by Prakash
“Let us have a cup of coffee first and then we can discuss “Mrs. Watson Suggested.
While they were having coffee, Ursula briefed Mrs. Watson about her family. How and why they had shifted from Jersey to here.
Mrs. Watson told Ursula that they had settled in Mandeville almost 14 years back when there were only 2 houses in this locality and the area was not much developed. Her husband works as a manager in a local bank and she had twin daughters. They go to the same school where William’s had their kids studying.
Mrs. Watson also told her that she works part time in the evening in a library not for money but she had a passion for reading and books. She told her daily 3 hours 5 to 8 pm she acts an assistant librarian in the state library. She also told her that though the remuneration is not high there is an opportunity to get to know the people in this job.
Ursula briefed Mrs. Watson about her freelancing travel correspondent job and various assignments she had done in the last few years.
Then Ursula cleverly diverted the conversation to the neighborhood.
“Mrs. Watson, our neighborhood is really beautiful and well maintained “Ursula initiated the discussion
“Yes, the community members take care of their lawns and gardens weekly and also the pathways and the surrounding is kept clean by the city services “Mrs. Watson replied.
“But what about security, is the area is safe for children and elderly?” Ursula asked
“In last 14 years we had not come across any major mishap in the community. There were 2-3 small thefts in the neighborhood few years back but we heard police captured some drug addict’s youngsters. After that no major mishap is reported “Mrs. Watson replied.
“But I see some strangers wondering in the locality “Ursula cautiously made the remark.
“But that is everywhere Ursula. These are homeless and jobless people who make their livelihood on the charities of the community “Mrs. Watson replied.
“In our locality, there is one old timer, elderly rag Peter but he is here for last 15 years “Mrs. Watson continued.
“But he looks strange and frightening. Especially my kids are really scared when they see him.” Ursula commented.
“Yes strange character but harmless” Mrs. Watson replied.
“He starts early in the morning takes a round of the neighborhood, then go to the nearby water tank for a bathe. He returns by noon eats whosoever gives him for the day. In the afternoon he is mostly seated either near his makeshift house in the abandoned house or under some tree in the neighbourhood.Many times people have seen him talking to himself. In the evening most of the time he is not traceable .some says he goes to the nearby church, some says he goes to a group which practices some form of mediation. Returns late in night” Mrs. Watson gave the entire background.
“So is he part of some group doing certain mediations…” Ursula tried to get clarification.
“No real idea. But that’s what I have heard” Mrs. Watson clarified
“But is it something like magic?” Ursula enquired
“I am not sure. But it is something related to mind and body.” Mrs,Watson tried her best to answer.
It was almost 2 hours since they were interacting. Sensing that children would reach home from school anytime, Ursula took her leave and also invited her to her house.
Ursula used the same pattern next days to woo Mrs. Wen. Wen family was originally from China. They had migrated to US in early 1950’s and this was there second generation in US. Initially the family was doing odd jobs at various establishments. But the new generation had successfully established themselves in the restaurant business.
When Ursula reached Wen’s house, she was overwhelmed to see oriental style architect and furniture tastefully arranged and maintained.
“This is awesome, great interior “Ursula remarked
Mrs. Wen just smiled and bowed her head to accept the appreciation.
They both sat down on the Wooden carved sofa.
“What will like to have hot or cold drink “Mrs.Wen enquired.
“Coffee, if you do not mind “
“Sure” Mrs.Wen replied.
While Mrs.Wen was preparing coffee, Ursula was having a look at the furniture and artifacts in the room. She had a fascination for oriental style of design.
While sipping the hot coffee, Ursula initiated the conversation
She told Mr.Wen about her family, kids, their migration from Jersey. She also told her that she wanted to be a part of various community activities so she had started interacting with the various community members. Mrs. Wen was listening and was nodding from time to time.
Mrs. Wen also gave her family details. She told Ursula that Wen’s had settled in Mandeville some 20 years back.
Ursula kept on discussing various other things before coming to her main agenda point.
“I see some beggars and strangers moving in the neighborhood “Ursula tried to elicit response.
“No beggars. One old man is there for many years” Mrs. Wen replied.
“But he looks to scary “Ursula tried to extract something more
“Yes Old fellow with worn out coat and hat. Children fear him” Mrs.Wen replied.
Ursula tried her best to extract more information about Rag Peter but Mrs.Wen was not having anything substantial to provide. The visit ended.
Ursula now decided to act on his second agenda point. She drove straightaway to the state library. The plan was to see the last few years criminal and suspect’s records related to Mandeville area.
She could easily locate the yearly police bulletins arranged year wise. Sitting in one corner of the library she started going through the last 10 years bulletins. The bulletins contained information about the crimes, suspects and convicts and their photos.
