The Skinwalker Conspiracies - 02 (18 page)

“Why’s that?”
I’d managed to interrupt her guilt.

“Based on what I know about the people who’ve been Ferryman before me, the last one in a successful relationship married his thirteen year old cousin.”

She made and “ew” face before smiling and saying,
“Don’t sell yourself short, Mike. You’re a handsome young man, but this isn’t going to work. I’m smart enough to know that you’re my last link back to Paul.”

“His memories made you out to be the impulsive one.”

“I was alive back then, sweetheart. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things since then. Let’s just be friends.”

Exactly how bad is it when even the ghosts of women are shooting me down?
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Turning away, I looked at anything but her eyes. I settled on the phantom pillow that was resting on my shoe. I leaned down to retrieve it and it felt solid enough to me. Looking at my left hand, I saw that both the thumb and the index finger looked like I had a tiny bit of white nail polish on the edges of the nail. Using my right hand, I grabbed the left thumbnail and tugged on it gently.

The sensation wasn’t the “finger in the vice” like when Tabby had just done it. It was more like pulling off a particularly large scab. With a little more effort, my thumb was almost a full knuckle longer. I seriously started to wonder what would happen if I just kept pulling, but suddenly, I was overwhelmed with dizziness.

Eloquent as ever, I managed to say, “Maybe we should take another break,” before doing a header onto the dresser.

There was a cold compress on my noggin when I woke up. Brother Silas was sitting in a chair reading the phantom Bible Tabby had made for him. The female ghost was nowhere in sight.

“How are you feeling?”

“Got a fierce headache.” I winced and squeezed my eyes together several times.

“From what I could make out from Mrs. Lawrence’s gestures, you missed the pillow on the dresser by a foot. You’re going to have a big old knot to go along with that shiner. There’s some aspirin in my small travel case along with the rest of my meds.”

“Where is Tabby?” We hadn’t really finished our little discussion. Unlike my first girlfriend in high school, I didn’t fake an injury to get out of an awkward conversation this time. Maybe this was karma paying me back?

“She took a walk. Was fit to be tied when she came running down to fetch me”

“Did she say if she was coming back?”

The preacher laughed. “Did you forget that I can’t hear ghosts like you do? Exactly, how hard did you hit your head?”

I fumbled around and found the aspirin and went to the bathroom for a glass of water. “I used to not be able to, until Eva ‘fixed’ me. Maybe you could learn how to as well.”

From the other room came his reply, “It’d be nice, Mike. But seeing the way you end up learnin’ new things, I think I’ll pass on all that pain.”

“You missed your calling. You should’ve been doing standup comedy,” I replied after swallowing the medicine.

“Sides,” he continued ignoring my verbal barb. “I’m a little too old to start fighting ghosts. I think I’ll just stick to the mentoring business. A lot less bumps and bruises that way.”

I had to admit, it was a better line of work than I was currently in and I told him so.

“Pay still stinks,” he said cackling a bit more before breaking into a coughing fit.

Taking notice, I emerged from the bathroom and said. “How about you? You’ve been coughing a whole lot lately, are you okay?”

“It’s nothing much. All this heat is draining out my sinuses and that’s been making my throat raw. Nothing a few lozenges won’t take care of.”

His dismissal was pretty casual, but I got the sense that there was more to it than that and was reminded that just because I didn’t feel the need to lie to him on account of everything that we’d been through, it didn’t mean Silas Parker was ready to tell me everything wrong in his life. Grandpa Warren was like that. He kept his medical conditions close to his vest. In the final year of his life, he was in and out of the hospital … come to think of it, my dislike of the medical profession probably started back then. It was a real crappy time in my life.

Either way, it was best to change the topic. “I should probably wait for Tabby to come back, but do you want to see my latest trick?”

“Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Yeah,” I held up one of the miniature soap bars from the bathroom and sat down on the middle of the bed. “I’ll stick to small things and I’m doing it here. If I pass out again, at least I’ll be in the right spot.”

 I pulled on those spots again, not too hard mind you, and recreated my “tweezers.” I tossed the result to Silas, who was happy to be able to reach up and catch it.

“Hmmm,” he said holding it to his nose. “I can even smell it.” Silas peeled away the wrapper and used his fingers to snap it in half. “Let’s see how long it lasts.”

“If it does, I need to go visit some pawn shops.”

“What are you thinking, Mike?”

“Another knife, some brass knuckles, a crossbow, and maybe even a bullwhip like Roger Taney had. I don’t know, all kinds of things I can’t just walk around in public with normally, I guess,” I answered.

“Well, if you’re heading down that route, you might want to look at things like handcuff keys and a set of lock picks.”

My jaw dropped. That was definitely not what I’d expected him to say.

He shrugged and continued. “From what you said about the group in New Jersey and at The Alamo, they have Skinwalkers who were on the police force. It wouldn’t be too hard to pick you up on some trumped up accusation.”

