NOLA (11 page)

“I think he’s finally embracing his softer side,” Cid said.

“He has a softer side? Phooey,” Audrey chimed in.

“Now, Audrey, Mike just likes to tease us.  He really likes the idea of family, but he has never met the right girl,” Burt explained.

“What about the one in his building?” Ted asked.

Three heads turned and looked at Ted.

“You don’t know?  Now, how do I know?” he asked himself.  “Oh yes, listened in on a conversation, but whose?”

The three shook their heads and got back to work preparing to leave for the library.

Murphy had followed Mike into the house.  Mike was talking to Mrs. Braverman when Murphy caught up to him.  Brian squealed and said, “Ooh, ooh,” when he saw Murphy.

Mike turned around and nodded a greeting at the space in which Murphy stood.

“This little one sure does talk a blue streak.  He’s got his vowels all down pat and has these hand gestures I’m convinced mean something,” Mrs. Braverman said.  She handed Brian to Mike and demonstrated one of them.  She touched her nose and pointed outwards.

“That’s an easy one.  Where’s Daddy?” Mike said.

“How about this one?” she asked as she put one of her hands on top of the other and pulled them apart quickly.

“Now that’s got me stumped.  Wait.  Murphy, are you still here?”

Murphy tapped his axe on the floor lightly.

“When I turn around with Brian, I want you to count to three then disappear.  You can come back though.  I’m not trying to get rid of you.”

Mrs. Braverman moved so she could see Brian.  Mike turned around, and both did a mental count of three.  Brian put his little hands together and pulled them apart.

“Well, what do you think?  I think it means that Stephen Murphy has left the building.”

“Now how did you get that?” she asked.

“It looked like a magician doing a magic trick.  The magician made something disappear,” Mike explained.

“Ooh, ooh,” Brian said smiling.

“Murphy’s back,” Mike told Mrs. Braverman.  “By the way, how is Tom handling his newfound gift?”

“He’s not unhappy with it.  I think having Mia around to talk to helps.  Those two are thick as thieves.  She’s the sister he never got.  Mr. Murphy, while you’re here, I’d like to thank you for saving my son’s life.  I don’t care if the boy sees fairies everywhere; the boy lives thanks to you.”

Murphy tapped his axe on the floor.

Brian put his hands together and pulled them apart, indicating that Murphy had left the house.

“I think you made Murphy very happy.  He’s not one for showing his emotions,” Mike said.

“You men,” Mrs. Braverman said, pulling a handkerchief out of her sleeve to wipe her eyes, “are such softies.”

Chapter Seven

True to Honor’s prediction, a soft rain fell as George dropped Mia off at the Musicians’ Village.  The vibrant colors of the new home exteriors were intensified by the rain.  The raised houses, some new and others renovated, sported large covered porches.  Mia was waved over to one still under construction by Father Peter.

“No used standing out in the rain until one has to,” he said.  He was dressed in a long black slicker and had a waterproofed black hat on his head.

Mia pondered a moment whether that was what a priest was supposed to wear in the rain.  Was it in their rule book?

“No, it’s my choice.”

Mia immediately closed the windows in her mind and pushed the priest out.  “Another mind reader,” she verbalized.  “Please stay out of my head.”

“Or?” he challenged.

Mia used her telekinesis to heat up the metal eyelets in his left shoe.

He quickly flipped off his shoe and waved it around cooling it.  “A hot foot?” he questioned.

Mia smiled up at him.

It took a moment before the priest smiled back.  “You are dangerous.”

“No, I just don’t appreciate mind readers that don’t knock before coming in,” she said.

“I’ll consider myself warned.  However, we may need to communicate silently.”

“It would be a one way conversation.  Oh, I assume that you’re used to people not talking back to you.  Father Peter, I may be small, but I assure you I am not compliant.”

“Duly warned,” he said.  He looked at her bright red slicker and matching boots.

Mia, sensing his disapproval, defended herself.  “Before you say anything, I didn’t pick these out.”

“Do you always have someone else dress you?”

“Sometimes it’s just easier to comply.”

“That’s a contradictory statement.  You just told me you weren’t compliant,” he argued.

