Chapter 4

The darkness lifts and I see that I am back home, in front of the house.

I blink once.

Twice.

At that moment I think I must have been disoriented, saying these next words from out of nowhere.

"Ratri, you owe me a hundred dollars for what you just did."

Ratri blinks, and then has an expression on her face that just plainly says 'What'?

I continue talking.

"Well, you see the fare from here to Louisville is around a hundred dollars by bus. And" I looked at my wristwatch "The next bus coming to Buckhorn and going to northern Kentucky is around an hour from now. So…you getting us here in front of my house without any guns bought is a hundred dollars and two hours of precious time wasted."

Ratri blushes at her mistake and then takes a wallet from one of her pockets, counting off some bills from some other country, and then hands them over to me.

"Umm…sorry about that Mr. Ward. Here, this is the Indian equivalent of one and a half hundred dollars. All you have to do is go to a money changer to have it converted to dollars."

"Thanks Ratri. Now…you were saying?" I steer the conversation back to what she was talking about a while ago.
"Well…I am here to apologize for the actions of my friend. Right now me and another one of our little club of goddesses are trying our best to calm her down. But it's very challenging to do so when the botched…'prayer'…your grand daughters made while deeply inebriated is the latest inspiration of many in the supernatural world and the mortal afterlives who just won't stop making jokes referring to it."

'I swear from this moment on, those girls are never getting any alcohol ever again, not on my watch'

Making that promise to myself, I miss parts of what Ratri said next so when she pauses for a breath, I interrupt and invite her to continue the conversation inside my house.

She accepts my invitation and goes after me inside the house.

After I show her to the dining table, I went to the refrigerator and take a bottle of milk to offer to her as a guest. After she accepts it, I sit down at the table and continue the conversation from where she last stopped.

"So Ratri, I appreciate your sincerity and I thank you for your effort in trying to calm down Annan and lifting off her curse from my granddaughters."

"Actually..." Ratri slowly says, like she is bringing bad news.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ward, but all I could do for now is lessen the severity of the curse. If I break it now, Annan could just curse your granddaughters again, and maybe make it nastier this time around. We just have to wait until she calms down and is in a mood to forgive before we can ask her to take away the curse."

Well, that is one thing off my chest.

Then I remember the other people that my granddaughter supposedly pissed off. I talk about my other concern just as the Indian girl was about to say something.

"Umm…Ratri, can you also do something about another problem that concerns my granddaughters?" At her curious and patient look, I explain that some neo-pagans are very angry with Regina for some reason she doesn't know. Ratri is momentarily lost in thought, then she drinks the rest of the milk in the bottle. After finishing it, she puts it down on the table and then started to speak.

"Mr. Ward, I am not sure how to deal with that one. You have to understand that in the supernatural world, not everybody knows everyone else even after all this time. And the neo-pagan worshippers…they are…unusual. Some of them might worship gods I know, or acquainted with but many of them also either worship a mother goddess or nature in general, in which case I am not sure who to talk to since there are so many of us who can claim that title or jurisdiction, or they outright invent themselves new spirits to worship who either don't exist, or who are just newcomers in my world.

Realistically, all I could advise is that your granddaughter must talk and reconcile with those who she had pissed off."

"Dang…well, can you do anything so that anyone who is asked to curse them has to talk it out with you first?"

"Do you mean put them under my protection? Well…I am an old goddess who doesn't have much of her powers anymore and is mostly unknown by mortals nowadays…Newcomers and younger gods either ignore the old, less known and relatively powerless ones or are disrespectful to those elders. But…alright, I will temporarily take them under my protection in case someone else does try to curse them. But if you want really solid protection, it could also be done by more Christian activities such as praying."

I raise my eyebrows at this, not expecting a pagan Indian goddess to recommend praying to God. Ratri explains further upon seeing my surprise.

"Well, your YHWH, Allah or just plain God is someone us other gods don't really like to talk about, especially not after the things that were pulled off against the Egyptians during the Exodus. But that one is content to let us coexist with it, ever since the eldest of us gods woke up and that being is in front of them smiling and welcoming them into existence."

I blink. And then blink once more.

'Well…that answers that question of whether God is real'

"Now, if there are no other concerns about your granddaughters Mr. Ward, I want to ask one question before I proceed about YOUR trouble now."

This day seems to be one full of meaningful blinks.

"What trouble? Hold on...you go first Ratri."

"How did you catch Annan in the first place? She said she was hidden with magic when all of a sudden you kicked her from behind and demanded a reason for stalking your granddaughters."

