Curse of Remorse

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  Strangely enough, Sam was driving along slowly and stopped, leaned over and opened the door for her. She nodded and ungracefully climbed in. He made motion with his hands saying he lost his voice too. Mrs. Gorn motioned him towards her house and he followed her heading. Parking on the mostly deserted street, she motioned with her hands for a drink of coffee and he smiled and shut the motor off.

  Sam was a bit surprised how neat and clean her place was. Everything seemed in its place as he sat down at the small kitchen table with a red and white checkered table cloth covering an old pine table. She filled up the tea pot and put a kitchen match to the old gas stove. In no time she had hot water and a spoon stuck out of his and her mugs with instant coffee as the source of caffeine. On the table sat a non-dairy creamer and packaged sugar. He mixed it all together and she returned with a legal pad and two pencils for their method of communicating. She wrote first and the message was about losing his voice. He wrote that upon a visit to Ralphs he got mad and then his voice suddenly stopped. He added that now he was redundant as a police officer. She saw the sad look in his eye and felt real tears for him. He was still relatively young and had lots of years left whereas she was rapidly closing in on the end of the road. She wrote, what will you do? He wrote back that he didn’t know what to do, but would think about it and make a decision later.

  Sam finished his coffee and wrote a thank you and took his leave. Mrs. Gorn watched him walk to his car and felt a real sadness for him and for the rest of the town as well. One might think if they had been there to see and feel that Mrs. Gorn had turned over a new leaf in her life. Maybe, just maybe with the loss of her voice, she had a new lease on life. On the other hand, she felt Sam was severely depressed.

  Chapter 20

  Peter and James T were up early as usual. A feeling of trepidation encompassed the room. Two back packs sat at the door waiting for the trip to come. Peter said, looking at his watch, “The café is open. Do you want to go eat?”

  “I am not hungry, but we best get something as a long day faces us. By the way, I couldn’t sleep last night so went for a walk. The snow had stopped falling and I could see out towards Ralph’s place a bright blue glow that kind of looked like a circle hanging over the area. I tell you what Peter we are in for a fight to the finish today. I sure hope we are ready.”

  “I think we both knew what we were getting into before we came here. We are committed now so let’s go eat a big breakfast of substance and while we are at it, a prayer might be in order today.”

  At the café, unlike the morning previous, the place was relatively empty save a couple newspaper guys drinking coffee hoping a story might land in their laps. Peter did notice Candice was sipping a coffee and they joined her. Peter felt a bit sorry for her, as she had black around the eyes, and looked like sleep evaded her last night. He waited awhile and then said, after they ordered some ham and cheese omelets, “Are you sure Candice that you want to go today?” This could prove a big dangerous.”

  “Thanks for the warning Peter, but I think I will go and see what develops. My boss left it up to me, but once again, he felt it would be an opportunity of a life time. To be honest with you speaking as an average person, this whole thing is quite beyond me. Nothing in my education or experience can I draw upon for some footing or foundation? It’s akin to quick sand which I have never experienced but have seen on TV. Do you know last night, after the snow stopped, I went for a walk and saw what looked like a circle of bright light off in the distance towards Ralph’s place? It kind of looked like an energy field and I ran back and had the guys film it. However when they replayed it back, nothing showed up on the film. Do you think there is any chance of this being extraterrestrial?

  James T responded to the last question first and then went on to say he had seen the light too. “But to answer your question about something not of this world, it would have to remain unanswered due to the fact we have no idea if magic or black magic is of this world or another world or a dimension interacting with this dimension.”

  There food arrived and all three stared at the breakfast not hungry but Peter was the first to dig in and the other two followed suit. Candice shivered as if a cold wind had just blown through the closed door. It felt like something was circling around her head and she noticed that Peter absently waved his hand over his head as if to shoo a fly away. James T stopped eating and looked around over his head and table. After that he went back to his breakfast putting strawberry jam on his whole wheat toast while Candice followed his lead. Candice thought, this is way too weird for me and if I was a smart girl, I’d get the hell out of town while the getting is good.

