demons | Saying nothing in particular

Daniel knew that his boss would hate to see him go. Unlike the other men who came and went from the service station, Daniel was courteous, didn’t smoke, and helped with the bookkeeping. But the boss had mentioned retirement on many occasions and so perhaps Daniel’s leaving would provide the impetus to take that step. That would be a good thing; a happy conclusion.

“Mr. B, it’s time for me to go,” Daniel said. “I’ve seen it, you know, sailing through the fog. The winos were right. It has returned.”

But his boss didn’t seem to be listening. “What are those stupid girls doing now? They’re going get themselves killed!” He was referring to the three girls from Nevada, who, loaded down with their things, were heading toward their funny little car. Remarkably, it had survived a night on the streets of lower Manhattan. Probably because it was a foreign job whose ancient parts weren’t worth crap.

“It’s all right, Mr. B. They’re leaving. Marcia talked them into going to an uncle’s house where …”

“Shit, not that asshole!” A vagabond known for aggressive panhandling had jumped out of the shadows and was blocking the girls’ path.

“Stay here, Mr. B. I’ll take care of him!” Daniel grabbed the broom from the garage and ran across the street swinging. “Get out of here,” he said swatting at the man with his broom.

The man looked around confused, “What the hell?” Then he took the spare change that one of the girls offered him and walked away.

“Oh no,” the Catholic’s Daughter cried. “Look at my car.” The passenger side window had been smashed and glass shards covered whatever remained inside, which wasn’t much. Just that sculpture of a man’s head looking wistfully up at them. “Oh no! My flute! My flute is gone! We’ve got to call the police.”

“They won’t come down here. They won’t even take a police report.” Daniel said.

“That’s so awful.”

“That’s why you guys need to get out of here. Go across the street to the service station and ask the owner to help you. He’s a crusty old guy but his heart is pure.”

“How about you?”

“It’s time for me to go.”

They seemed perplexed. “We’ll never forget you.”

He grinned. “Get on your way now.”

The girls drove across the street and told the old man who’d been watching them: “Daniel said you would help us.”

“You saw Daniel? A guy about thirty, wears thick glasses, quotes a lot of scripture?”

“Yeah. That’s him.”

“Where is he?”

They looked across the street and Daniel was gone. “Well, he did say it was time for him to go.”

“He did? I guess that’s good. You wait here and then, yeah, we’ll patch those windows.” He disappeared into the station and then returned with some cardboard, duct tape and a newspaper folded neatly into a square.

He handed the newspaper article to the girl who seemed the most sensible.

“Terrible thing. What happened to him shouldn’t happen to a dog, no sir. And that poor woman,” he shivered. “Terrible. Unthinkable. Gives me the willies. You know, Daniel was a good kid, a little mixed up but then you should have met his mother. That lunatic held vigil here at the station for three days thinking her son was going to resurrect like the friggin’ Christ.”

The girls didn’t say a word, even amongst themselves. Perhaps I should have softened the blow, Buckley thought, but then he hadn’t had much experience with the so-called fairer sex. “It’s been a whole damn year and they still don’t have any suspects. Not a one.”

“Daniel’s dead?”

“Yup. And you know it happened not too far from here. A year ago. Yeah.”

“But we were just …”

“I told you there was something evil going on in that apartment.”

“Daniel, evil? Nay. He studied to be a priest. You know, the winos claim they’ve seen him too but then they also see rats the size of German Shepherds,” he laughed. “Okay, nuff said, let’s get you gals fixed up and outta here.”

He helped them sweep out the inside of the car and put cardboard over the shattered window. He even gave them a can of oil after checking the dipstick and sighing in disgust “women never check the oil, or the tires. We’d better check them as well.” When he was satisfied the little car just might make it to Massachusetts, he gave them directions on how to get out of town. He watched the little car as it sputtered down the road. They’ll never make it, he thought, but he waved back anyway.

Happy Halloween Everyone! Have you ever spent the night with a ghost?

Recap: Daniel assumes that his friend Marcia has talked the three wayward girls into returning home until he bumps into two of them on the street. They tell him that they’d left the third girl alone with a strange Englishman who arrived in the pre-dawn hours but whom Marcia seemed to know well. When he realizes who it is, Daniel returns to the Carriage House and confronts the man. After he leaves, Daniel, exhausted from a sleepless night at the YMCA, falls asleep on Marcia’s floor as the girls call their parents and finally arrange to return home.

