The Ferryman (3 page)

“I can be subtle when I want,” Fate replied. “In fact, I can be so discreet that people don’t even know I’m present until I’m gone. I’m like the wake of a schooner on a calm sea, rustling floating bathers into a wave of understanding.”

“How poetic,” Karen said. “What is it that you think I’m looking for?”

“A way out of your contract,” Fate replied. “But there isn’t one. It’s a solid deal.”

“So you say.”

“And what I say is all that matters here.”

Karen narrowed her eyes at Fate. “Look,” she said after a few moments, “we’re not friends. In fact, I don’t think that we like each other very much. So why don’t we simply go our separate ways? There’s no need to continue this relationship. We can part amicably.”

Fate laughed in an unfriendly manner as she placed one of her gloved hands to her own throat. Karen looked around, but no one else heard or was bothered by Fate’s uproar. Even the librarian’s ghost was more concerned with the whispering of other patrons as she floated around to scold them. The patrons continued their activities, no matter how closely the librarian leaned into their conversations to admonish them. After a few moments Fate’s laughter slowed, and she lowered her hand to place it on her hip, moving the flap on her sweater aside in order to do so.

“I know you think I don’t like you, but I do. Very much. You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” Fate said with a too-bright smile.

“That’s odd, because from my perspective I think that if you liked me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“My perspective is the only one that matters,” Fate replied flatly. “When you control the future, you might have a say.”

“That hardly seems fair,” Karen shot back.

“‘Fair’ is a word I choose not to keep in my vocabulary,” Fate replied. Just then the ghost of the librarian swooped down upon Karen and hovered above her. It felt as if she had brought a cold draft with her, and Karen shivered. When she looked up, Karen noticed the marks on her neck and wondered if the ghost had been strangled or hung herself. It was difficult to see the bruising behind the printed scarf, but the marks were there and Karen glimpsed the sight of it more than once.

“I don’t expect her to behave,” the librarian hissed as she pointed her thumb at Fate, “but I do expect a bit more from the living. Respect the library. Be quiet or leave!”

“Sorry,” Karen whispered to the librarian. The ghost floated down to a normal height and then drifted off between the shelves again, pausing occasionally to shush individuals who couldn’t see or hear her. Karen watched the cold vapor of absent breath misting from the librarian’s mouth as she spoke. Karen turned to look at Fate again. “The legends say that the Ferryman was paid by placing a coin in the mouth of the dead person.”

“First of all, legends can be wrong. It happens. Secondly, you were paid and entered into a contract with me.”

“I never signed anything,” Karen insisted.

“You mortals,” Fate replied with a smirk. “You think the world is only as you define it. Not all contracts require a signature. There are contracts written into the fabric of the universe and you enter into them all the time. But you break them all the time, too. You humans break contracts a lot.”

“You’re harsh,” Karen said. She felt as if she had accidentally eaten a chicken bone and was choking on it.

“You have never seen me be harsh. Stop applying your standards to those who are above them.” Fate stood regally in her fitted camel-colored slacks and pointed shoes.

Karen raised her eyebrows but decided not to respond to the statement. She didn’t understand the logic, but it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to argue with Fate over whether or not the contract was valid. She just needed to find a way out of it, but that would take some time. However, Karen reasoned, there must be a way out. There had to be. After all, the job had been vacant when she was drafted into it. Or had it been vacant? Karen didn’t know the answer, but it was something to consider. Maybe the only way out of this job was to find a replacement. Regardless, the previous Ferryman had managed to leave and Karen resolved to do the same. She swallowed hard before speaking again.

“Why are you here?” Karen asked. She looked down at her cell phone to check the time. She had three hours before her son Claude came home from school, and she was looking forward to seeing him. She had been thinking about taking him to one of those action movies that he loved so much.

“Your next fare,” Fate explained as she pointed in the direction of the librarian’s ghost.

“What if I refuse?” Karen asked with a defiant look on her face.

“Then you take her place,” Fate explained. “Someone needs to cross the river. I don’t care who.”

“So it’s me or her?” Karen asked. She swallowed yet again. “The librarian?”

