Chapter Twenty-Four

Darcy Metcalf lived in a ranch-style house with windowboxes full of dandelions and other weeds. Tommy parked his motorcycle in her driveway, behind a pick-up truck with Chuck O’ Flannery bumper stickers, featuring the sweaty talk show host with dialogue balloons: “No Healthcare for Hippies!” and “Save A Bullet, Stab a Leftie!”

Tommy smiled, taking it as a good omen. The O’Flannery Overview Hour was where he’d first seen Ashleigh.

He and Esmeralda stepped off the bike. A beady-eyed woman peered out a window, probably drawn by the sound of his motorcycle.

Tommy led the way up the steps to Darcy’s front door. Esmeralda trailed behind him. He felt bad about having to keep Esmeralda in fear, but he needed her.

He knocked on the door.

The jowly, beady-eyed woman opened the door. She was in her late forties or early fifties, and she didn’t look friendly.

“We ain’t buying nothing,” she said through the screen door.

“We’re just here to visit Darcy,” Tommy said.

“Who are you?”

“We’re friends.”

“Darcy don’t have no friends. They all died in the witchcraft.”

“Mom!” Darcy ran towards the door. She was wearing a long-faded Fallen Oak Baptist Kids’ Kamp T-shirt, which didn’t cover her swollen pregnant belly. She also wore yellow rubber gloves and smelled like Clorox. “That’s Tommy Goodling!” Darcy beamed through the screen door at Tommy, but her smile fell when she saw Esmeralda.

“Who’s the Mexican?” Darcy’s mom asked. “Bet she’s illegal!”

Esmeralda gave her an angry glare.

“Mommm!” Darcy said. She pushed opened the screen door. “Come on in, Tommy.”

“You didn’t tell me you was having friends over.” Darcy’s mom eyeballed Tommy and Esmeralda with disgust as they walked into her foyer.

“I didn’t know they were coming!” Darcy said.

“Did you clean both bathrooms?” her mom asked.

“Just about,” Darcy said.

“Did you scrub the commodes?”

“Mom, do you have to say that?” Darcy turned bright red, looking at Tommy.

“Well, did you?” her mom asked. “You can’t go nowhere until you scrub the commodes.”

“Okay, okay!” Darcy said.

Darcy’s dad wheeled into the room. The man was obese, with a thick moustache and an angry look on his face. He was missing one foot. Tommy could hear Wheel of Fortune in the living room from which he’d emerged.

“Who in Christ is this?” her dad demanded, staring at Tommy.

“Language, Morris,” Darcy’s mom said softly.

“Is this the boy who knocked you up?” Darcy’s dad growled. His hands balled into fists on his wheelchair arms.

“No, Dad!” Darcy’s face was deep red now, and she covered her eyes with one yellow glove. “I told you a million times, it was Bret Daniels. He disappeared like everybody else.”

“Pretty convenient for him!” he barked. “Now I got to pay for a baby with nothing but disability and the shit money your momma makes at the fabric store! When you gonna get a got-damn job?”

“Language, Morris,” Darcy’s mom said.

“I told you, I applied at the Hardee’s and the Wal-Mart already,” Darcy said. “Nobody’s hiring! So why can’t I just hang out with people for once?”

“You can’t go nowhere until you give me my insulin,” her dad said.

“And scrub the commodes,” her mother reminded her.

“Okay! I’m doing it!” Darcy marched down the hall. “I’m scrubbing the dumb commodes!” To Tommy, she said, “You guys want to hang out in my room and wait for me? I’ve got a radio you can turn on, if you keep the volume below 3.”

Tommy and Esmeralda followed her down the hall.

“No boys in your bedroom!” her father yelled.

Darcy turned around to face him, and cupped her swollen belly in both hands. “Oh, gee whiz, Dad, what’s gonna happen? I mean, get real.”

“Don’t you tell me to get real!” her dad yelled, his face turning bright crimson. “I ain’t got no foot! That’s as real as it gets!”

Darcy gave an exaggerated sigh and pointed to a bedroom door with a poster of Kermit and Miss Piggy thumbtacked to it. “That’s my room. I’ll be there in two shakes.”

