“Be right back!” He climbed out of the car.
Rosie glanced up. “Mom, what’s Bobby doing? And why are you two speaking in codes?”
“Codes? What codes?”
“I’m not dumb, you know.”
Mira thumped the steering wheel with her fingers and before long, Bobby was back outside holding something long and rectangular in both hands. It was concealed by a white cloth.
“What’s that?” Rosie asked as he held it by her window.
“See for yourself.” He unveiled the package.
“Oh, my gosh!” She gasped, eyes widened with glee. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It surely is, honey,” Mira chimed in.
A caged parakeet with beautiful black and white plumage walked primly around, bobbing its head.
“It’s for you, Kiddo!” Bobby smiled.
Shocked, Rosie looked at her mother for confirmation. “Mom?”
Smiling widely, Mira nodded. “It is. He’s not kidding.”
Rosie turned to Bobby again. “You bought this for me?”
“Yeah. Thought you’d like a talking bird to add to the pet collection. Daniel’s cool, but he might want company of another kind, you know?” Bobby had that heavenly smile Rosie loved to see.
“Oh, Bobby! Thanks so much! I’ll take good care of it; I promise.”
“I know you will. Now, I’ll just set this inside on the floor.” He took it to the back and set it down carefully behind Rosie’s seat.
As he shut the door, Rosie jumped out of the car and hugged him tightly.
“Hey, what’s all this for? It’s just a little gift!” he exclaimed, winking at Mira.
Nothing made her more content than seeing Rosie so happy. She reflected on how well Bobby had treated Rosie over the years – like a friend, but also being that father figure she needed in her life, since her own father had been absent for so many years. And although that relationship had been somewhat mended, Bobby remained very special to her since he’d always been there.
“We have to go now, honey. Mom’s made dinner already.”
Finally releasing him from her embrace, Rosie asked. “Are you coming to our house for dinner, Bobby?”
“Aww, thanks, but not today. I’m gonna have a quick bite, then clear some stuff out of the basement I’ve been meaning to tackle for weeks now.”
Rosie sat down in the car again and he shut the door for her.
“See you guys later.”
“Bye,” Mira whispered.
He blew her a kiss, then took off jogging toward the front door.
Suddenly, Mira watched in horror as pitch black root-like organisms silently protruded through the ground from both sides of the driveway, and surreptitiously wiggled over onto the concrete, becoming one with it. They stretched across in rhythmic fashion weaving in and out of the concrete, under the steel fixtures and up again onto the surface of the driveway. And lacking no sense of purpose or direction, they trailed uniformly behind Bobby.
Mira leaned out of the car window just as he was arriving at the door. “Bobby!” she cried. The roots were mere centimeters from his tennis shoes and she feared what the result would be once they gained on him.
He stopped and looked back, and Mira’s heart sank. She wondered if having called out to him would be to his detriment. “Get inside the house quickly!” she yelled.
He looked befuddled; nevertheless, he heeded.
To Mira’s relief, the second she’d called out to him appeared to be the point at which the organisms’ forward progression was halted. Rosie looked on in horror as the phantom-like intruders slid backwards along the driveway, in and out of the concrete again, and off into the ground on both sides of the driveway.
Hearts still pounding, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
“What were they, Mom?” Rosie cried.
Leaning back, Mira reflected on her visit to the Sylvesters house and what she’d seen there. “Another sign,” she said.
Rosie was aware of the signs. Ever since Matilda had appeared to her months earlier, each member of the Cullen family experienced something out of the ordinary.
“What can all of this possibly mean?” Rosie asked.
Mira stared straight through her for a few moments, then said, “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Bobby poked his head out of the door. “Is it safe?”
He never saw what all of the commotion was about.
8
_________________
Two weeks later… Monday 10:17 a.m.
A man rushed over to the Nurses Station at The Caring Hands Clinic. Clearly agitated, he placed both hands face-down on the counter.
Veteran nurse, Maggie Knox, was not startled by his anxious, disheveled appearance. She’d seen a lot of it over the decades she’d been in healthcare. Sickness never discriminated against the rich, the poor, the mentally stable or the downright crazies.
“Sir, may I help you?” she asked, calmly.
He was sweating profusely; his eyes were wild and he looked malnourished. Young man to be suffering so, she thought as soon as she saw him.
“Is Doctor Mira Cullen here?” he asked.
“Uh, yes, but she’s in with a patient now. You’ll have to sign your name on the register here and take a seat.”
“It’s not me. I… I just need to talk to her about something very important concerning my wife.”
Maggie looked confused.
“Could you… could you just get her to come out? This is urgent. Please!”
“Sir, I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. We don’t interrupt the doctors here while they’re tending to their patients. Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot. You won’t want anyone to come in snatching the doctor away from you for any length of time, would you?”
He slammed his hand on the counter and everyone in the waiting area turned in that direction.
“I said it’s an emergency!” he shouted. “Get her out here now!”
