3 Ghosts of Our Fathers

by Michael Richan

  “He often sulked as a child,” Roy said to Eliza as they scanned the pages. “A very bad habit, hard to grow out of.”

  Steven bit his lip and stayed seated in the chair. He pulled out his phone to check his messages and kill some time while Eliza and Roy worked their way through the book.

  “I know I saw a section on demons when we were looking through it the other day,” Eliza said.

  “That would be back in the Thomas pages,” Roy said, flipping to the earlier sections of the book.

  “Yes, here it is,” Eliza said. “Wow, he has quite a catalog here. Dozens of them.”

  “Here’s the info on how to release demons from objects,” Roy said.

  Eliza kept scanning the list, looking for something related to time.

  “Found it!” she said, delighted. Steven got up out of his chair and joined them.

  She read the paragraphs under the entry she’d marked with her finger. “It’s simple,” she said.

  “What?” Steven asked. “How does it work?”

  “Well,” she said, turning to look at Roy and Steven, “the steps Roy found will release it from the object. The demon can traverse time and will take you where you want to go and back, but for a price.”

  “Let me guess,” Steven said. “A soul.”

  “It’s always souls with demons,” Roy said.

  “Yes,” Eliza said, “which is why they’re not often used. If you don’t have a soul to offer up to the demon, it’ll take you instead. So it’s a dangerous move. But it’s what I suspected.”

  “Well, hold onto it, and it can be part of the collection you save for Troy,” Steven said.

  “Oh, no,” Eliza said. “I was thinking something else.”

  “Such as?” Roy asked.

  “I was hoping you’d be willing to use it.”

  “Use it?” Steven asked. “How?”

  “Roy,” she said, “I was hoping you’d convince David to use this demon to go back to 1933 and kill Frank. Outright.”

  Roy was taken back, and Steven was stunned.

  “Kill him, instead of cage him?” Roy asked once he had regained himself.

  “Yes,” she said. “With Frank dead, he can’t come back to cause the trouble eighty years later.”

  “Oh, yes he can,” Steven said. “He’ll just be a ghost, but he can come back. They always can.”

  “Not if the demon takes his soul right after David kills him.”

  They both sat stunned again. Eliza saw the slightly confused look on their faces.

  “You contact David,” she said. “You explain to him the deal to cut with the demon, which is, if he will take him back to 1933 so he can kill Frank, the demon can have Frank’s soul as payment for the trip. David can correct the mistake of caging Frank, and we’ll get Daniel back, because none of this would have happened.”

  “But,” Steven said, “if this never happened, there would have been no object for David to use to go back and correct anything. Doesn’t that cause our timeline to…implode or something?”

  “Exactly,” she said. “Look, time has more continuity than people think. It was Daniel’s belief that there are an infinite number of simultaneous timelines playing out. We’re in all of them, but we’re only aware of one of them because that’s all our mind can handle. If this timeline ends, we’ll instantly become aware of another that’s at the same point in time. We won’t even be aware of the shift. They’re all essentially the same, with just minor differences. I’m fine with this timeline we’re in imploding. I want to go to the one that has Frank dead and Daniel alive.”

  “How do you know so much about this?” Roy asked.

  “I lived with a time freak for several years, Roy,” she said. “You pick up things.”

  “What do you think, Dad?” Steven asked Roy.

  “As much as the idea of a timeline blipping out unnerves me,” Roy said, looking at them, “I’ll try. I’ll ask David if he’ll do it.”

  “Thank you,” Eliza said.

  “Will he be hard to reach?” Steven asked. “When’s the last time you talked to him?”

  “No, he’ll be easy to reach,” Roy said. “I talk to him every morning.”

  -

  Although things between Roy and Steven were thawing a little, Roy didn’t want Steven to sit in on his séance to contact David, saying he was still too pissed at him for it to work. Roy and Eliza conducted the séance alone, and Steven waited in the guest bedroom at Roy’s, where he’d slept months back when he and Roy were fighting the ghosts that used to haunt Steven’s house. The room used to be Steven and his brother Bernard’s room when they were kids. He’d had too much coffee to drift off to sleep, so he busied himself with his phone, reading the news, playing mindless finger games. After a half an hour of solitude Eliza came to his door.

  “We’re done,” she said as she opened it. It felt to Steven like he was being let out of his room after being grounded.

  Probably how Roy wanted it to feel, he thought. Well I’ve apologized and I’ve paid my penance, things better be balanced out now.

  “And?” Steven asked, walking back into the living room where Roy sat.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking,” Roy said. “He’s fine with the plan, but it doesn’t matter what he thinks.”

  Steven looked confused.

  “We realized as we were working it out with him,” Eliza said, “that he can’t go back with the demon because he’s not physical.”

  “So one of us has to go back,” Steven said.

  “Yes,” Eliza said, “and convince David in 1933 to handle things differently.”

  “How about I go back,” Steven said, “and shoot him myself?”

  “You can go back,” Roy said, “but you won’t be able to kill anybody. When you traverse time like this you can’t actually do anything yourself. You can observe, you can communicate with others, but you can’t change anything directly. We’ve got to talk to David and convince him to not help the boys cage Frank.”