  Sam wanted to go to the café and have breakfast with the guys, but what could he contribute to a conversation: nothing. So he sat in front of City Hall with the motor running trying to make up his mind to go in or not. About the time he was thinking about this, Veronica the mayor banged on the passenger side window scarring the hell out of him. He powered the window down and she said, “Sam come in we need you now more than ever.” With that encouragement, he shut the motor off and followed her into the front area of the reception area where a secretary usually sat, but as it was early, no one was around save the night shift operator. Sam briskly walked back to the small kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee. Then he heard voices and recognized Peter’s voice along with Candice talking to the mayor.

  Sam came back with a tray of coffee mugs and sat it on the counter. Veronica did the honors and listened while Peter told her a little of what to expect today. After he told her, which to her was hard to understand, she said, “My son told me this morning of the continuing dream. I thought you should be aware of what he told me. He said they made some contact with the voice and it scared the hell out of them, but after they listened to the voice, it became quite friendly and the light appeared over the voice. He said the voice didn’t have a physical body, but like a haze or a ghost appeared instead of a person. This is what she said as my son has a good memory. She told them not to be afraid and that to follow her where they would find a place of warmth and good will where others had come before them. No, this wasn’t heaven as in the Christian sense, but a place or stop over before continuing on a sojourn to the destination we all seek. They followed the voice as their pace quickened and then he said he woke up refreshed ready to go for the day. He was quite calm and confident no harm would come to them.”

  Both Peter and James T, along with Sam and Candice never said a word. Peter finally broke the silence and said, “This dream and the surrounding circumstances are breaking new ground in the science of Magic. When this is over, and I hope it is over soon, we will have more knowledge than ever before. However, that doesn’t take away the fact we have a lot of work to do and the sooner we get started the better.”

  At ten am, exactly when Sam had told the snowmobilers to be there, four SUVs pulled up with trailers carrying two snowmobiles each. In less than thirty minutes, all dressed up in snowmobile suits they were headed towards Ralph’s place. The group consisted of Peter, James T, Veronica, Candice and her two assistants and Sam. The lone single snowmobile was for Ralph. The day was cold, but sunny and no wind. Like the calm before a storm, Candice thought as she rode behind a beefy man who had complete control of his snowmobile. Names and introduction were never made and that suited Candice just fine.

  What nobody but Sam knew, these were not ordinary snowmobiles and or ordinary snowmobilers, these guys were Special Forces military send by the department of defense in conjunction with the CIA.

  Eight snowmobiles roared up to Ralph’s place and he opened the door and dressed in his version of a snowmobiler's suit with the black cat sticking its head out of the V of the neck. He strode with purpose and climbed aboard the lead snowmobile. Candice saw the old lady with her knurled hands holding on to the top of her sweater to keep her neck warm. The look on her face will never be forgotten by Candice as she felt an enormous power coming from her and the smile of two yellow eye teeth gri
nning at her made her blood run cold. Jesus she thought, what the hell is with this place and people?

  Peter meanwhile had his GPS and was being tracked by his friends down south who in a laboratory staffed by experts like him were watching their progress on a screen and map of the New England area.

  It was obvious that Ralph knew where they were going. First they crossed some fields, opened some gates, down a road and then off to a side road that was probably an old logging road, and then the road became a trail that appeared to have been cleaned of branches and such things for clear riding on fresh snow. Mentally Peter kept track of the direction using the sun and his sense of direction. Finally after many ups and downs, small hills, the lead snowmobile stopped and Ralph got off. The others followed the leader and parked. A silence followed the last to shut of his motor and an eerie quietness as once their ears became attuned after the noisy two stroke engines, not a bird or a breeze was felt. It wasn’t until a few minutes later after Ralph told them they wouldn’t need snow suits, he shed his suit and started walking down a slight hill amongst the hardwoods with scattered evergreens here and there.

