Stillwell: A Haunting on Long Island (14 page)

Ellie smiled sweetly
. She was a few years younger than him, and as he studied her face, he asked, “Have we met?” She wore tight leggings that hugged her body, and a barely there sleeveless tee that showed off firm arms.

“Well
, yes. You got me an apartment about five years ago when I split with my husband.”

“Right, your name was different.”

“I used my married name then. Marcus is my maiden name.”

“It’s the girls
’ first time out since Allison passed.”

“I’m glad you brought them in
. They’ve been missed.”

He
reached for the chain around his neck and felt for the ring under his shirt. Absently, he patted it.

They watched the group of girls split off into different classrooms. “It’s showtime
. See you in an hour.”

Paul met his son who was already in the barber chair
. They got haircuts at the same time. The barber winked at Paul and lathered up Jesse’s face, pretending he was going to shave him with a razor he had sharpened on his leather stop. This brought on chuckles and a momentary pang to Paul’s gut. Allison was never going to see their son shave. It put a damper on the whole afternoon for him. He missed her so much. Trying not to show his depression, he picked up the girls and listened to the delightful recounting of dance class.

====

His mother came into the house, loaded with yet more dishes of prepared food.

“I cooked already
,” Paul told her with a touch of pride.

“What
? What did you cook?”

“Rigatoni.”

“Rigatoni?” she repeated, shocked. “With what?”

“Your gravy, asparagus
, and a salad.”

His mother pinched his cheek and told him he made her proud
. He felt like a five-year-old. Then she sat down with her grandchildren to hear stories of their day, while they ate their dinner.

He
picked up his phone and keys and paused by the door.

“Thanks, Ma
.”

“For what
. Get out of here.” She waved at him. “Go on...Get outta here. We want to start having fun.”

The kids heartily agreed.

====

Paul drove the four miles to Molly’s and noticed a white
Escalade parked in the driveway. He knocked and Molly let him into the house with her usual warm welcome.

“Georgia’s reading my cards
. Come sit down and listen.”

Half
-empty wineglasses sat on the table where a slightly crushed pizza box lay abandoned and empty. They ate a whole pizza. He raised his eyebrows.

A small woman, her hair shocking white in the front and jet black in the rear
, sat on the floor in front of Molly’s coffee table, tarot cards laid out before her. She turned up her coal black eyes, and he felt unnerved by her direct stare.

“Hi,” he said simply.

“Georgie, this is my
friend
, Paul. I’m not going to tell you anything else.”

Georgia studied him, her keen eyes taking everything in
. He took off his shoes, since Molly didn’t allow them in the house, and sat on the couch and told them to finish the reading.

She had a bad complexion, he noted, and wore very tight clothing that showed off a slightly dumpy figure
. He guessed being a psychic she didn’t need a mirror. She knew what everybody was thinking of her appearance, he thought sarcastically.

She looked up to study his face, and a blush stole up his collar. A feeling of violation overcame him, and for a moment, he considered that she knew exactly what he was thinking
. He normally was not rude, but he had to admit, he was off and had been for the last six months.

“Cut the deck again
.” She was chewing gum and now looked at the three cards on the surface of the table. She had a high-pitched voice that could grate potatoes, Paul thought. No wonder she didn’t have trouble; it was certainly a sound that could wake the dead. He smiled to himself.

Georgia zoomed her eyes to meet his and lowered her voice an octave
. Maybe she’s a mind reader; he smirked.

Molly turned over the first card, interrupting his thoughts
. “What does that mean?”

“It’s the
world. It means fulfillment.”

“Well, fulfillment
’s not bad.”

Georgia shrugged
. “It’s upside down. It means something is not going to be fulfilled. Pick the next one.”

“Ah
, the two of wands.”

“Wands.”

“You’re successful. You are going to make money. You have a good business sense.”

He
rolled his eyes and caught Georgia looking at him with an odd smile.

“Three of swords.” She placed a stubby hand painted with purple nail polish on Molly.

“That thing you asked me. Not going to happen. Do you understand, not ever.”

Molly sighed sadly
. “Got it.” She rose to her feet. “Are you ready, Paul?”

“Sure
. How much does she know about me?”

“Nothing
.” Molly answered, her face shocked. “I wanted this to be a true reading for you.”

“Where do you want me to sit
?” He wanted to leave; he didn’t believe and felt faintly foolish.

“Let’s move to the kitchen table
.” Georgia got up and went toward the tiny dining table in the kitchen. She gestured for Paul to sit opposite of her. “Don’t say anything but yes or no. Don’t explain anything to me. Please don’t interrupt the reading with a question.” Taking out a rosary, she made a brief prayer to a saint he had never heard of. Her eyes fluttered and she took a pad she had placed next to her, scribbling strangely.

“A female presence has entered the room
. She could be your sister, sister-in-law, or wife. She is a contemporary of yours. She’s calling out for her hero. Oh, oh, you are her hero. Do you understand that? Hero and honey. Honey, she’s showing me honey, like in a jar...Is this your wife?”

He
nodded, watching her warily.

“You were together a long time, a long time
.” She looked surprised. “But how could you have been? She passed young, relatively young for today’s standards. Yes, she passed young. You look young, but I feel like you were together for like forty years or something. Yes, she’s saying you were together for thirty-three, thirty-four years, but that makes no sense.”

It made sense to Paul, who had known Ally since they had been in diapers.

