by Ted Hill
He reduced speed when he arrived in town and turned onto the cobbles of Main Street where a crowd had gathered outside Luis’s clinic. He parked the Suzuki and unstrapped the gym bag. The crowd would keep until Scout secured his treasure inside his apartment. Besides, Raven would know if something important was going on.
Scout climbed the steps two at a time and opened the door. He walked inside, ready to show off his awesome Boy Scout shirt to his girlfriend.
Raven turned from the window, eyes rimmed red. “Where have you been?”
Surprised by her harsh tone, Scout set the gym bag on the table. “I went for a ride. What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? Samuel came over here to check on you. He said some guy was giving you a hard time. I hadn’t seen you since you took off in the middle of the night. I didn’t know what to tell him.”
Scout hurried over and sat beside her. She flinched when he touched her arm. He settled his hand in his lap, thinking that this wasn’t like Raven at all. “I’m sorry. I should have told you where I was going.”
“Yes, you should have.” She turned back toward the window and ignored him.
Scout waited, wondering how to make things right and wishing he could break out his new stuff and show it off. The crowd mingled in front of Luis’s and Dylan looked up at Scout’s window. Scout thought about closing the blinds, but decided he just didn’t care right now. Then he noticed the pile of toys, baby clothes and flowers propped against the front of the clinic.
“Ginger had the baby?”
Raven sighed, her whole body rising with the effort. “About an hour ago. It’s a boy. She called him James.” Raven used a white handkerchief to blow her nose. “Samuel told me.”
“I missed another birth. I should go down there and offer a blessing to Ginger and little James.” Scout smiled. “James! That’s fantastic!”
“I’ve wanted to go down there all morning, but not without you.”
“Why didn’t you just go on down there by yourself?”
Raven spun her head around, startling Scout with the glint in her eyes. “Because I’ve been an outcast ever since we got back from Denver. No one talks to me, other than your sister, Molly and Ginger. Everyone else in this town acts like I’m not even here.”
“That’s crazy,” Scout said. Her hard look indicated he’d chosen the wrong word. “I mean, I’m sure everyone is still getting to know you.”
“I’ve been living here for almost a year now. We’re way past introductions, but I still feel like a stranger in this place.”
Raven was blowing the situation out of proportion. Scout knew she was having a hard time making friends, ever since she’d first arrived as the enemy. But she had proven her loyalty by taking them to Denver and helping rescue Catherine.
Scout had an irritating thought. He looked out the window and watched Dylan laugh with his group of buddies—the hunting and fishing crowd. Billy huddled with them, smiling along with the boys. Dylan patted him on the shoulder.
Scout stood up. “Let’s go. We should go see how Ginger and the baby are doing.”
Raven’s face brightened and she blew her nose again. “I’m a mess.”
“Yes.” Scout smiled at her frown. “But you’re my mess.”
She hopped up and punched him in the stomach. Luckily, Scout anticipated her favorite target and tightened his gut in time.
“Impressive,” she said.
“I hope you didn’t break your hand.”
That brought a smile. “Hardly. I need to fix my face before we go.” She left for their bedroom, where she kept the face fixing tools.
“Okay, but we don’t have all day.” Scout chuckled until a familiar white object with blue stripes whizzed past his head. “Hey, that’s my pillow!”
“Leave it on the couch. You’ll need it later. What’s in that bag you brought in?”
Scout’s excitement rushed back. “Oh! You’re not going to believe what I found! It’s incredible!” He ran over and unzipped the gym bag.
Raven returned, wiping her face with a damp washcloth. “It’s not another baseball glove, is it?”
“No, even better!”
Scout pulled out the shirt, holding it up to his chest and grinning like he’d just found a tanker full of fresh gasoline. “Can you believe it? What do you think? Awesome, right?”
“Is that an army shirt?”
“What? No, it’s not an army shirt.” He turned it around and inspected it, making sure he pulled the right one out. The eagle patch stared him in the face. He smiled back and returned the shirt to his chest. “It’s an official Class ‘A’ Boy Scout shirt with an eagle patch.”
