3 Ghosts of Our Fathers (15 page)

“No, he’ll be easy to reach,” Roy
said. “I talk to him every morning.”

-

Although things between Roy and
Steven were thawing a little, Roy didn’t want Steven to sit in on his séance to
contact David, saying he was still too pissed at him for it to work. Roy and
Eliza conducted the séance alone, and Steven waited in the guest bedroom at
Roy’s, where he’d slept months back when he and Roy were fighting the ghosts
that used to haunt Steven’s house. The room used to be Steven and his brother
Bernard’s room when they were kids. He’d had too much coffee to drift off to
sleep, so he busied himself with his phone, reading the news, playing mindless
finger games. After a half an hour of solitude Eliza came to his door.

“We’re done,” she said as she
opened it. It felt to Steven like he was being let out of his room after being
grounded.

Probably how Roy wanted it to
feel,
he thought.
Well I’ve apologized and I’ve paid my penance, things
better be balanced out now.

“And?” Steven asked, walking back
into the living room where Roy sat.

“I don’t know what I was
thinking,” Roy said. “He’s fine with the plan, but it doesn’t matter what he
thinks.”

Steven looked confused.

“We realized as we were working it
out with him,” Eliza said, “that he can’t go back with the demon because he’s
not physical.”

“So one of us has to go back,”
Steven said.

“Yes,” Eliza said, “and convince
David in 1933 to handle things differently.”

“How about I go back,” Steven
said, “and shoot him myself?”

“You can go back,” Roy said, “but
you won’t be able to kill anybody. When you traverse time like this you can’t
actually do anything yourself. You can observe, you can communicate with others,
but you can’t change anything directly. We’ve got to talk to David and convince
him to not help the boys cage Frank.”

“And don’t forget you have to
convince him to kill Frank as well,” Steven said, “or have you lost your
concern for the welfare of the boys?”

Roy shot Steven a dirty look. “I’m
trying to be civil here, piss-ant, it’d be nice if you’d meet me halfway.”

“Stop, both of you,” Eliza said.
“You both love each other and need each other’s help. And god knows I need you
both right now. So please, for me, stop.”

Steven and Roy both looked at Eliza,
then looked away, embarrassed at their behavior.

“Who can convince David of what
needs to be done?” Eliza said. “Who do you think he will listen to?”

“Probably me,” Roy said. “I can
blow his mind with a few facts from the future and then tell him what needs to
happen.”

“And just so we’re clear,” Steven
said, “what needs to happen is exactly what?”

“He needs to stop the boys from
caging Frank,” Roy said, “and he needs to find a way to kill Frank instead.”

“It’s a tall order for a ten-year-old
boy,” Eliza said. “Do you think you can do it?”

“I’ll try,” Roy said. “That’s the
best I can do.”

Roy found himself standing behind
a bush in David Hall’s backyard. David was swinging in a tire that hung from a
large tree. They were 30 feet from the back of the house. Roy couldn’t see any
signs of movement in it.
Charles, my grandfather, lives in there,
he
thought.
And my grandmother, Leone.
She always kept a sharp eye out
the kitchen window. I’ll have to be careful.

Beside him, in the flow, was a
presence monitoring his actions. When Roy had released and invoked the demon,
it asked for payment, and Roy explained his plan. The demon agreed to the plan,
but said if anything went wrong, he’d take Roy as payment. Roy reluctantly
agreed, and seconds later, Roy was in 1933.

Time to wing it,
Roy
thought.
Just call the boy over.

“Davy,” Roy said. “Come here.”

David stopped swinging in the tire
and turned to look at the source of the voice. “Who are you, mister?” He
climbed off the swing and started walking in Roy’s direction.

“I have something important I need
to talk to you about,” Roy said. “But it’s a secret, so come over here and I’ll
tell you.”

Roy guessed the 1933 mores hadn’t
yet made every young boy suspicious of older men. In that era, children did
what they were told by any adult, family or not. He was also counting on Davy’s
gift to help him believe what he had to tell him.

David walked over to Roy. Roy
stopped him when he was about three feet from the bush.

“Grandma Leone might be watching,
so stop there, and turn away from the kitchen window,” Roy said.

“Grandma Leone?” David said. “You
mean my mama?”

“Yes,” Roy said, “your mama.”

“So what’s the secret, mister?”
David turned his back to the kitchen window, picked up a stick, and began
drawing figures in the dirt.

“You know how you sometimes can
see or feel things other people can’t?” Roy said.

“Yeah,” David said, “so?”

“Well, I can too,” Roy said. “Your
father can, too, right?”

“I think so,” David said. “But he
doesn’t talk about it.”

“Right. Do you suppose, if you
ever have a son, you’d talk about it with him?”

“Sure,” David said. “I’d tell him
everything.”

“You’re going to grow up and get
married, and have a son.”

“Of course I will, that’s what
everybody does.”

“And your son will have the same
gift as you, and you will share it with him when he’s your age.”

