by Alexie Aaron
“Murphy and Mia. I curse the day the two found each other,” Angelo said, crushing the wine glass in his hand.
Chapter Four
Ira Levisohn, Inky to his friends, sat stiffly in his mother’s wingback chair. He looked at the fuss his mother was making over the tall, handsome Italian sitting in his father’s chair and frowned. What was so special about this man? Was it the expensive clothing? His foreign accent? The way he drew you into his eyes when he talked to you? Whatever it was, Inky needed to learn it fast. It would come in handy in securing attention from the girls at school.
“Mia mentioned that your legs have not come back yet,” Angelo asked as soon as Mrs. Levisohn had left the room.
“I get around alright.”
“I have a clinic in the mountains that may benefit you.”
“I’m sure it’s not in my parents’ HMO,” Inky replied ironically.
“I would not charge you. You are, after all, Mia’s friend.”
Inky was suspicious of this man. If Mia had a way to cure him, she would have extended the offer. He surmised that perhaps Mia didn’t think the clinic was a right fit for him. Or she wasn’t as good a friend of this Angelo as the man professed. Being an outcast due to his superior intelligence, Inky had sat on the sidelines watching people’s behavior. Everyone had tells. This man seemed to lose his fluid movement when Mia’s name came up. Was he telling falsehoods or exaggerating? Inky settled on wishful thinking. He determined that the Italian would like to be Mia’s friend, but Mia wasn’t reciprocating.
“I understand you’ve come to consult with me. What could I possibly help you with?” Inky questioned.
“You have experienced spontaneous bilocation. You survived your sojourn and came back whole.”
Inky looked down at his legs a moment and said, “Not quite whole. Mia brought me back. If it weren’t for her…”
“She wrote down that she felt you would have figured it out eventually. She said that you possessed a superior intelligence. All you needed was a push in the right direction, and you, in fact, saved yourself.”
Inky blushed. “She wrote that?”
Angelo opened up his folder and drew out a piece of paper. “I requested this information from Burt Hicks. This is Mia’s report. I assure you it is not common knowledge outside of the PEEPs organization,” he said, handing the paper to Inky.
He looked down and sped-read the report. Mia had taken the time to not only praise Inky but also gave him credit for saving the day.
“I think she is rather kind in her observations,” Inky said, handing the paper back to Angelo. “I don’t know why I did what I did, but I’m a fast learner. The key to bilocation is to adapt constantly. Now tell me why you are here, Mr. Michaels,” Inky requested.
“I have to first tell you what happened at Cold Creek Hollow. There are a few things that you may find, let’s say, unbelievable, but I assure you that they did happen, and Mia can corroborate them if you wish.”
“Fair enough,” Inky said. “I’ll reserve my questions until the end.”
“Thank you. It all started with a deer-woman…”
Inky listened while Angelo told his tale. He appreciated how detailed the man was. Inky made a few mental notes as Angelo’s narrative continued.
“When I got to Paolo, his body had just quit. I flew… took him to the clinic, and the Gray Ladies stabilized his body. Similar to what the coma unit did for your body.”
“You don’t think that Father Santos died even though his body did?” Inky asked.
“He didn’t feel right. When I transport people through the ether, they become part of me and me them. Think of the transporters on Star Trek - it is very similar but without the digitizing,” he explained. “Mia once had a blood clot burst in her head. She was dying but still alive. Her body felt… warm. Father Santos’s felt the same.”
“So you saved Mia’s life.”
“Yes, more or less.”
Inky looked at the waves of deceit lapping at the edges of Angelo’s facial features. “Tell me all of it,” Inky insisted.
“Pardon.”
“Tell me what you are holding back. I will not help a liar, no matter the cause,” he said sternly.
“For a young man, you are…”
“A bitch?” Inky guessed.
“I was going to say determined. I took Mia’s emotional memories away of certain people. I thought I was freeing her of hurt, but this was not the result. She and I fell at odds with each other.”
“I’m glad you told me. What do you want from me?”
