“Erhm…”
What to say? Philosophically, he agreed with his father…
Ceasing operations and closing the plant, even for a few days, would be devastating. Despite what Alma said, they couldn’t afford it.
But emotionally, he remembered back to the beginning of their marriage, to the biggest fight they’d ever had…because he disagreed with her.
“You’re not supposed to disagree with me!” she’d shouted.
“But what if you’re wrong?” Eddie had asked.
“I’m talking about publicly,” she said. “You’re supposed to support me!”
And he remembered the knot he felt in his throat when he realized his mistake.
He didn’t want to go through that again.
He was already in enough trouble.
“I think,” he said weakly, “I think we should follow Alma’s plan. It—it makes sense.”
He glanced over at her, hoping for an approving nod.
But Alma stood from the couch. She was flushed.
“Delfino,” she said, “if something happens, do you want to look back on the moment and wish you had done more to protect everyone?”
Delfino sighed. After a moment, he waved his hands and said “Fine. We’ll do it your way. But if it doesn’t work, you’re going to pull your share of the overtime when we have to catch up.”
He left the pod, slamming the door behind him.
Alma marched into the kitchen.
Eddie found himself between them, glancing out the window toward Delfino, who was marching toward the plant, and Alma, who opened the dishwasher and jammed dishes forcefully into it.
He started for Alma.
“Not now, Eddie,” she said. “Go and pack Dylan’s bag.”
“After that, what should we pack in our bag?”
“Our?”
She turned around.
“We’re leaving, aren’t we?”
“We are leaving,” Alma said. “I don’t know what you’re going to do.”
“Oh, come on, babe—”
Xiomara lit a candle and took Eddie by the arm.
“Mijo, why don’t you help me exorcise this place?”
Chapter 14
Eddie followed his mother around the pod as she placed candles on the windowsills. Eddie lit them, one by one, and soon the pod was aglow with flickering flames, and the air tasted of wax and smoke.
“Is this really necessary?” Eddie asked.
Xiomara turned to Eddie. “Has Saint Death grabbed hold of you?”
Saint Death. La Santa Muerte. The patron saint of death. Legend had it that a long, long time ago, back on Earth, back in their mother country of Mexico, killings and drug cartels and violence were so rampant that some people, out of desperation, prayed to Saint Death instead. She was known for granting favors, little acts that saved lives. Since she was always bringing death to Mexico, it was better to pray to her so that she wouldn’t bring it to you.
At least that was how the legend went. Eddie didn’t believe it. He believed in God and Jesus, and a few patron saints, but the whole Saint Death thing—images of a cloaked saint with a smiling skull, sitting on a mantel surrounded by candles—always put him on edge.
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t have hold of me. And neither does Satan, Mamá.”
Xiomara shook her head. “Whether you know it or not, you opened your heart to demons, mijo. If only for a moment. We’ve got to fix it.”
Eddie kept following her around. They returned to the kitchen, where Xiomara opened a cupboard under the sink and pulled out several bottles of holy water. She had a big supply of them in her job as assistant pastor at the church.
She loaded them onto Eddie. The bottles had brown crosses on them and they glistened blue.
“Agua bendita?” Eddie asked. “Mamá—”
Xiomara pointed to the corners of the pod.
“Get to sprinkling,” she said. “We still have to cover the plant.”
“Am I the only one here who believes what I did wasn’t wrong?” Eddie asked.
Mama Tonia slid open the door to the pod and entered. Upon seeing the candles, she crossed herself.
“What is going on?” Mama Tonia asked.
“We are exorcising the pod,” Xiomara said.
“But why?” Mama Tonia asked. “Did my son finally admit that all that trash brings in bad spirits? I’ve said it from the very beginning.”
“Not quite Mamá,” Xiomara said.
“He didn’t do anything stupid, did he?”
“I ran into a bit of trouble, Mama Tonia,” Eddie said.
Mama Tonia’s eyes widened.