“Let me rephrase.  Sometimes when I’m dealing with a sensitive individual whom I love, it’s easier to comply.”  She looked at him and asked, “Satisfied?”

“Yes.  I take it Ralph isn’t coming?”

“No, ghosts aren’t his forte.”

“I assumed that.  He is, however, a force to be reckoned with.  He called my office and left me a very strongly-worded voicemail.”

Mia blushed in humiliation.  “He’s a bit overprotective.  You see, he practically raised me,” she explained.

“I’m not upset.  I admire the connection you have.  Mia, I’m not evil, just arrogant, a bully, and, let’s see, extremely handsome.”

“And a priest,” Mia reminded him.

He laughed.  His laugh was robust and loud.  A few curtains were twitching across the street to see where the laughter was coming from.

“Mia, we priests are human.  Just because we took a vow doesn’t mean that all our foibles disappear,” he informed her.  “Even good Father Santos has a few skeletons he keeps locked away.”

“You know Paulo?” Mia asked. 

“Not well enough to call him Paulo, but I respect him and what he has done for the church and the paranormal world.”

“How long have you had your powers?”

“Now that is a question that is going to take a while to explain.  Let me just say that I didn’t have them before I was called.”

“I appreciate your honesty.  Am I that early or are the others late?” Mia asked, looking out at the rain.

“After you left last night, the group got together and decided that it would be overkill for the bunch of us to walk around together.  It made more sense to form three groups.  Since I had already taken you under my wing, I volunteered to meet you here.  The three witches are together, and Honor is working with Wanda and Pastor Phillips.  We are going to work our way towards the fairgrounds.”

Mia decided she would just go with it.  She would have liked to be consulted, but she realized that she was the novice here.  “Okay, Father Peter, we might as well get started.”

“Shouldn’t we lay some ground rules?”

“It’s not a competition,” Mia said.

“No.  I’m sorry, I’m not making myself clear.  When we approach whatever lies lurking on our side of the ether, I think we should have a game plan, just so we show ourselves as having a united front.  Disruptive spirits, we cross.  Lost souls, we try to find a way to steer them in the right direction.  And demons, well, that’s my territory.”

“Demons?”

“You
have
dealt with demons before?” he asked.

“Yes, but I didn’t expect we would be running into any on this walk.”

“I hope we won’t, but the group has had a couple of run-ins with two characters.  One is very tall and has spindly arms and legs.  And the other, I like to call him Huff and Puff.  It’s a male who likes to flash his genitalia at the ladies.”

“So if we see them?”

“We send them to hell.  They will be back, but we can at least give the neighborhood some relief from their mischief.”

Mia angled her head as she gazed up at the priest.  “You are a surprise.  I don’t know anyone wearing a collar that would call what demons do
mischief
.”

“These two aren’t at the nasty, brimstone level of demonic entities.  They are babies, growing into their abilities.  In a few hundred years they will be a big problem, but I hope to have a soft cloud on which to rest my head by then.”

“No doubt by a reflecting pool of some kind.”

This caused the priest to laugh again.  Mia decided to ignore the twitching drapes and the people who had decided it was time to see what all the ruckus was about and had come out onto their porches despite the rain.

“Come on, Mia. Honor’s guide said that one street over is a night wailer.  It’s early, but I believe with your sensitivity you’ll be able to spot her.”

Mia followed Father Peter off the porch and into the rain.  They moved quickly to the cross street and took a right.  As they rounded the corner, Mia heard a woman crying.

“My babies, my babies are gone.  Please help me find my babies,” she cried.

Mia and Father Peter watched as the thin black woman beat her chest and pulled at her hair as if to punish herself.

“My babies, my babies are gone.  Please help me find my babies,” she repeated, her voice rising with every word.

Mia approached the woman.  “My name is…”

“Ahem,” Father Peter interrupted her.  He tapped his head, and Mia let him into her mind.  “Mia, don’t tell them your name.  We don’t have time for a conversation.  We need to move her towards the light.”

Mia thought, “What about her children?”

“If they are dead, they will be waiting for her.  If they are alive, they don’t need their dead mother wailing at night, keeping them up,” he counseled.

Mia turned back to the woman and asked, “Do you know that you are dead?”

