I swear,
she was right here with me!” Thom protested, arguing with Jerry back in Daina’s subconscious hallway. “I was holding her hand!”
“Well, you’re not now, are you?”
Jerry demanded.
“This is a good point he has,” Josh
added.
“Shut up, Josh!” snapped Thom and
Jerry.
Josh shrugged, as Stevie said, in a low voice, “I had your back, man.”
“Yeah, way back,” Josh said. They
grinned at each other and their truce was completed even as the arguement between Thom and Jerry escalated.
“Look, do you even know if she came
back part of the way with you?”
“Hell, no, I don’t know!” Thom said.
“I didn’t even know she wasn’t here ‘til you asked me!”
“Jee-zus,
Thom, how could you not know...”
Jerry began, then stopped. “Wait...this is what she
meant.”
“Who meant?”
“Christine...she said we’d need some
magic...this is why. Daina can’t make it back and I gotta...we’ve gotta...Josh, go get the statue of her!”
“Okay,” said he, rushing off.
“Stevie, gimme your hand!”
“Huh?”
“Just gimme
your hand,” Jerry said. “Thom, you, too. Make a
circle.” They all grabbed hands and sat down in a circle just as Josh returned.
“I got her,” he said.
“Set her down gently in the middle
and join us,” Jerry replied. Josh did as he was told.
“What are we doing?” Thom asked.
“Winging it,” Jerry said, taking a
deep breath. He closed his eyes, then softly said,.
“Please don’t take me through this with you. For once, for your sake, I am
asking you, do not make me go through figuring out how to be the superhero.
Just let this work this time so that you don’t die. Please,
They sat in silence for what seemed
like an interminable length, looking at Jerry with his eyes closed. Suddenly,
Josh felt the skin on his arms prickling. He looked at Stevie
and Thom, who both seemed to be experiencing the same thing. Not wanting to be
disrespectful, he quickly shut his eyes. He could still feel his skin
prickling, but now it was accompanied by a faint thrumming...
It was light at first, centering in
the pit of their stomachs, then flowing throughout
their bodies like a speeding train. Then, just as it became almost unbearably
strong, Josh felt it leave him into Stevie and Thom.
Thom felt it leave him into Jerry, as did Stevie.
All three opened their eyes to look
at Jerry, whose face was contorted in awe, pain, confusion...so
many different emotions they couldn’t count. He tore his hands away from the
circle, jolted backward with a cry, then lay on the
floor completely still. Thom crawled quickly oer to
his side, as did the boys and they all stared at Jerry in awe.
“Did we just have a seance?” Thom asked.
“I think so,” Stevie
said.
“What should we...” began Josh.
“Nothing...yet,” Stevie
replied. “I think something’s posessed him.”
Jerry’s hand flinched at this, then
slowly raised upward. It continued to do so until it
was directly above his head. His eyes both opened slowly, then he sat up,
studying at his hand intently.
The other three looked at each other,
then Stevie and Josh looked
at Thom. Thom pointed to himself in surprise, then sighed and turned back to
Jerry, who was now sitting indian
style next to Daina’s statue.
“Jerry?” Thom said timidly.
Jerry looked at him intently, then smiled. “You were right,” he said in Daina’s voice. “Gay men and black women do have a lot in
common. Especially right now.”
“Daina!?” Thom gasped.
Jerry smiled and Thom knew he was actually her. “I’ll talk to you in a minute,” he said, again sounding just
like Daina. “Between me and Jerry in this bod, it’s really crowded in here.” Then he leaned down and
grabbed the crystal statue Thom had found in Queen Kareen’s
crystal and held it to his chest tightly.
They had to turn away from the
bright light the crystal began to emit in his grasp. A high pitched whine
echoed throughout the room, making it necessary to clamp their hands over their
ears as well. Thom was grimacing in pain when he finally heard Jerry’s voice in
all the noise:
“Thom, help! I can’t make her solid!”
Thom looked up, then without even
thinking, stuck a hand into the light until he could feel the crystal. He
grabbed on with both hands, holding on so tight that the crystal cracked and
gave way...to soft pliable flesh.
When Stevie
and Josh finally could see again, Jerry was holding Daina
in a bearhug while Thom held them both. All three of
them were trying desperately to talk and sob at the same time...
