GHOST GAL: The Wild Hunt

by Nash, Bobby

  Samuel Esau ran the place. She knew it wasn’t his real name, of course, but the man was a master at evading the question each time she asked it. Eventually, she realized it was a lost cause and gave up trying to wheedle the information out of him. Whatever his true name was, Samuel was her contact to The Light.

  Thankfully, she liked Samuel.

  Joshua pulled the van into the alley next to the OAGI’s building. There was a sign stating that the alley was for loading and unloading only, which never stopped her from parking there. Technically, she was dropping off something this time.

  “Wait here,” she told Joshua. “I’ll get Samuel and we can get these things unloaded.”

  “Hurry back,” Joshua said, rubbing his gloved hands together to keep them warm. “It’s cold out here and these things give me the creeps.” He chucked a thumb over his shoulder to the cargo they carried.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” she said before disappearing around the corner.

  A bell above the door chimed when she entered the second story office. As it did every single time, the sound made Alexandra laugh. Once, when she was younger, Alexandra had quoted a line from one of her favorite movies, It’s A Wonderful Life. She had reminded Samuel “every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” She didn’t understand why her friend found that so funny back then. These days she had a better idea why it made him laugh.

  They had been friends ever since.

  The office was simple, to say the least, and had changed very little since she had first visited as a child. Wood grain paneling covered the walls, giving the space an earthy feel. The wall to the left of the entrance was covered with a mural of a forest that only added to that outdoorsy feel. Only the cast iron columns spaced along the outer wall were not covered by brown hues and stood in stark contrast to the earthen tones like dull metal trees sprinkled amongst the pines. The off white linoleum floor didn’t match the rest of the room, but it was so scuffed and had faded to a dull yellow patina to the point that it no longer clashed as it had the first time she visited. The OAGI opted for an open floor plan. Except for the bathroom and the back office, there were no full walls in the outer office. That way, whoever was working in the office at any given time could easily see everything. All they would have to do is stand up.

  In addition to Samuel, there were a few others who were occasionally in the office. Like her friend, they did not use their real names either. It was funny how they all used very generic, non-exotic sounding names. There was Bob, Jim, Frank, and Steve. She had never heard a last name mentioned for any of them. Samuel was the constant though. And as plain as his co-worker’s names were she often wondered why his name wasn’t just plain Sam. Whatever the case, Samuel was always there when she came in.

  Samuel Esau sat in the section that he called home. As always, his desk was cluttered with small stacks of paper and assorted whatnots he had picked up along the way. Samuel was a collector, which she found fascinating. Although Alexandra thought his collection was made up mostly of junk he had picked up here and there, Samuel seemed to hold onto each piece for special reasons all his own.

  Samuel was also a contradiction.

  Considering his profession, Alexandra was surprised by his laid back manner. Unlike his opposite number at the OESI, Samuel wore khakis and tropical shirts rarely buttoned all the way up. He sometimes wore sneakers, but more often than not it was flip-flops, even in the winter. His hair was disheveled and as it grew longer, began to curl and frizz around the edges and a few strands were almost always dangling over his eyes. Plus, from the look of his scruffy face, he hadn’t touched a razor in at least a week, maybe more. A pair of sunglasses capped off the look, whether they were on his eyes or atop his head. Samuel definitely looked like he belonged with the bohemian artists and creators who made Soho their own.

  Whether due to his appearance or his character, the locals had embraced Samuel as one of their own and he certainly fit in with the Bohemian Lifestyle that so many of the artists living in Soho called their own. Alexandra knew he liked to paint and that he was quite skilled at it. His landscapes, especially, were good enough to hang in a gallery exhibit, although he never accepted such invitations. Painting was something he did for the sheer joy of it. Most of the time he gave his paintings away to people he met along the way. Alexandra prized one of his landscapes she had hanging in her tiny living room.

