Raman Jalota's Stories


The Assistant  2
by
Raman Jalota

    “Oh hello. I didn’t quite see you there. Well ... Actually, I didn’t expect to see you so soon after entering the house.”
    He looked at a cluster of light that seemed to be forming a human outline.
    “Me? I am the medium. I am here to try and help you.”
    He smiled. “I am sure you can manage, just as you have done almost all your life. But you need to understand what has happened in the last two or three years. I will try and get you through this.”
    “Yes, yes. I understand. You believe that you are living a normal life just as you have done all these years, but there is a slight incident that you are not able to recall and...”
    He closed his eyes and concentrated, visualizing events that were connected to the presence before him.
    “Yes, I will try to help you remember. Do you remember October 4th 2006?”
    “Everything was normal! Are you sure?”
    “No Albert ...  you are Al, aren’t you? On October 4th, you forgot what you were doing and had a big accident. You were driving to the corner Walgreens but you forgot that you were in the car. Or perhaps you forgot that you were even out of the house. You were driving very erratically and hit the light-pole at the corner of Maple and 57th. You had a huge accident ... the car rolled after that ... and you ... you didn’t survive that accident.”
    He tried to look at the ghost’s face but it wasn’t very clear. It appeared to be an older man with a mustache and grey hair. He did resemble the photograph he had been sent before the project. He repeated slowly.
    “Al, you didn’t survive that accident.”
    As if annoyed by this exchange, the ghost disappeared. Instantaneously, there was another presence in the room. The medium was sure it was a female. A younger female with a pearl earring, who also seemed very angry.
    “And who are you? I am trying to help Al.  He needs to understand what has happened and go to the other side.”
    A book at the far end of the room, rose in the air about two feet and then came flying at the medium. He ducked and ran out of the house.
... ... ...
    He sat across the table from the Jones’s and took out some sketches from his briefcase. This as you can see is the gentleman in the house. The sketch was of a man in his sixties with small bright eyes, a big mustache and grey hair.
    Marcus recognized the sketch. “That’s Uncle Al.”
    “Yes I knew that. I even called him by his name and he did seem to know that it was his name.”        
    Becky almost jumped out of her chair, spilling most of her coffee. “You talked to him?”
    “Well .. Yes.”
    “How do you talk to them? I mean ...”
    “I speak to them just like I am speaking to you two now. They rarely talk, but I can sense what they are telling me. It’s all part of being a medium. I talked to Al and tried to tell him about the accident.”
    “How did you know, there was an accident?”
    “Before I came for this project. I sat down and concentrated on the picture of the house you had sent me and I got a sense of what may be in there. Then, when I arrived in my hotel the night before, I could sense a connection with the house. The house was asking to be helped.”
    “The house?”
    “Well, the presence in the house seems to be seeking help. When I arrived at the door step, I knew there had been an accident and a dead body had been brought into the house. The spirit of the dead never left the house. It is stuck inside the house. It seems to be confused between being dead or alive .. It doesn’t seem to know the difference ... am I on the right track, do you think?”
    “Uncle Al had Alzheimer’s before he died. He had it for several months. His memory was getting really bad especially the short-term memory. He was forgetting his medications and the worse for me was how he would forget that he had eaten minutes after we would come back from a restaurant. He made me feel as if I was trying to starve him.”            
    “That explains why he doesn’t understand where he should be. But who is the young woman in the house?”
    He removed the top sketch, under it there was another sketch. A sketch of a pretty woman in her thirties with her hair tied back in a ribbon, she was wearing pearl earrings.
    “That’s Pearl.” Becky said.
    “Pearl?”
    “Yes she is my second cousin, about five years younger than me.”
    “What happened to her?”
    “She died of cancer. By the time we knew she had it, it was too far gone.”
    “Was she close to Al?”
    “She was very fond of him and he of her. She would visit often.  During summer, Thanksgivings and many Christmases too.”
    “Were they very close?”
    “Yes. He looked forward to her visits. He loved her three boys and was always happy to see them.”
    “When did she die?”
    “She died three years before him.”
    “Did you know there were two presences in the house?”
    “No. I am surprised to hear that. We thought he was the only one. The few times we or anyone saw anything it seemed to be Al. But often we just saw a light or heard a movement.”
    The medium was satisfied. “Maybe she has been here all along. I will go back in the house tomorrow and see what I can do.”
... ... ...
    He stood at the entrance of the house and took five deep breaths, getting his mind focused to communicate with the ghosts. He moved around the ground floor of the house. There were several chairs over-turned just like he had seen on his earlier visit. The two broken glass tables were still sitting in the middle of the living room and the dead plants were still arranged on top of the sofa as if to ward off the living.