Tommy and Esmeralda stepped into Darcy’s bedroom, and Tommy closed the door behind them. A few stuffed animals sat on the bed, and there was a cartoonish plastic piggy bank on the end table. Tommy looked at the collage of pictures on the wall. Some of them were Darcy’s family, but more of them were pictures of Darcy with Ashleigh Goodling, or just pictures of Ashleigh. Darcy also had a few posters of Jesus and seemed to prefer pictures where Jesus was muscular, cut and bronzed like a movie star, his loincloth barely clothing his loins.

Tommy sat in a small armchair by a window, next to a bookshelf crammed with C.S. Lewis and L. Frank Baum paperbacks.

“So, that’s the girl.” Esmeralda kept her voice low.

“She worships Ashleigh,” Tommy said. “It’s perfect.”

“Let’s just get it over with.”

Tommy felt a little hurt. He’d been so happy to find Esmeralda again, but he had to keep dosing her with fear, since she didn’t really want to help him.

They’d driven straight across the country, eighteen hours a day, stopping once to spend the night in a cheap motel. He’d worried that she might find the courage to leave in the middle of the night—but Tommy was a light sleeper. In Bent River, you never wanted to sleep too deep.

Esmeralda hadn’t even tried to leave, though.

Now Darcy returned, sans rubber gloves, and hurried to close the door behind her.

“Sorry, guys,” Darcy said. “My dad’s such a lame-o.”

“It’s fine,” Tommy said.

“He’s handicapped, you know. Type II diabetes got him.” Darcy looked at Esmeralda and forced a smile. “Hi. I’m Darcy.”

“I am Esmeralda.”

“Nice to meet you. So, I guess you’re Tommy’s girlfriend or…?”

Esmeralda looked at Tommy, waiting for some instruction.

“Oh, gosh, sorry if that’s an awkward question!” Darcy said. “I’m such a dodo about things like that.” She sank to the bed, leaving plenty of space between herself and Esmeralda, and she farted. “Whoopsie! Sorry. Being pregnant sucks. Anywho, what’s going on? Has anybody heard from Dr. or Mrs. Goodling?”

“Darcy, I have to tell you something.” Tommy moved over to the bed and sat next to Darcy, so that Darcy was stuck between Tommy and Esmeralda. He smiled. Time to make use of Mr. Tanner’s craziness.

He took Darcy’s hand, and he pushed fear into her. He tried not to do too much—he didn’t want her a panicked, gibbering idiot, but he needed her awestruck.

“I am an angel of God,” Tommy said. “Can you see it now?”

Darcy’s eyes widened, and her lips trembled. “Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir.”

Tommy squeezed her hand.

“Ashleigh’s work on Earth isn’t quite done,” Tommy said. “So God is sending her back from heaven on a special errand. But she can’t use her old body, since it’s ruined.”

“Yes, sir,” Darcy breathed. “It’s way ruined.”

“So Ashleigh needs to borrow yours,” Tommy said. “Just for a little while. This angel here can put her soul into your body.” He nodded at Esmeralda.

“Okay,” Darcy said. “If that’s what God wants.”

Behind Darcy’s back, Esmeralda frowned and scowled at Tommy.

“But wait, sir,” Darcy said. “I’m pregnant.”

Tommy didn’t know where she was going with that, so he just watched her quietly.

“So,” Darcy said, “If you put Ashleigh’s soul in me…does that mean my baby will have Ashleigh’s soul? Ashleigh will be my little girl?”

“Is that what you want?” Tommy asked. The gleam in the girl’s eyes when she talked about Ashleigh was unsettling.

“Oh, holy cow, yes,” Darcy said. “I mean, if I can, sir. If it’s okay with God.”

“Then that’s what will happen,” Tommy said.

“Oh, wow,” Darcy said. “And is it okay to say ‘holy cow’ or is that swearing? Cause I’ve never been sure and I figured you would know, sir.”

Tommy reached into his jacket pocket and took out a wad of tissue. He unwrapped one of Ashleigh’s finger bones and handed it to Esmeralda. Esmeralda grimaced, but she curled her fingers tight around it.