Raven looked unimpressed.
Scout held it out for her to inspect. He shook the uniform to emphasize that this was a big deal. Scout’s shoulders dropped when Raven didn’t take the bait. “I’ve been looking for a Boy Scout uniform for five years now. I finally found one.”
“That’s nice. I’m very happy for you,” Raven said, brushing her dark hair in front of the mirror by the door. “I’m ready to go.”
Scout refolded the Boy Scout shirt and placed it back inside the bag.
“Let’s go.” He followed her out.
* * *
Talk on the street was loud and excited as Scout and Raven moved to join in the celebration. What a fantastic time to be in Independents. Not only were they surviving in a nice clean town with plenty of food, but their community was also thriving. This was the second child born in Independents, their birthdays coming a little over a year apart, and who knew which couple was going to have the next one. Scout would have laid money on it being Hunter and Molly—if money had any value. Maybe he would wager one of his fifty baseball gloves, but certainly not his Boy Scout shirt.
He would have believed that he and Raven could be the next proud parents in Independents, but his latest conversation left him frustrated. Raven didn’t understand him at all. Preoccupied, Scout rubbed his brow, totally missing Dylan walking out to greet them.
“Whoa there, Preach. You have some big balls showing up here.”
“Leave me alone, Dylan. I’m here to see Ginger and the baby.”
“You mean the poor kid that’s going to grow up without his father just like the rest of us? Only it didn’t have to go down like that. But thanks to you, he’s just one more little bastard in the bunch.”
“What’s he talking about, Scout?”
“Yeah, Preach. You might as well tell her what’s up since she’s also to blame.”
Scout’s anger swelled close to the breakpoint. He wanted to swing at Dylan so badly that his fists had already clenched involuntarily, ready and willing. Beating up Dylan would feel so good and so right that it scared him. Scout closed his eyes, lowered his head, and said a silent prayer for mercy.
He opened his eyes and sought Billy among Dylan’s crowd. The boy smirked at him. Scout knew exactly where he had picked up that expression.
“Billy, you know that’s not the way things went down. You were there. You know Jimmy did what he did to save Hunter. You stood right next to Raven with tears in your eyes and watched Jimmy drive away. I had nothing to do with it. His death was his decision.”
“Hey, Preach. Leave the kid out of this. We all know what you did.”
“Billy, please. I forgive you. Tell the truth.”
“I said leave him be, Preach,” Dylan said, and shoved Scout in the chest.
Scout stumbled to the ground, skinning his hands across the cobbles. The impact shocked him—madness consumed him. No prayers would be offered now. He sprang from the ground and flew into Dylan, who stood like he never expected Scout to fight back.
Scout led with a quick jab, popping him under the left eye. Stunned, Dylan bent over. Scout should have stopped. He grabbed Dylan’s shoulders and brought his knee up into the staggering boy’s face. Dylan toppled backwards and his eyes rolled white. No need for a ten count. The kid was out.
Three of Dylan’s friends r
ushed Scout and tackled him. The blows came from every direction, but Scout clawed and rabbit punched and bit whatever he could to strike back.
“Stop it! Get off of him!” Raven screamed, coming over to help. Then she cried out, collapsing to the ground with blood seeping from a cut across her forehead.
Scout went ballistic, beating whatever and whoever so he could get to Raven.
Shouts interrupted the fight. Mark and Samuel arrived, throwing Dylan’s friends off. They backed Scout’s attackers away, releasing him so he could go to his girlfriend’s aid.
Raven’s hand was pressed to her head to stem the bleeding. She sat in the street, her eyes wide with shock and confusion.
“Are you okay?” Scout asked.
She nodded and handed him a rock.
He gripped it so tight the edges bit into his palm. He jumped up and turned on Dylan and his gang. “Who threw this at her?”
