Heaven or Hell (32 page)

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Dad. Sort of sounds like a cop out.” Angel furrowed her brow.

Joe stood in front of Angela and carefully chose his words. All the while, he used the softest tone he could find and drew upon some inner strength he didn’t realize he had. “I know you’ve been out here for years, for decades. Angel, my sweet Angel, you’re not responsible for anyone but yourself. Teresa is going to be okay. Right now, it finally is your time to continue on.”

A quick flash of movement drew Joe’s eyes to a spot about a foot over Angel’s right shoulder and down the sidewalk a few yards. Angel’s head turned to follow his gaze, and she left his grip. If he squinted and focused on the ripple, he could see the outline of another place right within reach.

Marion had told him that the vibration on the other side was faster, like that of a fan. If he could train his eye to grab the outline, he might have a glimpse into her world, she’d said. “It’s all right here in front of you.”

And now that the other world
was
right here in front of him, finally he understood what Marion meant. Angel moved to the area he’d been looking at, the largest wavelet he’d seen since his dying experience had begun.

Half of Angel’s body seemed to be entering the soft tear in the sky. Joe heard her speak into the space. “Mom? Wait …”

Angel turned back toward her father. “I should’ve left here the first time Mom tried to get me. I’ve got to go now, or I might …”

Angel was gone, and Joe wasn’t able to comprehend how it’d transpired, because it happened so fast. Then the ripple flattened out, and all appeared to be ordinary again, except for in the next moment when he heard the echo of his youngest daughter’s giggle. The laughter seemed far away, but he believed she was close, really close. And he hoped that soon he’d be joining them there, wherever
there
was.

CHAPTER 29
 

TERESA AND JJ HAD BEEN HOME a few hours—JJ in his room studying and Teresa in the kitchen working on her laptop—when she heard the muffled laugh of a girl that seemed to come from JJ’s room.

Teresa shut her computer and sighed deeply. Her son’s behavior went beyond disappointing. The boy seemed to have no boundaries these days. She stood up and contemplated her feet as she walked across the house placing one foot ahead of the other, quickly moving to JJ’s room. There, she pushed the door ajar without knocking to find JJ at his desk with his history book open and a highlighter in his hand. He’d been studying and looked up from his book, his expression one of shock at the sudden intrusion.

“What’s up, Mom? No knock?” JJ dropped the yellow pen on his book and shook his head.

“Did you hear that noise?” Teresa demanded. If he was taken by surprise at the moment, she was doubly so.

“What noise?” He raised his eyebrows.

“The girl, laughing.” Teresa’s insides were spinning like the washer in her laundry room. Though she realized it’d be a while before she could trust her son again, that probably wasn’t a good reason to trample all over his privacy. She looked down at her hands and mumbled. “I’m sorry, I thought …”

“You thought I had a girl in here?” JJ laughed. “You must think I’m really bad.”

“No, seriously, did you hear anything?” Teresa asked.

“It was from the sidewalk or across the street in that direction. I heard it too.” JJ pointed toward the front and then picked up his book and made a few noises with his mouth.

Teresa moved closer to her son. For whatever reason, the blood raced through her veins, and she thought maybe, just maybe, she understood what it felt like to be a cop and be inches away from a bust that fell short in the end. Though it wasn’t as if she wanted to catch her son doing something wrong, she couldn’t help but think he was up to something, now—and all the time.

“Is it someone you know?” she asked.

“I doubt it,” he answered. And then he picked up his text book and feigned interest in what he was reading.

Teresa rolled her eyes and reached for her son’s hand. “Come with me. Let’s check outside.”

JJ resisted slightly and then shrugged and stood up, dropping his yellow pen on his book once more. He pulled a sweatshirt over his head and waved for her to leave the room in front of him.

Outside, the rain had turned into a mist that cooled the air and left a clean feel to the afternoon. Teresa heard a dog bark and crickets chirp—everything seemed perfectly normal.

“I don’t hear anything, or see anything,” JJ said.

Teresa held her forefinger to her mouth and whispered. “Wait, be quiet and listen. I hear the faintest noise. I think I saw something, too.”

