THE DEAD ARE BUSY
by
Stephen Buchheit
Jabari raised his hand to stop Howard Waterdown's explanation. "I am sorry to have wasted your time taking this meeting, but the dead are very busy." His enunciation was that of somebody who spoke several languages, English not the first among them.
His fingers, like the rest of Jabari Zareb, were long, cadaver thin and square. Exactly the right amount of starched, white, French cuff gleamed against the bitter chocolate skin of his wrists. The linen suit-sleeve moved gracefully up his arm as Jabari extended his hand. Carved wood cufflinks glinted darkly as Mr. Zareb's hand moved. "Mr. Waterdown, there is an excellent, normal detective agency across the street."
He rose from behind his desk to escort Mr. Waterdown out of his office. "My secretary will have their business card ready for you on her desk in the waiting room. I've used them before. They are very discreet, professional and reasonably priced."
"No, no, no, Mr. Zareb. You don't understand." Howard Waterdown rubbed his pudgy hands against his pant legs nervously. "I believe my wife is having an affair with her ex-husband." Mr. Waterdown sounded like he was on the brink of tears.
"Please, Mr. Waterdown, I can understand your emotional distress in this case, but I don't see where we could be of better service than a living detective. The dead dislike being misused." He started to walk around the large, coffin-like wooden desk that divided the shotgun office in two to show Mr. Waterdown to the door. "If you believe your wife is having an affair, a regular agency can certainly ascertain..." Jabari stopped and flashed his most charming smile. "We are more expensive and require different information and processes. I do not wish to waste your time."
Howard Waterdown pressed his fingers together like he was at prayers, sitting on the edge of the chair, pleading with Jabari to listen to him. "My wife was a widower before I married her. Her husband has been dead for almost eight years."
Jabari nodded his head and walked back to his leather executive chair and sat back down. "I believe, Mr. Waterdown, that I have been hasty. It seems that we may be of service to you."
Howard Waterdown's shoulders relaxed a little. He rubbed his hands on his trousers one last time. "I have already used a regular agency, Mr. Zareb. They weren't able to find out anything. Six weeks of stakeouts and nothing out of the ordinary." He looked down at his hands. "And still my wife acts like she is having an affair."
Jabari leaned back in his chair and crossed his thin legs, the trousers draped neatly. He brought his hands together and steepled them over his nose. He looked at Howard above his immaculate fingernails. "Tell me everything."
And Howard Waterdown did.
After a two-hour long interview, Howard Waterdown looked freshly wrung. He had been sitting so long in the same position his joints audibly popped as he rose from the chair and walked out of the office.
Jabari waited for a moment, to make sure Mr. Waterdown wouldn't walk back in the office. He watched the door to the waiting area. Other than a small space that allowed the door to open and close, the rest of that wall was floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets. The frosted glass of the top half of the door showed shadows of movement in the reception area as Mr. Waterdown gathered his coat then opened and closed the door to the hallway.
There was something about the case that was nagging him. The skin on the back of his neck prickled as Howard described what had been happening in his house for the past two years. During the interview Jabari had almost asked Howard Waterdown to leave again.
"Yes, Grandfather," he said still looking at the door, "I believe he is in serious trouble."
Jabari picked up the substantial retainer check, folded it neatly in half and placed it in his inside suit pocket. Then he swiveled his chair around to face the built-in credenza that filled the wall opposite the door. It had three shelves on top, which were filled with artifacts. The bottom was divided into many panels and drawers. The shelves and credenza also hid the door to his private toilet.
He opened one of the lower panels to reveal a small refrigerator, removed three apples and an orange. Then he placed them on the desk behind him and closed the double doors.
He stood up. Jabari was a tall man, almost six-foot three. His double-breasted suit draped neatly over his slim form. He took down a knife in a sheath from one of the top shelves and placed it beside the apples and orange. The knife had a short antler as a handle, and the sheath looked like doeskin, only with a reddish tint.
"Clive is an excellent choice, Grandmother," he said addressing one of two wooden masks on the middle shelf. "I had already thought of using him, I'm glad you approve." He removed the small, brown, desiccated apples from the china plates in front of the masks. From a sitting position a person wouldn't notice the small plates.
He tossed the mummified apples in the trash bin besides the desk and picked up the knife. He released the knife from the sheath exposing the obsidian blade.
"No, Grandfather, that was Arturo that released the naga spirit the last time I used him."
The blade's deep, black glass glinted darkly as he drew the knife across the fruit, sliced open their skin and parted their flesh. Their scent filled the room.
Jabari removed a gleaming handkerchief from his inside pocket and cleaned off the knife blade. He then slipped the knife back into the leather sheath and replaced it on the shelf. He placed an apple before each of the two masks.
"I am always careful, Grandmother. I must go now."
He removed the trash-bin liner from the little wastebasket and picked up the remaining apple and orange and carried them out the door into the waiting area.
