Radiant

by Christina Daley

  When the bell rang, Mary raced to Physics. She got there just as David walked out.

  "Mission accomplished." He gave her back the canister of salt.

  "Thanks," she said and went into the empty room. Mary went to her seat, but not before glancing at Carter's desk. White grains littered the surface. It looked like David also spilled some salt on the seat. Perfect.

  The other kids started coming. Carter walked in without looking her way, and he headed to the back of the room to his desk. His brow wrinkled when he saw the salt.

  Mary held her breath.

  Carter put his bag on the floor and then started sweeping the granules from the seat and desk into his hand. He took it to the waste bin and dumped it before returning to his desk like normal. The bell rang, and Mrs. Stanton began class.

  Darn. Mary had hoped that when the salt touched Carter's skin, it would cause the possessing thing to leave him. But it didn't seem to have any effect. She thought of what she should do next.

  There was a church not far from her apartment. On her way home from school, Mary walked a few blocks towards the pointed steeple. There wasn't a service going on, but a few people inside sat on long wooden pews or knelt at altars with statues on them. Mary wasn't sure where she should go. Then, she spotted a gift shop off to the side.

  "I didn't know churches had those," she said to herself as she went inside.

  The walls were covered in crucifixes and the shelves displayed statues of the Virgin Mary, jewelry, Bibles, and all kinds of religious stuff. In glass cases, there were sculptures of angels. Mary studied them for a moment. Most had white robes, golden wings, and predominantly Caucasian faces as they raised their hands and appeared generally peaceful. If Mary had known that that was how they really looked when she was younger, she wouldn't have thought the stars were guardian angels. These ones looked like they couldn't help anyone.

  Mary saw a shelf with several clear bottles. When she picked one up and examined it, she read "Holy Water" on the label. She brought it to the counter, where a young nun sat reading a Bible.

  "Is this real?" Mary asked.

  "Oh yes," the nun said in a smallish voice. "It's the same water used in our services."

  "I see," Mary said. "What about with possessions?"

  The nun looked at her curiously. "Possessions?"

  "Yeah," Mary said. "If I poured this on someone who was possessed, would that help?"

  The nun's jaw dropped a little. "Well, um, it would actually take a priest to do an exorcism."

  "So, I'd have to bring him here?" Mary asked.

  "Who?"

  "The possessed guy."

  The nun blinked a few times. "Are you sure he's possessed?"

  "Pretty sure," Mary said.

  The nun stepped out from behind the counter. "Why don't you come with me and we'll talk with Father Cohen?"

  Mary followed her up some stairs that led to the church offices. They came to an open door with Father Cohen's name on it. The nun gently knocked on it.

  The white-haired man at the desk looked up. "Yes, Sister Emily?"

  "Father," she said. "This young lady has a question she'd like to ask you."

  The priest nodded. "Come in, please, and have a seat. Tell me what your concern is."

  Mary sat in the chair across from his desk. It was like coming in for a teacher conference. She then took a deep breath and told him how she suspected Carter was possessed. He asked her a few questions, and she answered them as best as she could.

  When Mary had finished talking, the priest said, "Well, Mary, I thank you for coming to me about your friend. But it doesn't sound to me like he's possessed."

  "It doesn't?" she asked. "But what about him speaking Viet?"

  "Are you sure he never learned it before?" he asked.

  "Well, no," Mary admitted. "Then what about him suddenly not being an ass?"

  "Eep!" Sister Emily yelped, covering her own mouth with her hand.

  "Sorry," Mary said. "I meant to say 'jerk'."

  The nun squeaked again.

  The priest chuckled. "It's all right. But you said Carter was in an accident and almost died. He might've decided to change his ways. Big events like that can do that type of thing."

  "I see," she said. That was the same thing that Mom had said. She felt a bit discouraged.

  Father Cohen studied her for a moment. "Tell you what. Why don't you bring him here to see me? I'll talk to him, like how I talked with you just now. Maybe I can find out a little more."

