downstairs?”
“Make yourself at home.”
“Would you like some?”
“Yes, I think so. Dump a few sugars in it. I have the feeling I’m going to need the energy.”
“Will do.” Mia turned to go but stopped and walked over to the bed and sat down next to the worried mother. “If I tell you something personal, can we keep it between th
e two of us?”
“I suppose so,” Julie said interested.
“Remember I told you about being born in a house with a nurturing ghost?”
“Yes.”
“Well, she was the only parent I had. Sure, my parents fed me, when they weren’t distracted, and remembered most times that I had a bedtime. But they weren’t like you and Richard. That is why I’m socially awkward. Gwen won’t be like me because there is so much love in this house. Gwen’s going to come out of this fine. She’s not going to be afraid of the dark soon. I can’t see the future, but I do sense that once we take care of this problem that your family will be back on course. You may have a few interesting stories to tell, but otherwise the events here have only brought you closer together.”
Julie started to cry. Mia scooted over and put an arm around her shoulders and held her. “Let it out,” she encouraged. “You’d be surprised how good you’re going to feel after. Sure, you’re going to look like hell, but we aren’t filming so go ahead.”
Ted held the jar up to the light. “Hard to see these guys as anything but annoying,” he said aloud.
“Think of them as dandelions. They are pretty, yes. A couple here and there, but before you know, they are everywhere choking off the grass and flowers.” Angelo scratched at the body in the wood of the desk making sure it was indeed dead.
“Why ATzxes? Couldn’t they be something else?”
“It’s possible,” Angelo acknowledged.
Cid walked into the room and sat down on the bed.
“Take a load off,” Ted said. He passed the jar to Cid. “Take a good look. These babies are going to take over the world if we don’t stop them.”
Cid shook the jar. The entities seemed to like the activity and morphed into little springs and popped up and down. “Well look at that, there’s something you don’t see every day.”
Angelo turned around and watched the activity for a while. “I think perhaps they are learning something. See how high they get after each compression of their spring bodies? Tell me about what happened to Mia and the straw man.”
Ted and Cid took turns giving Angelo their perspective of the incident.