The building cleaning staff still refused to come into his office. Jabari had to take out his own garbage, sweep and dust his own office. His secretary's wastebasket was almost full with crumpled faxes and phone messages. He dropped the trash liner he was holding into the trashcan next to his secretary's desk and then tied and removed her wastebasket's liner. She seemed to be reading a magazine and not paying the least bit of attention to him.
"Please contact Clive and let him know I'll meet him at the usual place."
She didn't respond to his request in any noticeable way. The computer on the desk under-lit her face giving her a pallid look. Even though she didn't touch the mouse or keyboard, the screen saver stopped and the desktop popped back to life.
"I'll be gone the rest of the day, Ms. Kaliska," he said to her.
She didn't move or look at him.
Jabari opened her top-right desk drawer. The only thing inside the drawer, resting on top of a stiff, white paper liner, was a yellowed ivory box about a foot long by six inches wide and 3 inches tall. He placed the last apple and the orange in the drawer with the box and then closed the drawer. There was a hollow sound to the desk as if the only thing in it were the ivory box and the fruit.
"You may take the rest of the afternoon off," he said, walking out the door and locking it behind him. He dropped the wastebasket liners into the garbage chute on his way out of the building.
A week later Ms. Kaliska dialed the phone for Jabari, then transferred the call into his office.
After Jabari picked up the phone he heard one ring before it was picked up. The end of a conversation came through the line and then a confident, "Yes?"
"Mr. Waterdown?"
"Yes," questioned the voice over the phone.
"This is Mr. Zareb, Mr. Waterdown," Jabari said into his phone. "I have completed your investigation and am calling with the results."
The other end of the phone line was quiet.
"Have I caught you at an inopportune moment, Mr. Waterdown? I can call back later if you would prefer."
"No, no, no," Howard Waterdown was able to stumble out after a moment. There was the sound of his hand muffling the phone as he said something, then as the hand was removed there was the sound of a closing door. "I wasn't expecting you to call so soon. The other agency took several weeks before they had a report."
"Some spirits are more talented than others. I was fortunate enough to obtain the services of one of my most talented. He was available right away."
"Available?" Followed by the sound of stifled nervous laughter. "I mean, what else would he be doing?"
"Mr. Waterdown, things beyond the veil are similar to our own world. There are things to do, obligations to fill, errands to run. The dead are very busy."
"I just never... well, I guess I didn't think of it that way," Howard apologized.
"Most people don't, Mr. Waterdown. But I have called you with the results of our investigation."
"Yes, yes. What did your 'man' find out?"
"To paraphrase an old joke, Mr. Waterdown, I have good news, bad news, and worst news. What news would you like to hear first?"
Howard laughed out-loud this time. "Well, I guess I'll take the good news first."
"The good news is that your wife is not having an affair with her deceased husband. As far as my agent can ascertain, your wife's late husband has no interest in events on this side of the veil. He has no desire to see his wife until she passes."
"Well, Mr. Zareb," Howard said, his smile telegraphing through the phone lines, "if that's the good news what could be the bad news?"
"Are you sitting down, Mr. Waterdown?"
"Please, call me Howard, Mr. Zareb."
"Are you sitting down, Howard?"
Over the phone came the sound of leather stretching as Howard sat down. "Yes," Mr. Waterdown's voice had a restored sense of soberness.
"Howard, your wife is having an affair with a being from the other side of the veil," Jabari said calmly.
The other end of the phone line was quiet again.
"Howard, are you still there?"
There was a squeak and then Mr. Waterhouse cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm still here. Is that the 'worst' news?"
"No, it is not. Howard, your wife is being seduced by an incubus."
The phone line was quiet again.
"Mr. Waterdown?"
"A... what did you call it?" Howard's voice was shaky.
"An incubus," Jabari said slowly.
The quiet seeped through the line.
"Do you know what that is, Howard?"
Howard's voice was very quiet, "No."
"I suggest we discuss this in person. Do you drink coffee, Howard?"
"Yes," came the small voice.
"Then we shall have some coffee. And please, Howard, call me Jabari."
They sat at a table near the window. The weather had turned cool early in the fall. Outside the slightly fogged windows, people hurried by bundled in jackets. Tall paper cups steamed in front of them, adding to the fogging. Less than half the tables were taken. Music from small speakers muted the other conversations.
Jabari sipped his coffee and nodded. "Even though they say this is a Kenyan blend, it tastes nothing like the coffee I knew growing up." He reached into a thin leather satchel he had carried under his arm and pulled out a manila folder with a few papers in it and placed it on the table before Howard. "That is the report of the surveillance of your wife."
"Where did you grow up?" Howard asked as he picked up the folder and leafed through the pages.
"In London and central Africa. My parents were professors at Oxford. When I was very young, my grandparents, they raised me, moved back to our ancestral homeland in what is now a part of Tanzania. I spent all my vacations there. They raised me following traditional ways."