“It’ll be okay,” Eddie said.
“Of course it will,” Mama Tonia said. “My Eddie would never open the door to the devil. He grew up in the pews. Jesus stands with you, mijo.”
She took Eddie’s arm.
Xiomara handed Mama Tonia a bottle of holy water. She opened it and splashed an arc on the kitchen counter.
“Señor santo, le ruego que bendice esta casa!!”
“Mamá, not yet,” Xiomara said.
“What?” Mama Tonia said. “You handed me the water. What did you think I was going to do, eh?” She leaned in to Eddie. “What kind of trouble did you get yourself into, mijo?”
“It’s nothing, Mama Tonia.”
“It’s all right. You can tell me,” she said. “I took my blood pressure medicine today.”
He couldn’t tell her. He patted her hand and said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
He left her in the kitchen holding the holy water.
***
Delfino was standing at the entrance to the plant with a bottle of holy water when Eddie and Xiomara entered.
“We can’t go in,” Delfino said. He pointed to the cordons and caution tape that barricaded the open bay doors from entry. “It’s a crime scene, remember?”
Xiomara huffed and pushed past Delfino.
The two officers that stopped her happened to be members at the church.
They nodded as Xiomara explained that an exorcism of the entire plant was immediately necessary, and that their mothers would approve, and that she would appreciate it if they would let them continue.
“Why didn’t you tell us that?” one of the officers asked. “The way you were mumbling, Señor Puente, we thought you were going to try and wash away some of the blood on the floor.”
Xiomara flashed an irritated look at Delfino, who mumbled something else as he uncapped his bottle of holy water.
The officers let them in and told them not to disturb the crime scene.
“Splash around the boundaries of the crime scene,” Xiomara said. “We need to show any evil spirits that we are serious about protecting our home.”
Eddie yawned. Sleepiness was catching up to him. He splashed a bit of water near the caution tape, careful to avoid hitting the dead man’s blood.
Delfino climbed on a bale of cardboard. Eddie followed him.
“What do you think about all of this?” he asked.
“I think it’s crazy not to listen to your mother,” Delfino said. “Or your wife. You’ll fight to lose.”
“Maybe,” Eddie said.
“We’ve got to take the logical way out of this,” Delfino said. “I agree with the cleansing. It’ll put your mom at ease, at least.”
Eddie dumped the rest of his bottle across the bale he was standing on.
“I don’t like the way Papa Ito looks,” Eddie said.
“What else can we do?” Delfino asked absentmindedly.
“We ought to take Macalestern back to court,” Eddie said.
“Why? We won.”
“I called the doctor to increase the dosage on his medicine—”
“I already called about that,” Delfino said. “It’ll only make the symptoms worse, Eddie.”
Eddie hopped down from the bale.
“Maybe, but there’s got to be more we can do.”
Xiomara
dumped the last of her bottle on the floor. Alma entered carrying Dylan, and Mama Tonia followed.
“Is everything covered?” Xiomara asked, wiping excess water off her hands.
Everyone nodded.
“Good,” she said.
Dylan held up a shiny leather Bible with deckled edges. “Biblia!” he said in Spanish. “Biblia. Biblia!”
“Biblia,”Xiomara said, taking the Bible and smiling. “La Santa Biblia.”
“Son-ya biblia,” Dylan said, trying to repeat the phrase. Eddie laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him close.
“Let’s begin,” Xiomara said.
Eddie reached out for Alma’s hand. Reluctantly, she took it.
“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” Alma said. “I’m just really scared.”
Phew. Looked like he was in the clear.
“It’s okay,” Eddie said, standing up tall. “We’re going to get through this.”
“I don’t want any bad feelings to survive the exorcism,” Alma said. “But you can’t do that ever again. It was really stupid, Eddie. You have to put the family first.”
“Family first,” Eddie said, smiling.
They kissed. Then they bowed their heads and closed their eyes.
