Friday Excerpt Perchance to Dream - Chapter Four

I wasn't sure that Emily and John would be in the house when I woke up and no dreams troubled my sleep. I was relieved when I realized that the door was still locked. I went to my Grandma's room and started her routine. Anyone who has cared for a dementia or Alzheimer's patients knows that routine is very important. Any deviation and the person, in this case my Grandma, gets agitated, which causes screaming and hitting. 

It wasn't easy getting grandma through her shower and into her clothes. She couldn't have known of our house guests, but it was as if she could smell them or feel them through the ether. I figured she would be better after she met them.

I started the bacon, when John came into the kitchen. He held Emily's hand tightly. I had seated grandma at the kitchen table and pulled out her cigar box. Her treasures kept her calm. I ignored her when she started screaming at John.

John looked a little startled. Emily looked interested in this crazy old woman.

She sat down beside my grandma and started asking her about her treasures, especially the stone. My grandma quieted and started to show her pictures and cards. The two of them looked like two children bent over a sandbox. I was relieved.

John swiped a piece of bacon cooling on a plate covered in paper towel. I pointed him towards the dishes and had him set the table. In a few minutes we were eating bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Breakfast of champions. Grandma's doctors wanted me to get her off the eggs for cholesterol reasons, but the nutritionist wanted me to feed her at least one egg a day because it had a lot of nutrients that my grandma needed. I sided with the nutritionist especially since I liked eggs and bacon.

I made sure that John received the lion's share of breakfast. He looked a little thin and scraggly. He thanked me with his mouth full and practically inhaled the food. I ate carefully, one bite at a time. I had to make sure that grandma kept eating. She got distracted easily. Emily was also very hungry. John and Emily ate like they hadn't had food in a long time.

For a Downs, who are usually triangular, Emily had not had enough meals in her life. I would have to add milk to the grocery shopping if they stayed more than one day. I got up and made a note on my shopping list that was secured to the refrigerator door by a magnet.

Another note. If they stayed too much longer, I would have to get some clothes for the both of them. They smelled like they had been wearing the clothes for days. A thrift store would be a good place to find clothes that weren't to expensive. Nowadays most everyone went to the thrift store especially if they were tight on money. Everything was tight.

John wasn't as wary after a full meal in his stomach. I could have told him from sad experience that even though someone fed you, it wasn't always because they were good. But, he would learn that on his own time. Today I was the good guy.

"So," I drew it out long, hoping I wouldn't have to ask why they were running away. He just looked at me and looked at the linoleum floor. It wasn't too interesting, just a linoleum floor with cracks. One day when I had money I would replace it.

Since he didn't finish the unspoken question, I finished the question, "Why were you in the park at night by yourself?"

"I can't," he said. "Please don't ask me. I just can't."

So I asked the next question. "Is there anyone looking for you?"

"Yes," he said, a little spark touched his eyes. "But we don't want them to find us."

I hadn't been connected to the supernatural community since grandma started having problems. I had too many problems of my own. But it looked like one was knocking on my door. There was a certain faction of the occult community that didn't want to pay for their magical energy. There were certain things that happened to the body if you used to much of your own energy. If you drained yourself to much, then you could die. Mostly though if you were smart, you became fatigued and needed a long nap.

Some ways of getting around the problem was to store energy in crystals and objects. It was only a slight boost though. Some of the darker occult members used people to store energy.

Emily with her low mental capacity would have made a great battery especially if her family had magical heritage. I had heard through the dark grapevine that someone was experimenting with non-magical mentally insufficient patients. Storing magical energy into such patients caused a brain meltdown and then death. It was horrifying.

I looked at John, "Emily has magical talent."

John nodded. "Please, don't say anything. They are listening for us."

My first thought was to throw them out of my house. I had too many problems with taking care of grandma than to deal with runaways from a black magic family. It was obvious when I took a better look at John's tattoos that he used black magic to energize him. I didn't want to touch it. And, saying that black magic only hurt the user was a crock of shit.

It hurt anyone who was in contact with it.

But before I opened my mouth and told them to run further, a tear rolled down John's face. I knew that he had tried to get help from other families. They had done the same thing that I was going to do right then. I couldn't.

Even though it killed me, grandma, my career, and my magic, I couldn't leave them to the wolves.

I put my hand over my eyes and prayed. "God help me."

I DIDN'T SCHEDULE APPOINTMENTS on Wednesday because it was the day that I did my grocery shopping and it took all day to get grandma into the van and out of it. Shopping when she was there was a major inconvenience.

I wasn't sure if I could trust John to take care of grandma and Emily, but I had to take a chance. I had to do more shopping than the groceries if I was going to get Emily and John cleaned up. They would take what I gave them and be happy was my determined thought when I pulled up to the thrift store. I bought a couple jeans, sweatpants, T-shirts and a sweater for Emily. I bought John a hoodie.

And then I went to the convenience store for underwear. John would have to be happy with the tidey whities. I wasn't sure if Emily wore bras, but I got her a couple. And then I went grocery shopping. The groceries cost almost two to three times more than the clothes. I made sure that I had a supply of eggs and milk. After the veggies and meat, I went for a few items so that I could bake cookies. It had been awhile since I had chocolate chip cookies. And even though I grumbled while paying for the extra groceries, it was nice to have someone else in the house.

I drove the car into the garage and closed the garage door. Then John helped me to unload the car. Emily was sitting at the table cooing at grandma's treasures. Grandma and Emily seemed to be getting on, so started to clean the house. John asked where the cleaning supplies were, and he took a bucket into the bathroom. I dusted and ran the vacuum over the floors.

I also found a camp bed at the thrift store, which I set up into my old bedroom. If John and Emily stayed, I would have to come up with a new place for my sleeping area. I went into grandma's bedroom. There might be enough room for a smaller bed. For now I would sleep on the couch.

I went into my work area, dusting and cleaning. This area I was very particular with keeping clean. When I was working with clients, I didn't need them to be distracted by my housekeeping skills. It was then that I found a small gee-gaw under the small coffee table. I had a couple of comfortable chairs and a couch to keep the clients happy. We would read the cards over a table that was about high enough to eat on.

I went into the main house area, shushing John, and dragged him into my work area. We got on our hands and knees and looked at the small round object under the table. He grabbed my arm and we went back into the living area.

A bug, he mouthed.

I pulled out my smudging kit, and went back into the office. I lit the sage stick and then blew it out so that it smoldered. Then I began a pray for the negativity to be released from the room. I had for guidance for those clients who came to me for guidance.

I smudged the sage in around the room so that the smoke went into all the corners of the room. When I felt completely safe, I finished the ceremony then looked under the table. The bug was black like it had blown out. John walked into the room, carrying an FM radio. He turned the dial until he heard a small pop. Another one, he mouthed.

We looked through the room. I don't usually leave the room during a session so I had no idea how or why someone would bug my work area. We searched the chairs, my desk, under the carpet, and in the lamp before we found the other one. I decided to leave it there until we knew who was bugging my home.

I had John go through the rest of the house, just in case there were bugs there. But, either we didn't have the right kind of equipment or they hadn't gotten into the house. I felt violated.