Dylan was still stretched out on the ground. The rest of his group refused to meet Scout’s eyes—all but one.
Billy smirked at Scout and nodded slightly.
Scout dropped the rock and tore after the kid. “You son of a bitch. I’ll kill you!”
Before he reached Billy, Mark wrapped him up and carried him off, cursing and screaming across the street. Billy continued smirking at him as Scout was forced upstairs to his apartment.
Fifteen
Jimmy
Watching Ginger breastfeed his son amazed Jimmy just as much now as it did when he was alive. Of course that had been Vanessa, and Mark had been sitting right there, and Jimmy hadn’t been invisible. Not that being invisible mattered now. The baby was his son after all and Ginger was his girlfriend. Well, his girlfriend when he’d been alive.
Catherine came up next to him and whispered, “Close your mouth, silly.”
Breaking his gaze, Jimmy clapped his mouth shut and regarded the little girl. Things looked different in death—from Catherine’s pulsing yellow aura to Molly shining a bright rosy pink. Jimmy looked at his own body and saw the floor through it.
Activity had cooled in the maternity ward. Ginger was busy bonding with James. Luis moved around the room straightening up like he had another delivery scheduled for the afternoon. Outside, the soft rumble of the generator supplied energy to run the heat lamps and beeping heart monitor. Jimmy remembered when he had laid on that same hospital bed and Luis poked a tube through his chest to drain fluid and re-inflate his lungs. Good times.
Vanessa departed to take care of her own little one, but not before she made Molly promise to talk to her soon. Catherine said they’d get together after dinner, and it didn’t appear to please Vanessa that the little girl had invited herself along, but she shrugged and left.
All that remained were Catherine and Molly and their glowing auras. Molly fidgeted with the hem of her shirt like she had a lot on her mind. “Can I speak with you in private, Catherine?”
Catherine patted Ginger’s arm. “Are you going to be okay for a bit?”
“I’m fine. Right, Luis?”
“You’re in perfect health,” Luis said. “They don’t mention recoveries like this in my medical books. But they also don’t mention divine intervention either.”
“Divine,” Catherine said, and winked at Luis. “You say the sweetest things.” She kissed baby James on the head and he cooed before returning to his food source. “We’ll be around if you need us.”
Catherine followed Molly to the door then she cleared her throat. Jimmy glanced up from his inspection of the breastfeeding. Catherine motioned her head for him to follow before she walked out and shut the door. Jimmy frowned—that was so un-cool.
He glided over to the wall and held his breath. Well, he didn’t actually hold anything but the action felt better. He closed his eyes and continued the glide, tugging his way through what no living person could possibly pass.
“You can stop now, silly.”
Jimmy opened his eyes. He’d almost hovered through Molly, who looked as unnerved as he felt by the situation.
“She can see me now?” Jimmy asked Catherine.
“Yes,” Molly said.
Jimmy glided back a step and waved. “Hey, Molly.”
“Hunter misses you terribly.”
Jimmy removed his hat and played with the crease in the bill. Then he realized he’d been wearing a hat and stopped all together. He replaced the hat and stared at the floor. “I’ve missed him. Where is he?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be back sometime.”
Jimmy smiled and caught Molly returning his smile. “You shouldn’t tease the dead. We like to haunt, you know?”
“How’s the whole dead thing working out?” Catherine said. “Did you like the clouds? I find it too bright myself. How are Father, J.C. and the Spirit?”
“Catherine!” Molly said, like the floor was about to open up and swallow everyone standing there. “You shouldn’t refer to the Holy Trinity that way.”
Catherine pinched Molly’s waist and Molly spun from her reach. “I’m devout, Margaret. I said my prayers this morning. What about you?”
“I was busy defending myself against hellhounds.”
Catherine offered Molly a wicked grin. “I’m still a virgin.”
Molly covered her mouth and gasped. Her eyes widened in what looked like fear and then slowly melted into shame. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”
For a dead guy, Jimmy felt awfully uncomfortable. First the breastfeeding and now talk about his little brother’s apparent sex life.
