11
Inez picked up money from time to time by selling drugs on campus. Her supplier, BB Thompson, would be able to aid her in this situation, she was certain of it.
She left the gathering and drove to the industrial part of town. She pulled into the driveway of an odd house right in the middle of the factories and warehouses. The companies who constructed the buildings bought out all of the houses but one. By chance, no one wanted or needed the small post-war bungalow. It served as a luncheonette for a while and then a house of prostitution. Finally, it was abandoned and BB moved in.
Inez could hear screams coming from the back of the house. She didn't knock. She passed several bikers sprawled on a couch and walked into the back bedroom. BB was beating a man close to death with his fists. The man was covered in his own blood. Inez didn't notice him. She said, "BB, I need to talk to you about something that will make you a lot of money. Is there someplace private?"
BB stood five feet eight inches tall. When he was fourteen, a gang of bullies beat him savagely with baseball bats. He survived, but hate and revenge made a home in his heart. He recruited his own gang and dealt with the bullies with drive-by shootings.
He built himself up with weights the wrong way. Impatient and short sighted, he took steroids to put on muscle. The drugs emphasized his natural cruelty and lack of self-control. He led Inez outside to his car. They were alone. He said, "How much money?"
Inez said, "Ten grand."
"That works. What do you want done?"
"I want a girl's life ruined. Permanently. Any ideas?"
"Yeah," BB smiled. His eye were tiny slits in a round, pudgy face. "I'll sell her to a man I know. He runs a brothel in Mexico. She'll never recover after a year as a hooker. He'll get her addicted to meth if I ask him to."
A dark shadow fell on Inez' emotions. For a second, she shuddered at the prospect of forcing another woman into prostitution. Jacques said, "No, my little one. She must be punished. She should have her life torn apart. She stole your man and embarrassed and humiliated you. That's not something you can forgive or forget." He paused. "And there's the money that should be yours."
Inez nodded agreement, although she didn't know she was agreeing with Jacques. At that moment, she embraced evil and cruelty. She handed a small piece of paper with Julie's address and phone number to BB. She said, "Grab her any time after midnight. She'll be asleep and alone. She's a goody-goody." Inez turned on her heel and strode away quickly, an excited half-smile across her face.
12
Jim drove Julie home and took her hand in his as he walked her to her apartment entrance. Few words were spoken, this was all so new, but he kissed her again long and slowly at her doorway. He didn't try to get into her apartment.
Julie walked inside, and leaned against the closed door. Tonight felt as though it was the best night of her life. Tonight was the start of what she knew to be her destiny - a future with Jim.
She changed into her nightie and went to bed. Etienne and Veronique watched from across the room with a smile on their faces. They had succeeded with this couple, time to move on. They slipped away.
A minute later, Veronique lay down on a small bed beside a four-year-old girl who was twitching in her sleep. Veronique put her arm around her and said, into her ear, "Quiet, little Michelle. All is well. There are no monsters under the bed or in the closet. Your loving grand maman chased them away." Veronique stroked Michelle's forehead and hair. In a few minutes, Michelle slept soundly.
They left Michelle's bedroom quietly, even though Michelle wouldn't have heard them if they'd driven away in a steam locomotive. Outside, Veronique said, "I am restless, dear husband. Watching the fine Julie discover herself has stoked my memories. How I loved being alive and having a proper body. So stirring. I want more."
"I know a way," Etienne said. "Come with me."
BB found the address easily. He studied the apartment building and grinned. Julie’s apartment was on the first floor and next to a door leading outside. This couldn’t be simpler. He walked inside and kicked the door in with one blow.
He stomped through the front room into the bedroom. He didn’t see the pictures of her family on the dresser or the lacrosse stick from her high school days. He didn’t see the handmade quilt on the bed or the stack of letters from home on her night stand.
He paused as he stood by the bed. Very gently, he lifted the single sheet covering Julie and tossed it down by her feet.
Slowly, he picked up her tee shirt and laid it back under her shoulders. His hands hovered over her breasts for a second then clamped down on them. He pulled and twisted.
Julie woke up immediately. She looked down at the hands abusing her body then up at the walking nightmare who owned them. She opened her mouth to scream and BB hit her with his closed fist on the point of her chin. Her head whipped back, and she lost consciousness.
BB spent a few minutes exploring her body until he heard someone in the apartment next to Julie moving around. He threw her body over his shoulder and walked quickly out of the building to his car. He dumped her in the back with two members of his motorcycle gang and drove off.
13
Etienne said, "We are looking for someone to match our mood of arousal and love. We will put ourselves on the piggy back of a young couple who are going to touch each other. But we must do something good. Let us find another two people who should be together but are being kept apart."
"I like that. We will feel better and help someone else. We will look around and make two people have nice feelings."
They flew slowly over the city until they saw a couple get out of a car. Actually, they heard the car doors slam very loudly then saw the two people.
Angie and Edward Hamilton had money. Heavy money. The kind of money that is so big that they could lose ninety-nine percent of it and still be able to buy Cincinnati. They'd each had absentee parents who left for Cannes or St. Tropez or somewhere else on the Riviera to be with their friends.
