Smith's Monthly #13

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  Jewel started to snap at K.J., but Tommy put a hand on her arm to calm her. As a medical doctor, her training had been to save lives, not let people just die.

  So instead she turned back to the horrific crash site and the two well-dressed and very attractive women sitting on the sidewalk, shaking.

  THREE

  Belle Watson heard the sirens coming from all the way up Capital Boulevard. It sounded like something awful was going on.

  She and Nancy had just left a small boutique store tucked off to one side of Main Street and Capital, so they both stopped to look in the direction of the sirens.

  To their left a few blocks was the big Idaho Capitol Building, built as an identical miniature of the big Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

  In the other direction to their right, three miles away over the Boise River and beyond the Boise State University campus, the old Union Pacific Depot with its tall spire dominated the hill. The sirens were coming from the direction of the depot and the noise was echoing between the big stone buildings.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Nancy said.

  Belle had to agree. There must be at least six sirens going at once. It was all echoing and getting louder between the large downtown buildings.

  “Maybe they are chasing one of our do-nothing husbands,” Belle said.

  “Oh, wouldn’t that be funny?” Nancy said, laughing. “But not likely since neither of them could get their asses out of a chair to even give a chase to police.”

  “Real good point,” Belle said, giving her friend a one-armed hug.

  They moved back over against the stone wall of the old boutique building to watch the coming excitement as the sirens got louder and louder.

  Belle found this sort of thing exciting. She had always found police and police work interesting, just never been around it much. And she always loved a good spy movie.

  Suddenly, on their left, two other police cars screamed into the middle of Capital Boulevard and blocked it.

  “Look!” Nancy said, pointing.

  Belle saw what she was pointing at. Up the street toward where the sirens were coming from, another policeman ran out into the road and dropped a strip that looked to be full of spikes. Then he sprinted back for the sidewalk.

  “They really want to stop whoever they are chasing,” Belle shouted over the sirens to Nancy as two more police cars blocked the intersections of both sides of Main Street where it crossed Capital Boulevard. The police had effectively formed a box canyon for the fleeing vehicle and got all traffic off the road.

  Nancy reached over and took Belle’s hand, squeezing it, clearly as excited as Belle. It wasn’t often you got to see the end of a police chase up close and personal like this.

  And from the way the police were acting, there was no doubt in Belle’s mind that it was going to end right here in front of them.

  Suddenly, a large black pick-up truck shot into view with a couple lines of police cars in hot pursuit.

  Belle was stunned at how fast it was going.

  A man was leaning out the passenger window firing at the police chasing them with what looked like a shotgun.

  Nancy squeezed Belle’s hand, holding it tighter.

  This looked just like something you would see in a movie. Belle couldn’t believe it was actually happening in Boise and they were getting to watch it all.

  The black truck hit the spike strip going at least a hundred by Belle’s best guess. The driver instantly lost control of the truck and swerved hard left.

  The man in the passenger window with the gun was tossed out, smashing head-first into a parked car beside the road.

  Belle wanted to turn away, but couldn’t as the man bounced off the parked car and then smashed like a rag doll into the side of a red brick building. No chance he was going to survive that.

  The driver of the truck managed to get it back under control slightly, but then lost it again because of his speed and flat tires.

  Almost instantly Belle realized she and Nancy were in trouble.

  The truck swerved left, then right, then came straight for them, faster than Belle thought possible.

  She tried to push Nancy to one side, out of the way, but it did no good. The last thing she saw was the wide eyes of a guy in an orange prison jumpsuit.

  Then the truck smashed her and Nancy against the stone wall.

  FOUR

  As the truck cartwheeled down the wall and finally flipped over, Belle found herself sitting against the stone building on the sidewalk.

  She was breathing hard and barely able to stop her body from shaking. Wow, that had been close.

  Nancy was sitting beside her, eyes squeezed shut, her hands over her mouth.

  “We made it,” Belle said. “I don’t know how, but we did. Are you all right?”

  Nancy slowly opened her eyes and then looked at Belle with her large green eyes. She then took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. “I think so.”

  “Not sure how that truck missed us,” Belle said, also forcing herself to take deep breaths. That had been far, far too close.

  “It didn’t miss those poor souls,” Nancy said, indicating two mangled bodies on the sidewalk down from the truck.

  Belle looked at them but couldn’t focus her eyes on the ugliness, so she turned away and looked at Nancy.

  “Are you sure you are all right?” Belle asked her best friend as two ambulance drivers ran past them headed for the bodies down the street.

  “Not something I’m going to forget,” Nancy said, taking another deep breath. “And I doubt I’m going to sleep real well for a time, but yes, I’m all right.”

  Nancy looked at Belle. “How about you? I felt you shove me at the last instant to try to get me out of the way.”

  “I think I’m fine,” Belle said, moving her feet and arms.

  Everything seemed to be working, but she had no idea how. The image of that man behind the wheel of the truck was etched in her mind. She started to look down the street toward the wrecked truck and the bodies along the sidewalk when three people appeared above them.

