by Alexie Aaron
“Find the loot. It’s gone,” the gorilla-footed man said gruffly.
“Do you think the homeowners took it?” Glenda asked.
“Before, way before.”
“Can you tell us who you are? It would help in our investigating the theft,” Mia requested.
The man looked at his colleagues, taking time to get a nod from each one of them before speaking, “We’re the Cleveland Clown Troupe.”
“No,” Glenda said in awe. “My father, when he was a kid, saw you in Decatur. You stole the show from Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. I think I still have the playbill tucked away somewhere. What the hell are you doing here? You’re performers, not thieves!”
Surprised by her outburst, the gorilla-footed man raised his hands. “It was there for the taking,” he explained. “They attached this extra car to the train, see. We got curious and found out that it was carrying old money. It was being taken to Fort Knox to be destroyed. There were boxes and boxes of it. No one was going to notice if one went astray. Hell, they didn’t even have a guard posted. It was easy pickings. Or so we thought.”
“What happened?” Glenda asked.
“We were seen. There was all this shouting, and we took off running and found ourselves here. We had a friend, former colleague, he had this cushy job. He was a butler for a half crazy, old broad. He couldn’t hide us there, but he knew that this place was empty for the summer. He told us as long as we kept to the basement, no one would find out. It was supposed to be just until the heat died down. Then we would divvy up the dough and go our separate ways.”
“Sounds like a plan. What went wrong?” Glenda asked.
“Don’t know. One night Simon comes running into the place and tells us the cops were searching 1301 next to him. They planned on searching the whole neighborhood. He encouraged us to go into the root cellar, and he would disguise the opening. So we did. Next thing I know is the sound of a pickle jar crashing to the floor, and we wake up in this nearly demolished house. No Simon, no loot, no nothing.”
“Bet you were pissed,” Mia said.
“Not until we found out we were dead. That took a while. We ain’t exactly college boys if you get my drift.”
“Where’s the money?” Glenda asked.
“We had it in with us, but it ain’t there now.”
“Paper rots,” Mia pointed out.
“Steel boxes don’t. Where’s the box, little lady?” the largest of the checker-suited guys asked, walking over.
Mia raised her hands, one in protest, one to tap her ear com. “Ted, it’s getting a bit dicey in here. We’re going to back out. Mind sending in Murph just in case?”
“Already there. You had him on the little lady,” Ted said.
“Mind if I look for myself?” Mia asked the ghost.
“Why?”
“Because you could be lying. My mother taught me never to listen to clowns…” Mia challenged, buying time.
“Hank, back down,” the gorilla-footed man ordered. “Go ahead and search. Don’t mind our dead bodies,” he said and disappeared.
Mia looked around her and saw that the only ghost in the room was Murphy who had appeared axe in hand, ready for a fight.
“What are you waiting for? You heard him. He gave us permission to open the root cellar,” Bev urged.
“Burt’s not here,” Mia stated. “We wait until morning for Burt. Then we film the whole process.”
Bev looked at her niece and slowly nodded. “Alright, but what do we do in the meantime?”
“You, and… Where’s Audrey?” Mia asked, looking around.
“She left after she heard her paramour’s uncle’s name being bandied about,” Bev answered. “You think she’s gone to warn him that the jig is up?”
“Not Audrey. She’s probably gone over to get more information,” Mia argued.
“It’s one o’clock in the morning,” Bev reminded her.
Mia was struggling for a better explanation when Audrey walked in carrying a cooler.
“My Dad dropped these off. What did I miss?” she asked innocently.
Mia looked at Bev and said, “Plenty, let me fill you in.”
“First food,” Ted begged. “Then talk. Papa’s got a craving for Mrs. McCarthy’s tuna salad.”
“Papa?” Bev said, looking from Ted to Mia. “Mia, do you have something you want to tell us?”
“No.”
Bev pushed, “Come on, are you expecting a little techie?”
Mia didn’t want to lie. “There’s always a possibility.”