“Tell me about the other world, the world you were sucked into, the one that you crawled out of.”
Inky remembered vividly reaching up and pulling himself out of the floor. He related this to Angelo, “I pushed a hand up through the back of the flooring. I felt the change in density as soon as my hand broke through. I grabbed the edge of this prison and, with all my strength, raised my body until my other hand found purchase. I set my shoulders and used my mind to demand my muscles to wake up and cooperate. I pulled up hard. I remember my head moving through the solidifying tar like the point of a spear; it made room for my shoulders. Once they cleared the barrier, my body shot upwards. I was freed from my prison.”
“That was an amazing feat. Would you tell this to Paolo’s brother if I brought the two of you together?”
“Why?”
“Constantino Santos believes his brother to be dead. He told me to bring him proof there was a chance that this was not so. You are proof.”
“I bilocated in fear and got stuck in the floor. How would this convince this man?”
“You didn’t simply bilocate, Ira; your fear sent your essence away from your body. Yes, mechanically, you, as Mia says, OOBed, but what held you is more than the physical substance of the flooring. You were in another dimension. One in which you could not move.”
“Fear paralyzed me,” Ira argued. “If I weren’t such a wuss, I wouldn’t have been stuck there in the first place.”
“I disagree, as does Mia. She says you’re the bravest person she knows.”
“She exaggerates,” Ira insisted.
“She does,” Angelo agreed and laughed.
Ira listened to the man’s full rich laughter and couldn’t help joining in. Brenda walked in from the kitchen for a moment to see what the laughter was about. Ira mouthed that he was okay. She smiled and left the room.
“So how do we do this meeting?”
“I’d like to fly you to my aerie in the mountains of Italy.”
“I don’t have a passport.”
Angelo gave him a wry look. “You wouldn’t be going commercial.”
“Private planes are governed by the same rules… Oh,” Ira said as Angelo crossed his hands in front of him and made a flying motion. “You, you’re going to fly me… I’m not sure about that.” Ira remembered Mia telling him about a colleague of hers that could turn into a giant bird. Angelo must be this person.
“Would you like to talk to your mother first? Perhaps Mia or another priest could vouch for me, a rabbi perhaps?”
“Hold on a moment, let me think,” Ira requested. He weighed the impossibility of the action against the adventure. The adventure won. “Let me talk to my mother and Mia. Mother!” he called.
Brenda rushed into the room. “What’s happened?”
“Mr. Michaels would like to take me on… a quick trip… to Chicago. I need to tell a priest’s brother all about what happened to me at the school.”
“I don’t know…”
“If Mia okay’s it?” Ira asked.
“Well, she did bring you back to us. I trust her, but I’m sorry, I don’t know you, Mr. Michaels and…”
“I could have Rabbi Adam Cohen talk to your rabbi…”
Brenda, who hadn’t been active in the temple for some time, flushed. “No, that won’t be necessary. Mia’s word is good enough for me.”
Angelo pulled out his phone and hit number two on his
speed dial and put the call on speaker.
“Hello?” Mia’s voice sounded through the room.
“Mia, I have you on speaker,” Angelo explained.
“Hello, Angelo, what can I do for you?”
“Mia, it’s me, Ira.”
“How’s it going, Inky?”
“It’s going. My mother would like to know if I can travel with Angelo to see Father Santos’s brother. I told her I wouldn’t be gone long.”
“Brenda, I’ve traveled with Angelo before, and I assure you he is a good man. If he says he will bring Ira back by your specified time, Ira will be back.”
“That’s good to hear. Thank you, Mia. We’ll talk soon,” Brenda said.
“Angelo, I have a couple of things to discuss before you hang up. Private things…” Mia explained.
Angelo took the phone off of speaker and walked out of the living room.
“Am I off speaker?” Mia asked.
“Yes.”
“You can’t simply fly him out of that house, you understand.”
“Why do you assume I’m an imbecile?”