  Alexandra also lived in the area. She was not quite as freewheeling as some of her more esoteric neighbors, but Alexandra was no wallflower either. She often wondered what her artistic neighbors, or the local ladies that swooned over him, would think if they knew exactly what Samuel was or what he truly did for a living. Then, she wondered if any of them would actually care. Somehow, she hoped none of them would, but the actions of supposedly enlightened people often surprised her.

  “Well, when that day comes you are more than welcome to tell me you told me so,” Samuel said into the telephone as she walked in. He had his bare feet propped up on the desk as he leaned back casually in his tattered desk chair. As soon as he heard the bell ring, he turned to see who had darkened his door. When he saw who was walking in, he smiled. “I’ll have to call you back, brother,” he said into the phone as he dropped his feet back to the floor and sat up a bit straighter. “Someone just came in. Sure thing, man. You just remember what I said, all right? We’ll talk later. Bye.”

  She smiled and waved even as he motioned for her to come on in.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite ghost hunter,” Samuel said as he walked over to meet her.

  “Flatterer,” she said, trying to hide the light blush in her cheeks.

  “I am what I am,” he said, a big smile in place. Not for the first time, Alexandra noticed just how handsome Samuel was, despite his lack of effort to look the part. His beauty shone through no matter how disheveled his outward appearance.

  They embraced in a big bear hug like brother and sister.

  “It’s good to see you, Samuel,” Alexandra said. She had tried calling him “Sam” a few times over the years, but it didn’t seem to fit. He was “Samuel.”

  “You too, angel,” he said. As they pulled apart, he ushered her into his office. “So, how have you been?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Keeping busy, I see?”

  She smiled. “There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of work these days. You wouldn’t happen to have any insight into that, would you?”

  Samuel shrugged. “Everybody loves New York, I guess.”

  “Even if they’ve been dead a few dozen years?”

  “What can I say? It’s a happening town.”

  “It’s certainly keeping me hopping,” she said as she dropped tiredly into one of the nondescript chairs in his office. “There’s been no shortage of work for me lately.”

  Samuel sat down opposite her and leaned back in his chair so far that she feared it might topple over. “I take it this isn’t a social call, then,” he said, unconcerned by the precariousness of his position.

  “I’m afraid not. I’ve got a delivery for you.” She chucked a thumb in the general direction of the alley where Joshua waited.

  Samuel walked over to the window that looked out over the alley. The van was parked directly below. “Too big to bring inside?” he asked.

  “Something like that,” she said. “We’ll need the loading dock for this one.”

  Samuel got to his feet, which he then slipped back into his old comfortable flip-flops. “Color me intrigued. Let’s go have a gander at your prize.”

  Samuel whistled when he saw the cargo inside the van.

  “I thought you might like it,” Alexandra told him.

  “Now this is a sight to behold,” Samuel said. “Where on Earth did you find these beauties?”

  As Alexandra regaled him with the abbreviated tale of her and Joshua’s adventure in the tower, Samuel looked at one of the glass jars, studying it intently. Halfway through the retelling
of her story of how she and Joshua discovered the jars inside the tower at the former St. Matthew’s church, she wondered if he was even listening.

  “Fascinating,” Samuel muttered, interrupting her.

  Alexandra and Joshua exchanged a glance while they waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, Joshua chimed in.

  “So, can you help with these?” he asked and let his voice trail off into silence. “Or do we take them to that guy across town?” he added when he realized that Samuel wasn’t paying him any attention.

  “What?”

  Joshua shook his head, annoyed. “I thought that might get your attention.”

  “Why don’t we get them inside and off the street before someone takes notice, huh?” Alexandra interjected before old arguments resurfaced. She was all too familiar with her fiancé’s feelings regarding the supernatural side of her life. He accepted it… to a point, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. She also knew that he wasn’t overly fond of Samuel, a feeling that had stemmed from a small touch of jealousy early in their courtship. He assumed that there was something going on between Alexandra and Samuel. It took some convincing, but even though he knew that her relationship with the OAGI’s resident angel guide was a professional one, he also understood that they were old friends and, like restless spirits, some insecurities were hard to keep buried.