Raised by housekeepers and hired help, both Angie and Edward grew up without love, especially without the loving touch that everyone needs.
They stormed into their mansion and separated immediately. They'd been in separate bedrooms for months.
Hope lives in the hearts of the terminally lonely. It's planted the few times a mom or dad held them as children. They felt the love during those few sparse moments and yearned for it to return.
At the party, Edward had behaved very badly, paying attention to a woman named Madison Wainwright for the entire evening. Madison dressed and acted like a slut. Edward wasn’t attracted to Madison. If he were being honest with himself, he’d have to admit he did it to irritate his wife.
Angie looked at her perfect bed with it’s perfect, sterile sheets and perfect pillows. She fell on it and cried bitterly.
Etienne turned to Veronique, "This little one has almost lost hope of ever being loved."
"She has. If we don't find the way to bring them together, they will be lost forever. That must not happen."
Etienne said, "We must intervene."
"What means this 'intervene'?"
"Interject ourselves in the situation. Muddle about, interfere, make their business our business."
"Oh, bon." He drifted off. Veronique said, "Where do you go?"
"You shall see." He faded away and within a second faded back in. Angie’s cell phone rang beside her bed. Angie wiped her eyes with her hands and picked it up. "Hello."
"Angie, it's your mother."
"Oh mother, now is not a good time. I'm not feeling well."
"Angela, this can’t wait. It must be now. I’ve been suffering for hours from a guilty conscience..."
Etienne said, "It was a few seconds. I made it feel like hours," and smiled at Veronique.
Angie's mother continued, "We treated you horribly when you were a child. Please, please, forgive me. I can't stand it any longer. I think of all of the nights you were home without us because we'd left to b
e with our friends. All the times I should have held you in my arms to help you get to sleep. I feel so mean… and guilty. Please, can you forgive me?"
Angie cried again, not out of anguish, but with hope of relief, "You love me? Is that what you're saying."
Angie heard a sob from the other end of the line. "Oh, what have I done? You don't know your own mother loves you? I've failed so badly at the only thing that ever mattered. Angela Hamilton, my darling child, Mommy loves you."
"Mom, it's alright. I love you too. Don't cry. We can start now to spend time together. We're still young."
"Thank you, sweetheart. That means more to me than you'll ever know."
"We'll get together tomorrow. We need to."
"Good. Thank you. Goodbye."
"Bye mom."
Etienne and Veronique looked at each other with satisfaction. Etienne said, "Halfway there."
"Yes, now the husband, this Edward who needs our help." They drifted through the walls over to another opulent bedroom.
When they arrived, Edward was punching holes in the wallboard, each punch driven by anger and frustration.
Veronique said, "My turn now. I can look into his mind. I will know the needs he has."
She faded out and back in. "This is not good, Etienne. He badly wants his papa to approve of him. His papa is dead. The pouvre enfant misses that which cannot be had any longers. What will we do?"
They watched Edward rip apart a pillow.
Etienne said, "I don't know."
14
Julie regained consciousness in the back of a car with a strange man's hand inside her panties. She wanted to fight back, but the man held her against his chest with his arm immobilizing her hands. She kicked and twisted. It did no good.
The man said, "Hot damn, BB, guess what? This one's a virgin. Unpopped pussy."
BB tilted his head back and howled at the moon. He couldn’t believe his luck. "That’s another fifteen grand on top of the ten we get from Inez. Maybe more if we sell her to an Arab. They like blonde virgins. Good news."
Veronique said, "Let me prowl around his memories just a little." She closed her eyes for a few seconds then opened them wide. "There's someone else. He had a coach for the stupid game with the funny shaped ball and lots of hitting."
"Football?"
"Yes, but not the ordinary kind with the ball that is round and no hands. I will talk with the coach and see if something will be of value there."
She was back quickly. "Even better than I hoped."
Edward's phone rang. He picked it up and growled "What is it?"
An older masculine voice came from the phone, "Eddie? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Who's this?"
"Coach Mondello. Do you remember me?"
Edward calmed down immediately. "Yeah, coach. I remember you very well. It's nice to hear your voice."
"Eddie, I was going through the old year books just now and I realized I needed to tell you something. I should have done it before, but I got busy. I guess I thought he'd do it himself."
"Who'd do what himself?"
"Your dad. Did you know he came to every one of your games?"
"No… I didn't think he saw any of them."
"He told me he wouldn't miss them for the world. Flew in from wherever he was. Always sat in the same spot. I'd talk with him after the game. He was real proud of you. It surprised me he never told you himself. He's your old man after all."
"I'll be damned." Edward's mouth dropped open.
"For some reason, it just came to me that I never did make that call. I have one other thing to tell you. He didn't seem to be able to say the words, but I knew it just as if he'd shouted them from the rooftops. He loved you. I knew he wouldn't be able to tell you himself. I should have told you earlier."
"Thanks, Coach. You'll never know how much this means to me."
"I'm glad to help, son. Gotta go."
