Catee's Grace

by Keith Holmes

  "Are you like... one of those kung-fu monks?" Ethan interrupted.

  "Wha... no," Asa shook his head.

  The young father began to push himself from his seat. "We've got plenty of prayers so unless you can kick some reporter ass, then we're good. Thanks for coming by though." Ethan stepped toward the door and put a hand on the knob. Frustratingly he could hear voices and footsteps just beyond it.

  “Mr. Moyer, please," Asa appealed.

  "Save it," Ethan said, paying more attention to the sound of the crowd than his visitor. "I know how you people work. My little girl isn't going to join your dog and pony show so some guy in a dress can get rich. We're grateful for the help today. Have a great life. Dominus Ominus and all that."

  "I assure you...," Asa began.

  Ethan gritted his teeth and gave the monk his full attention. "You're leaving now," he guaranteed.

  Asa glanced to Tara as he began to stand. Reluctantly she piped up.

  “Please Ethan, he knows something," she explained, "and that’s more than we know.”

  "Tara this is stupid," he began in retort, but she interrupted him.

  "He knew at the mall."

  Ethan went silent for a moment. Letting his eyes pass between the two he calmed down. Then he made his way to the refrigerator, opened it and grabbed a beer. “You want a beer?” he asked, glancing to Asa whose relief shown in his face.

  “No, thank you.”

  The young father took a long drink before stomping back to his seat and dropping into it.

  “All right,” he offered as he looked to Asa, “I’m listening.”

  ***

  Sandra Hartley paced beside her news van, disbelief in her eyes and a cell phone to her ear.

  "There's fifty people here and more coming," she explained, pacing, a finger in her ear. "Yes, Channel 3 is here - Ted, CNN is here - everyone is here!" It was hyperbole, but only just. The parking lot had suddenly filled, people moving to and fro and a line of cars stretched well outside and into the street. "I don't know how they found out. Maybe we've got a leak? It doesn't really matter now, looks like all of Chicago knows!"

  A poorly dressed young woman ran just before the news van, her head tilted toward the Moyer’s building holding a sign that read: “The Crystal Child is Come!” From the back of a Volkswagen, people were unloading and setting up a tent, each with Rosaries dangling from their necks.

  “Oh my God Ted… they’re… they’re setting up tents out here… the religious freaks are actually camping in the parking lot! Okay. Well can I say her name now?” she questioned. "What about the name of the apartment complex?"

  “Okay.” With that she ended the call, banging on the side of the van to get her cameraman’s attention. “Frank get out here… we’re rolling!” On cue Frank the cameraman rolled open the door of the van and stepped out, slinging his camera atop his shoulder. Sandra took up a position before him so that the tents would be in the frame as Ritchie counted down her cue. Three Fingers…Two…

  “This is Sandra Hartley reporting to you from the parking lot of the Lakehaven Apartment Complex, home of the Miracle Girl and her family where a number of Chicago’s Spiritual Community have begun to gather…”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Asa folded his hands as he looked to Ethan and steadied himself. “As I told you, I am a monk. I know I don’t look the part but that is the way of my particular Order: the Chronica du Militia Christi." He paused, checking Ethan’s face to see if any of this meant anything to him. It didn’t. “One of the charges of our Order is watching for… ‘Miracles amongst the Masses’. After what I’ve seen today, I know that Catee is one such miracle. She is what we call an Argent Child. The Bible…”

  Ethan slapped at the table top and twisted his mouth. “Just…,” Ethan paused to check his anger. “Okay, g’head.”

  Asa eyed him for a moment. He wasn't sure why the ice was so thin with Ethan but he'd picked up on the young father's disdain for religion. He'd try to edit himself. “Catee has the power to heal by taking another's suffering upon herself."

  Tara's eyes lit up when he said it and her memory fired within her. She'd seen precisely that twice now. "Like with Mimi and that man today," she said breathlessly recalling.

  "She's done this before?" Asa asked.

  "A long time ago. Her great grandmother. She was just a baby," Tara nodded, "but not since then. Not until today."