  “Good idea,” Joshua grumbled. “Let’s do that.”

  “Yes. Of course,” Samuel added absently, still studying the jar he carried. He seemed mesmerized by his reflection in the curve of frosted glass.

  Alexandra cleared her throat, which finally got Samuel’s attention. “You could help, you know?” There was no malice in her words, only mild annoyance. This was not the first time she had seen her friend get lost in some mystery or another.

  “Right. Sorry,” he said. “Let’s get them inside. Just let me… ah… now where did I put…?” He patted each pocket in turn until he found the key to the loading door. “Ah, here we go.”

  The three of them spent the next half an hour or so unloading the jars and carrying them up the stairs to the second floor one by one, being overly careful with each. Alexandra explained once more to Samuel their encounter with the water spirit and how hard it had been to get it back inside the bottle. This time he listened to her story.

  Once they were done, Alexandra and Joshua joined Samuel in the private office that was the only room closed off from the open outer office.

  “Do you know what you’ve got here?” Samuel asked.

  “A jar,” Joshua deadpanned.

  “A containment vessel,” Alexandra said before her angel guide could respond.

  “Two points for you,” Samuel said. “I haven’t seen one of these puppies in a long time. Do you have any idea how rare it is to find one of these intact, much less… how many did you find?”

  “Forty.”

  “Amazing.”

  Without warning, the angel guide gave the jar a slight shake and then began to remove the tape from the cork stopper, much to the nervous astonishment of his guests. With the last strand of tape removed, the pop of the cork freeing from the lip of the jar echoed throughout the office.

  “Are you crazy?” Joshua demanded. “Do you know what we went through to get that thing back in there?”

  The water spirit they had returned to the jar earlier crawled free, but just barely. Before it could pull itself completely free of the containment vessel, Samuel made eye contact. “Ah, ah, ah…” he clucked, waggling a finger at the ghost. “No trouble. Understand?”

  Surprisingly, the water spirit cowed and shimmied partway back down into the jar and Alexandra could swear it nodded its head in answer to Samuel’s question. Once upon a time she would have thought it impossible, that it was just a trick of the light, but these days she wasn’t so sure. The ghost looked sad, a completely one hundred and eighty degree change from when they had encountered him in the tower.

  There, it had been angry.

  She understood. If she had been imprisoned as long as the spirit had been, she would have probably been cranky too.

  “If you two will excuse me,” Samuel said. “I will see to our friend’s ‘travel arrangements’ and meet you both out front.”

  With a nod, Alexandra stood and led Joshua out to the waiting area near Samuel’s cubicle.

  “Didn’t you want to watch?” Joshua asked.

  “More than anything,” she answered. “That’s his call though. Not mine.”

  “What do we do now?”

  She smiled. “Now, we wait.”

  While they waited, Alexandra and Joshua exchanged small talk. When they ran out of interesting new topics to discuss, they flipped through the outdated stack of old pulp magazines and a handful of more modern slicks that had piled up on a small end table. Then they took turns pacing back and forth across the yellowed linoleum. They knew the wait wasn’t really all that long, but it felt like time had slowed to a crawl as they waited for Samuel Esau to reappear from the mysterious rear office.

  “What do you think he’s doing in there?” Joshua asked. It was not the first time he had broached the question since their host had excused himself heading into the back office alone.

  “I wish I knew,” she answered. At first, Alexandra had found her fiancé’s constant stream of questioning to be annoying, but then she made a game out of it. Now, each time he asked, she came up with a completely different answer than the time before. If he noticed what she was doing, he gave no outward sign. “Maybe he’s got a glass blower set up back there and he’s trying to replicate the process.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” he mumbled. As with the question, he gave the same reply each time. He stopped mid-stride and gave her a quizzical look. “Wait? What did you say?”