An uncomfortable silence entered the conversation as Howard read the report. They both sipped their coffee. Howard closed the folder and put it down on the table.
Jabari cleared his throat. "Howard, I think we should talk about the incubus."
"Yes, yes," Howard coughed. "What is this thing then?"
"An incubus, Howard," said Jabari slowly, "is a demon from beyond the veil. Most of the entities there are from our side. My agent has told me that they think these," Jabari paused looking for a word, "things are from some other realm and some how find themselves beyond the veil with our dead. Since we can not know exactly what it is we can only classify it by its actions."
"'Beyond the veil'? I don't understand."
"It is a western concept, a convenient metaphor, and an apt one at that. There is a divide," Jabari used his hands to divide the space between him and Howard, "between our realm and that of the spirits. Are you familiar with the theatre, Howard?"
"I've been to them."
"For stage dressing and backdrops they use a thing call 'scrim.' It is a piece of cloth that can be transparent or opaque depending on which side is lit and how it is painted. But if both sides are equally well lit, and it is unpainted, it appears to be a milky gauze."
Howard nodded his head.
"'Beyond the veil' is like that. It is a place where your spirit may go when you die. It looks very much like here from what I am told. Depending on which side of the veil you are on dictates what you can see and how the veil appears."
"Isn't it a separate place, like heaven?"
"No it is all around us, like a shroud."
Howard looked around looking like he half expected ghosts to come popping out of the tables at him. "Are they..."
"Yes, Howard, they are here. Now. But it is difficult to see through to the other side. There is a trick to it, though."
"And what's that?"
"First, un-focus your eyes and look to the edges of your vision. The peripheral vision is more attuned to slight light variations and movement." Jabari took a discrete sip of coffee just then. He had only noticed one spirit in the shop, and older man reading a book at one of the tables. He was hard for even Jabari to see.
Howard turned to look deeper into the coffee house, away from the window. His eyes crossed as he tried to un-focus his eyes. His head kept turning back around to look out the window. Jabari thought the people passing outside were drawing his attention; floating blobs of color passing on the other side of the window.
"It is easier in the dark," Jabari continued. "You see the scrim analogy is apt in that respect. But we need to discuss your situation."
"I'm sorry," said Howard. "This is really difficult. It has been going on for almost two years. I just want it to be over." He ran his hands over his face. "First it's a shock to think that she's having an affair with a ghost, but now you tell me it's this thing. I'm not sure I'm ready to know this."
"But you must be, Howard. This is your life. This is happening to you. Now this thing..."
"This incubus"
"Yes, it is from someplace else. There is a second passage beyond the veil, but spirits never return from there. This incubus is from another realm or another planet. Somehow it found its way here and now it is using your wife."
Howard looked down into his coffee cup.
"Howard, your wife believes this thing to be her dead husband. My agent tells me she accepts it only because of that. This demon has counted on that and is manipulating her."
Howard Waterdown looked up, his eyes full of anger. "How do you know that?"
"My agent followed the incubus. He discovered its trail and observed its actions."
"He watched!" Howard's face was full of anger now.
Jabari knew Howard must have been angry for some time, but he now had a focus and excuse to vent it. "Yes, Howard. This is how I know what it is. This is what you hired my firm to do. My agent, Clive is his name, had to watch your home closely and then even closer to follow this incubus to discover what it truly was."
Howard looked back in his coffee cup. "I'm sorry. This is all very..."
"Unsettling. Yes, Howard. But you must deal with this. This thing must not be allowed to continue. This incubus is using your wife to manifest fully in this realm."
"How can it do this? Why?"
"Why? I cannot tell you. But to manifest to this side of the veil takes much energy. This is a powerful entity. It is trying to impregnate your wife with itself."
"But Margaret is past menopause, she can't bear children."
"I am not saying it would be successful. Just as we don't fully know things beyond the veil, they don't fully comprehend things on this side. But it isn't trying to accomplish this the way you and I think of. It," Jabari stressed that word, "will be what your wife would give birth to. This demon would use your wife to come fully into this realm."
"But it can't."
"No, it can not. And it should not be allowed to continue. Your wife must stop this affair. You need to tell her what is happening. You must convince her."
"But," Howard stammered, "but how can I do that? She doesn't know that I suspect. I would have to confront her."
"That is what you must do, Howard, for her sake. To save her you must confront her with honesty."
Howard fingered the report folder. "I'm not sure I can. I mean, we aren't at a good place in our marriage right now."
"Howard, this is for her sake and for all of ours. This thing must not be permitted to go on. We cannot take the risk of this incubus coming into this realm. My involvement with this, per our contract, ends with this meeting. If you wish, a second option would be to hire me to explain it to her."
Howard looked confused. "Margaret might not like that I was snooping on her, but it would be worse hearing it from a stranger."
"A third option," Jabari continued, "would be to hire me to dispel this demon if I can."