  "Their gifts can be mysterious," Asa explained.

  “Their? Are there other Argent Children?”

  Asa tried to hide his discomfort with the question. "She is very rare. There have been a few others. There are probably more today. Some believe there's never more than one or two, but that's just conjecture."

  “Well, where are they? Why aren’t they on TV?”

  "One of them is in her room," Asa smiled. "We try to protect them as best we can."

  “Protect them from what?” Ethan interjected. He put his hands to his face as if to wipe the frustration from his eyes before he continued. “Could you please cut to the chase and tell me why my little girl is in danger?”

  “Of course,” Asa nodded, clearing his throat. “While we are to watch for Miracles, it isn’t our primary charge. We are here to support those that fight a war against the minions of darkness; the Vigilant.”

  The answer lifted the corners of Ethan’s mouth in a sarcastic grin. As Asa parted his lips to speak again, Ethan purposefully interrupted, having some fun at the monk's expense.

  “Why are we in danger?” Ethan nipped, his eyes locked with Asa’s who grew more nervous the longer he looked back.

  “I’m trying to explain Mr. Moyer. There are… groups of people that want to…” Again Asa was cut off.

  “Who’s coming to get us Mr. Monk?”

  “These… people are quite dangero…”

  “What people are dangerous? Just spit it out!”

  Ethan’s game had nearly the same effect on Asa as it had on everyone; utter frustration. As his aggravation grew he began to shift in his seat, unable to look into Ethan’s eyes any longer until finally he spit out a word as though it were a cough.

  “Dragons.”

  It had the effect that Asa expected. A shocked hush fell across the husband and wife as Asa looked to each one of them. Tara’s face was painted in confusion, a hint of betrayal in her eyes having heard his words. Ethan was all the more pleased as he moved to open the door for their new, eccentric friend.

  “Dragons Mr. Moyer… Monsters... Occultists… and many more who serve them... they will all want your daughter because they believe that she holds within her the power to take theirs away.”

  “We’re done now,” Ethan announced calmly as he stood by the door. Tara turned to him, wanting to protest, knowing better. She turned back to Asa with an embarrassed glance. She was embarrassed for herself for letting him in, embarrassed for Ethan and his rude little game and embarrassed for Asa and his fantastic story.

  Defeated, the monk stood and moved across the kitchen. He paused beside Ethan as he readied to open the door, one last bit of information imparted before being evicted. “I know it sounds mad Mr. Moyer, but it’s true. The Vigilant and I will be here to help you regardless.”

  “You do that,” Ethan replied. Then unceremoniously, he opened the door. Both men realized the growing depth of their problem. Just beyond was a hallway filled with neighbors and newsmen, all launching questions the moment they saw the father. With a palm in his back, Asa found himself shoved into the crowd, a shockwave thumped into his backside as Ethan slammed the door.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ethan pressed his back to the door as he looked to Tara who mirrored his shock. The conversation with Asa had been whisked from their minds by the throng of people that Ethan had fed the monk to. With a shared thought, the two quickly made their way to the living room window and together their hearts sank. Below them, throughout the parking lot and spilling into the playground nearby, camped a growing crowd. Tara l
ifted her hands to her mouth.

  “Oh my god Ethan, what are we going to do?”

  Ethan lifted his eyes to her, narrowed slightly to reflect the frustration tightening his chest. His face soured as his hackles rose along with his voice. “Why’d you let her do that?!” he demanded, his body turning to face his wife.

  She wasn't ready for this to be her fault. Tears spilled from her blue eyes and trickled down her cheeks. She retreated to the recliner and curled into a ball. Ethan lowered his chin, ashamed that he'd lashed out at her. This wasn't her fault and he knew that. He moved toward her but before he could apologize, a tiny voice took their attentions.

  “Why 'dose people outside?” the tiny girl’s question came as she padded, barefoot into the living room. She had a terrible case of 'Bed-Head'. She waddled over to the recliner and climbed into her mother's lap. Then she eyed her father. “What’s wrong Daddy?”