  "I don't know," she said. "He's not really talking to me right now. And it'd be kinda weird just ask him to come here."

  The priest chuckled again. "Well, if you do start talking to him again, you might consider inviting him to one of our Sunday services. Or even a choir concert. Many people from the community come for those, even if they don't attend regularly."

  "I'll try," she said. "Thank you, sir. Father, I mean."

  They shook hands, and she went back to the gift shop with the nun.

  "I hope that was helpful," Sister Emily said.

  "It was a little," Mary said as she put the holy water on the counter again. "I'd still like to buy this."

  The following day, Mary poured the holy water into a regular drinking bottle and marked it "HW." At lunchtime, she ventured into the cafeteria for the first time in a while. It was packed and no one paid attention to her as she scanned the room. She saw a freshman sitting by herself at a table along the side. Mary went and sat down across from her. "Hey, wanna make a couple bucks?" she asked.

  The freshman looked at her. "Doing what?"

  Mary took the bottle of holy water from her bag. "You know who Carter Maxwell is?"

  She nodded.

  "After the last bell, follow him outside and throw this on him."

  The freshman looked at the bottle suspiciously. "What is it? Acid?"

  "Just water," Mary said. "It won't hurt you if you get some on you. But most of it has to be on him."

  The girl narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

  "Do you want the money or not?"

  She didn't say anything for a moment. "What if I pretended to bump into him and it spilled on him instead? Would that work?"

  That was actually a better idea. Mary wished she had thought of it. "Yeah, that works. So you'll do it?"

  "Yeah," the girl said. "For twenty bucks."

  Twenty bucks? What did Mary look like? A bank?

  "I'll give you five."

  "Fifteen."

  "Ten."

  "Do it yourself then," the girl said.

  Mary frowned. "Thirteen."

  The girl thought for a moment. "Fine."

  Mary gave her the water.

  "What about the thirteen dollars?"

  "I'll give it to you when you've done what you're supposed to do."

  "I wanna see that you have the money."

  Mary frowned. She took out her wallet and showed her the cash.

  "Okay," the girl said.

  "I'll be by the bike racks," Mary said.

  At the end of the day, Mary didn't bother stopping by her locker to get her stuff. She followed Carter at a distance, watching him visit his own locker before leaving through the front door. Outside, Mary lingered near the bike racks as Carter walked across the schoolyard. The freshman was near the gate. She had an armful of books and the water bottle perched on top of them with the cap missing.

  As Carter began to pass her, the freshman pretended to see someone she knew and darted into his path. She collided with Carter, spilling books and water all over him.

  "Watch it!" she snapped.

  "I am sorry," Carter said sincerely. His black sweater and the front of his pants were soaked, but he ignored them as he helped her pick up the books. "I was not paying attention and did not—"

  "The hell you weren't! What'd you think? Lil' frosh's easy to push around? Boy, I will cut you!" she cried.

  Mary watched slack-jawed as the girl continued to berate him. Suddenly, she wa
s furious. The freshman was scolding Carter when she was just supposed to spill some holy water on him.

  Carter apologized again. When he finally walked off the campus, the freshman came to meet Mary.

  "What the heck was that?" Mary asked. "Why'd you yell at him?"

  "You didn't say I had to wipe his ass and give him a bag of gummy bears," the girl said. "Where's my money?"

  Frowning, Mary shoved the cash into her hands. The freshman left without another word.

  Mary sighed. Trying to get rid of whatever was possessing Carter was getting expensive. That thirteen dollars was the last of her allowance until next week. She was going to have to figure something else out.

  Or maybe, as Father Cohen had said, Carter really wasn't possessed. And all this effort was for nothing.

  Mary continued pondering as she headed to Agape. After she said hi to Ms. Nancy and signed in, she looked around for Ba. She wondered into the game room and found some of the residents relaxing, including the Pennys and Emma.

  "Hi there, Mary," Mr. Penny greeted her. He and Mrs. Penny sat at a table playing checkers.