Daniel awoke in the predawn hours slightly hungover and starving. Next to him the girls were heaped together like a team of sled dogs united against the cold Alaskan winds. Talking to their families and being reassured that they were still loved must have helped because they were sleeping peacefully and breathing almost in union. Yes, Marcia always knew exactly the right thing to do in any situation. He rotated the bean bag chair to face the dawn and sat back down. With luck he would be able to see the sun rise over the city skyline. What a grand start to the day that would be.

The quiet was broken by the rat-a-tat of footsteps in the courtyard, like a drum beat which grew louder and louder as the drummer approached until … Before he had a chance to react, someone had entered the carriage house and was climbing the stairs. He crawled into the kitchen and cowered behind the counter. Where was the phone? He couldn’t remember.

The door flew open silhouetting two figures.

“Well, lookie there. A whole pile of bitches.”

“Them? Oh no. Those sweet young things haven’t showered in weeks. I have something much better in mind.”

The taller figure was Theron. Next to him, a much shorter man twitched like a drunken marionette tangled in his strings.

Daniel rose and switched on the overhead light. The shorter man was an albino with only a pinprick of color in his eyes. Perhaps to compensate, he wore lime green trousers, a lemon turtleneck and flashy gold jewelry around his neck and wrists. “Shut off the damned light!” He squealed.

It wasn’t that bright. Daniel thought. The man must be on drugs. “No way.”

“Daniel, old man. Still here protecting your little flock? What a noble lad you are.”

“They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they become unclean by their acts, and played the harlot in … ”

Theron turned to his perplexed companion. “Daniel left the priesthood because he had a bloodly crisis of faith. He couldn’t stand the thought that God loved him the best, which is what his mother drilled into him. God, in other words, is a prejudicial old duffer who plays favorites so you better be pure of thought and blah, blah, blah. Isn’t that right, Daniel?”

Before he could say anything, Marcia appeared in the bedroom door dressed only in a man’s white dress shirt, her strawberry blonde hair spinning about her face like a delicate spider’s web. “What’s going on?”

“Now you’re talking,” the albino said moving toward her. “Hi Honey. How would you like a couple thousand bucks in exchange for a quick roll in the hay?”

“Sweet Jesus!” The girl who was not a Catholic cried.

“Shut up you, fucking virgin.”

“I’m not a virgin!”

“Well then …”

Get out Theron!” Marcia said. “Take your drugged up friend and get out now.”

“But Jamie just signed a record contract, Luv. He’s got the cash. He just wants a quick shag. A thousand dollars, as you Yanks say, easy peasy.”

“Get out!” Marcia ordered.

The albino spun around like a cartoon dust devil. “That does it,” he said, turning to leave. “There are plenty of bitches in this town who won’t give me this kind of shit!”

Theron seemed to grow in size as he turned and directed his attention toward the girls … specifically, the one named Nora. “A few minutes with my pigeon and you wouldn’t have to return to Nevahda to live out the rest of your miserable life with the jackrabbits … the sagebrush, and … with that arse who got you preggers. Oh yeah, he’s a real arse.”

“Danny and I are in love. We’ll be in love –“

Theron threw his head back and howled. “Oh please, little girl … don’t say it. Forever. I’ll have to vomit all over Marcia’s carpet. You were forn-i-cating. Forn-i-cating! And you loved it. I bet she made you other girls miserable, didn’t she? You know, she never really wanted to go on your silly, little romp across country. But she felt obligated. The most pathetic of emotions. Obligation. Now, see how she despises you. Despises you because she wasn’t bloody strong enough to be honest and tell the truth.”

“Enough, Theron or whatever your name is. Get out.”

“With pleasure. Who knows, I might be able to catch up with our little friend and the night won’t be a total faff.” He slid out the door with a sharp whistle that lingered and echoed through the room.

Marcia marched over to the door, slammed it shut, and this time … locked it. They debated calling the police. Daniel argued that the albino’s life was in danger. The year before, the police had been looking for a man who matched Theron’s description, a man who’d befriended drug dealers and prostitutes and then viciously killed them. Marcia countered that they wouldn’t do anything. They hadn’t done much before. A whole year had gone by and they still hadn’t arrested anyone. Besides she was more concerned about the girl whose secret was now revealed.

“Theron must be a demon,” Nora said, massaging her rosary beads.

“You have options. If you are pregnant, you don’t have to have the baby … “

Daniel thought about the cycle they were trapped in. Hadn’t they both tried to save Connemoira so many years before and hadn’t they both failed? And they would again. And again. Fail.

It was time to go. Shore leave was almost over.