by Rick Hautala
“Why, nothin’a’tall, of course,” Eldon answered. Pointing at the recorder, but being careful not to touch it, he went on, “Okay, you can stop that now, ‘n’ unwrap the other tape.”
Again, Elizabeth did as she was told, even though she was now totally confused by what Eldon was doing. If this had anything to do with contacting her dead daughter, she sure as hell couldn’t see how.
“This time press the play ‘n’ record buttons at the same time,” Eldon said, “‘n’ then hit pause-what’s it say there? Cue. Hit that cue button for a minute while I get set up.”
Elizabeth did what she was told and saw the tiny red recording indicator light come on. Eldon hoisted himself off the couch and went over to the modem-looking component stereo system in the comer of the room. Elizabeth had noticed it when they had first entered the living room because it looked so out of place. He glanced back at her and said, “This here’s somethin’ my boys had when they was teenagers. Now they got them fancy things — what’d’yah call ‘em? Laser disks or whatever! This’ll work just fine for what we want.”
Elizabeth sat and silently watched as Eldon switched on the radio. A burst of loud noise, sounding like the rush of falling water, filled the living room. She jumped involuntarily and almost dropped the tape recorder from her lap as she covered her ears with her hands. Eldon quickly spun the volume dial down, and the noise faded to a low but steady hiss, like the distantly heard surge of waves on a beach.
“That there’s what’s called white noise,” he said, as he came back to the couch and sat down. He placed his hands on his knees and nodded with satisfaction.
“Uh-huh. Look, Mr. Cody. this is all very interesting, but I don’t think you understand. The reason I’ m —”
Eldon waved a gnarly finger at her and continued. “I’ve found from experimentin’ that if I set the FM radio in this band area, up near 108, it works purty good. Most times, anyways. So, are’yah ready?”
“Ready for what?” Elizabeth asked, frowning as she shrugged.
“Ready to talk to your daughter, of course, or maybe someone who knows her,” Eldon snapped. “What I want yah t’do is, when I signal yah, unpause the recorder. Then you can ask whatever questions you wanna ask. Just wait a little while between ‘em so there’ll be time enough for you t’get your answers.”
“What — from you?” Elizabeth asked, completely confused by this operation. She had thought Claire DeBlaise was a nut case, but Eldon was easily taking the honor.
“‘Course not from me. From the spirit world,” Eldon said, as casually as if he had been talking about a church social. “Yah’ see, this white noise here on the radio acts like a ... like kinda a beacon — a lighthouse. It draws the spirits in, attracts ‘em like a magnet. I can never know who we’re gonna get, but why don’t you start askin’ your questions with that blank tape runnin’, ‘n’ we’ll see what we get?”
“This is —” Elizabeth was about to say crazy, but she placed her forefinger on the cue button and watched Eldon expectantly. After a few seconds, he nodded and eased himself back on the couch.
Elizabeth’s finger flicked the button. The tape began to roll behind the transparent plastic housing of the recorder. At first her mind drew a complete blank; the steady hiss of white noise on the radio was distracting; it drew her attention, never mind the spirits. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the radio and the red record light, and, after several seconds of silence, Eldon gave her a little “come-along” signal with his hand, and, clearing her throat, Elizabeth spoke.
“Is there ... Is there anyone here?” Her voice was strained, and her eyes darted around the room, desperately seeking an anchor of some kind. The silvery flecks of dust were still spinning in the bar of sunlight, but she tensed when she imagined they were falling flakes of snow.
“I — uh, I’d like to speak with my daughter, Caroline,” she continued haltingly. She cast a glance at Eldon, who held up his hands, indicating that she was to wait. After a moment, he again signaled for her to continue.
Baffled by what was going on and wondering what was supposed to happen, Elizabeth’s awareness was filled by the static hiss coming from the radio. She wondered whether, if it kept drawing her attention, it might not do exactly what Eldon said it would — attract entities from the spirit world. But was that even possible? Or was she indulging in another foolish delusion?