  Peter was hurrying to get out of his suit with James T lending a hand. Soon with back packs on, a line of followers went down the trail. Astonished at the lack of snow the further they went until unbelievable they were walking on firm ground without a trace of snow! It was clear Ralph was in shape as his long strides kept everyone else huffing and puffing to keep up. At the tail of the line, Candice and her crew were bringing up the rear filming as they went. At the bottom of the hill, a creek was slowing meandering towards the river. A foot bridge of sorts kept everyone’s feet dry and Peter wondered who or what made the old wooden walk way. The trail led up a small hill and then down again to a clearing where in the middle of the clearing stood a small grove of trees around a much large oak tree. It appeared to all that is where Ralph was headed and soon he was facing them as they walked up to the giant old oak tree. Around the bottom of the tree sat cut up logs where a person could sit down in a circle. In the center of the circle, a large round camp fire pit made out of large rocks sat ready for wood and a match.

  Ralph gestured for everyone to sit down and then stood facing them. The snowmobile guys stood in the back ground not wanting to interfere and Peter was a bit surprised that Ralph paid no attention to them. Ralph said, “This is the spot where many years ago the two colored folks from Africa showed our medicine man how to perform African magic. Over the years we blended it to our own form of magic and I am one of the last that has the knowledge of what was learned in the past. This is our most sacred ground. Now Peter I challenge you to do what you must to thwart my magic. I will leave you here and no harm will come to you while I am gone. I’ll ride back with one of those Army men and he can return as he seems interested in what we are doing.” And with that Ralph walked off and was followed by one of the Special Forces guys.

  Sam thought, how did he know they were army? Also, he used the pronoun we as if he were of Native American blood. Peter then stood up and faced the group that was left. He asked some of the Army guys to fetch some wood for a fire and then he and James T dug into their packs first taking out a tarp and then spreading it out not so close to the fire pit. Sam had the rabbit and Veronica had the knives and cutting board. Soon the guys were back with arm loads of wood and had a fire going in a short time. James T took out of his pack a fold up snap together A - shaped ends with a bar across the middle, like to roast a pig. Hanging from that were four small chains attached to a flat iron plate about the size of a serving tray.

  Next James T took out a bottle of water and a steel bowl. He filled the large bowl with a half liter of water and sat it on the flat iron plate. Then he tended the fire while Peter made ready the packages of herbs and such things as he had labeled and numbered. Candice was watching with intense interest and her crew were both filming and recording sound as it happened. Veronica took the opportunity while preparations were going on to look around the area. The small meadow ran at gradual slope downhill. Outside of the oak tree which was free of snow, the meadow was covered in light dusting of fresh snow. She saw a slight wind waving the trees, but under the oak it was dead calm and not so cold.

  She saw nothing out of the ordinary and then looked up at the giant oak tree to see the top filled with many black birds. This in itself scared the hell out of her as she reflected back on the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘Birds’ that forever made the famous crows and ravens the bad birds of black magic. But that was not what scared the hell out of her it was Ralph’s black cat sitting on the lowest branch staring at her. She knew when Ralph left the cat went with him and now here it was perched up a low limb with its tail switching back and forth. Then the cat opened its mouth and bared its long white teeth and that sent a cold chill up her spine and raised the hair on her neck sending goose bumps up and down her arms.

  Peter broke her concentration saying, “Don’t worry about the cat. It’s only there to let see what we are doing. Never fear as if he wanted something to happen to you then it would have already happened. Now he is just curious to view and see what kind of power we have. I hope we give him a surprise or two.”

  James T, after making sure all was right with the fire and the preparations he saw were ready gave a nod to Peter, and stepped back. At about this time, the Army man can back after delivering Ralph home. He told Peter that nothing out of the ordinary happened and what would he like for him and his men to do. Peter told him to make a circle around the fire in a sitting position where by they would all hold hands together to build a force of mental strength. After hearing the Army men went out and found more firewood and something to sit on around the fire.