The woman didn’t acknowledge Mia’s question.  Instead, she blurted out, “The water came so fast.  I put my little girls in a big Rubbermaid tub.  We made the attic, but the water kept coming.  I opened the window to climb to the roof, but the water came too fast and my babies floated out the window in the tub.  I grabbed for them, and that was all I remember.”

“You may find them in the light, or your family will know where they have gone.  Someone will be waiting for you, to guide you.  Can I have your name?”

“Clare Richard,” she said.  The woman put her hand up to her eyes.  “The sun’s come out.”

Mia only saw the gray cloud spewing rain.

“Do you see anything in the sun?”

“I see my aunt Debbie and my sister Connie.  Lord, she must have perished too.”

“Go to them. They will help guide you,” Mia said.

“Connie, I hear you. I’m coming. You don’t have to yell. It’s embarrassing.”

Mia watched the wailing woman take a few steps and disappear.  Mia stood there a moment, pushing away the feeling that it would be easier if she joined the women in the light.

She felt a hand pull the red hood off her head and felt the rain fall onto her face.

“Come back to me, Mia,” Father Peter urged.

Mia opened her eyes and blew out the breath she was holding.

“How many have you crossed?” he asked.

“I’ve lost count.  Each time it gets harder to resist,” Mia admitted.  She didn’t have to tell him what
it
was.  She knew he felt the pull of the light too.

“I don’t know if this will work for you, but you see, I have a trick to keep me wanting to stay here on earth. I promise myself something good to eat after I finish.  You see, Mia, you can’t eat anymore if you cross.  Can you imagine an eternity without…”

“A strong cup of coffee and cherry Pop-Tarts in the morning,” Mia filled in.

“Yes, or a shrimp po’ boy at lunch time with an icy cold beer,” he countered.

Mia looked at him and thought about the other things that made her life wonderful.  She saw Ted elbow-deep in a project, Brian wiggling with joy in his crib, Murphy pulling pranks on Mike, and much more…  Ralph and Bernard looking at her with pride.  The images continued, and she felt her feet now solidly on the pavement.

“Thank you. I think I understand what you’re saying.  Father Peter, I really don’t have a clue what I’m doing,” Mia admitted.  “I just go with what my heart tells me.”

“No one trained you, but yet you instinctively know what to do.  Amazing,” he said.  “The telekinesis?”

“I was rubbish at it until a magician gave me the secret before he departed.”

“Care to share?”

“A magician never tells,” Mia teased the priest.  “Okay, I’m feeling much better.  Where do we go next?”

Father Peter pulled out his notebook.  First, he jotted down the name of the night wailer before looking down the list Honor had given him.  He consulted his map.  “Three blocks down, there is mischief afoot.  It seems Honor has given us Huff and Puff.”

“Great, genitalia, what more can one ask for on a rainy day in New Orleans,” she said sarcastically.

“Oh, Mia, I promise you that you haven’t seen gonads until you’ve seen these,” he said and laughed again.

They walked quickly towards their destination.  Mia resisted the urge to jump into a few puddles they passed.  There would be time later to stomp around, spewing muddy water all over the shiny red boots Ralph insisted she wear.

“I’m going to wait for you behind that food truck that is setting up,” Father Peter said.  “What I want you to do is lure the creature to me.  I’ll take care of the rest.  If he sees me, he will run.  Demons move fast.  We will lose him.”

“K.  I can’t see him. Are you sure he’s there?”

“I can smell him.  Mia, that bad smell is not coming from the food truck.  Huff and Puff smells like sour milk.”

Mia walked past the food truck and acknowledged the chef with a wave as she continued down the street.  She did smell bad milk but still didn’t see anything.  She started to walk around a large, green garbage container that was left in the street to collect the bits of drywall and wood not needed by the renovators.

Mia was too short to see inside the bin, but it didn’t stop her from trying.  She craned her neck, but still, all she could see was green.  She rounded the corner.

“Ablooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

Mia jumped back at the sound.  When her heart had settled, she was greeted with the most engorged penis she had ever seen.  It was supported by two testicles the size and color of the red concrete balls outside of Target stores.

“Ha huff ablooooooooooooooooooooooooh!” the thing sounded again, and as if the genitalia weren’t large enough, they inflated in size.