"What would that mean?" A glimmer of hope entered Howard's eyes.
"I would come to your house and battle the incubus with you, Howard. We would try to kill it if that is possible. To cause it to suffer the second death."
"That sounds more like it," Howard said, warming up to the idea.
"That would involve your wife even more, Howard. This is not an option to keep you from confronting her with what you know."
Howard shrunk down again.
Jabari continued, "And it would be expensive. I am also not sure it would be successful. I suggest going to her and asking her to end the visitations."
Howard shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He looked out the window at the vague blobs of people moving on the other side.
Jabari leaned forward. "Tell her what you know. Show her the report. She deserves your honesty and must know of your concern. She must also know this thing is not her former husband."
Howard looked back into his cup like he was expecting to see the answer appear there as if it were some magic 8-ball. No answer floated to the surface.
"You know this cannot continue. You, for one, could not stand it."
"Yes," agreed Howard.
"The other option is for me to tell your wife what is in that report. Then this information would be coming from a stranger. She would be more upset."
"I know," Howard said.
"And the last option would involve her more. She would have to prepare herself for it. And it would be very expensive and dangerous."
"Yes."
"Then you will tell her?"
"Yes," said Howard, finally looking up at Jabari. "Yes, I'll tell her."
"That is good. She should know how much you care for her, Howard. She should understand how difficult this was for you."
"Your right."
Jabari sipped his coffee again. "While it is not like the coffee of my youth, it is not bad either."
Three weeks later Jabari's office phone rang. Ms. Kaliska let him know it was Howard Waterdown and he sounded upset.
Jabari picked up the phone on his desk, "Yes, Howard. How did your meeting with your wife go?"
"I convinced Margaret to end the affair. I told her about the incubus. I showed her your report. I'm not sure she believed me, even then."
"Yes, that is understandable," said Jabari. "This is a unique circumstance. But are things now better in the home?"
Howard sighed into the phone. "No. Things aren't better. They're worse."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Howard. But you needed to confront her for her own sake."
"It's not that," said Howard. "This thing refuses to stop. Margaret has tried her best but it... it... it's..."
"I understand, Howard. You need not say it."
Howard sighed again. But this one sounded like relief.
"I was afraid of this." Jabari paused. "I am afraid we must go to the third option. We must kill it."
After a few seconds Howard asked, "How can we do that?"
"I do not know, Howard. I will tell you plainly I do not have a plan. I will need to conduct some research, consult with my agents."
"You said it would be expensive."
"Yes, it will be very expensive."
"How expensive?"
"I am unable to give you a figure until I have researched it. You must understand it will be several times the initial surveillance fee."
Howard was quiet on the other side of the phone.
"You were right to call me, Howard. We will defeat this thing together. It will be several days before I have the information I will need. Maybe several more to gather materials."
"Several days," asked Howard.
"Yes, Howard. This will be dangerous. We will need to make arrangements. One should face the dead fully prepared. Until then, Howard, I suggest a vacation for you and your wife."
"A vacation?"
"Yes, leave the home. Go far from the house. Keep moving every night. I recommend a cruise. The water and the constant travel should confuse your resonances. The incubus should not be able to follow you."
"But how will I know when you're ready?"
"You will call me every day. They have phones on the boats now, Howard. I should be ready in a week. A week and a half at the latest. You should leave tonight."
"I'll call you from the boat."
"That is advisable."
Two weeks later Jabari drove his discrete tan minivan into Howard Waterdown's development; a new neighborhood of large mansions on small lots. The roads twisted and looped to give the impression of more land than there actually was. He navigated by the instructions Howard gave him, each of the roads looking the same as the others. The houses he drove by, different in style and color, quickly blended together by the repetition of the sameness of affluence. Other than passing another van or SUV there were few signs of life on this bright Saturday afternoon. No one was using the well-manicured and landscaped lawns. The leaves had turned to orange and red but there was no leaf to be seen on the ground.
At last he came to the correct drive and parked out of sight of the road. Jabari climbed out of the van. His khakis had a crisp seam and the blue polo shirt gleamed in the Indian summer sun. He rang the back bell.
Howard Waterdown appeared in the doorway.
"Is everything set?" asked Jabari.
Howard looked around nervously from the back door. "Everything's according to your instructions."
Jabari turned and slid open the minivan's side-door displaying a neat jumble of metal equipment and blue plastic tubs. "With your assistance," he said indicating the equipment.
Howard stepped down to the driveway and hefted one of the three metal tubes lying on the seat right inside the door. It looked like one of those short poles that theaters would hang velvet ropes from to define the ticket-box line. The outside was bright polished aluminum with a wide foot on the bottom and ten light rings near the top. Below the light rings and halfway to the base it looked like there was another tube fitted on the outside. Howard moaned under its weight. "Why are these things so heavy?"