Dr. Barns heard the commotion from one of the examination rooms in the rear, excused himself from his patient and hurried out to the front. By then, Martin Andrews, the clinic’s thirty-year-old security guard, had intervened at the Nurse’s Station and was in the process of escorting the man out.
Mira appeared in the corridor and immediately recognized the man who was in custody.
“What’s going on here?” Barns asked as quietly and as calmly as he could.
“He wants to see Doctor Cullen. I told him she was unavailable and he went berserk on me,” Maggie replied.
“Bryant Sylvester…” Mira approached the man. “What’s the matter?” She could see the stress and strain on his sunken face. A face she noticed just two weeks ago was not that slim.
“Doctor Cullen!” He attempted to shake off the security guard.
“It’s all right, Martin,” Mira assured him.
Martin released Bryant and stood there watching, ready for action if necessary, as Bryant hurried over to Mira.
“Doctor Cullen, I didn’t know where else to turn. It’s Lucille.”
“Your wife?”
He nodded quickly.
“She’s outside in the car.” He gestured for her to follow him.
Mira looked back at Dr. Barns and Maggie who were looking on with interest, then at Martin who stood ready for her instructions.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to them. “Let me see what he wants.”
“I’ll go with you,” Martin said.
“Sure, but just give us some space. I know this man.”
Mira met Bryant standing against the front passenger side of the car. The door on that side was open and she could see Lucille sitting there motionless, staring straight ahead. She approached as Bryant stepped aside.
“Lucille...” she started. “Are you all right?”
Lucille was unresponsive although her eyes were open.
“What’s happened to her?” Mira turned to Bryant.
�
�I have no idea. A few days after you left, she went outside to hang our clothes out to dry and when she came in, she didn’t say another word. She sat down on the couch, stared straight ahead and has been that way ever since,” he explained.
“Has she spoken at all?” Mira asked.
“Not a single word. Nothing I did; nothing I said was able to snap her out of this. I’m so lost; I don’t know what to do.” He was now holding his head, gripping his thin hair so tightly Mira thought he might yank the roots right out of his scalp.
She reached up and took his hands; bringing them down again. “It’s okay. We’ll take her inside and try to find out what’s going on with her okay?”
“Okay.” He nodded.
She told Martin to get a wheelchair outside for the lady, which he immediately did.
As Martin wheeled Lucille into the clinic, Bryant went on about all he did to try and get his wife some help.
“I took her to the county hospital and they ran all kinds of tests on her. Nothing showed up that explained why she’s suddenly like that,” he said. “And when they saw the bruises all over her, they called in the cops. They were about to take me to jail for spousal abuse!”
Mira glanced his way as they hurried inside.
“I told them I’d never put a finger on Lucille. I love her too much for that, but it was only when I insisted they take a look at me ‘cause I have many of the same types of bruises, did they let me go. I told them what was happening in the house and I could see they didn’t believe me. They just knew something weird was going on; didn’t know what. I think when they saw my bruises, it freaked them out and they figured we both must have some sort of disease or something that’s caused us both to look battered this way.”
Mira instructed Martin to wheel Lucille into a vacant room, where a nurse accompanied them. Bryant was made to wait out front while they examined his wife.
After checking all of her vitals, Mira told the nurse, “Could you ask Doctor Barns to look here a minute please?”
“Sure.” The nurse left the room and Mira leaned over and looked at Lucille’s eyes again. For the second time, she pulled her eyelids slightly downwards and shined the slit lamp all around them. Then, as she was about to finish her examination of the right one, she noticed something inside the pupil. The image appeared blurred at first, then gradually came into view. Mira gasped and backed off suddenly. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing! A shadowy figure with a noose around its neck was suspended in mid-air. The same image appeared in both eyes. Then around the pupils and spreading toward the iris were flames, which gradually grew wider and wider until they disintegrated the shadowy image, taking up the entire sclera.
She stood with her hand to her chest as the nurse returned with Dr. Barns.
Looking her way, Barns asked, “You called?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Are you all right, Doctor Cullen?” the nurse asked.
“You do look a little shaken,” Barns added.
“Yes. I’m all right.” She noticed Lucille’s eyes had returned to their glassy appearance. “Doctor, this patient is non-responsive. Her husband said she’s been this way for more than a week now. Doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, doesn’t blink. The entire time she was here not once did I see her blink. All of her vitals are good. The only thing I can think of, without certain tests being available is that...”
“She’s in a state of shock,” Barns said.
“Yes.”
“But from what?” he asked, not expecting the answer. “A CAT scan or MRI would be a good place to start in terms of tests.”
“Her husband indicated she was at the county hospital where they conducted in-depth examinations of the patient, but results were normal,” Mira said.
Barns took a look at Lucille who was sitting there as if on another planet – dead to this one. “Has she been eating?” he asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Should we get her husband?” the nurse asked.