  Peter felt they were mostly ready and after bending over for so long, his back felt very stiff. He straightened up and looked up at the same time seeing what looked like glowing particles in the air above the oak tree and it was forming a circle around the top of them. This didn’t surprise him and in fact he had anticipated it. The others saw him looking up and then Candice pointed up for the camera guy to video the phenomena. Peter told everyone to remain calm and take their places around the fire as they were about to get started with some magic of their own. Veronica sat next to James T and then came Candice and her two crew members. Sam sat next to the Times crew. The video was set up on a tripod and running. The Army guys sat next to each other and the last one sat next to Peter. As Peter was tending the fire and mixing his brew on the steel bowl the other held hands staring into the fire. James T had told them all to empty their minds the best they could and focus on the steaming bowl dangling over the fire. Then he quickly cut the rabbits neck and caught the blood in a large cup. That cup he sat down next to Peter’s packets of ingredients for the brew coming.

  The black cat let out a scrawl and moved higher into the tree. The crows still sat huddled up filling the top of the tree. Peter looked up again at the force field above them and set to work mixing his brew. After mixing two or three small sacks of herbs, the smell was starting to permeate the air around them with a nice fragrance. Peter asked them all to close their eyes and concentrate for a minute or so and then take some deep breaths of the rising steam. He had a fan and would fan the steam around so all could breathe it.

  Candice could hear Peter saying something, but it was not easy to understand him. Then it dawned on her he was saying something related to magic and then she thought it time to open her eyes. Peter was fanning the rising steam and dropping in more and more packs of God knows what into the steel bowl. The smell, she thought, was turning rather nasty not unlike the burning or smoldering of damp clothes. Her eyes were getting heavy and her last glimpse of Peter was the small box of bones being dropped into the bowl. The next thing she remembered was her head falling to her chest and dozing off.

  With her subconscious she heard James T and Peter both in harmony with ever increasing volume chanting some foreign language. That was the last thing she remembered and when she came to
the rest of them were just coming out of a daze too. When her vision cleared and she looked up at the big oak tree all the black birds were gone and the energy field, for lack of a better term, was gone. She noticed Peter was prone on the ground and James T was covering him with his coat. At first Candice thought he was dead, but she saw his leg move and then she looked at Veronica. Veronica was trying to stand up and having difficulties with her balance, as were the rest of the team.

  Not a long time passed and even Peter was up sitting on an old log looking rather tired, but a gleam was seen in his eye. He too looked around and then Candice and all of them heard the wind blowing through the old oak tree and a light snow began to fall on them. By now the fire was out and James T was taking down the tools of the trade and cooling them off in the snow.

  Nobody was talking and then the silence was broken by Sam saying, “I’ll be damned. My voice is back.” No one said a word and all of them just stared at him thinking that maybe the kids were back to normal and the spell was broken.

  ***

  On the contrary, Ralph was slightly impressed, but knew his curse held its own against Peter’s magic. Ralph and his mother sat with their eyes closed and then both opened their eyes at the same time. He replied to his mother’s concern about the stranger’s magic, “I think we can hold our own, but we must not underestimate the power they have. I have an idea we should play a weather game and circle the town with a warm spell to melt the snow. Let’s let the old people have their voices back and let’s give them a new event to contemplate.” Mother smiled and rose to make her way to the kitchen for the necessary brew her son needed for his next event.

  As they rode back to town Peter fell asleep against his driver. Once at City Hall he with the help of James T made it to their room and both promptly fell into a deep sleep. The rest were as tired, but Sam with renewed energy took the Army guys to lunch. Veronica went to her office and laid her head on her desk and took a nap. Candice and crew went back to their respective motel rooms and they too fell asleep.