In the mirror world
Chapter 20
Was she a young teen, or had the passing years made her an old teen? Wisps of brown hair glimmered in the sunlight of a new day where the fingers of a golden dawn reached up from the horizon and pierced through the large plate glass window of the Kmart, making dust glitter.
Her deep brown eyes studied the rising sun with such intent that, had she been alive, the blinding rays would have caused her to squint and turn away. But Lily's time on the Earth as a human had ended long ago from a parasitic twin within her body that gradually drained her young growing life. She loved her sister, though, and never blamed her or felt alone. Circumstances simply had not been on their side. Her years as a spirit ran on like a faucet that someone had forgotten to shut off and since Lily died as a young teen, then she must be something like an old, young teen. That must be it, she thought. An old young teen.
She turned her adolescent figure that lacked a woman's curves, around, smoothed her plain dress for the tenth time, then floated her way to the rear of the store. The oddity protruding from her side kept people and other kids away with their wide eyes and gaping mouths. Now, after her death, she finally could lay claim to two friends who paid little attention to her abnormal condition. Candy and Jonathan not only paid little attention to her abnormality, but they also had no fear at the truth that she was a ghost. Another oddity that most humans ran from, sometimes screaming at the top of their lungs. These two carried on as if being friends with an abnormal teen spirit girl was an everyday occurrence. She credited this fact to the knowledge that the pair had become accustomed to specters from their close association with one Captain Daniel Gregg who was also a spirit. One who was over twice her age and had a tendency to be rather pleased with himself, she thought and was known to be temperamental when annoyed.
Candy had requested that Lily wake her and her brother if they should sleep past dawn. Out of an old reflex, Lily yawned and stretched her arms at seeing the pair snoozing on the sofa in the employee lounge. A gentle wave of her hand and the ceiling fixture glowed dimly from what was probably no more than a burned-out bulb. She huffed out a faux breath, and in mild frustration called to her friends in a loud sing-song voice.
"Okay, you two. Time to greet the new day! Now, wake up!"
They made no answer, but Jonathan managed to pull the scraggily blanket up over his head. Candy's eyes became dime slots before they lazily slid closed. An invitation, as cozy as the warm lounge, tugged persistently on their eyelids, lulling the two back into dreamland.
Her eyes scrunched, Lily's lips drew a thin line across her pale mouth. If her friends were going to sleep like the dead, she could make enough noise to wake the dead.
Hovering weightless in the air, she made a beeline for the housewares department and summoned an army of pots and pans. Wooden spoons in a bin, stood at attention then accompanied the cookware. In an impressive formation, they followed the ghost girl back into the lounge where Candy and Jonathan were still sawing logs. In midair, the makeshift alleycat band waited patiently for their conductor's cue to sound the morning's revelry.
Lily grinned and spouted a wry chuckle. She raised her hands in the air and in true musical style, the girl thrust them down, bringing the first notes of spoons beating on pans to life.
Candy screamed and jumped. Jonathan jumped and fell to the floor. His keister gave a promise to be sore for the rest of the day. Lily laughed. The clamor of the pots and pans hit a resounding crescendo then fell lifeless to the floor.
"Splendid!" Lily crowed. "I see that you two are awake at last!"
A frown creased Jonathan's scowling face. Blinking twice, Candy flashed a quirky smile at her spectral friend. There would be no returning to sleep, now.
Mission accomplished for the ghost girl.
—
Soft and squishy. With that thought, a coy smirk teased Carolyn's lips as she tightened her hold over that which her slender arms possessed. No, not possessed. Craved. Wait. Soft? Squishy? Eyebrows merging into one, Carolyn grimaced. Since when is Daniel soft and squishy? Never. The muscles in his broad chest were always rock-hard, well-defined, and entirely masculine. Yes. Masculine. Eyelids fluttering open, she released her stranglehold to view her inanimate partner. A pillow. Soft. Fluffy. Squishy. That would certainly explain the soft and squishy, but where was Daniel?
Ribbons of an aroma curled their way through the stale air of the hotel room, finding a ready port in Carolyn's nostrils. Lungs expanding, she inhaled, deeply.
Robust. Strong. And enticingly bitter.
