Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (33 page)

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 8:35 P.M. MDT

“
If I do this, I’ll need
your help,” Jacob said.

“
Clearing ghosts?” Delphie
laughed. “You do not. Celia was always better at it than I ever
was. You need to practice.”

Jacob poured another glass of wine. Holding
up the bottle to Delphie, she nodded. He poured a glass for her.
They were sitting at the kitchen table talking about the proposal
to rehabilitate haunted houses.

“
Practice?” Jacob asked.
“What’s that?”

“
You’re lazy with your
psychic skills,” Delphie repeated what she’d said a thousand times.
“When was the last time you meditated?”

“
Today,” Jacob said. “With
my daughter.”

“
I think that’s called
‘taking a nap,’” Delphie said.

Jacob laughed.

“
Ok,” Delphie said. “I’ll
teach you what to do. We can practice clearing a few houses and see
how we do, how you like it.”

“
That’s the point,” he
said. “I don’t know if I’ll like it.”

“
I don’t think you’ll like
it,” she said. “In fact, I think you’ll hate it.”

“
Why?”

“
You really like the
present,” Delphie said. “You’re not even a big fan of reminiscing
about old times or talking about traumatic memories. Ghosts are all
about who they were, what they did, and what happened to them. It’s
part of why they’re stuck here. They’re stuck in their own memories
and past.”

“
Hey speaking of what
happened to them,” Jacob said. “Didn’t you and Mom clear a few
ghosts out of here?”

“
Four or five,” Delphie
said. “After you opened the second floor, I did a few
more.”

“
Did you clear the ghosts
of the people buried under the chapel?” Jacob asked.

Delphie’s eyebrows shot up with surprise.
She nodded to Jacob.

“
I bet you’re right,” she
said. “I never thought of it. Your Mom did most of the work. She
had a real knack for it. She felt like she was helping
souls.”

“
She kept a journal?” Jacob
asked.

“
She did,” Delphie smiled.
“Jake. I wonder where those are.”

“
All of her journals are in
a chest in the basement storage,” Jacob said. “Want to go
look?”

