3 Ghosts of Our Fathers (13 page)

“You said you thought you might
have a solution?” Steven said.

“Yes,” Garth said. “Sean.”

“Sean?” Steven said. “Your
brother?”

“Yes,” Garth said. “He died many
years ago, when he was forty. About Daniel’s age.”

“He’d have to be a ghost,” Roy
said, “or it will be extremely hard to rouse him.”

“Oh, he’s a ghost,” Garth said. “I
talk with him all the time.”

Steven looked at Roy. He didn’t
know if Garth really did talk with Sean, or if some dementia was showing. Garth
had seemed lucent and coherent when they had talked with him days ago. Old age
plays funny tricks on people.

“How do you talk to him?” Roy
asked.

“I close my eyes,” Garth said,
“and I think about him. Eventually he comes, and we talk. He’s always been very
protective of me. That seems to have carried over after his death.”

“How often do you talk to him?”
Steven asked.

“We used to speak two or three
time a week, before he passed,” Garth said. “That didn’t stop after he died. We
kept talking.”

“When was the last time you
talked?” Roy asked.

“Last night,” Garth said. “I told
him all about your visit, Steven. He was very concerned. He felt very badly
that Frank was escaping the cage. I haven’t yet told him the latest.”

“You think Sean will be interested
in helping Daniel?” Steven asked.

“I think so,” Garth said. “I think
he’d jump at the chance to be able to physically move again. He’s mentioned it
many times. I think his desire for that is one of the reasons he hasn’t moved
on. And me, of course.”

“Yes,” said Steven. “Do you think
he realizes he’d be sharing a body with someone else?”

“I don’t know, we’ll have to talk
to him about that,” Garth said. “I was thinking, if you two are agreeable to
it, that we should try contacting him now and ascertain his interest. If he’s
willing, you’ve got your solution to bring Daniel back.”

“Would you mind if I go into a
trance while you speak with him?” Roy asked. “And Steven as well? We should be
able to join you in your conversation with him, provided he’s willing to speak
to us.”

“Yes, please do,” Garth said. “Is
there anything you need from me?”

“No,” Roy said. “I’ll put on this
blindfold. If you’ll proceed to contact Sean, I’ll be able to witness it. When
Sean appears, I’ll signal Steven, and he’ll join my trance.”

“Good, that sounds fine,” Garth
said, rising to dim the lights. He returned to his chair and sat down.
“Everyone ready?”

Steven tied the blindfold around
Roy’s head. “Ready here,” he said, standing behind Roy. Garth closed his eyes.

Steven turned to look out the
windows. The dim light from the bay illuminated the three men inside the
apartment and Steven’s eyes adjusted to it quickly. He could see lights on the
bay; boats, restaurants along the shore, the taillights of cars on Highway 101
in the distance. He stared out at the beautiful sight for several minutes,
expecting it to take a while before contact was made. He was startled when Roy
spoke.

“Steven?”

“Yes, I’m here,” Steven answered.

“Would you go down to the car and
get the cage?” Roy said.

“Shouldn’t we speak to Sean
first?” he asked.

“We already have,” Roy answered.
“He’s agreed to help.”

“Wow,” Steven said, “that was
fast. Usually takes longer.”

“Not this time,” Roy said. “Sean’s
been with us since we walked into the apartment. He’s ready to go. Can you get
the cage please?”

“On my way,” Steven said.

He slipped out the door, leaving
it ajar so he could get back in without disturbing the two men. He went down to
the car and retrieved the cage. The receptionist smiled at him as he returned,
but eyed the covered cage he brought back with him. Steven made his way to the
elevator quickly and back into Garth’s apartment. He set the cage on a coffee
table between Roy and Garth, and removed the cloth.

“The cage is here,” Steven said.

There was silence for another
minute. The rat was sitting quietly, but suddenly became very active, squealing
and banging against the wire sides of the cage. Then as suddenly as it had
started, the rat calmed, and sat quietly again in the cage. Roy removed his
blindfold.

“Can you get the lights, Steven?”
Garth asked. “They’re against the wall there.”

The switch was within arm’s length
of where Steven was standing. He flipped the switch and the lights in the room
slowly rose to their previous levels.

“That went smoother than I
expected,” Roy said.

“The rat didn’t seem too happy
about it,” Steven said, walking towards the cage.

Garth rose from his seat and
approached the cage as well. He stared into it, looking at the rat.