"The lead shielding. It needs to be thick enough to block the totems." Jabari grabbed one of the large blue plastic tubs. "If you would be so kind to lead the way to your bedroom."
Howard slung his metal tube over his shoulder like a rifle and opened the door with his other hand to let Jabari in. Once they were inside Howard lead Jabari through the wide kitchen, up the back stairs and down the hallway into the master bedroom suite.
The room was longer than it was wide. On the right-hand long wall a dormer window angled into the center of the roof from about two-thirds the way up the cathedral ceiling. On the far wall, glass doors opened onto a balcony that overlooked the back yard. On the same side of the room as the entrance was the door to the master bath, which traveled back along the hallway. The bed, king size, rested against the wall that didn't have any windows or doors and was flanked by night tables with matching lamps. The bed wasn't made and the blankets were strewn on top. There was a pile of women's clothes resting in the center.
There was a dresser on each side of the opening for the dormer window. The opening was wide enough to hold a table and two comfortable chairs.
Jabari put his tub down on top of the closest dresser. "Good. Excellent. This has the right feel." He motioned for Howard to place his tube on top of the bed.
It only took them one more trip to bring up the other two metal tubes. They left the other plastic tubs down in the van.
Howard helped Jabari move the night tables to the hallway. "I've been trying that un-focusing thing. I'm not having a lot of luck with it."
"When you were on the water I would not be surprised that you would have difficulty," Jabari said. "Water presents problems for those on the other side." Jabari told Howard to place the metal tubes in a triangle around the bed, with two of the tubes sitting upright near the head of the bed. He then began to unpack the tub and placed the items in a neat row on top of the dresser.
"What was in those other tubs," Howard asked.
"They hold equipment we may need if we are unsuccessful in our first attempt."
As Howard placed the tubes on their feet he noticed three recessed lights in the top and asked Jabari what they were for.
"The containment pillars need to be placed in an equilateral triangle. The lights on top help place them correctly."
"What about these plastic bands near the top?"
"Those light up to indicate what is happening within the triangle. They display how strong the presence is."
Howard didn't ask any more questions as he placed the tubes roughly in a triangle around the bed. When he was done he stood beside Jabari and looked at what had been unpacked. All the items were wrapped in heavy cloth of different colors. There was a large Styrofoam box left in the tub.
Jabari looked at his watch, "a little less than an hour before our quarry should arrive according to Clive."
"What's all this," Howard said, waving his hand at the arrayed pieces.
Jabari placed the lid back on the tub. "These, Howard," he said as he placed the tub on the floor next to the dresser, so it would be out of the way, "are the teeth of the trap." He wiped his hands with his handkerchief and then picked up one of the smaller wrapped objects and unfolded its white cloth. "And this actually is a tooth." He pulled out a white round object. It was pointed at one end and broken at the other. "This is walrus tusk. Ivory."
Howard made appreciative sounds.
Jabari unwrapped a blue crystal bottle. "Of course, I would prefer a hippopotamus tooth. Although hippos aren't restricted, it is because of the ban on ivory trade that securing wild hippo ivory is a problem. This is the best I can acquire." He removed the stopper from the blue bottle and placed a few drops of what was inside on the ivory. "What my tribe believes of the hippo, the Inuit believe of the walrus. He is a keeper of the secrets of the dead."
As the liquid soaked in, the carvings on the tooth surfaced. It was covered in strange symbols, mostly spirals and labyrinth designs.
"But this is also the trap," Jabari said and carried the tooth to the bed. He picked up a panty from the pile on top of the bed and wrapped the tusk in it.
"Those are all the clothes she's worn for the past three days," Howard said. "Just like you instructed."
"Margaret is still far away?"
Howard just nodded his head.
"These should still have the resonance of your wife about them." Jabari placed the wrapped tusk back on the bed and then mounded the clothes together in a line and then placed the blankets over them.
"The blankets use a synthetic fiber," Jabari commented, "even better." The mound of clothes gave the faint impression of a small person lying under the blanket. "The trap is set. Let us arrange the net."
Jabari fished what looked like a small garage door opener with three buttons on it from his pants pocket. He pressed the largest button and the three metal poles came to life. All the lights blinked rhythmically for a few seconds and then went dark. He showed Howard how the three recessed lights worked by flashing different colors and for different lengths of time until all three poles were in perfect alignment around the bed.
While they were positioning the poles, the lights along the top seemed fixed halfway up showing five bands of light. Jabari stressed the importance of making a perfect equilateral triangle that would encompass as much of the bed as possible but be as small as possible. The larger the triangle, the less powerful the totems would be. But if the area of the triangle wasn't sufficient to surround the demon, they would never be able to hold it. He told Howard to imagine that the poles were the base points of a pyramid where the height was about the same distance as the length of the legs. The bottom was a mirror image. This was the size of the trap.