“You scared the shit outta me!”
“I kept calling and calling...”
“I was so afraid it wasn’t gonna work...”
“I thought you were right there with
me...!”
“And I was falling apart...”
“Dammit,
bitch, never, ever do that again!”
“Daina!” Josh hollered. He ran over, thrust apart the
human sandwich the three made in their hug and practically climbed up his
sister for a hug. Even Stevie ran over and hugged her
legs.
Christine, hearing the sound, opened
her room door and smiled. She walked, then ran over to
Daina to hug her as well.
“You knew I was coming back,” said Daina, half seriously to her.
“Yeah,” she said, “but the waiting’s
a bitch.”
“Hey,” asked Daina
at last, “where’s Naomi?”
Jerry’s eyes opened wide with
surprise. “Oops,” he said.
“Ooops?”
she echoed.
“I sorta
froze time for them,” Jerry replied. Daina gave him a
frown and he added. “Alan was gonna hit me! Hard!”
“Okay, well, unfreeze them. I have
to talk to her,” Daina said.
Jerry frowned, then
a bellow of pain that sounded like Alan came from Naomi’s room. “Done,” he said
with a smirk.
When we finally reached Naomi’s room, Alan was holding his eye like he’d just gotten hit and Naomi was staring into space like there was no tomorrow.
“What happened?” Alan asked, almost pleading.
“I don’t know. Naomi,” I said quickly, “you’ll never guess who I saw.”
“Oh, I bet I could take a swing at it,” she said in a strange tone.
Next to me,
Thom was nudging Jerry, who looked, gasped, then
tapped my shoulder. “Uh,
“What?” I asked, then realizing everyone, including Naomi, was not just staring into space, but looking at a spot in the corner of the room.
I turned to find Fallon standing there.
She walked over to Naomi, who gaped at her with a air of helplessness that was foreign to her. She tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t come. She tried again and Fallon said, “Yes, it’s me. Thought I’d see how you were doing.”
Naomi reached out slowly, and Fallon shook her head. “I’m not real,” she said, “and I can’t stay. I just wanted to see you before I...”
“I take it she the one who’s dead?” Jerry asked softly.
“Kinda explains her being transparent and all, doesn’t it?” I returned sarcastically.
“But I thought she was...” Thom protested.
“She was alive there, but she gave it up for me,” I murmured.
“I found our place,” Fallon was saying to Naomi. “The one we used to pretend about when we were kids? When you told me to go, I transported myself there and found out it was fairy heaven.”
“Fairy heaven?” Naomi echoed.
“Yeah. They were so surprised I made it there still alive that they made me Queen. Then Daina came and...well, now I’m here, but I’m dead and can’t stay.” Fallon added hurriedly.
“I was coming to tell you myself,” I said lamely.
Tears sprang to Naomi’s eyes, but she sat back in the bed almost as if to say “well, then!”. When she finally spoke, she almost sounded as if it were no big deal. “Well, I’m gonna have a kid. You can feel her energy, anyway,” she said.
Fallon reached out and put her hand on Naomi’s abdomen, then smiled. “She’s beautiful,” she said. “I wish I could get to see her.”
“I wish you could, too,” Naomi said stiffly. She turned her head away from Fallon, who knew enough about her sister to take this as a sign of disappointment and not hatred.
She stood by her with a hand still lightly touching Naomi’s belly, then began to fade away. “Goodbye, Nomi,” she said almost in a whisper.
Naomi turned to quickly, as if in great pain. “Uh...jeez....uh...Loni, don’t go, please? Please?”
I finally broke.
There’s no point in doing this, I thought. A gentle remembrance, a little imagination, a lot of pain and...
The look on both women’s faces was priceless. Naomi’s jaw fell open as Fallon’s hand exerted an actual force on her and Fallon gasped, realizing she could actually touch her sister for the first time in years. She looked at me and I shrugged. “You were right,” I said. “Sometimes, ya gotta break the rules. Besides,” I added to Naomi, “hasn’t enough bad shit happened to you already?”
“Yes!”
Naomi laughed, falling into her sister’s embrace, and for the first time in our
collective history, we all watched Naomi of Pyrope
cry her eyes out.