“I don’t exactly know how to pick a lock. I suppose I could find someone out there to show me how.” True, I was a juvenile delinquent in my youth, but I was strictly an amateur. Jimmy Wilkes and I never opted to “turn pro” and lose our college eligibility.

For my next trick, I waited five minutes and then did a copy of my Swiss army knife. It was harder than the bar of soap and I did get a sensation of dizziness again, but didn’t pass out. I slumped back against the headboard and waited for it to pass. My head took about five minutes to clear.

“It might be on account of it being made of metal or because it’s more complex than the soap,” Silas offered an explanation as I gulped down some tap water.

After the feeling passed, I used the little snips on the knife and cut through a piece of paper. It worked just fine, but I could sense that the action was sapping power from inside me like a conduit for my energy.

“At least it isn’t giving me a heart attack.”

“So far,” Silas added.

“Always the optimist,” I said wondering if the old man would like to see someone flip him off for the first time in decades.

“What are you doing?” I got tired of waiting for Tabby to come back and after a few hours, I went looking for her. I didn’t have to go very far. She was sitting in her beach chair at the very spot I first found her. Tabby’s basket of paperbacks was untouched and she was just staring out into the ocean.

“Just doing a little thinking.”
She sounded melancholy.

“About what?”

“I’m not sure what to do with myself now.”

“You could always come with me,” I said, a little too quickly. “Or, do some traveling. There’s a whole big world out there.”

She looked up at me and I couldn’t exactly tell that she’d been crying. It was just a hunch.
“Maybe that’d be nice, but I don’t know. For all these years, I pictured Paul running across the sand and into my arms. It’d be like something out of a Cary Grant or Rock Hudson movie. I don’t feel like I have a purpose anymore.”

I sat down on the sand next to her and said, “I can relate to that. After I got back from the war, I was just kind of coasting on autopilot. All my friends from before I’d enlisted had passed me by and all the friends I’d made in the Army were still back in Iraq, or dead.”

“I’ve got an excuse, Mike. I’m dead. You shouldn’t waste your life. Trust me; it can be gone in a split second. Here, I got you something.”

She reached on the opposite side of her and pulled out a large knife with a sheath and presented it to me.
“One of the houses up the street has a big display of knives in the living room. Do you like it? I think it’s a Bowie replica.”

I felt it and said, “Close, I think it’s actually an Arkansas toothpick.” Donnie Hodges would’ve known for sure. This was more his thing than mine. It was virtually a sword with a blade of over a foot and a half.

“Either way, it’s very nice. I managed to pull ghost images out of a couple more items,” I said trying to change the topic. “Does it get easier with practice? Do larger things take more effort than smaller ones?”

“The lawn chair and umbrella are probably the largest things I’ve ever pulled,”
she answered.
“I’d say practice and work your way up. Try not to smash your head into furniture along the way.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, I guess that means you don’t need me anymore,”
she replied.

I rolled my eyes. “Back home there’s this pair of ghosts – Kevin and Elsbeth. They met each other and fell in love after they were dead.”

Tabby made a hollow laugh and said,
“Are you saying that you’re in love with me, Mike?”

Yeah, just what the hell am I saying?
“No, I don’t think so, but I do like you. I haven’t been wearing the ring since we met. Of course I’m attracted to you. I’d be an idiot not to be, but I could use a friend. You’re one of the first ghosts, hell, first people, that hasn’t wanted something from me. Why don’t you stay around and see if there’s more out there for you too? We can kick a little sand in Virginia’s face together.”

“Did you bring the ring?”

“Right here,” I said and fished it out of my pocket.

Tabby stood up and stretched. She reached her dainty fingers into the palm of my hand and “pulled” on the ring. The image was very bright and she slid it onto her thumb. She sucked in a breath and I saw her eyelids flutter - propelling tears down her face.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She opened her eyes and smiled. Tabitha looked younger and, if possible, more radiant.
“Thank you for bringing this to me, Mike. Now, I really know how much he loved me and I’m sure it’s time for me to move on. Tell Mr. Parker I said good bye.”

“Don’t go!”

Stepping forward, she kissed me again before pushing me away.
“It’s a tempting offer and you’re a sweet man, but my time is over and I need to go find my husband. This is what I’ve been waiting for all along. Goodbye.”

Her hand cupped my cheek and Tabby faded away. I was left standing there alone with a battered old ring in one hand and a phantom blade in the other. Putting the ring on my finger, I felt nothing. It was just a hunk of meaningless metal. Whatever spark had been in there was gone. I started to chuck it into the surf, but reconsidered given how little money I had.

Somewhat numb, I closed the umbrella, picked up the basket, and folded the beach chair. Maybe I’d need them down the road.

With arms carrying items no one else but Silas could see, I made my way back to the hotel.