“Yes, please ask him to come in,” Barns replied.
He questioned Bryant in detail. He admitted that he’d been feeding his wife like he would a baby, but other than that there was no movement out of her whatsoever. He’d been bathing her, dressing her, taking her to lie down at night, and for naps during the day. However, those eyes of hers never closed and he even said that while attempting to close them at night for bedtime, they’d always pop right back open.
“This is certainly a strange case,” Barns declared. “Since all the medical tests that might have indicated a problem with the nerves or brain have been conducted, perhaps it’s best you take her to see a psychiatrist, Mister Sylvester.”
Bryant glanced at Mira. She was silent.
“Thank you, Doctor. Maybe I’ll do that,” he replied.
“Well, then. I’m sorry we couldn’t help,” Barns said. He looked at Mira. “I’ll speak with you later, Doctor Cullen.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied as he left the room. “That’ll be all, nurse. I’ll take it from here, thanks.”
When they were alone, Mira asked, “Are you and Lucille still living in that house?”
“Yeah. We’re there,” he replied.
“You must leave that house, Bryant. I urge you not to take her back there. It’s not good for her; she’s obviously in a severe state of shock.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think you understand, Doc. Like I told you before, Lucille and I have nowhere to go and we’re not about to head to any shelter. That house is all we own and I’ll be damned to pack up and let some unseen force kick us out of something our hard-earned money paid for. They don’t own that house.” He slammed his chest. “We do!”
Mira could tell that he was getting aggravated again.
“Calm down, Bryant. You and I are having a quiet conversation here. No need to alarm the entire clinic.”
He lowered his head. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Doc. It’s just that all this stuff that’s been going on is really getting to me.”
“That’s why you should take my advice, Bryant. I suggested you leave before and you and Lucille didn’t listen; now look what’s happened.”
Their eyes veered over to Lucille.
“There’s no telling what could happen next,” Mira added.
He was obviously in deep thought and had an inner struggle going on.
“I saw something in your wife’s eyes today which caused me great concern.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Flames.”
“Flames? What’re you talking about?”
She decided to mention the other thing she saw there as well. “It symbolizes something,” Mira explained, “although right now, I don’t know what that is. I just need some time to find out.”
“Oh, okay. I think I should tell you something,” Bryant said. “Remember that Paranormal Investigator I’d told you about?”
“Uh huh?”
“Well, after Lucille came down this way and I couldn’t find any help at the hospital, I went to his house to see if there was any way I could get some answers since he ended up similar to Lucille, you know?”
Mira waited.
“Well, his wife answered the door and told me he passed away a day earlier. Died in his sleep with his eyes wide open.” Bryant’s eyes were now brimming with tears. “Is that what’s gonna happen to my Lucille?”
“Bryant, please listen to me.” She reached in and pulled three hundred dollar bills out of her pocket.
Immediately, he started shaking his head in protest.
“Take it.” She placed the cash in his hand. “Consider it a loan. You can pay me back. Just get you and your wife to a hotel tonight. Stay there for a few days until I touch base with you. Let me know where you are when you get a chance.”
To her great relief, he did not push the money away. She closed his hand. “Take Lucille to where she can have peace of mind and you too. You’ll be glad you did, Bryant. This is a good start; everything wil
l work out from here, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, solemnly. He went over to get his wife.
“I can get a wheelchair for her.”
“No. That’s okay. I’ve got her.” He helped Lucille to her feet and they slowly started toward the door, then he stopped and looked back. “Thank you, Doc…for the loan.”
“You’re welcome,” Mira managed a half-smile.
“By the way, Bryant, who did you purchase your house from?”
“The name’s Latina Cosgrove.”
She quickly jotted the name down on a blank prescription form and shoved it into her coat pocket.
9
_________________
The parakeet’s cage was placed in a corner of the living room. Whenever anyone’s name was called, the bird shrieked out the name a couple of times. Daniel found the bird most interesting, barking at it at first then sitting and staring up at it. The cage was on a tall, secure stand where he couldn’t get to it and that seemed to bother him for a while.
“Some bird you’ve got there!” Sara said.
“It’s a parakeet, Nana,” Rosie replied. “Her name is Esther.”
“Esther? Why Esther?”
“’Cause she’s a queen. See how beautiful she is?”
“She surely is.” Sara smiled. “How nice of Bobby to get her for you!”
“Yeah. Bobby’s the best. That’s why I love him so much.”
“You do, huh?” Sara sat at the kitchen counter next to her.
“Yeah.”
Sara’s wish for years was that Mira would one day marry the one man who Sara knew would gladly take a bullet for her daughter. She knew the battle was half won. At least, Mira relented enough to date him after he’d wooed her for so long. Bobby was just like another son to Sara and she never forgot how much he was there for them, chipping in when her husband, Michael, was sick. No one, in her mind, would be a better fit for a son-in-law.
The Cornelius Saga Boxed Set Page 62