    No wonder no one wants to live here. The ghosts don’t want anyone here. If only they knew what they were doing.
    He walked up the staircase, stepping over torn pages of books that were thrown all over. He walked past the bedroom on the second floor and stood outside the door to the study. The presence was very strong. He pushed open the door. The faint but noticeable Al was standing by one of the bookshelves that lined the walls of the study. He had a book in his hand and looked up as the medium entered.
    “Good morning, Al. Good to see you doing well today.”
    Al peered over his glasses at the medium and motioned him towards a chair. Al moved to the Lazyboy and sat down. The medium extended his hand.
    “What’s that book you are reading Al?”   
    Al extended the book to him and he carefully took the book from Al. The book was icy cold. He looked at the title.
    “Ah, poetry. You must be in a good mood today. Yes?”
    Al nodded his head. “Yes, I saw Pearl today. She is here. Do you know where the little ones are?”
    The medium smiled. This was good. “Ah yes. I saw Pearl the other day also. She wasn’t so happy to see me then, though. Are you having a good visit with her?”
    Al seemed puzzled. “I think ... I think she has moved in here ... She is living here now.”
    “Good. Where is she now?”
    “She went to make us some coffee.”
     The door to the study moved and Pearl, much more defined than before, moved into the room with a tray in her hands. On the tray were three mugs with something hot, maybe coffee, in them. Al and Pearl took a mug and started sipping. This was completely new to the medium, who had never taken part in such a thing before. He reached for the mug but his hands touched nothing. He could see the mug but couldn’t touch it or hold it or lift it. He tried several times and then gave up. Maybe they are testing me .. But why?
    Pearl: “You are upsetting my uncle again.”
    Medium: “What do you mean upsetting him? I can’t pick up the damn coffee mug.”
    Al: “Why are you doing this?”
    Al got up, annoyed. Pearl took Al’s hand and took him to the bedroom. She motioned to the medium to stay. She was back in a few minutes.
     “What happened Pearl?”
     “Why do you keep upsetting my uncle? Don’t you know I can hurt you?”
     “Hurt me? Why? I didn’t upset Al.”
    “You do know he has Alzheimer’s?”
    “Yes?”
    “He needs help badly. That’s what I am here for.”
    “That’s exactly what my purpose is also. The Jones’s hired me to help them ... and their uncle.”
    “How are you going to help him?”
    “I am trying to get him to understand that he has been dead for a while. ... like you ... sorry.”
    “I know I have been dead. ... er ... I couldn’t see him suffering and I .. came back to get him across.”
    The medium stared at Pearl. “You came back to help him! That’s what I came for ...  To help him go across.”
    “Al doesn’t understand that he is dead and is very frustrated by his presence here. I don’t know what it will take to get him to understand where he is and that he needs to come across with me. What are you proposing to do?”
    The medium swallowed hard. “I don’t know what it takes.  Sometimes, they do understand and go across on their own free will. But Al ...”
    Pearl laughed. “Yes he is quite stubborn. He always was. If he doesn’t like what anyone is saying, he just walks away. And that’s what has got me stuck .. For now.”
    “Pearl, can you go back and forth between the two ... dimensions?”
    “I can, but it’s not very easy. I had a very strong connection with uncle Al and that’s what brought me back ... back to help him.”
    The medium sat in his chair, lost in thought when he suddenly realized that he was quite alone. He got up and left quietly.
... ... ...
    The next two weeks were futile. Even though Pearl was willing and able to help him, Al didn’t seem to understand his own dilemma. He would get up in the middle of their talks and say something ridiculous like, “I have to make a phone call.” When prodded, he wouldn’t remember what he said or who he wanted to call.
    The last week of his assignment was here and the medium told Pearl.
    “It’s now or never. I will be leaving on the 25th. I had three weeks to try and get rid of the presence and my time is running out. Even worse than that is the feeling I have. A feeling that I can’t help this poor man. You do understand what I am saying?”
    Pearl put her hand on his cheek. He felt a cold sensation.
    “Let’s try as much as we can. I will be here till I can do this with or without others’ help.”
... ... ...
    The Saturday before his scheduled departure on Monday, he felt strangely lightheaded. Either I do not care anymore about what happens to Al or I have accepted my failure in this task.  As soon as he crossed the threshold, he knew there was something going on. Pearl came running down the stairs.
    “Good, you are here. We have a great plan. We are going to ...”
     “We? Who else is ..?”
    “My great grandmother Shawna ... She is here to help us.”
    And then he saw her. A majestic old woman with her hair tied in a bun at the back and with a shawl over her shoulders. She walked down the stairs towards them.
    Shawna: “So, this is the man who is going to get us there?”