Xiomara opened the Bible and began to pray.
“Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee before Him.”
Eddie imagined himself back in the garbage ship, with the white ship chasing him through hyperspace. An aura of holy light surrounded the garbage ship, and then the white ship turned around and fled.
“Señor santo,” Eddie said, holding up his hand, palm up. His skin tingled.
“As smoke is driven away, so drive them away,” Xiomara said. “As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God…”
Mama Tonia began to pray at the same time in Spanish.
“Dichoso el hombre que no sigue el consejo de los malvados…”
“Sing unto God, sing praises to His name,” Xiomara shouted.
“Amen!” Alma shouted. Her grip on Eddie’s hand tightened.
“Extol Him that rideth the upon the heavens by His name Jehovah, and rejoice before Him,” Xiomara said.
Warmth spread through Eddie’s body. His grip on Alma’s hand tightened and she tightened her grip back. He could hear her whispering.
“Please God, protect our family. Protect Eddie. Protect Papa Ito. We have fallen on bad spirits and need your love—”
Mama Tonia raised her voice. She was yelling at the top of her lungs.
“Porque el Señor cuida el camino de los justos, mas la senda de los malos lleva a la perdición. Amen. Amen! Amen!”
“Heavenly Father, bless this house,” Xiomara said, transitioning from scripture into the exorcism.
“Bless this house,” Eddie repeated.
“Bless this house and expel any evil spirits,” Xiomara said, more forcefully, “for we walk in the shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his shadow knows no evil.”
“Amen,” Delfino said, his voice deep and booming. “Amen, amen. Sálvanos, señor.”
“Show us the path of the light, the path of the righteous,” Xiomara said. “so that we may never be wicked.”
Mama Tonia was still shouting, but Eddie didn’t recognize her words.
“Ma-shi babababa…”
His grandmother was shaking. Her hands were clasped together and she was crying.
“Ma-shi mananana…”
Tongues. She was speaking in tongues. The holy, heavenly language that only a few had the gift for.
Eddie held up his hand even further and began to pray in Spanish.
“Bendíganos…” Eddie said.
“Bless our house,” Alma begged. “Please bless our house…”
She was crying.
The entire plant filled with the voices of strong prayer, shouting, and crying, in English and Spanish.
Eddie imagined an evil spirit flying around them, shell-shocked by the noise and the Holy Spirit within everyone’s soul. He imagined the evil spirit flying out the window, into space, gone forever.
“In the name of the Holy Father,” Xiomara said.
“En el nombre del Dios,” Eddie said.
“The Son,” Delfino said.
“And the Holy Spirit,” Xiomara said.
“Ma ma shi na na,” Mama Tonia said.
“Amen,” they all said together.
And then all was quiet.
Eddie opened his eyes. They were moist and soft. But he felt lighter. Even though he knew it wasn’t true, the whole room seemed brighter, probably because his eyes had been closed for so long.
Xiomara was panting. She had the Bible open, and looked physically sick. Delfino grabbed her and stabilized her.
Alma squeezed Eddie’s hand. “That was good,” she said.
“Yeah,” Eddie said.
“Who’s hungry?” Mama Tonia asked, tucking her rosary under her shirt.
And then a low, whining sound filled the skies outside.
“What’s that noise?” Alma asked.
They ran outside, where the dark sky was illuminated by Reader IV’s rings.
Eddie’s heart sank. High in the sky, a ship eased across the clouds.
A white ship. It flew ever lower in the sky. He knew the white and black stripes anywhere, like a zebra fish in the sky. The orange lights of the bridge obscured the occupants.
It was him.
The murderer.
The white ship circled the plant, an orange beacon glowing on the underside of its wing.
A searchlight on the bottom of the ship scanned the desert and fell upon the plant, landing squarely on the family.
Everyone shielded their eyes, but the light swept past them quickly.
Eddie gulped and couldn’t find the words to speak.