“If my daughter is ... is nearby,” Elizabeth said, “I’d like to speak with her ... I’d like to let her know that I —”
Her voice choked off, and she looked at Eldon with the sinking realization that he probably didn’t know what had happened to Caroline or why she so desperately wanted to contact her. Elizabeth had to fight the impulse to switch off the recorder and explain everything to him before she went any further, but she hesitated, not wanting to do anything that might disrupt the mood of whatever the hell they were doing.
“I want to tell Caroline I ... I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. Her throat constricted, and a warm rush filled her eyes. “I want to tell her that I ... that I didn’t mean for her to die.”
She stopped, unable to continue as her mind filled with the remembered echoes of the three-syllable chant ...
Car-o-line ... Car-o-line ... Car-o-line ...
She glanced over at Eldon, who was just sitting there silently, watching her with an expression of ...
Is that helpful concern in his eyes? ... Or is he laughing at me? Does he think I’m a damned gullible fool?
Taking a deep breath that felt like fire in her lungs, Elizabeth mentally phrased another question. Each word arose in her mind as sharp and as clear as shiny metal ...
Car-o-line, honey ...
Elizabeth wondered if she would have the courage to say the thought aloud.
Can you forgive me for what happened?
Can you forgive me, Caroline?
Eldon caught her attention with a quick wave of his hand and asked by his expression if she wanted to continue. Making her mouth a straight, hard line, Elizabeth nodded and then said aloud, “Caroline — honey. Can you ... can you forgive me for what ... happened?”
For just an instant, the hiss of radio static varied, roaring louder for a split second, then rapidly fading. It sounded as if someone was over by the controls, wiggling them just a bit to cause a disturbance, but she could see that no one was there. Eldon was still sitting on the couch, watching her with either concern or amusement on his face.
“Can you, honey?” she repeated, her words followed by a silence that lengthened uncomfortably.
“I think that might do it for now,” Eldon said. He shifted forward on the couch but was still careful not to touch the tape recorder in Elizabeth’s lap. Pointing at the recorder, he added, “You can shut that thing off now, if yah’d like.”
Unable to speak, Elizabeth pressed the stop button and, letting her breath out in a rush, slouched back onto the couch while Eldon went over to the radio and turned it off. Elizabeth was grateful for the time he allowed her to compose herself, even as dozens of questions filled her mind.
“So, are’yah ready to listen, or would’yah like to take a break?” Eldon asked, sitting back down on the couch. “I’ll bet’cha Martha could find us something to drink.”
“Water would be fine,” Elizabeth said, surprised that she could even speak; her lips and throat felt desert-parched.
Eldon got up and walked into the kitchen, and again. Elizabeth was grateful for the time alone so she could try to absorb what had just happened. It was obvious to her that Eldon thought something would be on the tape that they hadn’t heard while she was asking her questions. A wave of shivers shook her body when she wondered if anything like that was possible. How could radio static, draw spirits who would then answer her questions? And how could their answers only be heard on a tape? She frowned as she looked around Eldon’s living room, feeling uneasy about even the possibility that there really was an unseen world that could leak into the real world. That unse
en eyes might be present, watching her, gave her a bone-deep chill.
From the kitchen, she could hear the sound of running water as Eldon filled a glass for her. The sound was so similar to the white noise on the radio that it sent another wave of chills dancing up her back.
There weren’t any spirits around! There couldn’t be! She thought — not here; not anywhere! And there wasn’t any chance that running a blank tape in a tape recorder could pick up anything except the voice of the fool who thought there was going to be an answer from ... beyond.
“Would’yah care for something t’eat?” Eldon called from the kitchen. “You must be hungry after working’s hard as yah did. Got some cookies here Martha made th’ other day.”
“Uh — no thanks,” Elizabeth replied. “Just water will be fine.”
A moment later, Eldon reentered the living room and handed her a tumbler filled with water and a few ice cubes. She smiled her thanks and took a sip, amazed at how damned good the cold water felt sliding down her throat.