“Past history,” Mia answered. “Anyway, I suggest the two of you drive off and…”
“I understand.”
“Oh, and Angelo…”
“Yes, Mia.”
“Fix the boys legs.”
“I intend to,” he said and hung up. He walked back into the room and saw that Ira was already in his wheelchair. His mother was giving him some mad money.
“Make sure he doesn’t get overtired,” she requested. “Call me if you’re going to be later than supper time.”
“I will,” Ira promised.
Angelo’s driver opened the limo door and stood patiently by while Ira maneuvered himself into the car. Angelo got in after him while the driver stowed the chair in the trunk. Both men were aware of the nervous mother watching them from the porch. The driver got in and drove away from the house and neighborhood. “Sir,” the driver asked pressing on the intercom, “Where to?”
“The nearest safe facility,” Angelo answered.
“Yes, sir.”
Angelo looked over at Ira. “Traveling with me has its peculiarities. I, for instance, cannot change into a bird clothed. Nor can my passengers be clothed.”
“Well, that’s uncomfortable. We’ve hardly met,” Ira said. “In for a penny…” he said, unbuttoning his shirt.
The driver pulled into a garage of a home under construction, got out and shut the door. Angelo shed his clothes and stepped out of the vehicle. Ira watched as Angelo seemed to grow in size. He reached in and picked up Ira as if he were no heavier than a newspaper. Ira was more concerned with covering his privates than watching what was happening to Angelo.
Angelo held on to the teen and unfurled his wings. Ira felt himself being pulled tight to the birdman’s chest. Angelo’s wings extended into what had to be a twenty foot span before they wrapped around both of them.
The driver waited until the two disappeared before taking out his phone and calling the aerie. “Angelo will be arriving with a teenaged boy without use of his legs. About five foot six, thin, Jewish,” he said and hung up. The driver opened the door and backed out of the garage. He drove to the nearest Starbucks and parked the car. There he ordered a caramel macchiato and a fistful of scones. He settled in at a table and took out his e-reader. There he would wait until he heard from the aerie that Angelo and his package were on their way back.
~
Mia walked into the PEEPs office where her husband was busy entering the data they had collected the previous evening. Cid was doing likewise. She walked quietly over to the kitchenette and began to fill the coffee maker with water. She turned around to see Murphy standing in and out of the wall to the barn.
“Hello, Murph, what’s up?”
“Inky.”
“Ah, big axe-carrying ghosts also have big ears, huh,” she observed.
Murphy reached up and touched one of his ears before narrowing his eyes. “Bad, Mia.”
“Mia, are you abusing Murphy again?” Ted asked over his shoulder.
“He’s the one that was eavesdropping on my personal conversation,” Mia claimed.
“So did I, and I think Cid heard most of it too,” Ted said as he entered the last of the data and turned around. “Why don’t you tell us what we couldn’t hear, dear?”
Mia wrinkled her forehead a moment. Ted’s use of dear instead of some other term of endearment meant that he wasn’t pleased. Ted disliked the birdman and didn’t trust him. Murphy hated Angelo but put up with him for the sake of the group. Cid was on whatever side Ted was on.
Mia looked at the three faces before she began, “He’s flying Inky to Italy to talk to Father Santos’s brother. He needs a reliable witness to explain that there may be an outside chance that Santos isn’t dead, dead. Just sorta dead. Does that make any sense?” she asked.
“Murphy’s dead, not dead dead,” Ted stated. “What do you think, Mia?”
“Santos’s soul is gone, but I don’t know if he’s gone gone, just sorta gone.”
“Here we go again,” Cid said. “I wish we would use scientific terms.”
Mia angled her head. “Okay, PP, tell me scientifically all about Murph here.” She patted the ghost on the back. “Come on, don’t be shy.”
Cid didn’t like being called PP which stood for pedantic putz. But he rose to the challenge and started his explanation, “He’s energy…”
“We’re all energy,” Mia qualified. “So Murph and I are alike?” she asked.
“Shit, Mia, you know what I mean,” Cid mumbled.