“Who is that, Eddie?” Alma asked. “It’s not…you don’t think—”
Eddie felt himself going pale.
Before he could say anything, the white ship locked the police cars in its spotlight. Then, after a moment of regard, it gained altitude and rocketed upward, exiting the atmosphere.
Chapter 15
“It’s h-h-him,” Eddie stammered.
“Who?” Alma asked.
“The guy who was chasing me,” Eddie said. “He got my address from the corsair after all.”
“Run for your lives!” Mama Tonia shouted. She began to run-jog toward her and Papa Ito’s pod.
Several police officers ran out of the plant, talking into their walkie-talkies.
“What do we do?” Alma asked.
“The exorcism worked,” Xiomara said. “We cast him away. We are protected!”
“We’re not protected,” Delfino said. “He found us. He saw the police and spooked.”
“We should leave,” Eddie said. “We ought to find that hotel, now.”
Ted emerged from around the corner of the plant, from the shadows.
“That what I think it was?” Ted asked, scanning the sky.
“That was him,” Eddie said.
Ted spoke into his walkie-talkie. “I’ve got a visual on a white and black ship that just swept over my crime scene. Operator just exited the atmosphere. Do you copy?”
The walkie-talkie beeped. “We’ve got a patrol up there right now. We’ll see if we can get a visual and bring him in.”
Ted pointed to his squad car, which was running in the sandy parking lot to the plant.
“Let’s get you folks to safety,” he said. “Gather your things. We’ll send some unmarked cars out to meet you.”
“Come on, everyone,” Eddie said, scooping Dylan up. “Time to go. Vámonos, vámonos!”
Alma ran ahead to the pod.
“We’ve got to get Papa Ito ready,” Xiomara said, almost breathless. Delfino took her hand and they started toward Papa Ito’s pod.
“His medicine,” Xiomara said. “We can’t forget his medicine!”
Dyl
an pointed to the sky.
“Airplane!”
Eddie looked up at the sky, his heart heavy in his chest.
A police spaceship, black and almost undefined in the starry sky, rose toward the clouds.
He hoped they caught the bastard.
“Hey,” Ted said, “Gonna be okay, Eddie.”
A cold breeze blew through Eddie and he felt a chill. He nodded to Ted.
Then he turned and ran toward the pod.
***
Alma had torn the pod apart by the time Eddie entered. In their tiny bedroom, the drawers were open and clothes were strewn across the floor. A duffel bag and a travel suitcase lay haphazardly on the bed.
Alma moved around furiously, tearing open drawers and jamming clothes into the bags.
“Can you wash Dylan’s bottles?” she asked. “I should have washed them earlier.”
“Got it,” Eddie said, plopping Dylan on the bed.
He jogged into the kitchen, thinking about all the scenarios.
What if the ship came back? The family would be vulnerable.
Beyond vulnerable.
He would never be able to forgive himself.
He stood at the sink and sifted through a pile of dirty dishes. He grabbed three bottles and lathered them up with dish soap. As he washed them, he stared outside. The police were moving around the plant frantically.
He rinsed the bottles off and laid them on an dish rag and counted the pieces.
Three bottles.
Three cap rings.
Two nipples.
Nipple.
He looked around the kitchen, his hands dripping with soap and warm water.
Seemed like no matter how hard they tried to keep all the bottles together, one nipple always ended up missing.
“¿Dónde está la cosa?” Eddie shouted.
“What thing?” Alma replied. “There are a hundred thousand things in this house!”
“La cosa que you drink out of!”
“Speak Spanish or English. Not both!”
“¡Ay! La cosa plástica!”
“You mean the bottle?”
“No, no, la cosa que Dylan…la cosa que Dylan always chews a hole in—”
“Eddie, por favor! Nipple. Nipple!”
“Sí, dónde está?”
“Did you check the bottom of the sink?”
Garbage Star (Galaxy Mavericks Book 4) Page 7