Coffee was calling and she answered, eagerly. Never mind the tangle of sheets around her legs. Coffee was beckoning from a scuffed round table by the window and all at once it was warm in her hands. She inhaled the seducing smell again, then touched the cup to her lips. Heaven on earth. Another sip. Soon she would feel as if she were a thoroughbred in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
Daniel must have gone out for coffee. But where is he, now?
Four slender fingers glided over a paisley panel that matched the room's bedspread and Carolyn peered over the steam of her coffee, out the window, in search of one wayward sea captain ghost.
A twinge of memory blanketed her thoughts and clouded her vision. The children.
We have to find Candy and Jonathan today. We must, she told herself, yet the goosebumps ran over her skin anyway. She closed her eyes and rubbed a brutal hand over her sleeve, willing for her mind to turn away from thoughts unwanted suggesting otherwise.
Pulses of sunlight, few and intermittent, bled between shrouds of darkening clouds persistent to find that elusive silver lining. Her hands on auto-pilot, Carolyn raised the coffee cup until it was parallel to her caffeine-thirsty mouth, but before the drink entered, knuckles gently tapped on the door twice.
Squinting, she drew an eye to the peephole and looked out. The fine Roman nose, those haunting blue eyes, the whiskey-brown mustache and beard that framed inviting lips. Daniel.
The door couldn't open fast enough for Carolyn and with one hand she practically drug the unsuspecting seaman into the room and into her yearning arms. Like a love-starved juvenile girl, she hugged him snug to her body and he gave her a little growl. His arms, warm and tightly-muscled, folded around her petite torso. Daniel rested his chin against her forehead. A bag crinkled in his hand and he said, "I brought you some breakfast. When I was here, earlier, I had not realized that they had given me the wrong order, so now I have returned with your Egg Mc…, Mc something or other."
"You remembered," Carolyn purred and smiled a cat-like grin.
Did he really walk to the restaurant and back for her, twice? Not flown? Not invisibly pilfered items when no one was watching? No mysterious bags floating through mid-air? No. He had walked just like anyone else might have. To look at this magnificent man, one would not easily realize that his heart no longer kept a beat.
She slipped her hands down into the back pockets of his Levis and Daniel gave a little jump.
"Carolyn?" Captain Gregg released his hold, took a step back, and cleared his throat. "How did you," he asked, a line of worry creasing his brow, "escape from your captor?"
A tremble spidered across her shoulders and down her arms where she now clutched her hands together as if to pray. Anxious tears welled in her eyes.
"Oh, Daniel," she said in a quavering voice before brushing a tear from her cheek. "I have so much to tell you. So much that needs to be said. But I want to find the kids first." Another tear fell.
He pulled her back into his arms and for a moment, he could almost imagine that none of the ugliness had ever occurred. No abduction. No kidnapped children. No marrying this other… man. He could stop time. Yes, he could, but that wouldn't change the things that had already taken place. It would only delay the inevitable. The undesirable.
His words came through as a low throaty whisper. "We'll find them, my dear," as he spoke into her hair. "I promise you."
Carolyn leaned deeper into his embrace, nodded, then chuckled against his throat saying, "I can always count on you, Daniel. I don't know what I would do without you."
"You don't have to, Carolyn," he said, cradling her face in his hands. "I'll always be here for you and the children." He tilted her face up to his and brushed his bearded lips over her forehead. "Go, now, and do what you do to get ready and I'll scout around the area to see if anything turns up."
She gave him a half-smile. The kind she kept handy when doubts assailed her. The kind that not many could see behind. The false kind that she hated wearing.
Captain Gregg vanished from the room and reappeared outside in the shadows of ancient oak trees whose dry leaves shook in the Autumn wind much like an old man's angry fist shakes at wasted years of ignorant youth.
His mouth drew taunt and he flexed his fingers. Daniel's biceps tightened, the memory of holding Carolyn was etched indelibly into his arms and in his agony, he roared with veins rising from his neck and temple. After scrubbing his face with a hand, he groaned and faded up into the cloud-draped skies.
—
Dunkin' Donuts. Hmm. That looks like a good place.
Old and young crowded the narrow but long bar at the donut shop. Cups of hot coffee plunked on the counter partnered with 2-3 circle cakes for every person seated. A lady in a pink striped dress pressed nibble fingers over a cash register when a stampede of orders assaulted her ears while another lady danced a new-fangled step in front of an audience of the cake-like products that everyone seemed interested in tasting. The place was busy. Very busy. No one should notice if some of the sweet circles vanished, would they?