David looked puzzled. “Who are
you, mister? Is that the secret?”

“No, that’s not the secret. The
secret is extremely important, because it’s going to save the life of your
friends.”

“My friends?”

“Sean and Garth.”

“Oh, them. Yes, they’re my
friends.”

“In about five or ten minutes,
Garth is going to come over here, wanting you to follow him back to their
garage. When you get there, you’ll see that Sean has been beaten up by his
father, Frank. You know Frank.”

“I sure do.” A look of worry
crossed David’s face.

“When you follow Garth across the
street and into the garage, a boy inside the garage is going to give you things
to help Sean and Garth get rid of Frank. This is the secret, Davy: you must not
get rid of Frank that way. You must not. You have to get rid of him another
way.”

“What do you mean, get rid of
him?”

“You’ll understand when the boy
explains it to you. But remember the secret I’m telling you, Davy. You must not
get rid of Frank the way the boy tells you to.”

“Why not?”

“Because if you do, horrible
things will happen later. I’ve seen what happens. You must not do it.”

“You had a vision?”

“In a way, yes. Horrible things happen
to your son, your grandson, even your great-grandson if you do what the boy
tells you.”

“So what do I do?”

“The boy is going to tell you to
give two items to Sean and Garth, along with some instructions. I want you to
pocket the items, then take Sean and Garth out of the garage where the boy
can’t hear you, and tell them instead to bring Frank into the garage. When
Frank comes into the garage, you need to kill him.”

“Kill him? I’m no killer, mister.”

“I know, but you must. If Frank
stays alive, Sean and Garth will die, he’ll beat them to death. Can you imagine
that?”

David shook his head no.

“Will you do it?”

“I don’t know. Won’t I go to
jail?”

“Not if it was self-defense, which
you’ll claim. Sean and Garth will back you up.”

“How would I kill him?”

“You know where your father keeps
his guns, don’t you?”

“Yes, they’re easy to find.”

“You’ll take his pistol and use
that.”

David was thinking, his brow
furrowing. “Who’s that with you?”

He definitely has the gift,
Roy thought.
Sensing the demon without entering the flow.

“He made it possible for me to
have the vision and to tell you about it, before it was too late. Without him I
wouldn’t have been able to warn you, to save Sean and Garth.”

“I don’t know mister, Frank’s a
bad man and all that, but killing him, I don’t know.”

“You want to be a father, don’t
you, son?”

“Sure I do. Someday.”

“Then think of your children. Your
sons. Do you know why they’re in danger?”

“No.”

“Because if you help Sean and
Garth use the objects the boy gives you, Frank’s soul will be trapped for
several years. But he knows you helped them do it. And Frank gets out of the
trap, eventually. When he does, he comes after your kids. He’s so angry you
trapped him, he wants to kill your kids for revenge. You’re either about to
create a big problem, or solve a problem. But you have to choose.”

“Davy! Davy!” Roy could hear
Garth’s yells as he approached from across the street.

“He’s coming now. Remember what
I’ve told you. The lives of your children depend upon it.”

David turned to face the approaching
Garth. Roy retreated back behind the bush so Garth wouldn’t see him.

“Davy!” Garth yelled from across
the yard. He was running full speed and he slowed only as he neared Davy,
kicking up dust as he slid to a stop.

“You’ve got to come over. The boy
in the garage, he’s asking for you. Frank’s beat Sean real bad. The boy wants
to help. He said, ‘get Davy!” Come on!” Garth turned and began running back.

David glanced over to Roy. Roy
winked at him. Then David followed Garth.

-

After half an hour David returned.
He walked to the backyard, looking for Roy.

Roy was still behind the bush,
waiting. “You’re back.”

“Yes,” David said. “I did it.
Well, most of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they saw the boy give me
something, so I had to at least give them something or they would have known
something was up.”

“Did you give them the objects?”

“I gave them my pocket knife,”
David said, “and told them to put it under Frank’s bed. But I kept the box and
the powder.” He pulled the small wooden matchbox and paper envelope from his
back pocket, showing them to Roy.

“Good boy,” Roy said, feeling a
huge sense of relief. At least half of the plan had worked.

“I want that pocket knife back,”
David said. “My grandpa gave it to me.”

That would be Thomas,
Roy
thought.
The first writer in the book.

“Did you tell them to bring Frank
back out to the garage?” Roy asked.

“Yes,” David said. “They’re going
to hide the pocket knife tonight. Then they’re gonna get him real teed off and
trick him out to the garage tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Roy said. “Why not
now?”

“Well, if I’m gonna shoot him,
which I’m not saying I am, but if I am, I need to get the gun first, don’t I?”

“You could get it now.”

“No way, mister. My pop should be
home any minute now. I won’t be able to get his gun until he goes to work
tomorrow, when mama’s outside hanging laundry. Any other time and I’ll get
caught.”

Roy was concerned the demon might
not go for this. Still, he had to play it out, he couldn’t quit halfway. The
demon would take either Frank’s soul or his, and he didn’t want it to be his.

