Strange Girl (24 page)

“Yes. She’s with your friend Janet.”

“What’s Janet doing there?”

“They’re talking in Aja’s room.”

“Can I speak to Aja please?” I said.

“She asked that I leave them alone.”

“But this is important. We should all be on the phone together.”

“Her talk with Janet must be important. Aja seldom asks not to be disturbed. But when she does, it’s best to leave her alone.”

This was sounding weirder every minute.

“All right, let’s talk about these reporters,” I said. “Everyone in South Dakota knows Dana Sharone. She’s the most aggressive reporter in the state. She’s not going to leave you alone. She’ll keep knocking on your door until you answer or else someone forces her off your property. You’ve got to hire private security.”

“Do you think that is absolutely necessary?” Bart asked.

“Yes. I thought this might happen. I’ve been on the Internet for the last two hours researching South Dakota security firms. There’s one that comes highly recommended. They’re expensive but they have tons of positive reviews. The people who recommend them say they can be mean but that’s what you need right now. Dana Sharone is standing on your porch but I promise you she’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Is this firm local?” Bart asked.

“Sort of. Their name is Max and Mercer and their main office is located in Aberdeen. That’s three hours away. Call them as soon as we hang up. They have a twenty-four-hour line. Stress how much you and Aja are worth and explain how large a property you have. That will tell them how many of their people they need to send out.”

Bart was in the mood to listen. I could hear someone knocking on his door in the background. “Do you have their number?” he asked.

“Yes. Let me give it to you,” I said.

After a quick shower, I drove out to Aja’s house in her Mercedes. She had loaned it to me. Well, actually she’d told me to keep it. Going from a ten-speed bike to a car that was worth more than half the homes in Elder took some getting used to. To be blunt, it felt kind of weird to drive. I kept expecting a cop to pull me over.

I know I should have been more excited about her inheritance but I wasn’t. And it was not because I feared she’d moved into a higher social sphere and that I’d lose her because of the money. Aja cared about her millions as much as Mike cared about the AA meetings he’d been ordered by the court to attend.

By the time I arrived a van from a TV station out of Boise, Idaho, had joined the fray. It was raining hard but they didn’t mind. The reporters and their crews were setting up their cameras as if they owned the place. They tried to interview me on the way to the door but I had brought a large, empty pizza box with me and acted like I was making a delivery. Bart answered when I rang and I slipped inside.

Bart told me the security firm already had people on the way. But I was surprised to discover Janet had already left.

“Where’d she go?” I asked.

“Home, I think,” Bart said.

“New York,” Aja said, entering the room. She had just taken a bath. She took two or three a day. She said she loved to lie on her back and float on the warm water. She was wearing a blue bathrobe and nothing else. Her hair was soaked. From experience I knew she was never in a hurry to dry it.

“Very funny.” I assumed she was joking. “What were you and Janet talking about?”

“I can’t say,” Aja said.

Odd, I thought. Janet wouldn’t have gone to Aja for counseling. It wasn’t like her.

“How many people are Max and Mercer sending?” I asked.

“Three teams of four,” Bart said. “They said twelve people would be the minimum they’d need to secure a property this size.” He added, “I told them they could sleep here if they want.”

“You’re assuming Elder’s local hotels and motels are going to be booked?” I asked.

Bart shook his head. “I’ve seen the same videos you have.”

“How do you feel about them?” I asked.

Bart glanced at Aja, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch. “I can’t say I’m happy about it,” he said.

“Hopefully this will blow over soon,” I said. “Usually only top-level celebrities stay in the news more than a week.”

Bart sagged wearily into a chair. I noticed the streak of gray in his curly black hair had grown. “We should be so lucky,” he said.

The security personnel arrived two hours later. By then there were five TV stations jammed together in the mansion’s driveway, all wanting to interview Aja.

Max himself had driven out from Aberdeen. He was more imposing than the photo his firm had posted on their website. Six five, three hundred and fifty pounds; he wore a bulging black leather sports coat that did a poor job of hiding the two guns he carried, never mind his knives. His black eyes matched his intimidating stare. But ironically, when he smiled, he suddenly looked as harmless as a teddy bear.