She and JJ both looked up to the same area above and to the west. “Strange, it looked like the sky just melted on the other side of that bush. Did you see that?” JJ asked as he moved down the walkway and across the sidewalk to their neighbors’ yard. “But close up, it all looks ordinary here.”

Teresa followed JJ and stood next to him in front of her neighbors’ house. “I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I heard something. Do you feel like someone’s watching us? I know it sounds strange, but …”

“No, I feel it, too,” JJ said.

“Let’s go back inside. I’m a little spooked.”

The two moved slowly up the walk and into the house. JJ seemed to be on Teresa’s heels as he shadowed her into the kitchen. His energy level had picked up and suddenly his mood seemed to improve.

“What do you think that was?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” Teresa busied herself in the kitchen.

Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, she looked through the pantry and decided to make potatoes when she found a bag of them on the shelf. She put the bag on the counter and picked out a few good looking spuds. Water flowed down her hands as she rinsed the vegetables. Then she wiped her hands and found the peeler.

Peeling potatoes in the kitchen took Teresa’s mind off of everything else. She concentrated on the outside of the vegetable and in time made the brown go away. After the fourth potato, she turned on the stove and one by one plopped the potatoes in the water.

“Mom, you’re making potatoes?” JJ’s face contorted with the question.

“Why not?” she answered.

And then unexpectedly, and for no reason, she felt lighter, almost carefree. Maybe her sense of relief came from partially resolving JJ’s issue or from the closure of her father’s death—but her head seemed clearer. Or perhaps her improved state was from something as a simple as the few minutes they’d just spent outside in the air. Whatever the cause, she hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time.

JJ put his head down on the table. His hand rested on his soda can. His voice was muffled as he spoke, “I’m sorry, Mom. I should’ve told you about all of this.”

Teresa sat near him at the table and touched her son’s head. Her feelings of distrust from moments ago vanished as the mother in her emerged. “You know the word has gotten out at your school.”

“I’m sure it has,” he said. “I’ll shut it down. No more flash mobs. Now that the mystery is gone, they won’t want to go anyway.”

“Are they really going to be mad at you?” she asked.

“Probably. Seth was the only one who knew. So I know he told on me.” JJ lifted his head from the table.

“Oh, don’t blame him. You put him in that position by telling him your secret,” Teresa scolded.

“I guess.” JJ took a sip of his soda.

They sat in the kitchen together for a while, each engrossed in personal thoughts, until the potatoes softened in the water. Teresa emptied the water and began mashing the potatoes. Her knuckles turned white as she pushed down and twisted the masher with a sense of contentment. She added a sprinkle of cheese, a lump of sour cream, and a slab of butter, her efforts entirely targeted on the potatoes. In a minute, she pulled a spoon out of the drawer, dipped it into the mixture and brought it up to her mouth. No. The potatoes needed salt and pepper and maybe some garlic.

Reaching up, Teresa dug through the cupboard and found the spices, then added these to the mixture. She put the results in two bowls, placed the food on the table, sat down next to JJ, and said, “Eat.”

As she held the spoon up to her mouth, the phone interrupted her first warm bite.

“Why do we still have that land line anyway?” JJ asked.

“Because I’m an old-fashioned gal.” Teresa dropped her spoon in the bowl and ran to pick up the phone.

“At least you opted for cordless, instead of rotary dial.” JJ chuckled.

Teresa was shocked to find herself glad that Father Benjamin was calling. Her heart pounded a little. This man had been the closest human being to her father in the years before Joe’s death—now she seemed to be connected to him in ways she’d never have imagined. And for some bizarre reason, the idea of her relationship to the priest warmed her heart.

She chuckled slightly as a picture of the Grinch entered her mind—at the specific scene where his heart grows four inches. And for some strange reason, she hoped that silly little message was from her mother—but then it struck her the movie was one of Angela’s favorites.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” the priest asked.

“Oh, no, Father, just more strangeness …” Her voice trailed off.

“Yes, that’s why I’m calling,” he said. “Although it could be my imagination, or should I say the imagination of my friends from the street.”

“What happened, Father?” A friendly compassionate voice was what she heard, and then she realized it was her own. Her heart expanded another inch or two.

“It was as if Juan was there for a moment and a strange woman … Well, never mind,” he replied.