Lily remained invisible. She was determined to snatch some of these breakfast circles for Candy and Jonathan, whom she left inside of an old abandoned foundry on the outskirts of town. The place was huge and mostly void of everything except dirt and sand. They were chilled from the bite of the morning's cool temps and Lily helped them build a fire to stay warm while she went looking for something that could pass for breakfast food. This 'Dunkin' Donuts' place was popular enough, so that must mean the food was not only right, but it was good as well. It sure smelled that way to Lily as she floated through the shop and inhaled a sumptuous faux breath.
These donuts, she noticed, laid on large trays under the counter, behind the counter, in the back, and anywhere a horizontal surface was found, the donuts occupied a place. All kinds of shapes and flavors and Lily couldn't decide which ones to choose. Mischief blossoming in her brown eyes, Lily dipped a finger into a bowl of chocolate icing then slid it over her tongue. This icing was a must. With an indiscriminate finger, she tasted all of the different flavors, fillings, and icings. A sweet-tart lemon flavor was puckering her cheeks when Lily spotted something that she found rather weird. Why is there so much pink in this place? She spun a half turn and shrugged her shoulders.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied an opportunity too good to resist. Perfect!
A woman of sizable weight and strength, in a white-aproned pink dress, hefted a heavy sack of flour over her shoulder, proceeding to carefully empty the contents into a large floor stand mixer that was operating on a low speed.
"Sorry about this ma'am, but I need your help," Lily softly murmured.
She pointed a devilish finger in the woman's direction. A little nudge and…, the big mixer took-off in a surprise race around its bowl! Flour puffed into a cloud in the woman's face and she screeched. Batter pelted the walls and anything else that was in trajectory. Cartons of eggs tipped over on a work table and quickly rolled in droves like crowds receiving the announcement of a blue light special at the Kmart. They crashed to the floor in a yellowed mess causing the woman to slip, and landing on her backside, she yelled for help from a white-floured face. Other women in pink dresses came to her aid and with a flock of questions flying, the group sounded much like cackling hens fresh from their coop.
In all of the chaos, Miss Lily nonchalantly packed four boxes full of as many donuts as she could. A gleam in her eye and a quirky grin on her face, she snuck out the back door with her boxes following behind. No one noticed a thing.
—
Captain Gregg soared over the city invisible to the parades of people, all in a hurry to arrive at their morning destinations. Eyes as discerning as a hawk in search of a meal, the seaman scanned the city streets, inside buildings, and through moving public transit to locate Carolyn's children. Disgust peppered his voice when he spouted, "Blast! Where can they be?"
Just as he turned his face back to Carolyn's hotel, something strange caught his eye in an ally. Dining boxes, pink, and white marched behind a translucent figure whose long brown hair swung from side to side. Could it be her?
Wing beating, a small flock of pigeons fluttered skyward as the Captain darted into the alley. With a wave of his hand, the boxes halted and Lily whipped herself around to investigate.
"I don't suppose," Daniel said with satisfaction, "that you were planning to eat these by yourself, were you?"
"Where have you been?!" she snapped back at him in a snit. "I've been trying to find you?! I know where Candy and Jonathan are."
The eyebrows of Captain Gregg narrowed into a 'V' and he balled his fists.
"Take me there!" he bellowed gruffly. "Now!"
The nose of the ghost girl lifted into the air. In a calm manner, she smoothed her words. "Grab some boxes and follow me, then."
—-
In the sedan, at the Motel 6 parking lot, two men in wrinkled shirts and loose ties drank coffee from a thermos and yawned.
Bags under their eyes, they watched across the road to the Holiday Inn where Carolyn Thompson was staying.
The driver, Rick, cast a long and strained glance at his watch.
"Soon," he remarked, his gaze turning back to the Holiday Inn. "She'll come out soon, and we'll follow her when she looks for her kids." The driver stuffed into his mouth an oversize bite of a donut and with a hamster cheek he said, "When she finds them, we'll jump out and bag all of them!"
His partner, Marty, guffawed. "We sure will!"