Molly dropped onto the yellow sofa in the waiting room and her face fell into her hands.
“Ooh, muffins!” Catherine ran to the table and shoved a muffin in her mouth, pocketed another, and poured apple juice in a plastic cup. “Do you want one, Jimmy?” Crumbs shot out of her mouth.
Jimmy shook his head, but couldn’t believe how incredibly hungry he felt.
Catherine finished her muffin and brushed her hands off on the front of her white T-shirt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring up food. The hunger thing is the worst part about being a ghost. Forget I mentioned it.”
“How do you know?”
“Oh, I’ve been dead lots of times, silly. So has Margaret, right?” Catherine looked at Molly around Jimmy like he was as solid as an oak tree.
“How could I have lost my virginity?” Molly said through her hands. “An eternity of abstinence and then the apocalypse comes and I’m giving it away without a second thought.”
Catherine straightened and grinned at Jimmy. “She was going to have to deal with this sooner or later.” Then the girl and her yellow aura walked over and sat next to Molly and her pink one. Jimmy stared at the muffins a moment longer.
“You didn’t give it away for nothing, Margaret. I mean, really, you’ve been the saint of pregnancy forever. Maybe He thought it was time for you to discover more about your profession with a little on-the-job training.”
Molly raised her head, her face lined with haggard creases. “Please don’t blaspheme to me, Catherine.”
“Look, what’s done is done. You might as well get over it and have a little fun. What’s it like anyways?”
“Catherine, please!” Jimmy shouted. His son started crying in the other room.
Catherine hopped up with her hands on her hips and gave a stern expression. “Now see what you’ve done?”
“He heard me?”
“You’ve got a lot to learn, Mister.”
Jimmy glided next to the wall and held his hand close to the white paint. He wanted to stick his head through for a peek, but the overriding fear of getting stuck in the wall won out. “So tell me.”
“You go first. What happened when you died? Where’d you go? Who’d you see?”
Jimmy closed his eyes, surprised by the darkness when he did. “I remember floating away from my body with Ginger still holding me in the front seat of that truck. Then I floated through the roof towards the sunshine. Next thing I knew I woke up by a big tree with a shovel lyi
ng next to me. Every day I woke up next to that tree and every day, for whatever reason, I dug a grave, and in the evening I would lie down in the grave and go to sleep only to wake up and do it all over again.”
Molly rose off the couch and stood next to Catherine. “It’s happening, isn’t it?”
Catherine shushed her. “Let him finish. Keep going, Jimmy.”
“Well, today I woke up early, still in the grave, and I found Samuel by the tree looking down at me. I was excited to see him, but then there was the light that I thought was the rising sun. I followed Samuel and it turned out to be you two all lit up next to my house.”
“You never passed on to Heaven?” Catherine asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“And you didn’t see anyone?” Molly asked.
“Not until Samuel.”
The two glowing aura sisters left Jimmy out of the look they shared.
“It was bound to happen sometime,” Catherine said.
Molly wrung her hands together. “I didn’t expect it to be this quick. I just woke up. I barely know what’s going on around here much less the rest of the world. Why did He do this to me?”
“He wouldn’t have kept you in the dark if it didn’t serve His purpose. Trust in the Lord. Isn’t that what the Bible says?”
“Proverbs 3, verse 5,” Margaret said.
Catherine smiled.
If Jimmy could grasp solid objects, he would have shaken both of them out of their skins. “What is happening?”
They both turned their heads toward him with troubling, sad expressions.
Catherine answered. “Heaven’s closed.”
Jimmy’s gaze darted from the little one to the big one, hoping Molly would be more specific. “What does that mean?”
“It means…” Molly glanced at Catherine, who nodded, and Molly sighed. “It means that the End Times are here and the outcome will depend on us. It means there won’t be anymore help from above, and whoever dies will have to wait until everything is resolved.”
“Close your mouth, silly,” Catherine said.