Delphie nodded. With Jacob leading the way,
they went to find Celia’s ghost journal.

~~~~~~~

Monday night — 9:35 P.M.

“
Hey,” Dr. John Drayson
gave Sandy’s shoulder a little shake.

“
Sorry, I must have dropped
off,” Sandy said.

“
You’re here by yourself?”
he asked.

“
Jill had to go home. She
has to work at Pete’s tomorrow night and…” Sandy said. “I made her
go home. Anjelika will be back with Jill’s car. Seth walked them
out. They’ll be back.”

Dr. Drayson nodded.

“
How’s Charlie?” Sandy
asked.

“
He’s stable,” Dr. Drayson
said. “For now. He has a long way to go but he’s young and strong.
The drugs are out of his system and his body is
rallying.”

Sandy nodded.

“
He’s awake,” Dr. Drayson
said. “He’s asking for you. Would you…?”

Sandy stood.

“
I’ll take you back. You’ll
only have a few minutes. But I thought you’d want them.”

“
Of course,” Sandy
said.

Sandy followed Dr. Drayson to Denver
Health’s Intensive Care Unit. Walking back, she remembered taking a
similar walk to see Aden when he was in a similar condition. In
that moment, she wondered why she spent so much time at the ICU.
Was it God’s curse on her? Was it the men in her life?

Like a voice screaming inside her head, she
heard, ‘It’s the drugs.’ In her heart, mind, body and soul, she
knew drugs were at the root of Charlie and Aden’s trouble. Aden had
gotten clean. Aden had created a full life filled with opportunity
and love.

Would Charlie?

Unwilling to answer the question, Sandy
swore she would take her Alanon meetings more seriously. She
reminded herself that she could only work on herself.

But she wanted Charlie to live! She wanted
Charlie to be clean! She wanted Charlie to grow up! She stopped
walking to catch her breath.

“
Are you all right?” Dr.
Drayson asked.

“
Just a little emotional,”
Sandy smiled to reassure him.

“
Addiction is
heartbreaking.” His kind cobalt blue eyes seemed to know her
pain.

She nodded. They continued walking through
the ICU. Dr. Drayson pointed to a bed near the front of the
hospital. In the dim light, her mind played a trick on her. She saw
her little brother as he’d been when he was three or four. He used
to have terrible nightmares. He’d cry out in his sleep and she’d go
in to comfort him.

Sandy blinked and Charlie’s broken body
appeared. He had tubes and drains coming from every direction. Like
Aden had, this tall, strong boy looked small and broken. Dr.
Drayson nodded toward a blue plastic chair and Sandy sat down. He
smiled at Sandy and stepped away.

Sandy picked up Charlie’s hand. He opened
his eyes to look at her. She smiled at him.

“
Mom?” Charlie
asked.

“
Jill called her,” Sandy
said. “I’m sure she’ll be here in the morning.”

Charlie chuckled at her lie. His chuckle
became a deep chest rattling cough. A nurse arrived. She injected
something into Charlie’s IV and waved Sandy onto the bed.

“
Feel really sick,” Charlie
said.

“
You’re pretty sick,” Sandy
said. “The doctor told me you were strong and young. Are you
strong, Charlie?”

“
I’m not strong, Sandy,”
Charlie gave her a soft smile. “I want to die.”

“
I know,” Sandy said. “I
hope you don’t.”

“
Why?” Charlie asked. “I’m
a total fuck up. Everything I’ve ever done is fucked up. At least
if I die, I’ll be with Dad.”

Sandy wiped a tear from his face.

“
I’d miss you,” Sandy
said.

“
You haven’t seen me in
months,” Charlie said.

“
I’d still miss you,” she
said. “Sissy would miss you.”

Charlie opened and closed his eyes at
her.

“
You can name your baby
Charlie,” he said. “And the baby will have a fresh
start.”

“
You can have a fresh
start, Charlie,” Sandy said. “You can completely reinvent yourself.
People do it all the time.”

“
Who? Who do you know that
fucked up as bad as me and did all right later?”

“
Me,” Sandy said. “And I
was fucked up worse than you.”

Charlie looked at her for a moment. His
eyebrows twitched as he tried to work out her words. Then, a
dawning realization worked across his face. He nodded.

“
If I can do it, you can do
it,” Sandy said. “Will you try?”

“
I’ll try, Sandy,” he said.
“I don’t want to die.”

“
Now?”

“
Did I want to die before?”
he asked. “I go back and forth. Try me in another minute. I’ll want
to die again.”

Sandy smiled.

“
Do you think Daddy loved
me?” Charlie asked.

“
I do,” Sandy said. Hearing
a noise, she looked up to see Seth. “Do you think Dad loved
Charlie, Seth?”

“
Your father adored you,
Charlie,” Seth said. “The day you were born was literally the best
day of your father’s life. He fought cancer for years just to spend
the time with you.”

“
I miss him,” Charlie
said.

“
I do too,” Sandy
said.

“
Me too,” Seth said. “But
we have to soldier on together. That’s what your Dad would have
wanted. For us to be together.”