“That’s not an answer,” Cid said.
“It’s an evasion. I think if you want an answer, you need to work on the weakest link,” Glenda said looking at Ted.
Mia glared at Ted, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Mia had a dream she was pregnant. Tonight we had unprotected sex and…”
Mia winced and put her hand to her forehead. “Why not tell them everything, Mrs. Cravitz.”
Ted blushed.
Bev walked over and took Mia’s hands and pulled off her gloves. She held onto her hands. Mia struggled, but the older woman was too strong for her. “Why, you little minx.” She dropped her hands and announced, “She’s got a tiny techy inside her, and we’re not talking about Ted’s penis size. PEEPs is going to be expanding, and I dare say, Mia along with it. You’re going to lose your body. Look at mine.”
“Yours is from overindulgence and sitting on your ass all day,” Glenda observed. “How can you be sure if it just happened?”
“She isn’t. Now all of you leave her alone,” Audrey said, drawing Mia away from the milling PEEPs.
“Sabine knew when they planted the eggs,” Bev said. “She said she felt heartbeats, and we know that’s physically impossible. I felt the same when Sabine was conceived,” Bev said in a strange voice. It’s part of the gene we all carry. It’s supposed to protect our children from evil.”
“Tell them about the dream, Mia,” Ted said.
“No. That’s private. You have to learn, Teddy Bear, to keep your big mouth shut,” Mia said and jumped down out of the trailer. She took off running. She heard Audrey’s feet as she pursued her.
“Mia, slow down. You’re giving me a stitch,” she called through gulps of air.
Mia stopped and sunk down to the ground and started to cry. Audrey caught up and sat down beside Mia and drew her arms around her. “It’s okay. Ted can’t help himself.”
“I know, but I shouldn’t have yelled at him,” she said through sniffles.
“Ted’s used to it. He has sisters,” Audrey comforted. “Aren’t you happy you’re going to have a baby?”
Mia looked at her friend, with such compassion and concern radiating through her, and smiled. “Of course I am. It’s a little early in our marriage, but I’m not getting any younger.”
“None of us are,” Audrey commiserated.
“But I wanted it to be private. First he tells Murphy and then…”
“Murphy knows? How’d he take it?”
“He wasn’t happy. That was until Ted called him the baby’s misty uncle. He liked that. But he was hurt. Damn it, Audrey, I’ve really hurt a few people in my life.”
“It’s all about living. We get hurt. We inadvertently hurt. You can’t be everything to everyone,” she schooled. “Murphy may have felt the door to you close firmly. You’ve never really shut him out, romantically, have you?”
The realization that someone outside of her head, someone that couldn’t read minds, could know this floored Mia. “It’s not that I wanted to string him along. I honestly love him, but I love Ted too. Does this make any sense?”
“It makes sense to me, and to Ted, and I suspect to Stephen Murphy too. We all love you Mia, romantically or otherwise. It’s hard to let go of a security blanket. I still keep a swatch of mine in my wallet,” she admitted. “Murphy’s been your knight since he saved you all those years ago, but he’s already lived his life. It’s time for you to live yours. I know
that you love your husband, gossip and all. Murphy knows you love Ted, and Murphy knows you love him. But he has his place, and that’s the plain hard truth of it. Murphy died all those years ago. A tree crushed the life out of him. Sure it was unjust, but unjust shit happens all the time. Ted was made for you. He was nurtured by great, understanding parents and tortured by his sisters. He saw you and…”
“I knew you were the woman of my dreams,” Ted said, stepping out of the darkness.
Audrey got up and walked backwards out of the glow of the overhead streetlight but stopped when she felt a tingle. She knew that Murphy too was there, just out of Mia’s sight, witnessing everything. Audrey stayed with him. He needed a friend too right now.