"If by hiding you mean crouching behind some bushes. I didn't see anything magical at that point in time."

Ratri looks at me with surprise.

"Really? Well how did you come behind her?"

"Would you believe that I was chasing a handkerchief blown by a very strong wind?"

"...just dried from the clothesline?"

"Yes."

Ratri groaned.

"That happened to someone I know...but down the hill?"

"Every time I was about to pick it up, dust blows in my eyes and the next thing I knew it was further down the path."

"The path...that is in the opposite direction from where Annan is hiding."

"When I finally got the handkerchief I was already at the down the hill and on the other side of it, away from the pathway. So rather than circle all the way around the hill again, I climbed up."

"Circling around is harder than climbing up?" she asks, incredulously.

"The hillside is a gently sloped one." I defend my point of view.

I will not admit that I climbed up because I suddenly felt like it.

No I won't.

"And when you found her, why did you kick her and ask if she is stalking your granddaughters? She could just be spying on your house."

"I...honestly, when I saw her I just knew that she is stalking them. And before I knew it, I had already kicked her and then challenged her."

Looking back at those moments...it was like something compelled me to do those actions. And that is what led the kid to rant at me while holding me by the collar.

And then I felt a compulsion to just listen to her, instead of trying to fight my way out of her grip.

"Is there anything else?" I ask, wanting to get back to my 'trouble.'

"None. Going back to you, you said you made a contract with Annan to make her lift her curse from your granddaughters. As a result, despite the fact that me and my friend are trying to lift the curse on your granddaughters, you are still required to finish that contract with Annan whether the curse gets lifted or not."

Oh.

That really sucks.

"Umm…can I get it cancel-"Ratri immediately interrupts me.

"Trying to break a contract is a pretty bad idea Mr. Ward. You see, when we supernatural beings make a promise, an oath or a contract, we and the other party are bound to do as we have promised. If not…well…bad things happen."
"Bad things?" I ask with a curious tone.

"Bad things you don't want to know and I don't want to remember. Even the Bible says something to that kind of effect."
Even God said it is bad to break a promise?

I now quickly think back to the moment me and Annan made our promise, trying to find a loophole somewhere.
"How about if I did not actually say I would do it? Annan and me didn't say we have a contract. She just asked me if I can fight, I said yes, and she said good, she has some jobs for…me…" I slowly stop speaking upon seeing the Indian girl's sad face.

"Mr. Ward, that counts as an implicit agreement, which still validates that as a contract"

I feel very dismayed by this turn of events. Luckily, Ratri is still not finished explaining.

"Don't worry Mr. Ward. There is a way we could use to solve the problem with the contract. All you have to do is think like a lawyer and be technical about fulfilling the contract, which is alright because ever since the turn of the 19th century, most of the contracts in the world are being interpreted that way. But there is a condition. The other party has to agree that the contract is still being fulfilled despite the different interpretation by one of the parties."

"So all I have to do is get Annan to agree to a different interpretation of the contract?" I feel a big, fat ray of hope beaming down on me from above at this point. "Well…how do I contact her? I don't want to get in the middle of a fight just to get her debts paid."

"Well…first off you have to tell me what is it you want to interpret in a different way, and then I will tell it to her."
"All I want is to do a fixed number of favors and debts for Annan, and that they must not be in any way dangerous to me or bring me trouble after all this is over."

Ratri nods. Suddenly the sound of a ringing phone interrupts us.

I look at my wall phone located beside my bedroom's door, but the ringing isn't coming from that quarter. Nor did it come from my cell phone, which I had put in silent and vibrating mode. Motion from the edge of my vision had me turning to Ratri…holding a cell phone and about to answer the call.

Ratri notices my expression and asks "What is it?"

"You have a cell phone?"

She sighed and then replies "Just because I am an old goddess from before the Jews exile to Babylon doesn't mean I don't keep up with and use modern technology. It is the same thing with Annan and Daesun, my other friend."

She answered her cell phone and talk in what I guess might be Indian. She listens for a few seconds, and then surprises me with an exclamation in Indian that feels to me like 'What'. For the next few minutes, she is constantly wide-eyed and surprised at what she is hearing from her cell phone and keep looking at me from time to time.

When the phone call finished, Ratri looked at me a little sadly and tells me that she has some good news and some bad news. I ask her to go on with some trepidation.

"The good news Mr. Ward, is that Annan doesn't care about me tinkering around with the curse she put on your granddaughters, provided that I don't completely break it. She said she is the one who will break it, as her part of the contract."