That will put out the fire, she told herself, and what I ought to do is put this whole crazy episode out of my mind!
But that thought was soon cast aside when Eldon asked, “So do ‘yah wanna hear what we got on the tape?”
After another sip of cold water, Elizabeth said, “Before we do, can you — like, could you explain some of this to me? I don’t really know what’s going on with all of this.”
“I already tole’yah,” Eldon said, sounding slightly impatient with her. “The radio noise brings the spirits here. I don’t know who they are or what they’re doin’. Sometimes they say so; sometimes they don’t.”
Elizabeth held the tape recorder on the flat of her hand and put it up in front of Eldon’s face. A smile flickered at the comers of her mouth as she fought the impulse to ask him what kind of a fool he took her to be. Instead, she said, “What you’re telling me is, when we replay this tape —”
“Which I made a point of not touchin’ or tamperin’ with in any way,” Eldon interrupted. “I say that just so’s you won’t accuse me of pullin’ a fast one.”
“I haven’t accused you of anything,” Elizabeth said, “but you’re telling me, when I rewind this tape and play it, I’ll hear answers to my questions — right?”
Eldon smiled widely and said, “More’n likely.”
Elizabeth chuckled aloud, took another sip of water, and then, shaking her head, said, “Okay then — let’s see.” She depressed the rewind button, waited until the tape was rewound all the way, and then hit the play button. The sound of blank tape hiss began, and she fiddled with the volume control to get it to a comfortable level.
“ You’ll need it up higher,” Eldon said, indicating the machine with a wave of his hand, still careful not to touch it. “Lots o’times the voices ain’t much.”
Elizabeth complied by turning the volume up a notch and then sat back to listen. She couldn’t deny the tight, wound-up feeling in her stomach as she waited to hear the recording made just a few minutes ago. It surprised her how sensitive the microphone was; it seemed to have picked up every sound of motion in the room. Maybe we’ll even hear the sound of the dust falling, she thought. After a long pause, Elizabeth heard her recorded voice, echoing in what sounded like a vast, empty room.
“Is there anyone here?”
In the silence that followed, Elizabeth thought she heard something. Whatever the sound was, it was muffled and fleeting, and she passed it off as a sound either she or Eldon had made, shifting on the couch. She tried to remember exactly what each of them had done during her questioning, but she knew that she could never reconstruct it accurately.
And maybe that’s how he tricks people, she thought. By not telling you what’s going on, he pulls ... whatever sleight of hand he has planned, before you even know it.
“I-uh, I’d like to speak with my daughter, Caroline,” Elizabeth’s recorded voice said. It sounded tinny, and she couldn’t dispel the notion that it had been recorded in a vast room, not this cozy living room. The white noise of the radio continued unabated in the background.
There was nothing — no sound at all in the silence that followed that statement. Elizabeth looked questioningly at Eldon, but he simply nodded, sending her a silent signal to be patient.
After another long gap filled with white noise, Elizabeth’s recorded voice spoke again. “If my daughter is ... is nearby, I’d like to speak with her ... I’d like to let her know that I —”
In the short pause that followed, Elizabeth clearly remembered the thoughts that had flashed through her mind. Again, she cringed with embarrassment as she wondered what Eldon knew of her situation. It bothered her that she would let herself be set up like this. Why was she so trusting and confident with a man she had just met?
“I want to tell Caroline I’m ... I’m sorry,” the recorded voice said.
Before all the words had been spoken, Elizabeth heard something on the tape something that made gooseflesh rise instantly on her arms. From out of the speaker on the small tape recorder came a warbling rush of noise that rose to a peak and repeated several times before quickly cutting off. Her first thought was that it was the sound of a car passing by the house; but she had driven up Eldon’s long driveway, and she knew that, even if a car had gone by the house, the recorder never could have caught the sound of its passing so clearly.
“Bingo! There yah are,” Eldon said, as a satisfied grin spread across his face. He sat back and slapped his legs with the flats of his hands, making a double-loud cracking sound. Nailing Elizabeth with a sharp glance, he said, “Can’yah tell me what that was?”