Ted planted himself on the ground in front of Mia. “You were, and are, this fiery spark of energy. You sucked my heart out of my body when you hugged me after the first fight in the hollow. I couldn’t stop dreaming of you. I had to watch you with Burt and then Whit. It hurt, but I knew that if I waited, you’d see me. Gossipy Ted, all elbows and knees. I’m not the sensitive male Burt is or have Whit’s looks, and I can’t protect you like Stephen Murphy can. All I can do is love you. I will continue to mess up and say things I shouldn’t, but I promise you I will never say anything that would hurt you on purpose. I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will provide a home for you, our children, and Murphy.”
“You forgot Cid,” Mia sniffed.
Ted smiled. “Cid too. What I’m trying to ask is, can you forgive me for spilling the beans? Can you look beyond the confident inventor and see an insecure boy so desperate to show off his good fortune to everyone he meets that he blurts everything out?”
Mia screwed up her face and got up and put her hands down reaching for his. “Ted, I love you, and I’m so happy we’re having this child together. But understand that in the real world, women don’t know right away that they’ve conceived. You can’t go telling everyone until we get a little more tangible proof. Can you see Susan Braverman’s face when you tell her that the self-professed king of purgatory told me that I was pregnant? Some things have to remain between you and me. The PEEPs are cool, as is Murphy, but no further. No calls to Ralph - shit, I bet Bev’s already done that. Hurry, get me to a cell phone before I become persona non grata with my godfathers!”
Audrey waited until they left before speaking to the entity she felt by her side. “If you ever need someone to talk to, or just be with, my door is open to you, Stephen. I’m not Mia, but I can be your friend. Just promise not to carve up the furniture, and we’ll get along fine.”
“Thank you,” Murphy whispered hoarsely, squeezed her hand and left.
Audrey burst into tears. She heard the anguish in his voice and felt his long dead heart break as he touched her hand. She let her tears fall for Murphy and for herself. She didn’t understand why God had to be so cruel sometimes, but she wasn’t raised to ask him why. She just knew that she had to find a way to live through the pain and perhaps find a little happiness along the way, like Mia had before Ted.
Chapter Thirteen
Mu was a bustling island. The inhabitants bore a resemblance to the peoples of Peru, Angelo observed. He-who- walks-through-time presented him with a robe of woven flax. He too was gowned in one.
“I traded the taro we found on the last island for them. They will cultivate them and dine upon their sweetness. Don’t worry, it will not change history, my friend. Mu will soon sink under the waves.”
“I almost feel an obligation to warn these people,” Angelo said.
“That we cannot do,” warned Ed. “It’s better this way. There is no way to save them. They will die quickly. The universe is kind that way.”
“Why must they die?” he asked. “They are not savages. Look, they have industry, culture and…”
“It’s too soon. They will die,” Ed said firmly. “And so will we if we continue to speak in this strange language. Here, they motion. In the temples they speak. Come, we need to find the River of Mu. The portal will not hold forever,” he warned.
The island was densely populated with a thriving community of people. The trade between it and the other Pacific islands was constant. Double outriggers towed stabilized barges into the bustling port. Ed and Angelo were glanced at momentarily and then dismissed. The island had many visitors from foreign lands. It was a major stop on the long journey between continents for the seaworthy traders. Ed kept up a vigorous pace through the city until they reached the freshwater waterway. He reached his hand into the water and brought it to his nose and frowned.
“This is not fresh enough. Sewage has spoiled the water. We must travel to its source in the jungle.”
Angelo nodded and looked around him. He dropped his robe and tied it securely around his waist. He unfurled his large wings and waited for Ed to turn around. When he did, Angelo pulled him tight against him and took flight.
Ed watched the ground as they flew high along the river. When he spotted the space where they should land, he gently eased his elbow into Angelo’s ribs. “Here.”
Angelo landed, tucked his wings back and waited until the traveler collected the water. It wasn’t the birdman that startled the children playing along the river bank, but the strange jar the other man dipped into the water. It was made of something they had never seen or would see again, plastic.