—
Boxes of donuts rushed into a broken window of the abandoned foundry where Candy and Jonathan, slack-jawed, stood to their feet. Their breakfast landed on a weathered and slightly warped bench to their right. Saliva collected in anticipation of the sweet breakfast treats, but before they could open the boxes, a familiar face materialized and spoke, "You don't know how glad I am to see the two of you," Captain Gregg warmly smiled and said. He squatted down and opened his arms to them.
"Captain Gregg!" They shouted, running headlong into his embrace.
Slamming into the seaman, Daniel was nearly knocked off of his feet. They wrapped arms around each other and the Captain found himself blinking back a betraying wetness collecting his eyes.
Releasing the pair, he held them at arm's length. Studying them from head to toe he asked, "Are you both alright? Have you been harmed in any way?"
Jonathan smiled, but Candy shrugged and tittered, "I think we're okay, just really hungry!"
Lowering his head, Captain Gregg snickered. "By all means, then, feel free to eat your breakfast."
Dunkin' Donut boxes opened on their own. Lily materialized and in great enthusiasm, she described the different flavors of each breakfast circle and how she managed to obtain the bounty of which she now boasted.
"Stay with them, Miss Lily," Daniel sternly instructed. He turned to the children. "Your mother has been located and has a car. I will bring her here to you."
"You found Mom?!" Candy whipped a chocolate-smudged mouth his way. "Where is she, Captain?!"
"Not far," he managed to say with an amused grin. "I'll guide her here. In the meantime, you both should eat."
Candy and Jonathan nodded their sticky chins to him.
Lily stood at mock attention, saluted the Captain, and in a deep voice said, "You can count on me to stay with them, sir."
The ghost captain sneered at her in return, rolled his eyes, and vanished from sight.
—-
"There she goes," Rick observed and remarked, drinking the last swig of his coffee.
From the Motel 6, the two watched Carolyn drive away in Blair's car. She headed up the road and Rick, the driver, started his car, jerked in gear, and sped out to follow.
"Looks like she's got that sailor guy with her. That could be a problem."
His partner, Marty, a break-your-nose kind of guy, loaded bullets into the barrel of his 38 special that fit comfortably into his knife-scarred hand. Resolve growing in his steely gray eyes, the thug twitched his lips and snorted, "I see no problem here."
—-
Rick shot another glance to his rear-view mirror. He huffed a sharp breath and stiffened his shoulders. It's him, alright.
Reaching up to the dashboard, Rick groped and found the cigarettes that he purchased the night before. He shook the box once, then twice and two of the smokes jumped up from the pack and he pinched one between his lips. The coils of the car lighter glowed red hot and pressing it to his cigarette, smoke puffed from his mouth like a chimney.
The cigarette dangling from his lips, Rick turned to his partner Marty. The man was shy one card from being a full deck, but he could handle a gun or a knife with unmatched expertise, so Rick didn't complain. Marty was re-sheathing one of his blades when Rick addressed him.
"We've got a tail, Marty."
The weapons man paused, looked behind them, and said, "You gotta be kiddin' me. Who would be tailing us?
"Only one person would do that, Marty."
Twisting around to see for himself, Marty's eyes opened wider.
"You don't mean…?"
"Yeah, I do mean! It's the big boss and his boys!"
—
Carolyn was exceeding the speed limit by a wide margin when they had finally arrived at the old foundry. Braking tires sliding through a mound of drifting sand, the car left its telltale signs behind advertising her lead-footed journey.
Feet sinking, she fought against the mounds of casting sand, and stumbled to the brick-encased open doorway, shouting her children's names as if the reality of there appearance were still in question. The woman wasn't a mother hen in search of her missing chicks. She was a lioness bent on retrieve and defense of her cubs.
The passenger door on Blair's car swung open with a heavy shove. One long blue jean leg followed the other until Captain Gregg stood outside. He crouched down low, and, concealing the tightening features of his face, he scooped up a handful of sand, and allowed it to sift freely through his open fingers. His narrowed eyes darted from one side to the other. Swiping hands, one against the other, he took in the view of the aged, non-functioning gate entrance that he and Carolyn had just passed through. They had been followed. The Captain was certain of it, however, the black sedan was no longer in sight. It had sped away once Carolyn made the turn into the foundry.