  "Hello sir," Mary said. "Have you seen my grandmother?"

  "Oh, we saw her on our way down to the elevator," Mrs. Penny said. "She's still in her room getting ready. She said you were both going shopping."

  Actually, Ba was going to buy things that she thought Mary should wear. And as usual, Mary would have to return everything later so that Mom wouldn't completely freak out when she saw the bank statements. Still, shopping was something that Ba liked to do. And Mary liked getting her out and about a couple times a week so that just the two of them could hang out.

  Mary nodded. "We'll be gone for a couple hours. I'll just wait here until she comes down." She sat in the soft chair next to Emma, who was reading her Bible quietly. Mary watched her for a moment. Then, she asked, "Hey Emma?"

  "Yeah, Baby Girl?" Emma said.

  Mary chose her words carefully. "Do you know the story about Jesus exorcising the demon from a boy?"

  "Sure do," Emma said. "He cast out demons many times. And so did some of his followers."

  "Do you know how they did it?" Mary asked. "Did they use holy water or say some kind of special phrase or something?"

  "Well, with the boy you're talking about, Jesus said that kind of demon needed to be cast out by fasting and prayer," Emma said. "But casting out demons was just a small part of Jesus' ministry. He healed people, taught them, fed them, and a whole bunch of things. And it was all because He loved them."

  Mary wrinkled her brow. "Loved them?"

  Emma nodded. "That's why he came to save us, Baby Girl. Because he loved everyone. Even the people that killed him."

  Mary didn't really understand most of what she said. Probably because she only read that one part about the demons. She'd have to read the rest to put it all in context. And that was of course going to be a challenge because she didn't read much.

  Ba came downstairs with her purse on her arm. "Ready to go, Con?" she asked.

  Mary thanked Emma and headed out with her grandmother. During their shopping spree, she pondered Emma's words. If she understood correctly, then the way to help Carter was to love him? How was Mary going to do that? She barely even liked him.

  Reading the Bible suddenly didn't seem as much of a challenge compared to that.

  Back to Table of Contents

  - 12 -

  Without Words

  When the salt and holy water didn't work, Mary decided to look into the possibility that whatever was possessing Carter was extraterrestrial. She did some web research, but she didn't find much. The "real" scientific community hadn't found any life beyond earth yet, and the speculative crowd had a bazillion and one different theories. She did find a couple places that said getting rid of an alien possessing a human host would require either drinking cyanide or getting blasted with gamma radiation. Based on Mary's lack of funds, as well as government restrictions, those didn't seem like feasible options.

  But what Emma had told her stayed in the back of her mind. Mary wasn't sure about the whole loving thing like Jesus did, but she could at least start being nicer to Carter. And that meant she was going to have to get him to start talking to her again.

  The next couple days, Carter was not in school. Mary started to wonder if he was all right, but he showed up again on Thursday like everything was normal.

  The last bell of the day rang. As usual, Carter left Physics without glancing Mary's way. She ran to catch him in the hall.

  "Carter! Wait up!"

  He stopped and turned to her. "Hello, Mary."

  "Hey," she said, keenly aware of people starting to stare at them. "Can we talk? Um, somewhere else? Like the Art room?"

  "Sure," he said. "After you."

  Mr. Edwards had already left for the day, so the room was empty.

  "What would you like to talk about?" he asked.

  Mary groped for words. She settled with, "Um, how are you?"

  "I'm fine."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Of course. Why?"

  She started picking at that stray thread on her bag. "Well, you've been avoiding me for a while. And I wanted to know if something was wrong. If I said or did something that bothered you."

  He was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Do you remember what you said to me the last time we were in this room?"

  She nodded. "I had asked you why you saved me. Look, I have trouble talking. But I didn't mean to offend you or—"

  "You didn't offend me," he corrected. "You surprised me."

  "How so?" she asked.

