Andjela came in my apartment and looked around. It was quiet, and there were no disturbances that we could see. I felt at ease, so I thanked her and told her I would be all right. She didn’t protest, so I was even more confident that the spirits weren’t around to bother me. I watched her go down the stairs. I smiled appreciatively at the slender form with the flowing, dark hair. She was truly an enigma to me, but I felt the connection to her nonetheless.
I showered and readied for work without any disruptions, and left hoping it would be that way when I returned home. I was about a half hour late from my usual arrival time at work so I called Chaz to let him know I was on my way.
“Good thing. Mr. Abernathy and those icky lawyers of the Shikmans already called. I have a feeling it will be a crappy day.”
My heart sank. “You could say that again."
“I have a feeling it will…”
“Okay, smart ass. Not funny,” I deadpanned.
“Just trying to prepare you for the day with dry, witty humor.”
“I guess all I can do is laugh.”
“Well, that’s a start, darling. See you in a bit.”
When I walked into my funeral home, I had a different feeling than I normally experienced. Usually, I felt nothing more than the pleasure one experiences from liking their job. Today, I felt tension and exasperation. I shrugged it off. Of course, I would feel those things with the bad men looming over me.
I chuckled as I walked down the hall remembering that Chaz had dubbed Mr. Abernathy and the lawyers “the bad men.” He said he was the good man. He didn’t know how right he was, but I was also beginning to think there were other “bad men”—those spirits that had invaded my home.
As soon as I entered my office, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned expecting to see Chaz, smiling in anticipation of seeing my best friend. But there was no one there. I went to the door and peered out into the hall. Still no one. I walked to his office which was just past mine. He wasn’t in there. Maybe he was down in the cellar.
As I started toward the stairs, I heard the garage door open in the back of the funeral home’s basement. I jogged downstairs to see Chaz backing in the transport van. I waited by the door until he was all the way in, then pushed the garage door button and closed the door. He turned off the engine and got out of the van.
“Hey there, Boss lady.”
“Good morning. Where’ve you been?”
He walked to the back of the van and opened the hatch. I followed him. “Got a call this morning,” he said as he slid the gurney out. The legs of the gurney extended as they passed the floor of the van, and by the time Chaz had the gurney pulled out all the way, both legs were extended and the gurney was ready to roll. He started to push the gurney to the freezer room.
“Got a call this morning to collect a body. I forgot to tell you when you called. The paperwork is on your desk. The family will be in later today. I thought you might be here before I left, but you weren’t, and I had to get the body out of the morgue. They were done with it.”
“That’s okay.” I followed him and opened the door to the freezer room for him to roll the gurney inside. Together we unloaded the body into one of the freezer compartments. Chaz took the gurney to the clean room. I shut the door to the freezer and waited for him.
“I’ll take care of the gurney later,” he said to me. He put his arm around me and guided me back to the stairs. “So, how was your evening and where were you that you felt the need to call me in the middle of the night and not come into work on time?”
I walked up the stairs ahead of him. “You haven’t believed much of what’s been happening in my apartment, so I don’t know why you think you would believe anything that happened last night.”
“You trusted me enough to tell me everything the other night, so why don’t you try?”
At the top of the stairs, I turned. “Okay. There are new spirits in my apartment that aren’t friendly, and Andjela arrived at my apartment right after they showed themselves to me. We went out and had some drinks, and I spent the night in her spare bedroom because she felt it wasn’t safe for me to go back.” I opened the door and started to walk down the hall to my office. “That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.” I smiled to myself remembering my night with Andjela and our battle of idioms.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and then I was turned sharply around. “Whoa, wait one minute girlfriend.”
I smirked. “Yes?”
“You…nasty spirits…a night at a stranger’s place? God, girl, I leave you alone for one day, and everything goes to hell in a handbag.”
I looked at Chaz and broke out into loud laughter. It seemed everyone was using idioms these days. Maybe Andjela was wrong and society just didn’t realize they were still alive and well in the English language. What had me laughing harder was his reference to hell. I sure did feel like my spiritual adventures were heading in that direction.
“Ahem.”
Chaz and I turned at the same time. Mr. Abernathy was standing in the doorway of my office, pressed black suit with a gray tie and an ugly, black briefcase dangling from his hand. His overcoat rested on his other arm.
“I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time, Ms. O’Reilly?” He turned and walked back into my office.
Chaz and I looked at each other and broke out into a quieter giggle. After a few moments, we fell silent, and he put his arm around me. “It’ll be okay.” He gave a hard look in Mr. Abernathy’s direction. He squeezed me tight and left to retreat to his office.