Once all three lights on top were solid green and Jabari was satisfied that it covered enough of the bed they stepped back toward the dresser with the rest of the wrapped objects on top. Jabari looked at his watch again, "about fifteen minutes until it should be here."
"How can you be so certain of the time?"
"Entities beyond the veil tend to be creatures of habit, Howard," said Jabari. "Like obsessive-compulsive people, even the strong ones follow their habits' dictums. It is a weakness." He unwrapped an obsidian knife, this one had a leather grip. The long, dark glass blade caught the light along the ridges of the knapped edge. He pulled the stopper out of a yellow crystal bottle and poured what looked like light oil on the knife blade.
Howard looked thoughtful for a moment. "If they only do the same thing over and over, how can your agents do work for you?"
"One can choose one's habit, Howard," Jabari said with a smile. He pressed the large button on the remote again. "Also, those beyond the veil who are strong can change their habits."
Howard looked back toward the bed. The light bars on the sides of the tubes began dancing up and down the first three levels like a stereo equalizer will do when playing soft music.
Jabari answered Howard's question before he could form it. "Those lights display the level of spirit activity around and inside the trap. This is a normal pattern. Walk up to one," he suggested.
Howard walked to the pole at the foot of the bed. As he got closer the lights progressed higher until the bottom five lights were solidly lit. "I guess I'm not that strong."
"Howard, don't be harsh on yourself. As our spirits are trapped in these bodies, it is shielded from the detectors."
Howard pulled one of the chairs from the sitting area back to where they were standing. He looked up at Jabari, asking silently if he should pull the other chair out for him.
"I will remain standing. Besides, there is still much to do," Jabari said. He started to unwrap the other objects and place them on top of the cloths.
Howard sat down in the chair and watched him. Jabari unwrapped several rattles, two plates, a small silver hammer, and lastly what looked like a bundle of white leaves rolled together like a fat cigar.
Jabari lit this bundle with a plain metal lighter that had been in the same cloth wrap. Once Jabari was sure it was burning he blew out the flame. The roll kept smoking from the edge like a giant cigar.
"What's that?"
"This is white sage," Jabari answered as he waved it around where he and Howard were. The smoke was sweet, but smelled of old leaves. "Some call this a smudge stick. It is meant to mask our smell and resonance from the demon. Think of it as a smoke screen that we will hide behind." Jabari placed the still smoking leaves on a wooden plate and placed it on the floor next to Howard's chair.
Jabari then picked up the obsidian knife and a turtle shell rattle. The beads made noise as he shifted it in his hands.
Howard asked, "What can I do?"
"Be patient, Howard. Your task will be to assist me and then you will play a crucial part at the end. Remember what we said in the coffee house? Why don't you try the exercise of un-focusing your eyes."
Howard began to look more nervous. "Why do I need to be here now?" His eyes crossed again as he tried un-focusing his gaze.
"To kill a lion, you must first face the lion," Jabari's accent became almost too thick for Howard to penetrate.
"What's that mean?" Howard's speech was slightly slurred.
Jabari stopped for a moment. When he spoke again his diction was clear. "Where I come from, my family home, it is a place of tribal herdsmen. One of the steps to becoming a man is to kill a lion."
The lights on the poles danced. The sun must have gone behind a cloud, while it was the middle of the afternoon the room darkened. Jabari noticed Howard's eye lids dropping.
"Stay awake Howard," Jabari said.
Howard apologized. He said was feeling sleepy. The cruise should have been relaxing but he and Margaret had stayed up late working on their commitment to each other. And then there was the late night flight from the islands.
Jabari nodded in understanding. "Just a little while longer, Howard. If all goes well, you will have saved more than your marriage."
Howard shifted uncomfortably in the chair. "What were you saying about the lions," he said, changing the subject.
"With all the cattle, lions are a constant threat. Cattle are wealth and prestige. Eventually the young boys who guard the cattle will meet with a lion. It is inevitable. Most lions can be scared off. But eventually, in every boy's life, there comes the time when you must kill the lion to protect the tribe's cattle. It is a right of passage. A signal to the village that this boy is a man."
The darkness increased. The lights on the polls began to dance higher, in the five to eight band. There was a chill in the air. Howard sat up straight.
"Yes, Howard, I see it," Jabari said. There was movement around the edges of the room, like a shadow searching for something to attach to.
"The first lesson in killing the lion, Howard," continued Jabari, "is to never turn your back on it. That is a prey action. A lion is never to think of you as prey."
The room was in twilight. Jabari's voice seemed distant. The movement became more distinct. There were several things moving in the room.
"It is here," Jabari whispered. "Stay still, wait for it to enter the trap."
Howard was now looked fully awake and frozen into his seat. He turned and looked at Jabari and gasped and looked back toward the bed. Jabari knew once the bed was no longer the center of his vision Howard had seen the man shapped vapor hovering around the bed. The lights on the poles began hitting the tenth level.
"You are with friends," Jabari said to Howard. "On both sides of the veil. It will not harm you unless you let it."