  Two were wearing jogging clothes and the third, a short man, wore a gray silk suit and a pink tie and pink shoes. To Belle, the man looked like he belonged in San Francisco, not Boise.

  The woman knelt down to look Belle and then Nancy directly in the eyes. “I’m Dr. Jewel Kelly. We need to get you up and away from here.”

  She offered her hand to Belle who decided the woman was more than likely right.

  The doctor’s grip was firm and helped her get to her feet.

  The man in the jogging suit helped Nancy get up as well.

  “Can’t believe we managed to get out of that,” Belle said.

  “You didn’t,” the short man said, his face serious.

  Both the doctor and the man in the jogging suit gave him a stern look and the guy in the silk suit shrugged. “I was told that complete honestly is always the best.”

  “Honesty, yes,” the doctor said. “But timing could be better. You gave us time, remember?”

  “Oh,” the man said, looking down at the sidewalk.

  Belle stared at the doctor in front of her. The doctor was tall, even in tennis shoes, and had long brown hair pulled back and tied. There was a lot of worry and compassion in her green, intense eyes.

  “What did he mean we didn’t?” Nancy asked.

  The man in the jogging suit stepped back slightly, pulling the short man with him, and the doctor faced both Belle and Nancy.

  “He is right, you did not make it out of the wreck.”

  Belle could feel the panic start to twist her stomach down into a knot. “Then how are we standing here?”

  “We’re dead,” Nancy said softly.

  The doctor just nodded. “Try to see the wreck if you can. Look for the clothes you are wearing.”

  Belle turned to stare the thirty paces up the street at the mess. A number of people were standing near the two bodies on the street, but not approaching
them.

  Belle couldn’t seem to get the two bodies to focus. Then suddenly they did.

  Nancy’s body was the closest. She was only recognizable by her gray shoes and long gray dress slacks. The upper part of her body seemed to be mostly missing or twisted around in a way no body should ever be twisted.

  Then Belle saw her own body, her own brown slacks and shoes, and she turned away.

  Their blood was everywhere and the man in the orange jump suit had come through the front windshield and smashed against the wall as well. He was twisted on the sidewalk beside Nancy’s body.

  Blood flowed down the sidewalk and into the gutter.

  Belle could feel the world starting to spin and she steadied herself against the stone building.

  Then as if the light was getting shut off, everything went from dim to black.

  FIVE

  Jewel shouted, “Help!” as the two women in front of her both fainted at the same time.

  Jewel caught the blonde while Tommy caught the brown-haired one before she went to the sidewalk. K.J. just stood there, looking worried and upset.

  Jewel turned to K.J, as she managed to hold the slumped woman upright. “Get us to a restaurant, quick.”

  The next moment the five of them appeared in a back corner of a Sizzler Restaurant. Through the windows it looked like the restaurant was off to one side of a large mall. Very few people were in the restaurant at the moment. A good choice of a place to go.

  Tommy slid the one woman into a chair and held her in position by her shoulders while Jewel got the blonde into a chair beside her friend and did the same.

  “Two wet napkins, two glasses of water,” Jewel ordered K.J.

  He nodded and vanished.

  Neither woman showed any signs of coming around, so Jewel moved over in front of the blonde and checked her. Then she looked up at Tommy. “Just shock.”

  “Don’t blame them,” Tommy said. “If I remember right, I almost passed out as well when I realized the truth.”

  “The depression and shock will pass in a minute or two,” K.J. said, appearing again with two glasses of water and two wet napkins. “It’s standard and not fatal.”

  “We’re dead,” Tommy said, shaking his head at K.J. “Nothing is fatal. We just didn’t need to put them through this.”

  “Sorry,” K.J. said and handed one napkin to Tommy, the other to Jewel. He then set the water on the table in front of the two women and went around to the other side of the table and sat down like the world had ended.

  “You all right?” Jewel asked K.J. as she put the wet napkin on the blonde’s forehead.

  “Never seen anything like that before,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t go to your wreck site. Didn’t ever want to see it.”

  Jewel understood completely. And in the last few months of working with K.J., she had come to understand he was a very delicate soul.

  “So why did we arrive so soon after the wreck?” Tommy asked as the woman he was holding upright started to moan.

  “I was told I had to,” K.J. said. “Boss’s orders.”

  “Next time just send us,” Tommy said. “We’ll do it if you teach us how to teleport like that.”

  K.J. only nodded.

  Jewel slowly let go of the woman’s shoulders as she came to, also moaning. Jewel picked up the glass of water and helped the woman drink as Tommy did the same for the other one.

  Then when it was clear they had both returned and were able to sit upright on their own, Jewel and Tommy moved to their own chairs.

  “Just drink a little more water and keep the wet napkin on your neck and it will clear,” Jewel said, watching both women as their eyes slowly focused. “Then we’ll be glad to answer all your questions.”

  Both women nodded and did as instructed. Both of their hands were shaking.

  After they set down their water glasses, Jewel decided she was going to take the lead for a few minutes to help out.