  “And don’t forget you have to convince him to kill Frank as well,” Steven said, “or have you lost your concern for the welfare of the boys?”

  Roy shot Steven a dirty look. “I’m trying to be civil here, piss-ant, it’d be nice if you’d meet me halfway.”

  “Stop, both of you,” Eliza said. “You both love each other and need each other’s help. And god knows I need you both right now. So please, for me, stop.”

  Steven and Roy both looked at Eliza, then looked away, embarrassed at their behavior.

  “Who can convince David of what needs to be done?” Eliza said. “Who do you think he will listen to?”

  “Probably me,” Roy said. “I can blow his mind with a few facts from the future and then tell him what needs to happen.”

  “And just so we’re clear,” Steven said, “what needs to happen is exactly what?”

  “He needs to stop the boys from caging Frank,” Roy said, “and he needs to find a way to kill Frank instead.”

  “It’s a tall order for a ten-year-old boy,” Eliza said. “Do you think you can do it?”

  “I’ll try,” Roy said. “That’s the best I can do.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Roy found himself standing behind a bush in David Hall’s backyard. David was swinging in a tire that hung from a large tree. They were 30 feet from the back of the house. Roy couldn’t see any signs of movement in it. Charles, my grandfather, lives in there, he thought. And my grandmother, Leone. She always kept a sharp eye out the kitchen window. I’ll have to be careful.

  Beside him, in the flow, was a presence monitoring his actions. When Roy had released and invoked the demon, it asked for payment, and Roy explained his plan. The demon agreed to the plan, but said if anything went wrong, he’d take Roy as payment. Roy reluctantly agreed, and seconds later, Roy was in 1933.

  Time to wing it, Roy thought. Just call the boy over.

  “Davy,” Roy said. “Come here.”

  David stopped s
winging in the tire and turned to look at the source of the voice. “Who are you, mister?” He climbed off the swing and started walking in Roy’s direction.

  “I have something important I need to talk to you about,” Roy said. “But it’s a secret, so come over here and I’ll tell you.”

  Roy guessed the 1933 mores hadn’t yet made every young boy suspicious of older men. In that era, children did what they were told by any adult, family or not. He was also counting on Davy’s gift to help him believe what he had to tell him.

  David walked over to Roy. Roy stopped him when he was about three feet from the bush.

  “Grandma Leone might be watching, so stop there, and turn away from the kitchen window,” Roy said.

  “Grandma Leone?” David said. “You mean my mama?”

  “Yes,” Roy said, “your mama.”

  “So what’s the secret, mister?” David turned his back to the kitchen window, picked up a stick, and began drawing figures in the dirt.

  “You know how you sometimes can see or feel things other people can’t?” Roy said.

  “Yeah,” David said, “so?”

  “Well, I can too,” Roy said. “Your father can, too, right?”

  “I think so,” David said. “But he doesn’t talk about it.”

  “Right. Do you suppose, if you ever have a son, you’d talk about it with him?”

  “Sure,” David said. “I’d tell him everything.”

  “You’re going to grow up and get married, and have a son.”

  “Of course I will, that’s what everybody does.”

  “And your son will have the same gift as you, and you will share it with him when he’s your age.”

  David looked puzzled. “Who are you, mister? Is that the secret?”

  “No, that’s not the secret. The secret is extremely important, because it’s going to save the life of your friends.”

  “My friends?”

  “Sean and Garth.”

  “Oh, them. Yes, they’re my friends.”

  “In about five or ten minutes, Garth is going to come over here, wanting you to follow him back to their garage. When you get there, you’ll see that Sean has been beaten up by his father, Frank. You know Frank.”

  “I sure do.” A look of worry crossed David’s face.

  “When you follow Garth across the street and into the garage, a boy inside the garage is going to give you things to help Sean and Garth get rid of Frank. This is the secret, Davy: you must not get rid of Frank that way. You must not. You have to get rid of him another way.”

  “What do you mean, get rid of him?”

  “You’ll understand when the boy explains it to you. But remember the secret I’m telling you, Davy. You must not get rid of Frank the way the boy tells you to.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because if you do, horrible things will happen later. I’ve seen what happens. You must not do it.”

  “You had a vision?”

  “In a way, yes. Horrible things happen to your son, your grandson, even your great-grandson if you do what the boy tells you.”

  “So what do I do?”

  “The boy is going to tell you to give two items to Sean and Garth, along with some instructions. I want you to pocket the items, then take Sean and Garth out of the garage where the boy can’t hear you, and tell them instead to bring Frank into the garage. When Frank comes into the garage, you need to kill him.”

  “Kill him? I’m no killer, mister.”

  “I know, but you must. If Frank stays alive, Sean and Garth will die, he’ll beat them to death. Can you imagine that?”

  David shook his head no.

  “Will you do it?”

  “I don’t know. Won’t I go to jail?”

  “Not if it was self-defense, which you’ll claim. Sean and Garth will back you up.”

  “How would I kill him?”

  “You know where your father keeps his guns, don’t you?”

  “Yes, they’re easy to find.”

  “You’ll take his pistol and use that.”