The man shaped darkness wafted around the bed, but hadn't moved directly over it yet. The lights on the poles were almost solidly lit. There were other less distinct shapes moving around the room.
"It is unsure, but it hasn't noticed us. My agents are assisting its confusion. Soon its hunger will overcome its trepidation. It is the mark of the beast. Stay still, Howard. Face the lion."
Jabari picked up the remote in the hand that held the knife. He was raising it toward the bed. With every moment the smoky shape was easier to see. Jabari could see a face forming and the shadow continued to become more opaque.
"It is Jeff," Howard whispered in a forceful manner.
"No," Jabari said. "It only is assuming that shape to fool your wife."
"It thinks the clothes are Margaret?"
Jabari didn't answer. The lights on the poles were pulsing.
"Now," said Jabari and he pressed the middle button.
On the poles, below the light strips, the outside metal sheaths fell away to reveal wooden sculptures. Thin metal bars held the top of the poles up. The wooden sculptures were vaguely human shaped but were formed of interwoven braids of wood.
The shadow jerked back off the bed hitting an invisible ceiling. It screamed. Jabari could feel the noise in his head more than he heard it with his ears. The shadow began making rapid movements from side to side and up and down seeking an escape. It was almost too fast to follow.
Jabari placed the remote on the dresser and picked up the knife again. "Remove the blanket," he ordered at Howard, "but don't enter the space defined by the poles."
It took Howard three tries before he could move out of the chair. He would have crawled to the bedside but Jabari told him to stand up.
"Face the lion," Jabari said again. And then he started shaking the turtle rattle and singing.
Howard asked how he would be able to tell where the side of the triangle was.
"Watch the limits of it's movements, Howard."
Howard walked to the foot of the bed and froze. He stood there rooted to the site staring at the now substantiated incubus.
It no longer looked like Margaret's dead husband but had curled horns like a ram. The face was angular and too thin to be human. Its body was difficult to make out having not completely emerged from the swirling vapor. It had pressed hands against the barrier edge, leaning against it looking like a mime act. Its lips were moving and it was staring directly at Howard.
Howard reached out toward the barrier.
"Don't let it touch you," Jabari warned and went back to singing.
Howard shook his head. He looked at his arm like it was something new to him and he pulled it back.
The thing then seemed enraged. Howard was able to grab the edge of the blanket without coming close to the invisible barrier.
Jabari stopped singing but kept the rattle going. "One quick movement, Howard. Try not to disturb the clothes underneath."
Howard had frozen again. The thing howled again, but this time it seemed to be a hungry sound. Howard looked up at it. It had stopped flinging itself against the invisible barrier of the triangle of totems. It was at the edge closest to him. It was studying him, only a hand's breadth away. It seemed to be pushing against the invisible wall that divided them.
"Howard," Jabari cried.
Howard kept looking at the thing. It had a hungry face. It howled again and kept on howling. "It's ravenous with delight," Howard said. He took a step closer to the bed. "It wants me."
"No Howard," Jabari shouted. "It wants to escape. It will use you like it used Margaret."
Howard's face darkened as the anger from before returned. It broke him out of the staring match with the demon. Howard snapped the blanket, putting some air underneath it and then quickly pulled it off leaving the pile of clothes on the bed undisturbed.
The thing howled in frustration. It started to hurl itself at the boundaries again.
Howard backed up, never taking his eyes off the thing. Once he made it back to the chair Jabari shoved the turtle rattle in his hand.
"Shake it like I did," Jabari said as he shifted the knife to his left hand and picked up the blue crystal bottle of liquid. He started singing again as he approached the bed.
Howard tried to keep rhythm with the rattle.
The incubus was throwing itself against the barrier harder now. Every time the demon hit the invisible barrier the totem poles rocked.
Jabari walked to the edge of the barrier. The demon began to concentrate banging on the side Jabari was standing on. It stopped howling and was just hurling itself at the barrier trying to get at Jabari.
"The second lesson of killing the lion is to know you are the human and it is the beast," Jabari said. His knife slashed out just as the demon threw itself against the barrier.
It screamed. The shriek was different than before. The knife had hurt it.
"You are the thinking being, it is the machine in flesh," Jabari said.
The incubus continued to throw itself toward Jabari. Each time it hit the wall of its invisible cage the pole at the top of the bed bumped a little.
Jabari kept slashing at the incubus, timing his strokes to when it hit the edge of the barrier. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the one pole begin to wobble.
"Howard, I could use your assistance here," he said calmly. "It's learned the trick of the trap, you must help steady the pole and keep the trap intact."
Howard got to his feet. "What should I do?"
"Steady the pole, Howard. It has figured out that it can affect the position of that. If the pole moves too far before we are done it might escape."
Howard moved quickly to steady the pole by placing his foot on the base. Each time the demon hit the barrier Howard rocked a little but kept the pole in place. It was a few minutes before he remembered he needed to shake the rattle.