Then again, I only saw him smile once.

He knew his business. Bart asked Max to clear the property and fifteen grumbling minutes later the reporters and their crews were all encamped at the junction of the driveway and the road that led back to Elder. It was clear they weren’t leaving anytime soon. I wondered how that worked in real life in a nasty storm. I mean, what if Aja didn’t come out for a week?

But Aja said that wasn’t a consideration. She was going to school tomorrow. I tried to talk her out of it.

“I think it would be a good idea to remain out of sight for a few days,” I said.

“I agree,” Bart said.

“No,” Aja said. “If necessary the guards can follow me to school. But I’m going.”

“The guards won’t be allowed on campus,” I said.

“They can keep the reporters off the campus,” Aja replied.

“Principal Levitt isn’t going to like all this commotion,” I warned.

Aja didn’t care; the topic simply didn’t interest her. She asked if I wanted to watch a movie on TV. I knew I should be at home, working on my demo. But it was hard to leave her surrounded by a growing horde.

“Why not?” I said.

I spent the night. Several times before going to bed I tried calling Janet. I still didn’t believe Aja had been serious. Janet wasn’t answering, though, which was unusual for her. I tried her cell and her home number. The latter should have at least got me Bo but he wasn’t picking up either. I asked Aja if Janet had said anything before leaving and she told me to ask Janet.

What the hell, I thought.

• • •

Monday morning I entered the twilight zone. It started when I drove Aja past a dozen reporters and their cameramen. They shouted out a whole list of questions as we cruised by. “Can you heal people, Aja?” “Are you a virgin?” “What’s the source of your power?” “Are you a Christian?” “Is your boyfriend a Satanist?” I have to admit I wanted to stop and answer the last question. I’m sure I would have come up with something that would have gotten me on the evening news.

The media—they didn’t care that we ignored them at the end of the driveway. The bigger half was waiting for us in the school parking lot. It was here Max and his team briefly lost control of the situation. I shouldn’t have blamed Max, he didn’t have enough men, but I yelled at him anyway. It scared the shit out of me when I saw the crush surround Aja and pin her against a fence.

I’d dropped her off beside a small flight of concrete stairs that led onto the campus, thinking that would give her a head start. But Aja, as usual, never in a hurry, never worried, let the reporters catch her at the fence. At that point there was nothing for her to do but lower her head and hide beneath her umbrella and wait for Max and his people to rescue her.

The reporters surrounded her on all sides. The onslaught of their questions matched the stormy sky; it was like thunder. But then something unexpected happened. Perhaps the Big Person flexed its power. I saw the sea suddenly part—the crowd of reporters abruptly backed off—and Aja was allowed to continue on her way. After parking the car, I yelled at Max to block all entrances to the campus.

My demand was silly and I knew it. Elder High was old. It had been built in the decades before city councils even dreamed of putting tall fences around schools. The truth was anyone could get on campus from almost any direction. To his credit, Max didn’t use that as an excuse. He shouted at the reporters to stay back and caught up with Aja and escorted her to her locker. Then he called for reinforcements—that meant more security guards—but before they could arrive the police showed up.

It seemed that somewhere during the night Max had read a copy of Elder’s city bylaws and discovered that no adults—outside of faculty and hired staff—were allowed on campus when school was in session. That included Max himself but he ignored that point until the cops arrived. By then Aja was sitting safely in her first-period class—chemistry.

What a morning, I thought.

I headed for my own first period. Along the way I tried calling Janet. I didn’t get her but Bo finally picked up and told me that Aja had not been joking. Janet was in New York City visiting her mother and stepfather. Just like that she’d flown to the East Coast without telling me. I asked Bo why she’d left so unexpectedly and he said he didn’t know. But going by the tension in his voice I wondered if he was lying.