  David was thinking, his brow furrowing. “Who’s that with you?”

  He definitely has the gift, Roy thought. Sensing the demon without entering the flow.

  “He made it possible for me to have the vision and to tell you about it, before it was too late. Without him I wouldn’t have been able to warn you, to save Sean and Garth.”

  “I don’t know mister, Frank’s a bad man and all that, but killing him, I don’t know.”

  “You want to be a father, don’t you, son?”

  “Sure I do. Someday.”

  “Then think of your children. Your sons. Do you know why they’re in danger?”

  “No.”

  “Because if you help Sean and Garth use the objects the boy gives you, Frank’s soul will be trapped for several years. But he knows you helped them do it. And Frank gets out of the trap, eventually. When he does, he comes after your kids. He’s so angry you trapped him, he wants to kill your kids for revenge. You’re either about to create a big problem, or solve a problem. But you have to choose.”

  “Davy! Davy!” Roy could hear Garth’s yells as he approached from across the street.

  “He’s coming now. Remember what I’ve told you. The lives of your children depend upon it.”

  David turned to face the approaching Garth. Roy retreated back behind the bush so Garth wouldn’t see him.

  “Davy!” Garth yelled from across the yard. He was running full speed and he slowed only as he neared Davy, kicking up dust as he slid to a stop.

  “You’ve got to come over. The boy in the garage, he’s asking for you. Frank’s beat Sean real bad. The boy wants to help. He said, ‘get Davy!” Come on!” Garth turned and began running back.

  David glanced over to Roy. Roy winked at him. Then David followed Garth.

  -

  After half an hour David returned. He walked to the backyard, looking for Roy.

  Roy was still behind the bush, waiting. “You’re back.”

  “Yes,” David said. “I did it. Well, most of it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, they saw the boy give me something, so I had to at least give them something or they would have known something was up.”

  “Did you give them the objects?”

  “I gave them my pocket knife,” David said, “and told them to put it under Frank’s bed. But I kept the box and the powder.” He pulled the small wooden matchbox and paper envelope from his back pocket, showing them to Roy.

  “Good boy,” Roy said, feeling a huge sense of relief. At least half of the plan had worked.

  “I want that pocket knife back,” David said. “My grandpa gave it to me.”

  That would be Thomas, Roy thought. The first writer in the book.

  “Did you tell them to bring Frank back out to the garage?” Roy asked.

  “Yes,” David said. “They’re going to hide the pocket knife tonight. Then they’re gonna get him real teed off and trick him out to the garage tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Roy said. “Why not now?”

  “Well, if I’m gonna shoot him, which I’m not saying I am, but if I am, I need to get the gun first, don’t I?”

  “You could get it now.”

  “No way, mister. My pop should be home any minute now. I won’t be able to get his gun until he goes to work tomorrow, when mama’s outside hanging laundry. Any other time and I’ll get caught.”

  Roy was concerned the demon might not go for this. Still, he had to play it out, he couldn’t quit halfway. The demon would take either Frank’s soul or his, and he didn’t want it to be his.

  “All right, tomorrow then,” Roy said. “What time tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know for sure. We’re gonna talk tomorrow after they’re back from working. Then they’ll get Frank all riled up and make him follow them out to the garage.”

  “And when he gets to the garage, you’ll shoot him?”

  “I supp
ose so. I guess so. I don’t know. Are you sure he’d kill Sean and Garth if we don’t kill him first?”

  “I’m sure. I’ve seen it.”

  “What else have you seen?”

  Roy got the impression it was a test. He sighed. “You have a son,” he said. “You’re smarter than your father; you lock your guns away. But your son goes looking for the guns, just like you did. He doesn’t find them, but he finds a book instead. A book that your father is going to give to you one day. When your son finds that book, you’re going to be proud of him, and you’re going to start training him, showing him how to use his gift, the same gift you have. And you’re going to write in the book, so your son knows how to use his gift, and his son is going to read it too. And they’re going to remember you, and how kind you were, because you trained them, you gave them the book, and you did this thing, killing Frank. And you’re going to live a long, full life, full of happiness and success. You’re going to help a lot of people, friends who need help. And when you die, your son is going to be very proud of you. Very proud.”

  David twisted and turned as Roy spoke. Roy couldn’t tell if he believed what he was telling him or not.

  “OK,” David said. “I’ll steal pop’s gun tomorrow.”

  “Good boy,” Roy said, wanting to reach out and ruffle his hair. “You’ll save Sean and Garth, remember that.”

  “Davy!” came Leone’s voice from the house. “Dinner!”

  “I gotta go,” David said.

  “I’ll be watching tomorrow,” Roy said.

  “All right,” David said, turning to go. “Bye.”

  -

  Jason arrived at Bent’s five minutes later than his father. Steven had commandeered a booth, and Jason joined him, slipping into the vinyl seat.

  “I figured I could lure you with a free burger,” Steven said.

  “I’ll stay even longer if you throw in a free beer,” Jason said, grabbing the menu from the edge of the table.

  “How old are you? Twenty?” Steven asked. “It’s called ‘contributing to the delinquency of a minor.’”

  “And what do they call infecting a man with invisible parasites?”