by Alexie Aaron
Chapter Eighteen
“Food! They brought food!” Mia said with glee. She watched as car after car of seniors arrived at Himmel. The school was opened, and the kitchen was rapidly filling up with the potluck dishes lovingly prepared by alumni of the school.
Mia caught bits of conversations as she moved through the halls of the school. Rooms had been opened up, and little groups of withered and not-so-withered old men and women stood relating their memories.
Mary Alison appeared on the arm of Nathan of all people. They had walked through the woods together. Mary shared stories of her adventures there at the school when she was a young girl while Nathan listened intently. Mia nodded to the couple and followed her nose to where the administrators were setting up in the small lunchroom.
“We’re ready when you are,” she informed them, sidling up to the baked bean casserole, lifting the lid.
“Mia Cooper, put down that lid!”
Mia spun around to see Ralph standing there with his hands on his hips. “You have a wedding dress to fit into.”
“Why… How are you here?” Mia managed.
“I came with the cake. I’m not certain of your flavor choice and wanted to have another taste.”
“That’s my fault,” Ann Seaver said from behind him. “I told him I tweaked the recipe and was going to serve it here today and…”
“I rushed right over. We can’t leave anything to chance,” Ralph said earnestly. “I’m glad I did, otherwise I would have found you face down in a baked bean coma.”
“I’m hungry,” Mia complained. “I’ve been oobing all night and…”
Ralph raised his hand. “Don’t give me that nonsense. Remember who nursed you through the fieldtrip to the island.”
“You did.”
“And how many calories did you burn lying dead still?”
“Three.”
Ralph was going to continue his lecture, but he could see he had made his point. “Are you supposed to be in the woods or something?”
“I’m going, sheesh,” Mia grumbled. “I think people should give a break to people that save the world. Those people might be hungry…”she muttered as she walked out the door.
“Oh, she didn’t look too pleased,” Ann said from behind him.
“She’s just crabby. She always put up a fuss when she was a child. I had my hands full let me tell you,” Ralph said and proceeded to do just that.
Mia rolled her shoulders and looked around at the spirits that had amassed on the playground. She could tell the era they came from by the differences in the clothing they wore. Different decades were mixing here and there, but for the most part, the students stayed in their classes, pleased to see friends they hadn’t seen in dozens of years. Games of marbles and jacks were played. Mia smiled as a few pennies were paid out to the winners.
Burt had three cameras set up on tripods. Two pointed into the playground and one at the tree line.
Mia looked around and found Murphy standing with some of the older boys. They were impressed with his axe and took turns holding it. She caught his eye, and he excused himself, taking the sharp weapon with him.
Molly and Holly appeared at the edge of the woods leading Maat, who was dressed impressively in what looked to Mia and Murphy like a new dress and bonnet. She was welcomed by what appeared to be a grouping of adult spirits. Could this be the Ems? Did they have fond memories of being teachers here? Was their joy, their heaven, teaching responsive happy children?
Mike, who had finished interviewing some of the alumni, was standing by with a handheld camcorder. The school bell rang, signaling the crowd that the event was ready to start. Cid and Burt walked onto the blacktopped area of the playground and stretched out a jump rope between them. Audrey took off her coat and nodded to the men. They began to twirl the rope between them. Audrey watched for her opportunity and jumped in and began to chant as she skipped:
Hop one foot to clear the soot
Hop on two to open the flue
Touch the ground three when you can see
John Ashe coming through the trees.
Mia watched the rope for her opportunity to enter and jumped with Audrey. They repeated the chant as they jumped rope.
Murphy watched as the spiritual children milled around the jump ropers. Soon he could hear their voices mix with Mia’s and Audrey’s.
The seniors, drawn outside by the spectacle of the twirling rope, remembered the chant and joined in. Their reedy voices were almost lost in the breeze that pushed down from the wooded hillside.
Hop one foot to clear the soot
Hop on two to open the flue
Touch the ground three when you can see
John Ashe coming through the trees.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Mia looked up and saw the lost children standing at the edge of the tree line. She skipped out of the rope and ran up to them. “It’s time. You’re free. It’s time to leave the woods and go to school,” she urged, breathing hard from the run. “John, Dora, Maude, David, Michael and Honor, it’s time to go to school. They’ve been waiting for you.”
“We’re trapped here forever. Moving our bones won’t change a thing,” Dora said sadly. “John is stuck here, and we refuse to leave him.”
Hop one foot to clear the soot
Hop on two to open the flue
“I put them in harm’s way. I killed the children,” John admitted. “I should have gone to the teachers, instead I… I…”
“You were trying to save them,” Mia said. “You saved me. You are a hero, John. You were never forgotten, not by your classmates or all the other children that came after. They want you to join them,” Mia insisted. “Look down at them. Come on, one step.”
Touch the ground three when you can see
John Ashe coming through the trees.
Mia reached out her hand and willed the connection. John grabbed her hand tightly. Murphy moved forward and scooped up a few of the little ones in his arms.
John Ashe took ahold of his sister’s hand, and she took her sister’s hand who was already holding David’s. “Ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” they chorused.