While scanning year 1970 report she suddenly came across a crime with photograph of convict. The photo of the convict was of younger days. What drew Ursula’s attention was the name of the convict just mentioned as “Peter”. She noted down whatever details she could get from the bulletin and hurriedly left for the home as school bus return timings was nearing.
Next day, Ursula decided to probe further the details collected by her in the library. First she thought of going to police archive under the pretext of research and look for the details. However she felt that the police may suspect something fishy and her whole plan may get exposed. She decided against this approach.
She was thinking on another source to find out the more details on the 1970 convict “Peter “. She thought of checking newspaper archives of that particular month in the year 1970.The Newspaper archive of the local newspapers were available in the respective newspaper offices. She decided to take a chance with one of the local newspaper office archives.
When she reached the office of the newspaper office and requested the archiving section to give her 1970 newspaper copies of the particular month .The staff there was cooperative and soon arranged for the preserved copies.
Ursula carefully started going through the various news items. Finally she could locate the news she was looking for. She anxiously read the news. The news was about a group of 6 middle aged persons including “Peter R “arrested for practicing the black magic which by then was banned as per the state statute.
Now Ursula had another question in front of her. Is this “Peter R” is the same “Rag Peter” of today? The photograph she saw in the police bulletin in the library was too old to come to any conclusion. She was thinking and sitting in the newspaper office for a while. Who will be in a position to confidently say whether the 1970 convicted “Peter” and today “Peter R” are same or not?
She again read the same newspaper article. She had written down names of all the 6 persons from the news. She decided to search for other five who were convicted then in the local municipal directory and telephone directory .However this was a herculean task. There may be hundreds of them with the same name and surname in the town and contacting them would have been nightmare.
&n
bsp; She thought it over again. If in 1970 all these 6 convicts were between 40 -45 years of age then today most of them would have crossed 60 years. Why not check senior citizen records and filter out only those who are above 60 years of age today.
Ursula left the newspaper office and straightway drove to social security department. There she had got access to records of the senior citizens in the Mandeville locality. Spending nearly 1 hour there she could find 50 probable names that could be part of that black magic crime committed in 1970.Satisfied with her work for the day she returned home.
As Patrick had not returned from home till then she decided to try few numbers. However she was not sure what to talk. Directly asking someone about his involvement in a crime was too rude. She cooked up a story. Under the pretext of a research study of minor crimes in the area, she had decided to ask some questions to all the 50 probable. This tricked worked .The first 5 to 6 contacted answered her questions but she found that they were not related to that particular incident.
Next day afternoon Ursula continued her dialing in operation. She came across a probable named “B. Smith “. In the initial questions he admitted that he had committed some minor crime during 1970’s. Further probing revealed that he was the same for whom Ursula was looking for.
“Can you please elaborate a little more on your particular crime” Ursula requested.
“We as a group of 6 friends tried something silly at that time. We were all working in a local factory then. One of our friends Kerry told us about the black magic and its power in getting some personal benefits. Especially using black magic to woo attractive woman’s…how mad we all were!” Smith continued.
“Then with Kerry’s help we had started attending classes to learn the black magic from an African woman. It went for few months. Then after learning something we all tried to experiment using the black magic trick .Somehow one of alert citizen saw us doing something nasty and informed the cops. During those days practicing black magic was an offense “Smith continued in his husky voice.
“Are you all friends in touch now also “Ursula asked the million dollar question?
“Only 1 is in town now others had settled elsewhere “Smith replied.
“If you do not mind I would also like to speak to your friend and also use his input for my research “Ursula pleaded
“I am not sure whether he would talk to you.but you could try your luck.” Smith replied.
“But at least can you share his telephone number or address “Ursula requested
“You do not need that. Just ask anyone in the town and they will take you to him. People call him ‘Rag Peter “Smith replied calmly.
Ursula thanked Smith for the cooperation.
Ursula was elated. Her guess came true. Her suspicion about the old fellow was coming true. She thought to keep a watch on rag Peter for few days and observe what all he does. She thought probably, he might be the reason for Patrick’s trouble. Quite possible that the old fellow was using Black magic against Patrick resulting in various horror experiences and resulting into mental and physical trauma.
Chapter 8
Ursula On Rag Peter’s Trail.
Determined Ursula now decided to be on Rag Peter’s trail to unearth his activities and to check whether he is the one responsible for Patrick’s trauma. By now she was aware that around 10 am Peter leaves for the nearby water tank and his makeshift home is unattended at that time.
After dropping the children for school, Ursula slowly started towards Peter’s make shift home. It was slightly away in one of the corner. She took care to check if anyone around is observing her.