“So Sean is in there?” Garth
asked.

“I believe so,” Roy said. “Steven,
would you call Eliza? Tell her to have everything ready when we get back. We’ll
want to do this quickly.”

“Would you mind if I come with
you?” Garth said. “I’d very much like to see this. I can hire a car to bring me
back after.”

Steven and Roy looked at each
other. “I don’t see why not,” Steven said. “Get your things and we’ll go.”

When they arrived at Steven’s,
Eliza had Daniel ready to go. He was laid out on the guest bed, naked, with a
towel draped over his waist. A thin, clear, mucus-like substance was waiting in
a large salad bowl on the nightstand, along with a Mason jar filled with a
clear liquid. Roy brought the cage into the room and sat it at the foot of the
bed, next to Daniel’s leg.

“It worked?” Eliza asked.

“Yes, Sean is here,” Roy said,
motioning to the rat.

Steven introduced Garth to Eliza
and they shook hands.

“What your brother is doing is a
very kind thing,” Eliza said. “You’re kind to help, as well.”

Garth smiled at her. Her charm was
immediately disarming, and Steven could tell she’d won another convert.
Everybody
likes Eliza
, Steven remembered Daniel saying.

“Let’s do this,” Steven said.

“All right,” Roy said. “First, the
salve. It’s ready, Eliza?”

She reached to the nightstand,
retrieving the salad bowl. “Here,” she said, extending the bowl to the three
gentlemen. None of them reached to take it from her. She looked back at them.

“Oh, never mind, I’ll do it,” she
said, approaching Daniel. She dipped her hand into the substance and began to
spread it over his body. She took care to make sure it covered all of him,
including his hair and under the towel. She had Steven help her lift Daniel so
she could coat his backside as well. Steven was grateful the substance had no
smell. As Eliza applied it, he thought of the young man, so distraught over
losing his son, and how he’d scraped the matter from his legs. That matter was
now coating Daniel. He pushed the thought from his mind and returned to the
task at hand.

“I think that’s it,” Eliza said,
wiping her hands with a towel. “He’s pretty much covered.”

“The next step,” said Roy, “is for
Sean to fuse with Daniel. This will bring Daniel back to the present. I do not
know how long he’ll stay, however. The parasites might begin affecting Sean as
quickly as they affected Daniel, so be ready to inject the protection quickly,
Eliza.”

Eliza produced a large syringe
that she dipped into the Mason jar and slowly filled. Then she positioned
herself near Daniel’s head. She unplugged a cap that was on the end of a small
tube taped to Daniel’s cheek. She inserted the head of the syringe into the
tube. “I’m ready,” she said. “Once I inject it, it’ll be in his stomach within
a few seconds.”

“OK,” Roy said, and removed his blindfold.
“Steven, if you would.” He handed the blindfold to Steven, who stepped behind
him and wrapped it around Roy’s head.

All eyes were on Roy. He remained
in the trance for several minutes before the rat began to act up again,
screeching and running around the cage in a panic. It climbed the walls of the
cage and stuck its nose through the bars, desperate to get out. Steven saw it
push with such force that its eyes began to bulge, and he was afraid they might
pop, or the thin bars of the cage give way. It continued to press, but then
Steven saw the hind legs go limp, and the body of the rat slumped, lowering to
the bottom of the cage. The rat’s nose remained wedged in between the bars.

As the rat stilled, Daniel began
to move. Steven saw his fingers extend and his elbows shift.

“Now, Eliza!” Roy said. Eliza
turned her attention from Roy and focused on the syringe. She pressed the
plunger and watched as the liquid ran out and into the tube, disappearing down
Daniel’s mouth.

For several seconds they watched
as Daniel continued to move. He wasn’t jerking; it was small, deliberate moves
as though he was testing out his muscles. His toes curled. His neck shifted his
head slightly. He continued these small movements for a couple of minutes, and
then he was still.

After that, nothing. Steven feared
that the procedure might have failed.

“Eliza, move back,” Roy said.
“They’re emerging.”

Steven and Eliza slipped into the
flow and observed. They saw four different white centipedes chew their way out
of Daniel’s lower stomach. As each emerged and reached the surface they began
to turn translucent. They didn’t make it more than an inch or two from the hole
they’d emerged from before they slowed and died.