Mike focused in on Mia who held out her hand to a shadow.
John took a step and felt the spring of the soil beneath his foot. He let go of Mia’s hand and walked a few more steps. He turned around and looked at her and said, “Thank you.”
She shook her head. “Don’t thank me,” she moved her hand across the landscape of the playground, “Thank them. Now go on, scoot,” she ordered and felt the rush as the spirits of the six flew past her and onto the playground. She turned around and took in the reunion. Audrey, who had had enough skipping rope, leaned on Burt’s arm. Cid was waving Mia and Murphy down off the hillside.
Mia turned around. “Well, I guess it’s time to join the others,” she said.
“I guess so.”
“Thanks for the assist, I owe you one,” Mia said, linking her arm in his.
“You owe me one hundred,” Murphy corrected.
“Will you take a check?” she asked sweetly.
“Not with your credit,” he answered.
“You son of a bitch…”
A little arthritic man squeezed Cid’s arm, getting his attention.
“Yes?” he asked, looking down at the man.
“Does your friend up there always argue with herself?”
Cid looked up at what appeared to be Mia doing just that. “Let’s say, she’s having a spirited conversation with her invisible friend.”
“I used to have an invisible friend once, but I grew up,” the man scoffed and walked off.
“I don’t think Mia’s ever going to grow up,” Cid said. “And we don’t want it any other way.”
“Preaching to the choir,” Ted said from the command post. “You better get up there before she lands a punch.”
~
Mia’s eyes drooped as she leaned against Ted. Cid had a brief feeling of déjà
vu. This is how they had arrived at the school, but this time Mia was falling asleep and not waking up from her oob’capade. They were headed home. Murphy was hitching a ride, his presence felt in the cab by the continuous change in radio stations. It didn’t do any good to ask him to stop. Unless he found Patsy Cline, he would ignore the objector and continue.
Ted reached into the glove box and pulled out an old Walkman he had refurbished. He pressed play and handed the headphones to the space between them and Cid.
“You’re going to make a great dad,” Mia commented and yawned.
“I know. What do you think is going to happen with Himmel? Do you think they are going to cross over?”
“One would hope so, but it’s pretty much out of our hands. We brought the lost six out of the woods and satisfied the group that had accumulated. But what happens to the ones still filled with memories of that perfect day in school?” Mia pondered.
“As long as they keep their mischief to a minimum, I don’t care,” Ted said. “Although, it seems they came together for a purpose. I bet they leave together with John Ashe and the kids.”
“Mia, you talked to John. What was his problem? Why didn’t the removal of his remains unleash his tether to the cellar?”
“Guilt. It’s all this talk of purgatory they spoon-feed from the pulpit. I think he felt he had to serve out a sentence before he could ascend to his reward,” Mia contemplated.
“But what was his crime?” Cid asked.
“He hid the children in an unsafe place, he thought,” Mia replied shifting her position, giving Murphy more room.
“Seems to me there are quite a few that believe in purgatory or the Judge would be out of business,” Ted commented, remembering too well the entity they encountered in Haiti.
“Speaking of him, Mia, tell me about Kamal and why the Judge would be having chess games with him,” Cid said.
“Kamal is a guilt-ridden spirit. He was killed during bilocation, his soul set adrift, not able to ascend. His remains were found, and strictly speaking, he can rise to another plane of existence, but he chooses not to. He is serving out his own purgatorial sentence on the island where Father Santos’s group liberated the slaves. His crime, he feels, was teaching that monster Sire to bilocate. Sire took it to an extreme, and if he hadn’t abducted Sabine, he probably would be operating there still under the radar.”
“Why are there monsters?” Cid asked.
“Whoa, that’s above my pay grade. Ted, perhaps you’d like to answer that one.”
“I’ll answer it with a best guess. I guess it’s because there are good people. It’s the balance you keep talking about.”
“Could be. I just think there are good people because there are monsters,” Mia argued.
“So it comes down to this, what came first, good or evil?” Cid asked.
“The chicken,” Murphy said, having enough of this sober conversation.
Mia snickered and Cid almost drove off the road after hearing his voice.
“That’s what he sounds like?” Cid said.
“Today.”
“You mean he could have been talking to me all along?” Cid asked.
Mia reached across Murphy and touched Cid’s arm tenderly. “Don’t be upset. For Murphy to talk, and for you to hear him, it takes a lot of energy. If you want him to continue to chat away, you’ll have to feed him energon cubes, and frankly – if I may speak for you, old man - he doesn’t really like to converse normally.”
Murphy looked over at her and nodded.
“Unless you’re stuck with him in purgatory, and then he won’t shut up,” she added.
“Pot,” Murphy said, narrowing his eyes.
“Okay, I tend to run off at the mouth too,” Mia admitted.
“Back to Kamal and the Judge,” Cid urged.
“I’m not quite sure, but I imagine if they move in this purgatorial dimension together, why not meet for a friendly game of chess?”
“Mia, do you really think it’s a friendly game of chess?” Ted asked, enjoying the conversation.