  He called upon the softest tone he’d managed all day. “At the mall today... why'd you do that baby?”

  She searched the sadness in his face for a moment before answering. “Because Daddy, dat man needed me to.”

  Tara bit her lip as she heard the reply and looked to Ethan as he dipped his head. “Catee, do you realize what you’ve done? Those people outside, they all want to see you. They want for you to do for them what you did for Santa Claus today.”

  “Oh,” she said, as she gave the statement a moment of contemplation. “I need my shoes on.”

  "No Catee. We don't know those people. They might try to hurt you... or take you away."

  Her little brow deepened. “Why?” she wondered.

  Tara turned Catee to face her. “Listen to me Catee. You have a very special gift, a gift that lots of people in the world want. Some of those people want it so bad that they’ll do anything to get it. Those people outside might all be very good people but sometimes good people do bad things when they want something enough.”

  “Like at the mall?” she interrupted.

  Tara nodded as she remembered the feeling of that mob closing in on her and her little girl. “Yes baby, just like those people at the mall. They get too excited and they want to be first in line. Me and Daddy are afraid that if we let them see you, they’ll do what those people in the mall did. You don’t want that do you?”

  Catee shook her head. “How long are they stay Mommy?” she asked.

  Hugging Catee to her chest, Tara rested her chin on the little one’s shoulder and looked to Ethan as she replied. “I don’t know baby. I don’t know.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was six o’clock in the evening when Tara took Catee for her bath. The house had gone quiet, the mob outside the door finally giving up on anyone answering their knocks. Ethan stood with his forehead against the cool window of the living room, his eyes affixed on the crowd below as snow began to fall. They weren’t leaving. Given the tents and camping supplies, it was clear they intended to stay for a long time.

  Ethan pondered his family’s future as he watched the snow lilt down upon the masses. His eyes searched for the old, familiar scene from his window… a parking lot with a few kids playing, people moving in and out of the building… the usual, same-old-same-old. Eventually something familiar did catch his eye.

  The contrast in Asa’s motion is what first drew Ethan’s attention. He walked without lifting his head toward the apartment, without the exuberance that others held. Instead he moved like a man with a mission, his hands tucked in his coat pockets. Ethan locked onto Asa’s sand colored head as he weaved his way solemnly through the crowd until finally he arrived before a much larger man. The big fellow had his hands shoved into his pockets and a dark hood over his head. He looked menacing. The man and Asa exchanged a few words and then they each glanced toward the window. Never one to back down from a fight, Ethan met their stares.

  “What are they up to?” he muttered. “This is nuts! Where the hell are the cops?”

  Ethan turned on his heel and quickly paced to the phone which, was still off the hook. He quickly swooped up the receiver and clicked it down on the cradle a time or two in order to get a dial tone but all he heard was silence. “Hello?” he spoke.

  “Ethan? It’s Mom. What on earth is going on?” his mother asked, fear in her voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you for hours!”

  “Hey Mom. It’s… everything’s really weird right now. There’s a million fu...,” he caught himself. To this day he didn’t swear in front of his mother. He cleared his throat and continued.

  “There’s a million people outside Ma. They’re all sayin’ Catee is some kind of miracle."

  “I know! It’s all over the news! What happened at the mall Ethan? Are you guys okay? Your father and I are coming over there.” Ethan’s mother was ready with a hundred more rapid-fire statements and questions as Ethan cut her off.

  “No Ma. You probably can’t even get in here right now. We’re fine. You and Dad just sit tight and I’ll call you after the police clear these idiots outta here. I love you. Bye.”

  ~click~

  Before she could call back, he dialed out.

  “87th Precinct,” greeted a hurried voice, “This is Sgt. Boyd.”

  “Yeah Sgt. Boyd, this is Ethan Moyer…”

  “Mr. Moyer, we been tryin’ to reach you. Hang on, I’m gonna put you through to the Captain.”

  Before Ethan could reply there was a click on the phone and a new voice spoke.

  “Mr. Moyer, this is Captain Harris. We’ve been trying to reach you for some time sir.”