Eliza left the flow and checked on
Daniel. His breathing and pulse seemed normal. Steven and Roy remained in the
flow, watching the centipedes until they had completely faded from view. Once
it appeared they were gone, they exited the flow. Roy removed his blindfold.

“What happened?” Garth asked,
standing in the back of the room, observing. “The rat is dead.”

“Yes,” Roy said, “and the fusing
is complete. The parasites were driven out. As far as I can tell, we did
everything according to plan.”

“How is he?” Steven asked Eliza.

“Same as before,” she said. “Body
is perfectly fine. Whether he’s made it to the present or not we won’t know
until he revives. How long does this salve need to stay on, Roy? The parasites
are out.”

“I think you can wipe it off and
clean him up,” Roy said.

“So now we wait,” Steven said.

“Yes,” Roy said, “that’s all we
can do for now.”

-

It was late, and everyone decided
to turn in for the night. Garth asked if he could stay, and Roy offered to put
him up for the night at his place. Steven offered to sleep on the couch and
give Eliza his bed, but Eliza said she’d sit up with Daniel for a while to keep
an eye on him.

When Steven woke the next morning,
he found Eliza sitting with Daniel in the living room. Steven walked up to
Daniel and gave him a big hug. “Welcome back,” he said, squeezing him. “We
thought we’d lost you.”

“I thought I was lost,” Daniel
said. “Literally.”

“Looks like you found the coffee,”
Steven said, returning to the kitchen to pour himself some.

“Tastes so good,” Daniel said,
staring at his mug.

“How is he, physically?” Steven
asked Eliza.

“Seems fine,” Eliza said. “All of
his vitals are normal.”

“I don’t feel fine,” Daniel said.
“I feel…different.”

“Eliza told you what we had to
do?” Steven asked.

“Yes,” Daniel said, “and he’s
here. I can access all of his memories. He hasn’t tried to take control, but
I’m afraid to just turn things over to him and let him do that.”

“Garth offered Sean as a
solution,” Steven said. “He’s staying at Roy’s. I’ll call them and let them
know you’re OK. I expect they’ll want to come over and see you.”

“Sure,” Daniel said. “I guess Sean
saved me, in a way. So I guess I’m grateful he’s here. But it’s strange, you
know, having someone else inside you, knowing they’re there.”

“I’ll bet,” Steven said, trying to
imagine it.

“Can’t tell you how good this
coffee is,” Daniel said, taking another long sip.

“He’s been drinking it all
morning,” Eliza said. “This is the second pot.”

Steven rose to call Roy and Garth,
and while waiting for them to arrive he took a quick shower and got cleaned up.
As he dressed he could hear Roy and Garth arriving, chatting with Eliza and
Daniel. He joined them in the living room.

“Thank you, Garth,” Daniel said.
“It’s really quite extraordinary.”

“You’re welcome,” Garth said. “But
it was actually Sean’s idea. I told him what had happened, and he offered. He
wanted to do it.”

“Why do you suppose that is?”
Eliza asked.

“Sean died young,” Garth replied.
“He was about your age when he passed. I don’t think he felt he’d done all he
wanted to in life. He became a ghost almost immediately; he started visiting me
the week after he died and has visited ever since. Part of it was his natural
inclination to protect me, which he’d been doing his whole life. But part of it
was regret, I think. Missed opportunities. I’m hoping that he’s able to enjoy
life for a few more years with you, Daniel. I’ll pass on soon, so that’ll
remove that excuse. Whenever your day comes, Daniel, I’m hoping he’ll feel OK
with just moving on.”

“He wants to talk to you,” Daniel
said. “I can feel him. But to let him, I’d have to give up control. I’m scared
to do that. I don’t know if I’d get it back. It’s like agreeing to let a
stranger drive your car, but in this case it’s your life  – how do I know he’ll
return it?”

“I know Sean,” Garth said. “You
have nothing to fear. He will give it back.”

“I’ve begun to let it happen a
couple of times this morning,” Daniel said, “because he’s anxious. I can tell
he really wants control. But the feeling as you let it happen – it’s like what
I imagine dying to be.”

“Like what we saw with the rat in
the cage,” Roy said. “The fear of dying, of losing yourself. Very frightening.”

“You take it in your own time,”
Garth said. “Sean will understand.”

“What was it like before you came
back?” Steven asked.