“I think it’s an excuse to hang out with someone that understands you. Kamal is a very powerful spirit as is the Judge. Different but the same,” Mia explained. “Remember, I’m just giving you my observations. I have no facts to back me up, science boys.”
“She called us science boys,” Ted cooed. “It makes all I do seem so trivial.”
Mia turned around. “I didn’t mean…”
“I’m teasing, Tangina.”
“Take that back,” Mia warned.
“No fighting in the cab. You’re disturbing Murphy,” Cid scolded.
Mia looked over at the animated face of her friend and shook her head. “Nope, he’s enjoying himself. I’m too tired to fight you, Teddy Bear. Let’s call a truce until tomorrow. I need a plate of bacon before I’m ready to match wits with you.”
“Deal,” Ted said and hugged her.
Cid swerved the truck and then jammed on the brakes.
“What the hell?” Ted asked, bracing himself while protecting Mia from harm.
“I thought I saw something odd run across the road back there,” Cid explained as he pulled the truck over and got out.
Ted and Mia slipped out the right side and followed Cid down the dark road.
“What do you think you saw?”
“A squad of armed soldiers,” he replied scratching his head. “They ran across the road here. I almost winged the last one.”
“Well, they’re gone now,” Mia said, rubbing her arms, feeling the cold of the evening. She looked around them not recognizing the area but feeling she’d been there before. “Where are we?”
“East of Big Bear Lake, near the golf course,” Cid said, walking back to the truck.
“Sentinel Woods,” Mia said, her stomach turning.
“What’s wrong?” Ted said, sensing her discomfort.
“Nothing good ever came out of Sentinel Woods,” she said. “It’s a long story. Too long for tonight. Ask me tomorrow. Right now I need to relieve Maggie’s puppy sitter, a pillow, a cuddle, and you.”
Murphy looked at the gray-faced Mia. She glanced at him and shook her head. Whatever was bothering her would have to wait. His friend had been through a lot today. She, like he, needed to be back at the farm recharging.
Cid pulled out and headed for home.
“Do you think they saw us?” the youngest of the group asked from the cover of the woods.
“Yes, moron, or why would they have stopped? I told you, Keith, if you can’t keep up then stay home,” his brother said acidly.
Keith kicked at the dirt. “I’ll do better, let me stay.”
“Alright,” his brother said, “but I think we’ve had enough fun for tonight. Let’s go home.”
The others in the group agreed as they weren’t properly outfitted for the cold of the night, and they all had school in the morning.
Chapter Nineteen
As they turned into the driveway, Mia was surprised to see Tom Braverman’s mother’s GT Blue Mustang parked in the lot. The porch light went on, and the front door opened displaying Susan Braverman dressed in official NFL Chicago Bears clothing. She was a plump woman with built-in dimples on her cheeks from the permanent smile that resided there. Mia had only seen her despair once, and she quickly dealt with the problem, finding a funny side to the dilemma.
Cid stopped the truck, letting Ted, Mia and Murphy out before driving it around to the barn and parking it.
Susan opened the door, and Maggie Mae ran out, overjoyed to see the trio. Susan watched as the growing dog moved between Mia, Ted and what she assumed was the ghost Tom talked about. The dog was jumping on something, and as far as Susan could tell, nothing was there.
“Mrs. Braverman, I am so surprised to see you here,” Mia said, walking over to give the tall woman a hug.
“Tom was heading over to let little Maggie out when he got called into work,” Susan explained. “They have been having trouble with paintball van
dals.”
“Sheriff Ryan warned me about them,” Cid said walking up. He extended a hand to introduce himself. “Cid Garrett.”
“Susan Braverman, I’m Tom’s mom.”
“I’m surprised to see you out in the hollow after dark,” Mia said, leading them into the house.
“I arrived in daylight. Tom promised me the resident ghost was away, and the little angel needed company so I stayed.”
Ted looked at Maggie running around in circles in the hall with one of her floppy ears inside out, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and wondered what Mrs. Braverman’s concept of angels was?
“I’ve put a fresh pot of coffee on. That machine of yours defies me so I found an old percolator under the sink. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Good choice, it makes the best coffee in my humble opinion.”
“Wait! I’m going to have to cry foul here,” Ted announced as the four of them gathered around the old hand-me-down table Ted’s mother had donated to her son’s new home. “Mia, you have no humble opinions, they are either the right opinion, or you think they’re right.” He held up his hand to stop her from replying. “And didn’t you say the other day that my multi-mocha double espresso was the best cup of coffee?”
Susan looked at the couple in amusement. Mia was evidently not ready to admit defeat but was wavering on her commitment. “Ted, why don’t you make me a cup of that multi etcetera, and I’ll be the judge.”
Mia turned looked at Susan and warned, “You won’t sleep tonight or, perhaps, ever.”
“Hubby’s on late shift, and I’ve got a new book I’m dying to read. Sleep is overrated,” she commented.
“You heard the woman,” Mia said. “Put up or shut up.”
Ted smiled and moved over to the counter where the tweaked, expensive coffee maker waited for his ministrations.
“Mrs. Braverman…” Cid started.
“Susan, please,” she corrected.
“Susan, how much do you know about these vandals that Tom is dealing with?”