“What’s that?” Darcy asked.

“Are you ready, Darcy?” Tommy asked. “Are you ready to do this for God?”

“Yes, sir!”

Tommy released Darcy’s hand. “Then let her do it.”

Darcy turned toward Esmeralda. “You’re an angel, too, ma’am? Wow, two angels!”

“Quiet,” Esmeralda said. She took Darcy’s hand in her own, and then closed her eyes.

Darcy closed her eyes and bowed her head, as if praying. Tommy could feel something shifting in the room, like a huge build-up of static electricity thickening the air, waiting to discharge.

Darcy shuddered. Esmeralda hissed and jerked her hand away from Darcy.

Darcy’s eyes opened, and she scowled at Tommy.

“Darcy Metcalf?” Darcy’s mouth asked. “Are you serious?”

“Ashleigh?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, God, look at this body.” Ashleigh looked down at herself, then around at the room. “Ugh. She smells so bad. But this is actually a good place to get to work against Jenny.”

“Jenny?” Tommy asked. “The girl who killed you?”

“Who the fuck else would I be talking about?” Ashleigh tried to jump to her feet, but Darcy’s body was too heavy for the move. She landed clumsily and took a few steps to regain her balance, and then she farted long and loud. “And what the hell has Darcy been eating? Smells like Hamburger Helper.”

“I brought you here to answer some questions,” Tommy said. “Last time, you said something about past lives—”

“Yeah, whatever, we’ll get to it,” Ashleigh said. She turned to Esmeralda, who looked frightened. Ashleigh’s voice turned sweet. “Oh, thank you so much. I’m sure Tommy’s explained the whole situation to you, right?”

“Not really,” Esmeralda said.

“That figures.” Ashleigh took one of Esmeralda’s hands, the one that wasn’t holding the bone fragment. For the first time in two days, Esmeralda visibly relaxed. There was even the ghost of a smile on her lips. “You see, there’s a girl in town. Jenny. And she’s a murderer. She has an evil power in her touch.”

“Like us?” Esmeralda asked.

“Just like us.” Ashleigh brushed stray hairs back from Esmeralda’s face and cupped her chin. “She killed hundreds of people, and she’s going to get away with it. She’ll probably kill thousands more, if we don’t stop her.”

“Oh,” Esmeralda said. “I didn’t realize it was like that.”

“Yeah,” Ashleigh said. “So you’re being a big help. And look, I’ve seen you do this before, in past lives. What you need to do is keep holding onto that little piece of bone. Never let it go.”

“Never?” Esmeralda looked at Ashleigh’s finger bone in the palm of her hand.

“You can hang it on a necklace, under your shirt,” Ashleigh said. “That helps me to stay connected to this world. You’ll keep helping us, won’t you?”

“I don’t know…I should—”

Ashleigh squeezed her hand hard, and pressed her palm and fingers against Esmeralda’s face, pushing Esmeralda’s head against the wall.

“Please keep helping us!” Ashleigh’s eyes were big and tearful.

“Of course! Yes!” Esmeralda said. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Good.” Ashleigh released her. “Now, first thing, let’s get out of this dump. We’re going to my house.”

Ashleigh led the way to Darcy’s front door.

“Whoa, whoa.” Darcy’s dad wheeled into the room. “Where do you think you’re off to?”

“I have to help weed the flower beds at church,” Ashleigh said. “Nobody else is doing it, and we can’t let it look all grody.”

“Who’s gonna give me my insulin?” Darcy’s dad demanded.

“Jeepers, I don’t know,” Ashleigh said. “Do it yourself.” She opened the door, and Tommy and Esmeralda followed her out.

“What? What did you say to me?” Darcy’d dad wheeled after them, but Ashleigh slammed the door before he reached it.

They walked out to the driveway.

“Wow, this stupid baby is heavy.” Ashleigh slapped her stomach. She looked at Tommy’s bike. “Okay, genius,” she said. “Three of us, one motorcycle. What were you thinking?”

“I like the bike,” Tommy said.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get the keys to Darcy’s mom’s car.”