Every time the thing came to the edge of the barrier Jabari slashed it with the knife. And the more he slashed it the more disorganized the vapor became. Jabari began singing again. He had been afraid that the incubus would learn not to come near the barrier and Jabari had no weapon to attack with if it stayed in the middle of the trap without crossing the barrier line which give it a bridge out. But each time he slashed it with the knife the thing kept coming back.
"It is mad with pain and desire to escape," Jabari shouted. He continued to slash at the incubus stopping every couple of minutes to reapply the oil to the blade.
In its rage the incubus tore at the sheets and ripped the mattress. But it hadn't disturbed the mound of clothes in the center of the bed.
After what felt like a year the vapor over the bed looked like it had when Jabari first saw it, barely cohesive. He felt exhausted. He knew it had been less than an hour, but he felt like this has gone on all day.
"And now, the coup de grace," Jabari said and splashed what was left of the vapor with liquid from the blue bottle.
The incubus screamed again, but this time the scream was far away.
Jabari poured out another dose into his hand and threw it at the vapor again.
The vapor shrank down into the pile of clothes. Howard laughed and said it reminded him of the Wizard of Oz, the scene where the witch dissolves after Dorothy doses her with water.
The lights on the poles now were dancing at around the fifth level now. Sunlight returned to the room.
""It is well trapped," Jabari said.
"Where did it go?"
"We've bound it to the tusk. So, like our selves, since it is bound in something, you see that the detectors no longer register it as strongly."
Jabari took the remote out of his pocket again and pressed the last button. The metal sleeves slid back up, hiding the wooden totems. Once they were enclosed the poles powered down.
Howard asked, "Now what do we do?"
Jabari went back to the bed and pulled the tusk out from the pile of clothes. "Now, Howard, you kill the lion." He handed the tusk to Howard.
When he touched the tusk, Howard's eyes widened. Jabari knew he could hear the incubus howling in his head as he had. "It is trapped for now," Jabari said reassuringly, "and can't get out."
He opened the blue tub and took out the large foam-insulated box and placed it on top of the dresser. He opened the top. Inside was a wide metal container, insulated gloves and a pair of tongs. Jabari put on the gloves and opened the metal container. Steam poured out, but there was a cold breeze coming from the container. Jabari used the tongs to grab the tusk from Howard.
"What's in the container," Howard asked.
"Liquid nitrogen," Jabari replied as he dropped the tusk in the container making a little splash. "Please bring me the plate. The one without the sage."
Howard brought him the other plate and held it out in front of him. Jabari picked up the tongs, fished around in the metal container and removed the tusk and placed it on the plate. He replaced the metal lid, tongs and gloves, then fitted the foam lid back on top.
Jabari then picked up the silver hammer. "Shall we go outside?" He pointed to the balcony.
Howard followed Jabari into the late October sunshine. They sat down in the two chairs on the balcony. Howard placed the plate with the tusk down on a table between them. The white of the tusk gleamed in the sunshine.
"I would let the sage burn for a few more hours, Howard. That should remove the taste of that thing from the room."
Jabari handed Howard the hammer, "One quick blow. Kill the lion."
Howard took the little hammer and rolled it in his hand. The silver edges flashed in the sun. He rapped the hammer down on the tusk. As the tusk shattered into dust Jabari heard the final scream of the incubus echo and drift far away.
A small breeze lifted the dust off the plate and blew it out away past the yard.
"Is it dead?" Howard asked.
"It was never truly alive to begin with," said Jabari, "so it could not die. But it is locked in that ivory. To be released it would have to gather all those pieces back together again." Jabari smiled tiredly. "I doubt that will happen."
"Nope," said Howard watching the dust blow away. "I don't think that'll happen either."
Jabari looked at Howard, "Then it is finished."
It was late in the day when Jabari unlocked his office door and entered. Ms. Kaliska was looking at the solitaire game she was playing on the computer. She didn't look over as he placed a digital voice recorder on her desk.
"I dictated my notes on the way back, Ms. Kaliska. Would you please transcribe them and then file the report."
She asked him how it went.
"We were successful. The incubus will no longer bother Mrs. Waterdown. Clive was very helpful with managing the client. I should reward him with something special."
She recommended a few things. She still was looking at the card game and hadn't moved.
"I'm sure one of those would be sufficient. Please make an appointment for Monday with him. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow." Jabari opened the door to his office, "I'll be in my office cleaning and finishing my paperwork."
She said she would have the report typed before he left.
Jabari looked back at the screen from the doorway, "The eight of spades can go on the nine of hearts, by the way."
He went into his office and closed the door.
He started sorting through his phone messages when a few minutes later he heard the outer office phone ring. Ms. Kaliska buzzed in telling him a new client was on the phone.
"The dead are always busy," he said to the empty room and picked up the phone.
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