My hopeful feelings…started melting like ice cream when I heard the word 'contract'.

"Which leads me to the bad news. She wants you to do your part of the contract, and worse: You are definitely going to get into a fight wherever she is going to pay her debts, of which she said will be 6 favors all in all."

I am silent for a few seconds. Then I say what is on my mind.

"Well…better prepare my last will then. I doubt I can still move or fight like I used to back in Vietnam, never mind the fact that it will be 6 different situations I had to fight through." And then I chuckle in a morbid fashion.

"Don't be too downhearted Mr. Ward. Annan said that she will ensure that you will not die on the job and nothing comes after it. And believe it or not, she is asking me and Daesun to help her with her sudden bout of insanity in paying off her debts and favors. So, me and Daesun are also going to help make sure that you do not die."

I look up at heaven, in this case, the ceiling of my own home, wondering if that is supposed to reassure me, and then I close my eyes and sigh. I figure that I really have no other choice other than to put my life in the hands of divine intervention, preferably God.

I ask Ratri. "If I may ask, what are these measures that would let me live through what seems to be something as dangerous as my most violent encounters during the Vietnam War? Because while I am a healthy man, please don't forget that I am already 58 years old, and while I am still a good shot, I have not pointed a gun at another human being since 1970."

"The way Annan explained things to me over the phone, she is choosing people she owes debts to who are asking for favors that she is sure a human being could do for her. And the other thing is, Annan said that she will give you the necessary equipment and that all of us will have one of our own followers who are in the afterlife help you in the process."

The Irish girl is the one to give me the weapons? And companions in hardship…well, as long as those companions can pull their own weight.

"Not to sound rude, but what is her idea of weapons? Because if it is a magical sword…"

"Oh Mr. Ward, that is very silly. Believe it or not, the supernatural world does keep up with current events, although it is more of watching CNN or reading the New York Times."

"And what does that have to do with weapons?" I couldn't resist asking.

"Well, it means we know about guns and how effective they are, even though most gods and spirits prefer to do things the old fashioned way. Besides, you are lucky that you encountered our little club of goddesses instead of anyone else."

"What is your club about and what is its relation to whatever I am going to be armed with?" I ask, bewildered by this…seemingly unrelated reason.

"Well…it is called the 'Modern Human Culture Appreciation club'. " She admits with a sheepish expression.

I blink again, thought for a while, and then I nod.

It is impossible not to know of what I might need if you are someone who claims to study 'Modern' culture. I'm quite sure that includes war.

Ratri then said that she believes that she has nothing more to talk about concerning me and will be there beside Annan when she fetches me around 13 days from now. We stand up from the table and walk away from it.

As I am about to show her out the door she happens to look at the mounted guns above the doorway. She immediately stops to gaze in…wonder, I think.

I ask her what is she looking at the guns for. She looks down at me and then reply, while her hand is pointing at one of them, "I think I know the perfect gun we could use as your weapon."

I look at where she is pointing, wondering what is she going to do with the Winchester...and then I notice she is not pointing at the Winchester in the first place.

She is pointing at 'Annie'.

I look down at her, incredulous at her statement that I would use my family heirloom, not to mention an antique, well preserved muzzle loader as my gun. Seeing my expression, Ratri quickly explains.

"Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but there are several reasons why I think it is a good weapon for your use in the contract. One: While there are a lot of human made melee weapons that have become magical, or became supernaturally special due to several reasons, it is rare for any kind of GUN to achieve that, but here I am looking at a gun that is spiritually tied to your family and to the land itself and is the oldest yet still functional gun I have ever seen. A gun like this is quite easy to upgrade with magic, and the more special the gun is, the more magic that could be applied to it."

"You are going to mess with my family heirloom?! What if you broke it or something?! And can you even put it back to normal once you mess with 'Annie'?"

"You don't have to worry about it breaking from magic. And it is easy to uninstall the magic one applies to any weapon, provided the one doing the uninstalling is the caster of the magic in the first place."

Still not convinced, I ask her what is the other reason.

"The way I see it, you will not need a high rate of fire for the jobs. You will need more…penetrating power and damage with every shot you make. Besides, included in the magical spells I was thinking of putting on the Kentucky Rifle is one that will pretty much give you infinite, magical ammunition. All you have to do is pull back the cock of the gun and the gun is instantly reloaded."

I look at 'Annie', then back at the Indian girl, thinking about what she is saying.

Do I need a normal M-16 or a magical Kentucky Rifle if I am gonnahave to get in a fight with some weird opponents?