“All right, tomorrow then,” Roy
said. “What time tomorrow?”

“I don’t know for sure. We’re
gonna talk tomorrow after they’re back from working. Then they’ll get Frank all
riled up and make him follow them out to the garage.”

“And when he gets to the garage,
you’ll shoot him?”

“I suppose so. I guess so. I don’t
know. Are you sure he’d kill Sean and Garth if we don’t kill him first?”

“I’m sure. I’ve seen it.”

“What else have you seen?”

Roy got the impression it was a test. 
He sighed. “You have a son,” he said. “You’re smarter than your father; you
lock your guns away. But your son goes looking for the guns, just like you did.
He doesn’t find them, but he finds a book instead. A book that your father is
going to give to you one day. When your son finds that book, you’re going to be
proud of him, and you’re going to start training him, showing him how to use
his gift, the same gift you have. And you’re going to write in the book, so
your son knows how to use his gift, and his son is going to read it too. And
they’re going to remember you, and how kind you were, because you trained them,
you gave them the book, and you did this thing, killing Frank. And you’re going
to live a long, full life, full of happiness and success. You’re going to help
a lot of people, friends who need help. And when you die, your son is going to
be very proud of you. Very proud.”

David twisted and turned as Roy
spoke. Roy couldn’t tell if he believed what he was telling him or not.

“OK,” David said. “I’ll steal
pop’s gun tomorrow.”

“Good boy,” Roy said, wanting to
reach out and ruffle his hair. “You’ll save Sean and Garth, remember that.”

“Davy!” came Leone’s voice from
the house. “Dinner!”

“I gotta go,” David said.

“I’ll be watching tomorrow,” Roy said.

“All right,” David said, turning
to go. “Bye.”

-

Jason arrived at Bent’s five
minutes later than his father. Steven had commandeered a booth, and Jason
joined him, slipping into the vinyl seat.

“I figured I could lure you with a
free burger,” Steven said.

“I’ll stay even longer if you
throw in a free beer,” Jason said, grabbing the menu from the edge of the
table.

“How old are you? Twenty?” Steven
asked. “It’s called ‘contributing to the delinquency of a minor.’”

“And what do they call infecting a
man with invisible parasites?”

“Before you get on your high
horse,” Steven said, “that was done to benefit you.”

“Yeah, well, watching Daniel die
at the edge of the lake didn’t seem like much of a benefit.”

“You’ll never get a free beer out
of me that way,” Steven said, returning to his menu.

The server showed up and they both
placed an order.

“Sorry,” Jason said after the
server left. “I didn’t mean to get off on the wrong foot. I’m just a little
shaken by that whole thing. And the blow up between you and Grandpa Roy.”

“That’s all been patched up,”
Steven lied. “We mutually apologized and we’ve moved on.”

“It’s not like you and Grandpa Roy
were ever close, anyway,” Jason said.

“That’s true. But things have
changed in the past few months. We’re closer now than we’ve ever been.”

“Something changed?”

The server arrived with their
drinks. Steven paused until the server had left.

“Yes,” Steven said. “It changed. I
had an incident at my house. Several months ago. Roy helped me resolve it.”

“What kind of incident?”

“Well, how about we just call it
an ‘unusual incident’ and leave it at that?”

“Dad,” Jason said, “I don’t think
I really want to have this conversation if you’re only going to be half-open
with me. I’m not some little kid that needs protecting.”

“If you’d seen the things I’ve
seen in the past little while,” Steven said, “you might disagree.”

“Let me be the judge.”

Steven took a long sip of his iced
tea and leaned back into the cushions of the booth. He looked at Jason, who was
staring back at him, almost a challenge.
Do I protect him?
he thought.
Is
leaving him in the dark the best way to protect him? Or does that put him at
greater risk?

“When I moved into the house,”
Steven said, “I began seeing things at night. I’d be woken up in the middle of
the night by knockings in the house. Then I’d see things, horrible things. I
thought I was going crazy. I thought I had a brain tumor. Roy stepped in. He told
me that I was fine, but the house was haunted. So we went about getting rid of
the ghosts. It’s a long story. But over the course of it I found out a lot of
things about myself and your grandpa.”

“Ghosts and haunted houses don’t
sound like you,” Jason said, adding a couple of sugar packets to his iced tea.
“You’re the most rational person I know. Remember when I brought home that book
on UFOs? I thought you were going to go bonkers.”

“Trust me, I tried every rational
explanation. Then I ran into some facts that changed my mind.”

“Such as?”

“The River, for one.”

“Ah, you mentioned that the other
night.”

“Have you ever gone in it?” Steven
asked.

“Gone in it? I don’t understand.”

“Jumped into it. Let yourself
drift mentally until you fall into it. That’s what it feels like for me.”

“No, I don’t even know what you’re
talking about. Seriously, Dad, if you could hear yourself.”

“I understand how it sounds. I’ll
stop if you’re finding this too hard to believe.”