“Yes,” Fate answered and abruptly vanished with a slight popping noise. Her disappearance startled Karen as much as her appearance had, and Karen wished that Fate would be a little less dramatic. It was unsettling for Karen to see Fate suddenly appear or disappear, but perhaps that’s what Fate wanted. At the thought of this, Karen resolved not to be disturbed and get through her next assignment. There was no doubt that this job paid well, because the coins she had received for the last job would be enough to pay her rent and groceries for the next six months. It was the only reason she could even think about taking Claude to the movies. The money was useful. However, the afterlife wasn’t a line of work Karen enjoyed. She would continue to do the jobs assigned to her, but she would keep her eyes open for the first opportunity to leave.

Karen looked around and spotted the ghost of the librarian. She was floating around and recommending books to people who didn’t know she was there and couldn’t hear her. Karen wondered if the ghost knew she was dead. It wasn’t the sort of thing one asked in polite conversation, but she had to find out before she could help her, and Fate had left without introducing her to the ghost or explaining why she was there. Karen approached the ghost cautiously.

“Do you have any books about Fate?” Karen asked.

“Not the one you were talking to,” the librarian replied. “Just the concept of fate as it applies to religion and philosophy. Would you like to see any of those?”

“No, I don’t suppose I would,” Karen said after a few moments of thought. After another brief pause she decided to continue the conversation. “You seem to be very knowledgeable about the collection at this facility. How long have you worked here?”

“Over twenty seven years in life, and another forty in death.” That solved the problem of whether the librarian knew she was dead or not. It still didn’t make things easy, but it was one less thing to worry about.

“You’re very dedicated to stay here for so long,” said Karen. “Are books a sort of heaven for you?”

“I like it here. Books make me feel alive,” the ghost replied. She smiled as she glanced around the place.

“I know what you mean,” Karen said quietly. “I love to read. It helped me in school, also. I read all my textbooks thoroughly. I nearly had a perfect GPA.”

“Well, when you’re dead, you can find your own library to haunt. This one is mine.” She turned to leave, but Karen rushed forward and made another attempt to keep her there.

“There are better places. A lot of people believe in a pleasant afterlife,” Karen said. As the librarian turned her head away Karen pressed the issue. “Do you believe in heaven?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t you have loved ones there?”

It was the wrong question. As soon as Karen finished speaking the librarian began to sob. She turned away, but Karen walked around to face her again. She placed her hand on the librarian’s shoulder. The librarian’s body felt soft, but not solid. It felt like it was part velvet and part breath. The librarian glanced up at Karen with half a smile between her tears.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” Karen said. When the distraught librarian didn’t respond, Karen continued. “Perhaps we could go outside and talk. You might feel better if you talk about it. Maybe I can even help.”

“You can’t help me. No one can.” The librarian’s nose was running, leaving an unattractive trail that moved across her chin and left Karen with a queasy feeling.

“But I don’t know whether I’m able to help or not until I know your situation.”

“If Fate refused to help me, then no one can.”

“But I work for Fate!” Karen exclaimed so loudly that the librarian stopped crying long enough to shush her.

“You work for her?”

“Yes, and she asked me to help you. You see? We’ll figure this out. Let’s go outside and talk about it. My name is Karen, by the way.”

“I’m Betsy,” the librarian said as she wiped her eyes.

They went to the courtyard where Karen could begin speaking at her normal volume. It felt more comfortable out in the warmth of the afternoon sun, and the heat gave Karen confidence. So far this assignment was going smoothly, other than the small number of people who thought Karen was crazy for talking to herself. However, Karen resolved this issue by placing her fingers to her ear as if adjusting an earpiece as she held her phone conspicuously in her other hand so that the onlookers would notice it.

It seemed as if Betsy was more than willing to talk, and Karen simply needed to gather the right information to help her cross her bridge into the afterlife. Once this job was finished, Karen would check the movie times and make it to the matinee with Claude before dinner. She smiled to herself, imagining her son’s excitement when she would tell him where they were going.

“Fate is so unpredictable,” Betsy said with a sigh. “She’s so beautiful and sometimes she seems so nice, but then other times she’s a mean … ”

“Bitch,” Karen offered.