“Do you believe in ghosts, Father?” Where did that come from?

“Yes, but this was different,” Father Benjamin answered.

“How was it different?” She felt at ease staying on the phone with this man, but at the same time totally surprised at her own unusual behavior.

“We seemed to have had a Juan sighting, but not quite Juan. The person in question was an old, homeless guy, and I’m not sure how his appearing at the church was related to Juan. After this old guy disappeared, an unknown woman also indicated the man outside the kitchen had been Juan, and she …” Father Benjamin stammered. “Well, she changed for a moment. It was like something from a Stephen King novel. Very unreal, but I saw it with my own eyes.”

“How did she change?” Teresa asked.

“She went from appearing to be in a drunken state to being completely clear and sober. She transformed into a nice-looking, ordinary woman, in fact. Or maybe I just need a good night’s sleep.” The priest dismissed his story. “Anyway, I called to check on you and JJ.”

Theresa held the phone closer to her ear. “Come to think of it, we had something odd happen tonight. We both heard laughter outside the house, but no one was there. It was weird. JJ saw something in the air that he couldn’t explain. At the same time, it’s all easily shrugged off. We certainly could have been imagining things.”

“Did you hear your dad laugh?” inquired the priest.

“No. This was a young girl.” Teresa let out a nervous chuckle.

“I’m not sure what that could be, but you’re right. All these strange incidents can be easily dismissed, and usually are dismissed. It’s the reason I’m trying to pay close attention.” He sounded quite sincere.

Teresa took a deep breath and thought about the loss this man had suffered. She needed a moment to go beyond the priestly collar and fully understand a person inside of that uniform was now in pain. Consciously, she put more of her nice tone on as she continued, “That’s unusual for a priest to be so open-minded. Do you want to talk to JJ? He mentioned he was taking notes. He’s really interested in these otherworldly happenings, if that’s what they are.”

Father Benjamin spoke in a quiet tone. “Teresa, you’re being very kind right now. Thank you, but you really don’t need to patronize me.”

Yesterday she would’ve jumped all over the accusation; today she felt nothing but calm patience arise. “Oh, Father, I’m sorry. I’m not patronizing you. I really am just trying to be nice. And my son has an interest in this type of thing. What would you call it? Supernatural …”

“I’d say it’s more spiritual.” The priest spoke in a hushed manner.

“Yes, that would make sense,” Teresa said. Spiritual, of course—indications of the possibility of a life beyond this one would be of spiritual interest.

“Are you up for an early morning breakfast? And can you bring JJ?” the priest asked.

No, say no
, she thought to herself as the opposite words flew out of her mouth. “Okay. Is there anything open at 6:00 a.m.?”

“Yes, the railroad car that was converted to a restaurant on First. Do you know the place? The best pancakes in town,” Father Benjamin answered.

“Yes, yes. We’ll be there.”
Where are these words coming from
, Teresa whispered to herself.

“What? I didn’t catch that last comment you made.”

“Nothing, Father. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Teresa hung up the phone and went back into the kitchen. JJ had enjoyed his share of the potatoes. He sat at the table with an empty bowl and the soda can in his hand.

“What? We’re meeting the priest sometime tomorrow?” JJ asked without waiting for her explanation.

“You heard.” Teresa frowned. “It was like Tourette’s syndrome. I had no control over the words that came out of my mouth. I hope you feel up to it.”

“Oh, yeah. I think we have some things to talk about.” JJ laughed as he spoke. “I’m not sure that the padre will want to hear it all, though.”

“Why’s that?” Teresa asked. She’d sat down at the table again and was eating the still-warm mashed potatoes with satisfaction.

“Well it’s not exactly standard, Catholic protocol.”

“What is Catholic protocol?” Since her son hadn’t been brought up in the Catholic Church, she wondered why JJ thought he knew all about it.

“Aren’t those guys real conservative? Like ghosts and spirits don’t exist?” JJ asked.

“I’d think it’d be the opposite, because of all the angels, burning bushes, and parting seas in the Bible—a lot of miracles and strange happenings. You’d think the Church would be the most open to this type of thing. But in truth, you’re right. They’re worse than me.” Teresa chuckled.