  “Nothing,” she said, holding in a laugh. She picked up a dog-eared LIFE magazine and began flipping through the pages again. She knew that she would burst out laughing if she looked at him.

  Joshua started to say something, but Samuel Esau reappeared. Startled, Joshua made a mental note of how quiet the man was. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air. Alexandra, quite used to Samuel’s peculiarities, got to her feet before Joshua could express his thoughts and they both waited quietly for his report.

  It had been nearly fifteen minutes after he had disappeared into the back office, when Samuel rejoined the couple at the cubicle that housed his desk. He looked tired and Alexandra said as much. Waving away her concern, he opened the old refrigerator in the far corner and poured himself a glass of orange juice. After offering Alexandra and Joshua some, which they both declined, he sipped at it carefully only after closing his eyes and saying Grace.

  “It went well?” Alexandra asked once he started moving again.

  “Yes. The water spirit has safely crossed over. It wasn’t an easy crossing. Having been trapped inside the containment vessel for so long, trust was not something that came easily. It was… taxing.”

  “That’s good,” Alexandra said, concern etched on her features. She pulled out a chair for her friend. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Samuel dropped into the offered chair. He looked exhausted, spent, more tired than she had ever seen him. He casually waved away her concern. “I will be fine. Just need to rest a bit.”

  “Maybe we should go…” she started.

  “That is not necessary,” Samuel said, his words slightly slurred.

  “I think it is,” Alexandra started.

  “What about the rest of them?” Joshua said before she could usher them out of the office. Unlike his fiancé, he was not a fan of mysteries left unsolved. He couldn’t leave without some answers.

  “It will take some time to disposition all of them,” Samuel said. “The process is very… draining as you may have noticed. I will require rest between each one.”

  “How do they work?” Alexandra asked, her curiosity intense.

  “Trade secret, sweetheart,” Samuel said in his best Humphrey Bogart voice.
r />   “Oh, come on, Samuel. Be serious. Tell us.”

  “I am.” There was no trace of joviality on his face.

  “Are you kidding me?” Joshua asked. “If there’s a way to trap ghosts like our mischievous little friends back there, why wouldn’t you want us to know how to use it? I mean, wouldn’t that make everybody’s job easier? I know it would make me feel better.”

  “There is a lot more at stake here than your peace of mind, Mr. Demerest,” the OAGI agent said.

  “Now see here, Samuel…” he started, but Alexandra waved him off.

  “Why can’t you tell us?” she asked.

  Samuel looked down, as though suddenly more interested in the cracked linoleum beneath his feet than anything else in the room. “I just can’t. You’ll have to accept that.”

  “But why?”

  “I have my orders,” he answered with a sigh. “Alexandra, you know as well as anyone that we all answer to someone and my superiors are pretty specific on what I can and cannot share with anyone. Even you, Alex. I’m sorry. That’s just the way it has to be. I hope you understand.”

  “I get it,” she said softly.

  “And just who is it you work for exactly?” Joshua asked.

  A thin smile creased Samuel’s face.

  Alexandra coughed, then once she had Joshua’s attention, looked up toward the ceiling and the heavens beyond. Ever the non-believer, Joshua blew out a breath as if to say oh, give me a break, although he wisely did not say so out loud.

  She had tried to explain the purpose of Samuel and the Office of Angel Guides to her fiancé, but he had a hard time reconciling her words with what he saw in Samuel. On more than one occasion he had referred to the OAGI agent as a “bum” because of the way he dressed and his wild hair. He only saw the outer shell, but she had known Samuel far longer. She saw her friend’s beautiful soul.

  Alexandra was less skeptical. She believed that Samuel was exactly as her father had described him. An angel sent to work on Earth. To her, it made perfect sense, but she understood Joshua’s skepticism. Had she not been born to this life, had she not seen the wonderful things she had witnessed since before she could walk, she too might have a hard time believing it.