When she entered Peter’s make shift house, she could smell a mixed pungent smell as the place probably was not cleaned for years together. In one corner of the room, she could see his old bed on floor with some old torn bed sheets and nearly toned pillows.
In one corner she could observe some utensils and empty water bottles lying. There were two trunks probably locked and one old leather bag. Ursula thought of opening them but she was not carrying anything to break open the trunks.
In one of corner she came across some material which looked like some bones, black doll and pins. She could relate it to the material used by black magic practicsnor. Her suspicion grew further. This old fellow must be indulging in some form of magic. It was almost 30 minutes since she entered his makeshift house. She thought Peter would return anytime so made to go out immediately.
When she reached home, Ursula was convinced that Rag Peter is the person who is somehow related to trouble Patrick is going through. The presence of some of the black magic material in his makeshift house further strengthened her belief. But how to prove and catch him was a question troubling her. Merely having some magic material and a past in involvement in black magic does not mean that he was the one who was doing this to Patrick. Approaching Police was not an option. There was no concrete proof against Peter. Besides in current scenario Black magic practice was not a crime unless it was proven that it was harming someone. She was in deep thoughts.
She finally decided to chase him in the evening. As she learnt from Mrs. Watson that in the evening Peter is mostly out and returns only by 9 pm again. She thought of checking where he goes and what he does. She thought that could give her some more clues.
When Patrick returned in the evening, she told him that she needed some provisions and would go out in the town.
In her vehicle she slowly started following Rag Peter without he noticing it. She was keeping a safe distance between them. She could see Peter entering in one of the apartment in the central town area. She parked her car and just was keeping a watch on the apartment. She was also pretending that she was there for shopping and did purchase some provisions.
She had to wait for an hour or so. She saw Peter coming out of the apartment with some paper bag in his hand and started back. She allowed him to go back for a distance and then only she started her car. She was closely following him on the way. Peter was in his own mood and was walking fast on the road. Time to time he was eating from the paper bag he was carrying with him.
She could now see Peter suddenly stopping by a cemetery on the way. She stopped her car at a distance. She could see him entering the cemetery. She got down from the car and almost started running towards cemetery to check why he entered the cemetery. She took shelter behind the cemetery wall and tried peeping inside.
She could see Peter talking to someone but due to darkness could not identify the other person. Now Peter and the other person sat on the ground. She could see them lighting a candle. However even candlelight was also insufficient to recognize the face of the other person. She saw them performing some sort of ritual there for next 15 minutes. As she saw they are about to get up she again ran towards her car. She did not bother to chase Peter anymore as it was already late. She straightway drove towards her house. Patrick and Kids were already worried and waiting for her. They felt relieved when she reached home.
Patrick due to medicines fell asleep early while Ursula was busy clearing the kitchen. In the middle of night, Patrick’s sleep got disturbed. He heard some strange noises coming from outside the bedroom. The noises continued for few minutes and stopped. After few minutes, the window of the bedroom started banging and making a loud noise. Ursula was fast asleep. Patrick woke up and closed the window properly. As he was returning to the bed, he experienced some push from behind and which almost resulted in Patrick following on the floor. The noise was enough to wake up Ursula.
“Patrick, what happened “Ursula was worried.
“I closed the window and was returning and probably slipped “Patrick replied
“Are you ok “Ursula was worried?
“Yes Dear”
“Have you again experienced the similar thing “Ursula was little apprehensive.
“Yes but not something major…just relax...” Patrick comforted her.
Both again went to the sleep. Ursula was awake for some time thinking about Ra
g Peter incidence and what had just happened to Patrick. She was now more determined to chase Peter and unearth the truth. However tomorrow her priority was the cleansing the house as was agreed with Father Agnel last week,
Chapter 9
Cleansing the house
Father Agnel was the head of the Hill point church for the last 10 years. He was known for his fluent sermons and his love for the needy and the downtrodden. A scholar of Christen traditions and an academic scholar of the revered Bible and the other traditional religious books. Wherever he was called or needed Father Agnel made it a point to be there. He had a deep faith in the Jesus and always believed that the Lord is there to protect one and all. He always preached that if you call the Lord with a right intension and faith he comes in different forms and helps you.
Father Agnel also had good experience in handling situations which were beyond the alms of normal science and medical. He believed that negative energies sometime come together and try to create problem with human life. He did not give any name to these negative energies. He believed that cleansing of the person and property helps them to get rid of the effect of the negative energies in their surroundings. Father Agnel hated those calling these negative energies as ghosts or demons. He believed that when the sinner’s evil wishes or unfulfilled wishes accumulate over a place, the place becomes enriched with negative energy. He believed these negative energies doesn’t have a form or shape and exhibit themselves in multiple forms.