“Hard to describe,” Daniel
replied. “I guess I’d call it like being in a huge house of mirrors. All the
options looked the same, like reflections of myself. I’d choose a path, walk
down it, and find myself somewhere. No idea where. No idea what year or time it
was, no idea what place. I could observe what was going on there, but I
couldn’t interact – I had no body. I could back out of it and be in the house
of mirrors again. That’s why I felt lost. I knew I’d never find you all. But it
was absolutely fascinating from an academic perspective.”

“For someone like you, all
obsessed with time,” Eliza said, smiling, “that might have been heaven for you.
Maybe we should have left you there. For a while longer, at least.”

“Wouldn’t have mattered,” Daniel
said. “I felt like I was there for an instant and for an eternity. Time
completely lost meaning in the house of mirrors. Once I went into a moment I
felt time return, as I saw people and things moving through time. But when I
pulled back time disappeared. So I felt like I was there forever, from the
first moment I was there. Kinda hard to explain.”

“Kinda hard for our
linear-thinking brains to comprehend,” Steven said. “But I think I get the
drift.”

“Well, the main thing is that
you’re healthy and you’ve survived it,” Garth said. “I think I’ll go back to
Olympia. You take your time with Sean. I’ll leave you my number so you can
reach me if you want to.”

“I’m sure Sean will emerge at some
point,” Daniel said. “Thanks for being patient.”

Garth said his goodbyes to
everyone while waiting for the car to pick him up. Soon he was out the door and
on his way back home. Eliza made another pot of coffee. Between Roy and Garth’s
arrival and Daniel’s craving for it, the coffee maker was getting a lot of use.
Roy said he’d go out and pick up some donuts, and Steven went into another room
to call Jason.

When Eliza returned to the living
room, Daniel was looking at the objects Sam had given to him when he gave him
the parasites. “I know what these are now,” he said.

“Because of your experience?” she
asked.

“Yes,” Daniel replied. “Because of
that. This one is a chronosphere, as I suspected” he said, lifting up one of
the objects. “And that one,” he said, pointing to one on the coffee table in
front of him, “holds a minor demon.”

“A minor demon?” Eliza asked.

“It’s a time demon,” Daniel said.
“You know, I’ll bet this means I can figure out what each of the items in my
collection does.” He lit up, excited. “I’ve got to get back to Spokane!”

“Slow down,” Eliza said. “How
about we rest up for the day here. I’d like to make sure you’re OK first. Then,
if you don’t mind, I’ll drive you back in your car, and I’ll fly home from
Spokane.”

“You don’t have to do that,”
Daniel said. “I’m fine.”

Eliza cocked her head to the side
and stared at him. It was a look Daniel was familiar with.

“Then again,” he said, “I sure
would enjoy the company on the drive back.” He smiled at her.

“Great, it’s settled. We’ll leave
tomorrow morning. The rest of today I want you to take it easy. Your body is
adjusting after several days on a feeding tube and IV.”

Daniel nodded his head in
agreement, then stood up and walked into the kitchen. “Do we have any orange
juice? Or maybe some water…”

-

Steven’s call to Jason went well.
The nightmares had ended and he was feeling better. Steven was relieved. But
Jason wanted to come over and see him, saying he had something important he
wanted to talk to him about. Steven felt dread in the pit of his stomach, but
masked it and told Jason he could come over anytime. Jason said he’d be there
in an hour.
Damn, I made him that promise
, Steven thought.
I’ll bet
he’s coming over to cash it in
.

Steven rejoined Eliza and Daniel
in the living room. He wanted to keep an eye on Daniel to make sure he was all
right, but with Eliza there he didn’t feel too concerned. And he was enjoying
the stories Daniel was telling about the different moments he’d accessed and
observed. Daniel was energized and excited by the events. He could also tell
that Daniel was worried about Sean.

At one point Daniel stopped
talking, as though he had lost his train of thought and was trying to remember
something. As he paused, Eliza and Steven looked at each other, concerned. Then
he resumed talking, on an entirely different subject. Steven wrote it off to
the confusion he must feel, having Sean inside him and having gone through what
he had in the past 24 hours.

Roy returned with the donuts and
joined in on the conversation. Daniel asked Roy how the possession events had
occurred, and Roy was describing the process when Jason arrived. Steven
introduced everyone to Jason.

“Well, aren’t you a handsome young
man,” Eliza said, shaking his hand. “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

Steven could feel his cheeks
flushing a little. Jason didn’t seem fazed by the comment.