By second period Max had a dozen more guards surrounding the school and Aja was free to wander Elder High unmolested. But since the bad weather had flooded the courtyard, effectively soaking “Dr. Aja’s” office space, she didn’t have to attend to a long line of teenagers and their problems. The two of us spent lunch together in the school library—basically alone. Reading had never been a particularly popular pastime among my classmates.

“I’m surprised these reporters are so intent on talking to you,” I said. “They must have a source beyond Casey’s YouTube videos.”

“Yes,” Aja agreed in that special tone of voice that told me she knew for a fact what I was saying was true while I was just speculating.

“Have you healed someone I don’t know about?” I asked.

“Healings happen around this body, you know that.”

“For some reason your answer isn’t very comforting.”

“Have you finished your song about me?” she asked.

“Almost. I should work on it tonight.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

“Ordinarily I’d say yes. But then I’d have to explain to the reporters and to my parents why I became a Satanist.”

Aja smiled. “If I tell the reporters that I’m the Harlot spoken about in Revelation, do you think they’ll get scared and leave me alone?”

“There’s an idea.” I paused. “I didn’t know you’d read Revelation.”

“I started reading the Bible a few days ago.”

I gestured to the outside world. “To better understand the questions you’d be asked?”

Aja laughed. “Don’t be silly.”

Only Aja would think it silly to prepare for anything life might happen to throw at her. “Read the Gospels yet?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What’s your take on Jesus? Was he connected to the Big Person?”

“Yes.”

“You sound certain?”

“I am.”

“The reporters and their audiences will like that. Wait, no, I might be wrong. You can’t say anything that compares you to Jesus. People will say that’s blasphemy.”

Aja laughed some more. “Fred, don’t worry, it will be fine.”

“I’ll try,” I said, reaching for my cell, trying Janet again, failing to get her to pick up. “At least tell me if Janet was upset when you last saw her.”

“She was upset.”

“About what?”

“I can’t say. It’s private.”

“Since when does the Big Person keep secrets?”

“I’ve always kept your secrets. Since the day we met.”

“I would hope so. I’m your boyfriend.” I paused. “I think.”

She took my hand. “You are definitely my boyfriend.”

After fourth period, after lunch, I began to hope we’d escaped the day unscathed. That I’d be able to return Aja to her house and that she’d be able to barricade herself inside and life would go on pretty much as normal. But come fifth period the principal’s office sent a message to every class in the school. It seemed Principal Levitt was annoyed with all the security guards and police and wasn’t going to allow it to continue. Tonight, at eight sharp, he was calling for an emergency PTA meeting and asking all students who were “interested” to attend. The topic would be—in his words—“the Aja Smith issue.”

Aja was required to attend, I was told.

But no reporters would be allowed inside.

“It sounds like a trial,” a friend of mine, Stephen Makey, said as the rest of the class looked in my direction to see if I was freaked-out. I thought Stephen was right, although it made me wonder if there would be jurors and how they would be chosen.

I wished Aja hadn’t brought up the Gospels. Her casual remark had somehow steered my imagination toward a bleak gray zone where I felt like I was flashing back on an acid trip. I was being silly, totally paranoid, yet I couldn’t help but see Principal Levitt as another Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, and my Aja as Jesus, about to be dragged before the Sanhedrin. Sure, I admit, my fear was running ragged with my reason, yet I couldn’t stop from wondering what kind of punishment would be doled out if Aja was found guilty.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I WANTED AJA to lie. I spent the gap between the end of the school day and the PTA meeting trying to get her to lie. Begging her to say nothing about the Big Person. To not admit to healing anyone. Pleading with her to say she was just an ordinary teenage girl who studied hard, who wanted to get accepted at a good college, and who enjoyed going to concerts with her boyfriend.

I needed her to tell everyone she was normal.

How did Aja respond? She just yawned and told me that everything would be okay and that she was sleepy and wanted to take a nap. Really, she didn’t appear to give a damn that the whole town was being assembled to judge her. To her the PTA meeting was just another get-together of little people where her body would show up and enjoy whatever was happening. The line from my song had been prophetic. To Aja the world was nothing but a stage.

I didn’t think that was a good thing. Not this evening.