Charlie nodded slightly.

“
Listen Charlie,” Seth
said. “I was thinking. When you get out of here, why don’t you come
and live with me? I have enough room. I was thinking your sister
could move in too.”

“
What about Mom?” Charlie
asked.

“
Maybe we’ll get her some
help,” Seth said. “We’ve all been grieving your father too long.
It’s time to live with his memory instead of hiding from his ghost.
What do you say, Charlie? Would you like that?”

Charlie nodded. Sandy looked up to see a
doctor and nurse standing next to Seth.

“
Time for sleep, baby
Charlie,” Sandy said.

“
Will you sing for me?”
Charlie asked.

Sandy began singing ‘Hush little baby’ like
she did when he was a baby. Charlie smiled. The doctor injected
medication into Charlie’s IV. Charlie sighed. With a slight smile
on his face, he went to sleep. Sandy leaned down to kiss his
cheek.

“
Love you, Charlie,” Sandy
said.

Seth helped Sandy off the bed. They hugged
and began to walk back to the waiting room. Once there, they
settled in for what was surely going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~

Monday night — 10:05 P.M. MDT

“
Found it!” Jacob
said.

Covered in dust and cobwebs, he and Delphie
had spent the last hour and a half going through the storage area
looking for Celia’s ghost journal. He gave Delphie the journal.

“
That’s it, isn’t it?” he
asked.

“
This is it, but…” Delphie
said.

“
But what?”

“
The pages are torn out.”
Holding the book up, Delphie touched the ragged edges of the torn
pages. “The ones about the ghosts in the Castle.”

“
What?” Jacob
asked.

“
What exactly,” Delphie
said.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
TEN

Brave

One week later
Monday mid-day — 11:30 A.M.

“
You know who I am,” Nash
said.

He sat down next to Charlie’s bed at Denver
Health.

“
You’ve got to be the gym
guy’s son,” Charlie said. “You look just like him.”

“
The gym guy?”

Nash wrinkled his face. He’d spent the
entire bike ride to Denver Health pumping himself up for this
conversation. He wasn’t going to take any crap from this Charlie
guy. Teddy stood near the door to back him up.

“
I don’t know his name,”
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think Sandy ever told me
his name.”

“
Aden Norsen,” Nash said.
“I’m Nash.”

Nash held out his hand and Charlie shook
it.

“
My Mom and Dad were
talking about you coming to live with us,” Nash said. “Sandy… I
mean Mom really wants you to live with us. Dad will do anything for
Mom, so…”

“
I don’t know anything
about it, bro,” Charlie said. “I’m supposed to get out of here
today or tomorrow. Seth said I could live with him but Sandy wants
me to go to rehab. That’s what I know.”

Nash opened his mouth to say something.

“
Wow, you look like the
pilot,” Charlie said to Teddy. “Who are you?”

“
Ted Jakkman,” Teddy
said.

“
Yea, Jakkman,” Charlie
said. “Sergeant Jakkman. I bet he’s your Dad.”

“
My Dad’s a Captain,” Teddy
said. “He’s the best pilot in the US Air Force.”

“
You must be very proud,”
Charlie said with dripping sarcasm.

Defensive, Teddy moved forward to hit
Charlie. Nash held him back. The boys shared a long look. Teddy
went back to the door and Nash sat down again.

“
Listen,” Nash held up his
hand. “We know you can be a dick. We didn’t come all this way so
you could impress us with your vast skills at being an asshole. So
knock it off. This is about your future. And our
future.”

Charlie looked over at Nash to assess
him.

“
You’re still pretty sick,”
Nash said. “When you get out of here, you’re going to need a lot of
help.”

“
Sandy wants me to go to
rehab,” Charlie repeated.

“
What do you want?” Nash
said.

“
To get laid. Don’t you?”
Charlie asked. “I bet you’re still a virgin.”

“
I’m not the big loser
sitting in a hospital bed with nowhere to live,” Nash
said.

“
Point taken,” Charlie
said. “How did Sandy get to be your Mom?”

“
I want her to be my Mom,”
Nash said. “And I bet you do too. That’s why we’re
here.”

“
You have a proposal,”
Charlie said. “Lay it out there, bro.”

“
Fine,” Nash said. “If you
come to live with us, you’ll promise to never bring drugs around me
or my sister. If you do, you will deal with me. You will not bring
your scumbag friends around me or my sister, but particularly not
my sister. If you come to live with us, you have to act like
family. Not selfish stupid family. Real family.”

“
What’s wrong with your
sister?” Charlie asked. “Is she a retard or something?”

“
Noelle is beautiful,”
Teddy said. “You watch what you say about her.”

“
I see someone is smitten,”
Charlie said.

“
Knock it off. You’re being
an asshole just to be an asshole. If you don’t care about yourself
at all, then go fuck off,” Nash said. “But if you want to live with
us, then you have to listen.”