“You had an apple pie household; it was a happy household. You know what I mean. You were happy. She was happy.” Here Georgia touched her head. “A stroke?” She cocked her weird-colored head. “Cancer?” Her lips moved, but no sound came out. “She had a brain tumor. There was nothing you could do. It was fast. It was horrible, what they did to her. It was too much, like they tried to save her, but couldn’t. She wants to thank you for taking good care of her.”

He
bit back a sob, swallowing and clearing his throat. It was her voice but not her voice. It was strange. He was sitting with this woman but hearing his wife. The expressions, the way she moved her head. It was Allison. Totally absorbed, he drank in the presence. He wanted more. Serenity filled him until the only thing that existed was Georgia and Paul, or in his mind, Allison and Paul.

She continued, “She had a rough passing
. Wait…Wait...She’s calling out to children. The number three is predominant. Do you take three? Two of one kind, one of the other. She’s showing me Gemini. Do you have twins? She’s laughing. One of them is like the spawn of Satan. A hell-raiser but a good boy, really. He gives you a run for the money, huh?” Here she paused and cocked her head as if listening. “Does the month of June have meaning for you?”

He
shook his head. “No.”

“She keeps saying
‘June.’ I’ll leave that with you.”

“She’s showing me movies
. I see cowboys, no, they’re outlaws. Jesse James. Huh.”

He
gasped, realizing that June was her mom and not the month, and Ally was calling out for their son. He touched the ring resting against his chest.

“She’s showing me the stars and the moon
. Do you understand that? She says you’ll understand that. She’s laughing. She says you’re being dense today.”

A tear trickled down
his cheek, and Molly ran from the room with a sob.

“You know the story of when Christ was walking with the cross
? She showed it to me. Do you know that story? You know, he sweating and Veronica gives him a towel and he wipes his face on it. I don’t know what she means, but she says you’ll understand. Does it mean something to you? Either the story or the name?”

“Yes
,” he whispered. “I understand.”

“She’s a free spirit
. Kind. She was happy here. You made her happy. You had a good life together. Short,” Georgia said wistfully, “but that’s the way of it. She showing me Alice in Wonderland. She says it’s her in the blue dress. Was she blonde? Is that what she’s trying to convey? Wait, don’t answer.” Her eyes were closed. “Yes, yes…She’s talking about a monkey.”

He
froze.

“Yes, a monkey wrench
.” The black eyes came up and bore into his. “There’s a monkey wrench she is complaining about.”

“I…I don’t know. I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He sat forward.

“Well
…” Georgia laughed. “Neither do I, honey. She’s showing me a big hairy ape and saying ‘monkey wrench’ and she’s insisting that you would recognize it.”

He
couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped his throat.

“Did you lose a child?”

“No!” he shouted. “Wait, go back to the monkey!”

Georgia ignored him
. “You did lose a child. She’s telling me she’s with your child.” Again she cocked her head. “It was never born, a miscarriage. Your wife had a miscarriage.”

“Four years ago
.” He was shocked. No one but their parents knew about that.

“Oh, she’s saying,
‘make the kids eat vegetables.’ Ha ha. Wait. She’s telling me to tell you that dancing will be good for all of you. She’s showing me sugarplum fairies, you know, like at the ballet. She’s pulling back now.”

He
sat on the edge of his seat. “Wait.”

“She says to watch for a ring
. You need to find a ring.”

A ring, he thought wildly
. He placed his hand on her wedding band on the chain around his neck once again.

“Not her wedding band
.” She paused. “She knows you wear her ring close to your heart. You’ll know which ring when you find it. She loved you. Oh my.” Georgia touched her cheek, her dark eyes glistening with tears. “She loved you so much. More than eternity.”

He
fingered the ring. They had engraved their rings with the quote “More than eternity” on the outside of both bands. It was their own private thing. He used to ask her how much she loved him and she always replied, “More than eternity.” This shook Paul’s insides.

“Whew.” Georgia pulled herself out of her communication
. “I do a lot of readings. Your wife loved you, man. Really loved you. It was a pleasure.” She held out her hand to him. “And she knew you loved her back just as much. It was a pleasure reading you.”

“Is she
OK?” he asked softly, still not believing what had just happened.

“I...
There’s a monkey wrench. That’s all I can say. Once everything gets sorted out, I think you’ll know more,” she added cryptically.

Molly showed Georgia out of the house and turned to
him. “So what did you think?”

“Well, it was interesting
. She’s a character. Did you tell her anything about my life?”

“No, no
, and no. And did I say no? Do you feel better?”

He
winced. “I have unanswered questions. That was certainly amazing. Interesting. If she’s for real, it was profound. But,” he added, “I feel I have to help Ally in some way.”

“I booked her to do a cleaning at the house tomorrow before the open house
. She’ll be there at eleven, if you’re interested.”

“I’ll be there.”

He left Molly’s unsatisfied, and the car somehow took him to Stillwell. He parked in the drive and got out and walked toward the terrace. It had gotten cold; puffs of condensation swirled around his head from his breathing. It was quiet, no sounds, darker than Hades, he thought. Purple clouds parted revealing a brilliant harvest moon, its orange light bathed the landscape so that it glowed. He stood on the terrace and looked out across the expanse of the lawn to the well. Two orbs danced above the opening. He knew it would be too long to run down there to see what was happening. He fumbled for his camera phone and tried to take a picture. They froze with the flash of his camera, dipping into the well, only to bounce up and spin toward him. They raced past him, and he felt the air stir as they grazed his cheeks. Touching his face, his fingers wet, it was damp with his own tears. He knew this was not the work of teenagers.