Ed walked over to Angelo, tightening the water carrier. “Time to go.” He dropped his robe as Angelo did. Angelo grew into a mighty bird and closed his wings around Ed. They disappeared.
Ed was now used to traveling this way. He and Judy used it frequently to move from the island to the balcony of Sabine’s condominium. It saved so much time, not to mention gasoline. Judy was all about decreasing what she called their carbon footprint. Ed had no idea what she was talking about but knew better than to question the woman he had taken as his mate. Happy fate depends on a happy mate, his mother always said.
Angelo touched down on the barren plain where Ed had opened the portal between timelines. As Angelo carried them towards the spinning vortex, he glanced around him. He doubted he would ever see this era again, a time when mankind didn’t hold dominion. A time when the earth was visited by beings from other places, putting their invisible mark upon the bipeds. Did Angelo’s people come here from a distant planet or were they created to fly amongst the emerging population? He pondered this briefly, but duty and Paolo Santos came first.
~
Mia walked the property line of the Malone house. She stopped periodically and stared at the house. It really was a beautifully built home. The original interior may have had too many little rooms for the tastes of the present homeowners, but it was fashionable at the time. Privacy was a premium. They had servants that needed to work unseen by their employers. A cook ruled the kitchen. There was no need for an open concept.
“Hello,” a male voice disturbed her thoughts.
Mia turned around to see a tall, well-dressed man in his forties staring down at her.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m Matt Bainbridge. I was looking for Audrey…”
“Mia Martin, I’m in charge of this investigation,” she explained. “I think Audrey’s curled up in the white whale sleeping. Most of my crew is sleeping somewhere,” Mia explained.
“I wanted to give her these keys. I understand she has a sensitive that is going to try to communicate with my great uncle who paces the attic.”
“Simon,” Mia said. “Your great uncle was Simon Bainbridge.”
“Guilty,” he said, handing the keys to Mia. “I have a full schedule today at the children’s hospital. Make yourselves at home. I have some coffee cakes thawing on the counter.”
“You’re very trusting, Matt,” Mia observed.
“Don’t let this get around, but I’ve got a sixth sense which enables me to see through the masks people wear and see them for who they truly are. It comes from my mother’s side of the family.”
“It’s a good thing to have in your presen
t occupation.”
“Yes, it comes in handy in my line of work.” Matt reached forward and grabbed Mia’s hand and pleaded, “Mia, I want to know the truth, no matter what it is. Simon’s ghost has been with us for generations. He’s never been this agitated before. Help him, please.”
“We’ll do what we can. I have a feeling that misunderstandings are at the core of all this. It’s going to take some time to untangle it, but I work with some remarkable people,” she assured him. “Come see me when you get back.”
He nodded, turned and walked swiftly away. Mia heard a car start and leave the cul-de-sac. She assumed correctly that it was Matt rushing to get to the hospital. She picked up a lot when he touched her hand. Even through her glove she could read him. He was a man that suffered from could ofs and should ofs. He took his relationship failures on himself even though there was another person involved. He wanted to have his own children, but until that happened, he poured that love into his practice and into each child that sat on his examination table. Matt Bainbridge was more than a doctor; he was a saint.
“I wonder if he and Saint Audrey…” Mia mused aloud. She laughed, scolding herself, “You’re not a matchmaker. You’re a ghost hunter, m’dear.”
“Ted to Mrs. Ted, over.”
“Mrs. Ted here, over.”
“The children have awoken, and Burt’s parking the van. Time to get this investigation started, over.”
“On my way, over and out,” Mia said, looking around. Where was Murphy? She was going to need his protection when she approached Simon Bainbridge. Maybe he would show up at the morning meeting. She hoped so. She needed to talk to him privately. She sensed all was not right between them. It was no one’s fault. She started back across the lawn.
Hands reached up and grabbed her legs. They pulled her downwards. The grass parted and the soil divided until the ground swallowed Mia up. She didn’t have a chance to call out to Ted. She simply disappeared.