“Mia, stop baiting the boy; you’ll give him a headache,” Ted scolded.
“Why do you call him the boy when you’re only eighteen months apart in age?” Mia asked.
“Yeah, I’d like to know that too,” Cid demanded.
Mia used the change in conversation to slip out of the office. She hurried towards the house only to find Murphy waiting for her on the front porch.
“Inky,” he said, crossing his arms.
Mia sighed. “Inky is going to the aerie with Angelo. He’ll be back this evening safe and sound. Sounder than he arrived.”
“Legs.”
“The Gray Ladies will bring his leg muscle strength back. The rest is up to Inky.”
“This is a good thing. Why do you look so guilty?” he asked.
“He doesn’t know about it.”
“Bad Mia.” Murphy shook his head.
“I didn’t want to get his hopes up,” she said, defending her action. “I know, I’m no better than Angelo, but the important thing is that boy will be whole.”
Murphy reached out and lifted Mia’s chin. “You’re not whole. What makes you think Inky will be?”
Mia pushed his hand away from her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Inside you aren’t whole. Angelo took something.”
“The memories are back. What else could be gone?” Mia asked, wiping her sweating hands on her pants.
“Trust.”
Mia felt the word cut through her as easily as Murphy’s axe brought down deadwood. She knew it wasn’t the trust she had lost with Angelo he was talking about. It was the natural way she and Murph were around each other. Mia thought she had put a distance between herself and the ghost because of the carnal attraction she once had for the entity. But that wasn’t it. She trusted herself, and the only carnal activity she craved lately was with Ted.
Murphy hadn’t stepped over the line, and she knew he wouldn’t. But when Angelo took her emotional memories from her, she lost a piece of Stephen Murphy that resided inside of her heart. As a ghost, he could possess her all he wanted to, but it wouldn’t be restored.
Murphy set his axe down and put his hands together. “You and I used to be like this. But after he brought you back, we’ve been like this.” Murphy pulled his hands slightly away and to the side of each other.
Mia’s eyes watered. “What ca
n I do? Call the time walker? Then all the good we’ve done would be undone. The hollow would be a threat again. Can we be that selfish?”
“No. But now Inky may lose his trust,” Murphy said.
“No, that’s not going to happen. He may be mad at me because I won’t let him wallow in the new prison he’s put himself into, but he will be whole. That I promise you.” Mia walked around Murph and into the farmhouse and slammed the door.
Murphy turned to follow her.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Ted said, walking up the steps. “Give her time to calm down. You’ve made your point. Mia will think about it and mull it over for a while, but she’ll come around to see that you’re right.”
Murphy looked at the tech. Ted stood his ground and stared back. Each of them held back what the other was thinking. For the sake of Mia and the ghost hunters, they would have to shelve any jealousy they had for the other.
Ted was the first to speak, “I know what you lost. I have eyes. I saw what was between the two of you from the beginning. Long before me, there was you. And then suddenly like a gift from heaven, she was looking at me that way. I don’t want to lose that. I’m not too proud to beg, Stephen.”
Murphy felt ashamed. He should just leave, but he owed Ted an explanation. He summoned as much energy as he could draw. He put his hand on his chest and said, “This used to be empty before Mia. She caused it to beat again. Not in an earthly way, but still it beats. I feel it. I’m not supposed to. Father Santos knew and disapproved. I know she loves you. It hurts,” he said, patting his chest again. “But she is happy happy, not sorta happy. Does this make any sense?”
“Now you’re sounding like my wife,” Ted said.
“Are you sure she’s not sounding like me?” Murphy said and disappeared.
Ted, who Murphy had gifted the sight too, worried for a moment. He turned around and saw Murphy walking over to the woodpile. He raised his axe over his head and dropped it hard.
CRACK!
And as the sound echoed through the countryside, Ted pondered the life he had chosen. To live in the shadow of this man was intimidating at best. But Ted also knew his worth. He straightened up, opened the door and walked inside.