Trash rolled along the foundry's empty streets as tumbleweeds would roll through a ghost town. A steel-lined wood cart lay half-buried in the sand near the doorway to an adjacent building. Rust licked the bare metal and endless rounds of salt watered winds splintered and cracked the parched wood like an old woman's wrinkled face. Silent brick chimneys reached for the sky and long-handled tools that at one time lined the foundry walls looked like enormous insect exoskeletons drowning in dry holds of sand.
The foundry and grounds were unwelcoming, to say the least. Captain Gregg had known haunted houses that were more inviting than this place. The foundry complex was too isolated, too large, too empty, and,… too eerily quiet even for a former recluse such as himself. A perfect place to hide someone or something. A car, for instance, parked in the right place, could easily be overlooked by a passing eye. Something was afoot and Daniel Gregg was too old and wise not to trust his gut.
Eyes peeled, he marched into the building where he had last left Candy, Jonathan, and the young specter, Lily. Looking up to the high ceilings, the Captain eyed the many sets of tall multi-paned windows speckled with holes from vandals' rocks as if they played games of tic-tac-toe.
Out of the corner of one eye, Daniel saw Carolyn. Happy sobs gushed from the reunion between her and her children. But walls were known to have ears, so with trained fingers, he brushed back a stray pomade curl from his forehead and patrolled the perimeter of the long derelict area.
A leather shoe squeaked.
Daniel snapped his head around in time to see 5 well-dressed men charge into the room and face him head-on. Four held up guns, assembling in a loose horizontal line and the last comfortably stood with hands in his pockets and a cheeky grin perched on his face like an eager vulture sighting its prey. Probably the leader, Daniel thought with a scowl. He placed himself in the room's middle, between his family and the thugs.
"Time's up, old sailor," The boss said with a smugness that further angered the seaman. "And, I want my three packages back!"
The men aimed their guns.
Daniel crossed arms over his chest to make an 'X'.
The guns fired.
Daniel swept both arms out in front of him.
A raging wind to match his mood, Captain Gregg created a wall to meet the impending projectiles. Strong as steel, and more powerful than the backwash of a jet engine, bullets flew in different directions and the gun wielders clumsily fell to the floor like bowling pins from a well-aimed strike. The boss, himself, never flinched.
Half turning his face, but keeping his eyes to the front, Daniel barked at Lily, "Get Carolyn and the children out of here at once!"
Frowning, Lily squelched back a sarcastic retort. She screwed-up her eyes. The ghost girl was already engaged in a battle. Two men had run in from the first doorway. A blanket held high in their gloved hands, they threw it over Carolyn and her children. Muffled cries and wild kicking commenced. Invisible, Lily was pulling one way, and the men were pulling the other way looking utterly baffled for an adversary that couldn't be seen.
On the front line and eyes red with fire, Captain Gregg raised commanding hands into the air. One above the other, open palms and flat, he spun them around each other horizontally. Gaining the appropriate speed, the seaman all-at-once flipped his hands vertically and in that instant, a funnel cloud rose from the ground all around him and his height became elongated so that he looked as tall as the Jolly Green Giant. Velocity increasing, the funnel grew in size and strength, drawing into itself the very men who had fired the guns. Spinning and spinning, arms and legs flailing, the men rose within the ferocious whirlwind, then it spit them out like rotted teeth. Sickly moaning and groaning, they lay on the ground, trying to regain a sense of equilibrium, but the end result turned into vulgar and repeated retching.
Pride filling his eyes, the man who was their leader continued to stand tall, untouched, and unbothered by the seaman's display of supernatural power. Unimpressed, he yawned his impertinence and glanced down at his watch, to imply that he had better things to do. His impetuous mouth broke into a toothy sinister smile, saying, "You still have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"
Balling hands into angry fists, Daniel scowled his words through gritted teeth. "Then stop playing games and simply tell me who you are!" Slowly, he began his approach to this haughty low-life of a man.
Riotous laughter rose from the boss, filled the air and with a duel gravel voice he spat, "Look closer!"
Understanding lit Captain Gregg's face and he stopped dead in his tracks.
From within this bossman, a mist slithered up and when it took form, an image of a different man appeared. Another spirit. A cigar was happily clenched in his teeth. He flicked off the ash ever-so casually and laughingly he said to Captain Gregg, "Name's Al. Al Capone, but you can call me… Scarface!"
—