  “My name is Dr. Jewel Kelly,” she said, “as I told you on the street. This is my partner, Deputy Tommy Ralston, and this is K.J. Moore. Who are you?”

  The blonde looked at her friend, then nodded and turned back to Jewel. “My name is Belle Watson.”

  “And I’m Nancy Bend,” the brown-haired woman said.

  “So what happened to us and why are we here?” Belle asked.

  “Are we really dead?” Nancy asked.

  “I’m afraid so,” Jewel said. “But you haven’t moved on to whatever follows death as most people do because an agency called Ghost of a Chance would like to recruit you both to help out.”

  “We are all agents,” Tommy said. “Jewel and I died in a car accident in Montana a number of months back, so we know exactly what you are going through. K.J. here is our handler and reports up the chain of command and gives us our assignments.”

  “I don’t feel dead,” Belle said.

  “Actually,” Jewel said, smiling. “In a very short time you’ll feel better than you ever felt while alive.”

  “One of the great perks about being dead,” K.J. said.

  “Are you sure you are up for seeing some proof on all this?” Jewel asked.

  Both Belle and Nancy nodded.

  “Tap the top of the table lightly,” Jewel said, showing them what she meant.

  They both did.

  “Feels like a normal table, doesn’t it, and it is,” Jewel said. “But what you tapped is the ghost component of the table that basically exists for everything, including your clothes.”

  “Remember,” Tommy said, “your bodies were still dressed, yet you are dressed in the same thing. You are now dressed in the ghost component of your clothes.”

  Both women looked at their clothes, then nodded.

  Jewel wasn’t sure if she should do this or not, but they needed to understand and understand quickly.

  Jewel put her hand forward and stuck it through the table. Then she pulled it back out and tapped the table again.

  Both women’s eyes were wide.

  “K.J.,” Tommy said, “could you walk directly over to the buffet and back?”

  K.J. nodded, stood, and headed for the buffet, walking through tables, a planter, a post and then finally part of the buffet itself before turning around and coming back.

  “Now try putting your hand through the table,” Jewel said as both women looked panicked.

  Finally Belle did and her hand went right through the table.

  She jerked back. “I didn’t feel a thing.”

  “And you won’t,” Jewel said. “We’re all ghosts.”

  “Can anyone see us?” Nancy said, glancing around.

  “No,” Jewel said, shaking her head. “Only other ghosts recruited can see you and there are very, very few of us. Everyone else passes on when they die.”

  K.J. came back over from the buffet area and looked at Jewel and Tommy. “I’ve got to get back. I need to get to my therapist and then spend the night in my hot tub with a good bottle of expensive wine to clear that wreck image out of my mind.”

  Jewel nodded and both of the women looked sort of puzzled.

  “Are there any Brigade members close by?” Tommy asked.

  Jewel nodded. A good question. The Brigade were other ghosts recruited to try to cause harm and change the future into a place of turmoil. She and Tommy and K.J. were the good guys, The Brigade the bad guys. It was the easiest way for Jewel to just think of it.

  “None any closer than Seattle,” K.J. said after a moment.

  “Good,” Tommy said. “What do you need us to do?”

  “Get the new recruits up to speed as best you can and all four of you get to Vegas in a week or so at the latest.”

  “But…” Jewel stared to say, but K.J. was gone.

  “Can we do that disappearing thing?” Belle asked, staring at where K.J. had gone.

  “Not yet,” Tommy said, clearly frustrated.

  Jewel understood his frustration. She looked at the two women. “I’m afraid we’re
ghosts living in the real world. Which means we have some pretty major advantages and some pretty major disadvantages.”

  “What happens if we don’t want to be part of this ghost agent thing?” Nancy asked.

  “From what we understand,” Jewel said, “that once you learn about all this, if you want to move on, the powers that be let you. But no one tells us what’s on the other side. But this is all voluntary. You both were going to die today no matter what anyone did. It was your time. This agent thing is sort of a second chance to keep living.”

  “And honestly,” Tommy said. “I think you’ll both discover that living as a ghost is actually pretty amazing, once you get used to the idea.”

  “I’m far from that,” Belle said and Nancy nodded.

  “Don’t blame you in the slightest,” Jewel said. “And I remember the confusion I felt as if it was only a few months ago.”

  “It was only a few months ago,” Tommy said, laughing.

  “Oh, that’s why it’s so clear,” Jewel said.

  And for a moment she almost got a smile from the blonde.

  Almost.

  SIX

  Belle sat staring at the two people in running clothes sitting across from her and Nancy in what looked to be the Sizzler Restaurant out by the mall off Franklin Boulevard.

  She couldn’t believe she was dead. Just flat couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t believe it.

  And Nancy was clearly having the same issue.

  There was nothing these two could say to convince her. Seeing her own body must have been some sort of trick or something. Or she and Nancy had been drugged or something. She had just gotten her life completely in order. She couldn’t be dead.

  Yet she remembered the instant before the big black truck smashed into them.

  She remembered the wide eyes of the driver.

  That guy’s face would haunt her nightmares for a long time, she had no doubt. But this had to be some sort of scam these two were trying to pull.