  He was quiet again for a moment. "I was first going to answer that it was the right thing to do. And that's true. But I realized that wasn't what I really wanted to say." He paused.

  "So what did you want to say?" she asked.

  "I don't know. At least, I don't know how to communicate it verbally." He paused again. "Words are effective most of the time. But sometimes, they can be very limiting."

  She looked confused. "I don't get it."

  "It's all right," he said.

  "No, it's not," she said. "It's not all right because I want to get it. I want to understand. And I don't…" She trailed, again trying to find the right words.

  "You don't what?" he asked.

  The thread, after all that picking, finally came off her bag. "I don't want you to avoid me anymore. It bothers me."

  "I thought my being around you bothered you," he said.

  "It does," she said. "But not as much as you avoiding me."

  He cocked his head to the side. "You're odd."

  She shrugged. "I know."

  He stared at her. Then, he smiled. "All right. I won't avoid you anymore."

  Oddly enough, she felt like some kind of a weight or something had come off her shoulders. "Okay, then," she said. "Um, busy afternoon for you?"

  He shook his head, which for the first time looked normal. "You?"

  "Just going to see my grandmother. I'm taking her to an art show and then to dinner." She got an idea. "Hey, you wanna come with us?"

  "Would that be all right?" he asked. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

  "You won't be," she said. "An artist I know is going to be there. He gave me three tickets, but my mom's working tonight. You should come. It'll be fun."

  Carter smiled. "Thank you for inviting me. I accept."

  They boarded the bus for Agape. When they arrived, Ba was waiting in the lobby with one of the nurses.

  "Hi Con. And hello, Carter," she said cheerfully.

  "Chào Bà," he said.

  "Hi Ba." Mary kissed her on the cheek. "Is it all right if Carter goes with us?"

  Her grandmother's eyes lit up. "Oh yes. You're most welcome."

  Mary took Ba's arm and said to the nurse, "Thank you for getting her ready."

  "You're welcome, honey. And I can take your back packs to her room to keep there."

  Mary removed her wallet and handed over her bag. Car
ter did the same.

  "Remember, eight o'clock," the nurse said.

  "We'll have her back in time," Mary promised.

  Outside, it was sunny, so Ba put on her hat while Mary put on her sunglasses. Carter didn't seem to mind the light. He didn't even squint.

  Since Mary didn't know exactly where the art show was, they took a cab and gave the driver the address. He wove in and out of the streets, squeezing some of the yellow lights and overall making Mary nervous. She hadn't taken driving lessons yet specifically because driving in the city scared the cheese out of her.

  Finally, the cab dropped them off in front of the art gallery. Mary paid the driver, and they went inside and gave the host their tickets. It was like a party. There was a DJ playing music and a bar serving cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. People in fashionable clothes walked about with drink glasses in their hands, chatting as they admired the various art offerings.

  "Mary!" Ben came to greet her and Ba, and Mary introduced Carter. "Pleased to meet you," he said as he extended his hand.

  Carter looked at Ben's hand curiously.

  There was an awkward moment of silence. Then Ba chuckled, "It's all right to shake his hand, Carter. Ben doesn't bite."

  Carter and Ben laughed, and they shook hands.

  "Wow, running pretty hot there," Ben said. "Do you have a fever? Are you feeling okay?"

  "I don't think I have a fever," Carter said. "And I am well, thank you."

  "Where is it?" Mary asked eagerly. "Where's your phoenix?"

  "Right over here," Ben said as he led the way.

  The show featured several art pieces that evening, but Ben's phoenix had the best display space possible. It was dead in the center of the gallery, surrounded by a small crowd taking pictures of it with their smartphones.

  "That's amazing!" Ba gasped. "Oh Ben, you did such a marvelous work."

  "Coming from you, that's a huge compliment, Mrs. Phan," Ben said. "Here, let me show you what it looks like when you walk around it."

  As Ben showed Ba around, Mary noticed that Carter's eyes hardly blinked as he looked at the sculpture.

  "What do you think?" Mary asked.