  “Yeah, I know. The phone’s been off the hook. What are you gonna do about all these people?” Ethan questioned.

  “We’re going to bring you and your family down to the precinct Mr. Moyer, to move you guys so we can get the crowd under control and better protect you,” came the official sounding reply. Ethan didn’t take kindly to the command.

  “Move US?!” Ethan huffed.

  “Mr. Moyer, hear me out please. We'll put you up in a hotel for a few nights and..."

  "No!" he grunted. "No, no, no! Where the hell are you guys? Why aren't you here moving these crazy fuckers out of my parking spot? WHY AREN'T YOU DOING YOUR GODDAMN JOBS?!"

  "MR. MOYER!" the Captain growled back. Ethan paused.

  "Listen, this is the best way to do this. Sure we can send the riot squad in, spend the tax payers money getting those people to move along, but it'd be much easier and much faster if you'd just let us move you and your family for awhile. If you're not there, they'll go."

  Ethan rolled his eyes. "One: I'm one of those tax payers and I've never asked you goons for anything. Two: This is my home. Me and my family aren't going to change a damned thing because some nut jobs decided to camp out in my parking lot."

  "Mr. Moyer please...," the Captain began but Ethan cut him off.

  "No sir... Look. This building is private property and so is its parking lot. There's a group of trespassers illegally gathered here. I need for you to wipe the doughnut glaze off your chin, get your fat asses out of your chairs and do your fucking JOB!"

  Ethan slammed the receiver into its cradle before tugging it off and letting it hit the floor. That’s when Catee felt it was time to interject, her voice echoing off the walls of the bathtub in the bathroom a few paces away.

  “Daddy? We don’t say bad words,” she sing-songed, her mother's 'shhh' a moment behind it.

  Ethan was stationed at the window again as night fell across the city block. He watched as propane grills and nightlights began to shine below but it was another kind of light that lifted his spirits. Down the street police cars began to emerge, lights flashing to announce their arrival. A grin lifted the corners of Ethan’s mouth as a weight left his chest.

  Asa was watching as one of the news people interviewed a woman dressed in Hippie Fashion. “Oh no,” she explained, “I don’t believe in all that religious nonsense. Catee is one of the first Crystal Children.”

  “The Crystal Children?” the reporter asked. />
  “Yeah,” the woman continued. “She’s a product of evolution. We all knew that eventually she’d turn up! This is a very exciting time to be alive!”

  The reporter was about to continue when the red and blue lights caught everyone’s attention. Over a loudspeaker attached to the top of the lead car came the even-toned command.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, This is the Chicago Police Department. Due to complaints from the residents and the owner of this building, we must ask you to pack up your things and leave this area immediately.”

  Asa began sinking into the background. He had expected this hours earlier. Taking one last glimpse toward the apartment window, he began to comply.

  Ethan turned as a sleepy-eyed Tara wandered into the living room dressed in a pair of thick socks and an oversized t-shirt. “What’s going on?” she asked as she fumbled toward Ethan.

  “Cops showed up,” he said, turning to her with a smile.

  “Thank God,” she whispered as she pushed her cheek into his chest.

  “Thank somebody,” he offered, finishing off his last beer of the night.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Ethan found himself awakening every fifteen minutes with a start. The current time was 2:45 a.m. He sat up and looked at Tara who was sound asleep. One more time, he rose and softly padded to Catee’s room, using the doorframe to steady himself as he looked in on her. She was sound asleep too.

  He rubbed his eyes, realizing that he'd have to be up for work in only a few more hours. And then he turned toward the kitchen. Suddenly fright shot through him and he jolted awake as he laid eyes on a very large man in a dark coat, the same man that he’d seen conversing with Asa through his window. That man was twice as intimidating now, towering near seven-feet tall; his big frame all but filling the narrow hallway. In his hand was a sword, a long glint of steel. Ethan, dressed only in a pair of briefs, filled his lungs with air as he unleashed a war cry.

  “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN’ IN MY HOUSE?!”