“I don’t use that language,” Betsy replied primly. “I was going to call her a little monster. When I asked her for help she laughed at me. I was sorry I had ever tried to talk with her. But that husband of hers is a charmer, so I suppose they balance each other out.”

“Husband?” Karen asked, suddenly distracted from her train of thought by the concept. “Fate is married?” The idea was shocking. Fate appeared so independent that it didn’t seem right that anyone would ever be with her as an equal. She was a loner. Wasn’t she? Marriage inferred a partnership. Karen stared off into space as she imagined the sort of spineless man who would put up with Fate’s strong personality and demanding nature. Or maybe he was someone who could actually stand up to her. Karen couldn’t decide what he would be like, but no matter how she tried she couldn’t see Fate staying with someone who challenged her authority.

“Of course, she’s got a husband. They’ve been together for years. Centuries or more, maybe since the dawn of history. Maybe forever. I don’t know how long,” Betsy replied. She added in a hushed tone. “But it’s a troubled marriage.”

Karen didn’t doubt that. Given the way Fate had treated her, Karen expected that all of Fate’s relationships were strained. But if the marriage had lasted for so long, Fate’s husband must have been a man who was her equal or better.

“A husband,” Karen said with a laugh. “What sort of man would marry Fate?” It was one more element of the ridiculous in Karen’s already absurd life.

“Fortune,” Betsy replied without hesitation. “She’s married to Fortune.” As soon as the librarian said the name, it made sense, and Karen wondered how many people’s lives had been ruined by the couple attempting to assert authority over one another. Some marriage squabbles have eternal consequences, she decided. Karen could hear a mother calling to her children somewhere across the library parking lot, and the thought of Fate having a family also popped into her head. A car drove by, leaving the rich scent of unburned gasoline lingering in the air. The smell woke Karen from her thoughts.

“What does Fortune look like?” Karen asked as she turned her head to one side. “You’ve seen him?”

“I only saw him once, but I’ll never forget him. He’s beautiful. Much too good for her. He has a way of smiling that just sweeps a girl off her feet, and I don’t mean that figuratively. I lost my balance looking into those eyes. He had the most beautiful eyes. I could just stare into them forever.” The librarian leaned against the trunk of a tree and touched the bark, tracing her fingers through the deeper crevices.

“I don’t doubt it,” Karen replied. She wanted to know more about Fate’s husband, but it would have to wait until she could ask Fate, herself. Betsy’s knowledge was limited on the subject, and it was also more important for Karen to focus on Betsy at the moment. Karen knew that once she finished this job, Fate would appear again, and so she turned the conversation back to the librarian. “Tell me about your situation. It sounds like you believe in heaven, but don’t want to go to there for some reason.”

“I don’t want to go to heaven alone,” Betsy replied.

“Are you waiting for someone? Someone who’s still living?”

“No, not living. Wandering. Running away.” A butterfly flittered overhead and then brushed Karen’s cheek as it descended toward a nearby bush. Karen watched its wings stretching up and down repeatedly as she thought.

“Another ghost? Is he afraid of heaven?”

“He thinks he’s going to hell, but I know he won’t.”

“How?”

“Because I love him.”

Karen didn’t know if love could save. She didn’t know much about the whole situation of the afterlife, but she knew that she needed more information on this mysterious individual.

“Is this a family member? Or friend?” She wasn’t sure how to delicately phrase the question. She paused to weigh several alternatives and asked, “Or a husband?”

“He was someone else’s husband, but we were lovers,” Betsy explained, and Karen nodded that she understood. “It was complicated.”

“It sounds complicated.” Karen tried to appear sympathetic as she spoke.

“Very.”

Perhaps she was getting better at the job, but Karen saw clearly why this ghost was stuck. Something deep inside of Karen told her that she was right about her impression. Betsy was waiting for someone who wasn’t willing to move on. Karen saw that she needed to talk to this other ghost and possibly move both of them into the afterlife in order to complete her assignment. It was a lot of work to get done before matinee prices changed to evening fares, so she wanted to get started. She thought again about how happy Claude would be to go to the movies, and the thought of the smile on his face was enough to motivate her. She would buy him popcorn, also, if she finished this job in time.