Elizabeth’s fingers felt as useless and senseless as balloons as she fumbled to stop the tape. Her hands were trembling as she pressed the rewind button, let the tape run backward for a little bit, then hit play again.
“ ... to tell Caroline —
The sound — what in the name of sweet Jesus is that sound — began with the word Caroline, rose quickly and repeated, then cut off; but this time Elizabeth didn’t get the impression that it was a car driving by the house. Her mind instantly caught what sure as hell sounded like foreign-sounding words being spoken, whispered like the harsh ripping of doth.
“This is ... weird,” she said, but that was all. She clicked off the recorder and looked at Eldon, feeling suddenly empty and helpless.
“It’s the spirit world,” Eldon finished for her. “Someone from beyond is tryin’ t’talk t’yah.”
“It can’t be,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head in earnest denial. “This just can’t be! It isn’t possible!”
Eldon’s smiled widened, exposing the stumps of his rotting teeth. The expression on his face was almost comical, and if she hadn’t been so terrified just then, Elizabeth might have laughed aloud at his clownlike face.
“It ain’t up to you or me to figger out what is and isn’t possible,” Eldon said simply. “Go on ‘n’ play the rest of the tape.”
“I don’t know if I ... dare to,” Elizabeth said. No matter what she thought about what was happening on an intellectual level, that sound, that whooshing noise sounding almost like another voice, reached deep down inside her and filled her with dread.
“Spirits generally ain’t gonna harm yah,” Eldon said calmly. “Usually they simply got some kinda message to pass on to the livin’. I ain’t never encountered what I’d have t’say was an evil spirit, although I ‘spoze there must be some.”
It amazed Elizabeth how Eldon took what was happening so easily in stride. Possibly he could do that because somehow — she didn’t know how, but somehow — he had manipulated the tape to get this sound onto it. His entire show about not touching the blank tapes or the recorder once she had picked it up were just that — a show designed to distract her from whatever it was he did do to screw around with things. It had to be that! It simply wasn’t possible that static on a radio could attract spirits and make them speak!
Looking at Eldon, Elizabeth said, “Well, the
re are some folks” — she had to fight hard to keep her voice level and strong —”who think any amount of fooling around with stuff like this is ... is downright evil. I don’t know what we just heard. I have no idea! As far as I can remember, I didn’t hear anything like that when we were recording, but I just can’t — can’t swallow this.”
“Hold on a minute there,” Eldon said. “Lemme see that tape. “
Elizabeth pressed the stop button, ejected the tape, and handed it over to Eldon. He moved to take it from her but then didn’t. Pointing over toward the stereo system, he said, “One of my boys rigged that tape machine there so it can play things backward.” He chuckled and continued. “I ‘spoze it was so’s he could listen to them Satanic messages that are ‘spozed to be in the rock ‘n’ roll music. You know — like the Beatles and such.”
“Oh, sure — horrible Satan worshippers, every one of them,” Elizabeth said, catching the gleam of humor in his eyes and smiling back at him.
“Why’nt you play the tape you just made past that sound, whatever the hell it is, then put it in’ta my tape player. Lot’s’o times, the messages don’t make sense till yah hear ‘em backward. That little toggle switch there will make the machine run backward.”
Elizabeth almost told him that this was getting completely ridiculous. Simply accepting that disembodied spirits even existed and could talk to you on a blank tape took quite a leap of faith. But then to propose that those messages from the spirit world could be recorded backward was just too damned much! There was something strange going on here. She didn’t know what, but she sure felt like she was the sucker.
She went over and knelt in front of Eldon’s tape deck, taking a moment to study the dials. After switching the amp from FM radio to tape player, she opened the cassette housing, popped in the tape, and pressed the reverse/play toggle. She adjusted the volume and then, sitting back on her heels, folded her hands in her lap as she and Eldon waited and listened.
At first they heard nothing but the same white noise, slightly distorted from being played backward. Then they heard the odd sound of Elizabeth’s voice being played backward.