    Medium: “Hello Shawna. I am just a medium trying to help ...”
    Shawna:  “I know all about you. Pearl told me about you. I went looking for her and couldn’t find her, then I looked all over and saw her back here.”
    Pearl: “She had no idea that I was back here trying to help Uncle Al.”
    The medium shook his head in amazement. “This is very bizarre. And we .. Well I had almost given up on Al. I am here just two more days. And I still don’t know what we are going to do.”
    Shawna laughed. “You need to take him back.”
    Medium: “Back ... Back where?”
    Shawna: “Back to the place of his death.”
    Pearl: “Yes, I already told her how hard we had tried to do that. And that it’s just too far to get him there. Specially when he just walks off in another direction and throws a temper tantrum or forgets we are here with him.”
    Medium: “What do you think we can do?”
    Shawna: “You guys need to get him to drive .. Drive back to the place where he crashed.”
    Medium: “How would we do that?”
    Shawna: “Yes, when I finally did notice that Pearl wasn’t anywhere around ... that’s when I saw her trying to help Al and realized the error in your method.”
    Medium: “Er ... How will we get him to drive ... I can’t figure ...”
    Shawna: “We are just going to tell him that he needs to go get some candy for the kids.”
    Shawna put her finger on her lips and slowly started up the stairs. Pearl and the medium followed. She opened the door of the study and they all walked in.
    Shawna: “Al, we need to get some candy for the kids.”
    Al: “Candy .. Kids?  The kids are here? Where are they?”
    Pearl: “They went out the back to visit the neighbor’s kids. They will be back in a few minutes.”
    Shawna: “Al you need to take the car and go get some candy from the store.”
    Al looked at them and nodded his head. He took a hat from the hat rack and motioned for the medium to follow him.
    Al: “Let’s go. There’s a Walgreens just around the corner. We should be back in ten minutes.”
... ... ...
    The medium followed Al down the stairs. Al walked out the door and to the street where a dark blue Honda Civic was parked. The medium stared at the car. Where did it come from? I took a cab here today. There were no cars in the street.
    Al opened the car door and got in the driver’s seat. Al tried the other door and it felt just like a normal, hard metallic car door would feel. He opened it and sat down. The car looked in good shape, fairly clean but a little worn from use.
    “Where exactly was the car? Al, I didn’t see it when I came in.”
    “You must have seen it. It’s always in front of the house.”
    Al put the key in the ignition and turned it. After a little hesitation, the car started. He put it in drive and it started moving.
    Al motioned towards the right and the car veered right as the steering went in the direction he was pointing. “That’s the new house on our street. They just built it.  They are rich folks from New York.”
    The medium stared at a vacant piece of land and shook his head.
    Al looked ahead and drove jerkily to the left and then back to the right as he over-corrected.
    “Are you alright Al?”
    “Yes, it’s just that sometimes the car doesn’t like my steering. Maybe it needs a tune up.”
    Al turned on Maple Street and the car picked up some speed.
    Do I tell him to be careful? No, I can’t .. He is supposed to relive the event ... maybe that would get him through. He grabbed the seat tightly with both hands as the car moved to the right and then to the left and back to the right as Al tried to keep it in the lane. As they neared 57th street, Al watched the light turn yellow. He turned towards the medium and muttered.
    He slammed on the brake but his foot must have hit the gas pedal instead. The car lurched forward and hit the curb. It climbed the curb turned right, then left as Al fought with the steering wheel and slammed full speed into the light pole. There was a sharp pain in the medium’s head as he passed out.
... ... ...
    There was a bright light in the room as he slowly awakened. His head was hurting. He put his hand on his head. It was heavily bandaged. He was able to focus slowly. He thought he saw Pearl at the end of the room. Must be an illusion.
    He tried to sit up and cried from the pain in his back. Slowly he remembered the accident. A nurse entered the room and patted his hand.
    “Are you feeling okay?”
    “Yes .. No. It hurts like hell. When ...”
    “You have been here for two days. It was lucky that the Jones’s decided to check up on the house and found you there.”
    “The Jones’s? But I was ...”
    “Yes lucky for you. Isn’t it? They probably saved your life.”
    “They? How? I was in the car with Al and he hit ...”
    “Car? No ... No sweety. They found you at the bottom of the stairs. You must have fallen down, hitting your head and hurting yourself badly. The doctor thinks you were lying there for a couple of hours before they found you. Lucky for you.”
    He tried to understand what the nurse had said. He shook his head but it hurt too much. He tried to close his eyes but the bright light was shining much stronger than before. He shut his eyes hard but he could still see the bright light even through his tightly closed eyelids. There were some shapes moving around him. Who is that? It looks like a young woman with a pearl earring.
The End     3046 words

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Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.