"Bye Coach."
BB carried a kicking, screaming Julie into the house in the middle of the factories. He yelled, "Everybody gather round." Five men who looked as brutal as BB walked into the room or stood up. BB said, "This broad still has her cherry. She's worth a lot of money to me. Anybody who breaks her cherry will get his balls cut off. Understand?"
All five men nodded. They knew BB actually meant it. He'd done it before.
Etienne and Veronique knew how hard it was for them, in ghostly forms, to move physical objects. But, they’d done it on a couple of occasions before. They agreed to try again this time. The pair worked very hard together and eventually managed to tip over a vase in the hallway between the two bedrooms. The noise was stunning.
Edward and Angie ran out of their bedrooms at the same time. They saw the vase and each other. Both were experiencing a highly emotional state.
The apologies started immediately. Edward said, "I was wrong. I shouldn't have spent all that time..."
Angie said, "No, it was my fault. If I were a better wife, we'd..."
They ran together at the same time and hugged.
Veronique said, "Now they need to touch and do it for long hours. Now they have to... to... Oh merde, what is the word for coming together, being one person. I can't remember it."
"Do nice ladies say 'merde', mon petit chou-chou?"
"Yes, they do. I am a lady, and I say it, so there. What is the word I want?"
"'Bond', my sweet. 'Bond'."
"Yes. Very good. They must bond. And that requires skin touching skin. I will help." She whispered in Angie's ear and stroked her hair. Angie felt a slightly warm and loving feeling while Veronique did it. Angie said, "We need to be in the same bed tonight. And every night from now on." She rubbed the side of her head against his chin. "Please touch me. I need it so much. Please." She snuggled into Edward's arms, against his chest. She rested her forehead in the curve of his neck and shoulder. "I've been so mean to you. Hold me all night. Make me feel loved."
Edward scooped her up in his arms and headed for her bedroom. Angie said, "Wouldn't we be more comfortable in your bedroom?"
Edward stopped and cleared his throat. "My bedroom is a little disheveled right now, darling."
"Oh. Let's use mine then." After a few steps, she said, "Stop, put me down for a minute."
Edward set her down on her feet. She dropped the thin straps of her evening gown off her shoulders and let it slip to the floor. As she pushed her panties down her legs, she said, "You too. I want lots of your skin touching me."
Edward threw his clothes down the hall and lifted her into his arms again. "You feel so good against me. You were right. We're going to be in the same bed forever."
Angie kissed his neck and enjoyed his naked strength.
Etienne and Veronique looked at one another. Another job well done.
15
BB threw Julie on top of a bare, filthy mattress. "No one's going to mess with you, bitch. At least, not for a while. The man who buys you will mess with you a lot.” He paused. “You’re not a bad looking broad. But, if nobody buys you, you won’t be a year from now. Being fucked a lot by different men does that. Too bad, but I need the money."
Veronique said, “Bon. This is good.” She paused. “However, I feel a disturbance in my bond with Julie. Something has happened. It isn’t good.” They flew to Julie’s apartment and saw that Julie wasn’t there.
Etienne said, “How can we find her?”
“I can feel her fear in this room. If I concentrate, I can follow it as the hound follows the scent of the rabbit.”
“Very good, my dear. Lead on. We will find Julie and the horror that frightened her.”
They swooped close to the street, flying low to the ground. In five minutes, they located the little house in the industrial section of the city. They drifted through the door and looked at the rough men lounging on the old sofa and overstuffed chair with ripped upholstery. They saw the locked door.
Inside the room, Julie lay on the bed and whimpered, alone and vulnerable.
Veron
ique floated close to her ear. “My child. We are here. Don’t fret.”
Etienne said, “We need to make the noise in the other side of the house. Let us see if we have the strength left to move something.”
They looked around the old kitchen. Filthy dishes and beer cans littered the counters and the floor. Etienne said, “If we could smell, I think we would smell the strong odor of alcohol. Which burns, very brightly. Come here with me.”
They gathered around a gas stove. It took four tries to blow out the pilot light and five more to turn the knob to one of the burners on the stove.
Etienne said, “We don’t want to blow up the house. We can’t let the gas run for too many minutes. Watch what I do.” He floated into the room with the men inside. They watched ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ cartoons and laughed. One set his cigarette on an ash tray. With significant effort, Etienne finally lifted the cigarette and carried it into the kitchen. He couldn’t quite make it the whole way, and a foot of so shy of the kitchen door, the cigarette fell to the ground. It was only seconds later, though, that the gas/air mixture exploded. He braced himself as the flames went through his body. In a moment, the entire room was ablaze. They drifted out of the burning kitchen just as burly men ran in. The men saw the flames, turned around and stormed out of the house. BB unlocked the bedroom where Julie screamed and huddled against the wall. He dragged her out.
The men watched their clubhouse burn. BB kept tight hold of Julie’s wrist.
Veronique said, “Bon. This is good. She is outside now.” She pulled Etienne’s sleeve. “I felt it. When the fire rushed through my body, I felt the warmth. It was nice.”
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