All the way home, Minty apologised for her choice of Madame Rosa as my potential adviser. I tried to tell her it didn’t matter, that I’d enjoyed the experience and, although a little expensive, it had been worth both my time and my money. She didn’t accept my reassurances and kept on attempting to make amends for what had happened.
“I listened really closely to what she said and even I could work out she threw out a lot of hooey. Talk about generic. It’s quite offensive really. To think she offered you all the ordinary ‘don’t worry about your love life, there’s a man out there for you somewhere’ nonsense. Didn’t she realise you’re much more complicated than that?”
“Er, thanks – I think,” I laughed at the strained compliment, and Minty’s face brightened a little when she heard me. “Honestly, I know she’s a charlatan, but actually I found it really useful. It helped me understand some stuff and to make my mind up.” I couldn’t tell her about the old woman’s warnings or show her the amulet she’d given me.
“Minty, no! I’m telling you, this trip really has helped, and to be fair I thought it was actually rather funny. She was a proper sight wasn’t she? All those drapes and strange statues, and the earrings! But at least now I know I have to sort this out by myself. I was crazy ever to visit a clairvoyant in the first place. It’s not what I need. I’ll handle things. I’ll work out the best way to deal with everything.”
She was right, of course. I did tend to think of her more or less as an air head. Her image didn’t help her if she wanted to be taken seriously, but haven’t I always been told not to judge books by their covers? I finally understood that behind her ridiculous coiffures and outlandish colour schemes lived a very kind heart, and she had offered that heart in friendship. What had I done? Trampled on it, that’s what. I felt immediately and deeply guilty.
“Minty, you’re a gem and you’re a good and supportive friend. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re an idiot. Ever. Even me. Specially me.” And we hugged, which isn’t something I’d have considered doing with her before that.
It turned out my growing friendship with Minty was one of the few good things about my infestation with Dee. Even though I didn’t want her to know the full truth – she might get seriously hurt, and she’d never believe me anyway – I at least had a friend who cared about my welfare, who would look after me and cheer me up when I felt down. In my worst experiences with Dee that was about all I had to cling on to.
I carried the old woman’s blue pebble with me as often as I could and it gave me a strange sense of peace. I tried to find out what significance it might have by consulting the amulets book. Blue has long had a reputation as a colour of protection. There are all kinds of lucky charms and amulets dating back thousands of years that had various shades of blue incorporated into them. The Egyptians, for example had blue pottery pieces made of something called faience. Their colour came really close to the pebble the woman gave me, but there were no egg shaped charms in the book description. In some Mediterranean countries people wear blue badges and medals with a stylised drawing of an eye on them to protect against the ‘evil eye’. I wondered if that might have helped me, but I suspect I would have needed to carry it before Dee arrived, rather than after, if it was to have offered a safeguard against him. Besides, if he’d been honest with me – though I know I couldn’t rely on that – I’d picked up the ‘infection’ from the pendant and no amount of reflecting eye badges would have prevented it.
As well as the book, I consulted the internet to see if I could discover more. Lots of other things about blue turned up in my researches. Even though people talk about being blue when they’re sad, they also say that good luck comes ‘out of the blue’. In some mythologies it represents friendship, as well as truth, wisdom, loyalty and honesty; all useful traits to attract. And we mustn’t forget the ‘something blue’ required by brides for good luck on their wedding day. But nothing I read mentioned egg shaped blue stones as a specific defence against anything. Mine had no markings on it that I could detect. It was a smooth, pale blue, oval shaped bit of rock about an inch long and slightly tapered at one end. One odd thing about it though – it always felt warm to the touch, even if I hadn’t been holding it.
I also continued my hunt for something that would identify Dee’s species. That’s how I thought of him, like some small, furry animal I didn’t recognise. For some reason I sensed it was vital to be able to say what he was. I felt like someone who heard scratching in their attic at night. If you find out they’re bats you can think yourself lucky because bats won’t roost just anywhere and they’re important, protected animals. But if you find out it’s a rat you can call in the exterminator and soon the scratching stops. Dee definitely felt more rat than bat, although his misunderstandings were happening with less frequency, even if I never seemed to benefit from any wishes either. It might have been the blue stone that helped me. It also could have something to do with the fact that I had developed some strong concentration skills and had vastly improved control over my thoughts. I practised emptying my mind, and thinking of nothing, or focussing on the job I had in hand, and gradually I made fewer risky outbursts, even on the worst days. Other factors helped too. Traffic on the way to and from work seemed a little lighter, but that could be the time of year, rather than any magical influence. Fewer people at work bothered me with ridiculous expectations and more helped me than previously, but that could be because I now counted Minty among my friends. Apparently she is rather popular and I’ve been told more than once that I should be honoured to count in her inner circle.
There have still been times when my control failed and my wishes have turned sour. In one guilt ridden incident my temper took over and Dee stepped in to grant a wish I didn’t actually make. Late one night I was in bed trying to sleep, but my neighbour had other plans. He played his music very loud and he clearly had friends with him, enjoying themselves and laughing into the small hours. He’s not normally a problem so it never occurred to me to complain or bang on the wall or anything, but since Dee’s arrival I need all the sleep I can get and I get really crabby when I’m tired. Given the strain I’m under all the time it’s important for me to get my full eight hours and that night I looked like I’d be lucky to have four. Eventually I rolled over, put the pillow over my head and swore. I’ve always used what people tend to describe as ‘colourful’ language and that night was no exception. “Shit a brick!” I shouted as I did my best to cut out the noise. Eventually I drifted off and thought no more about it. Dee had other plans, however. He turned up in the flat a couple of days later, laughing and looking very pleased with himself.
“Oh you have to laugh, don’t you?” he said as he appeared on the end of the sofa, as usual without warning or invitation. He was dressed in surgeon’s scrubs, complete with the silly hat and rubber gloves. “I’ve just come from the hospital. It’s too good. It really is too good. You wish for such great things.”
“I didn’t think I’d made that many wishes lately,” I replied, as calmly as I could, in spite of my fears that he had murdered someone else on my behalf.
“The other night Sweetie, when you couldn’t sleep. You issued an instruction about your neighbour. I had no choice but to obey.”
“Cut that nonsense you know perfectly well that you aren’t obliged to grant my wishes. You are also aware that you’ve told me so on more than one occasion. You had a choice.”
“Not when you put it so succinctly and so strongly, I didn’t. He’s going to be OK, even though you don’t seem to care enough to ask.”
“What have you done? Please tell me you haven’t been operating on anyone.” In spite of my good intentions my temper stretched, and I worried what else I might say. Thank heaven for my breathing exercises and the lengthy practising.
“Of course I haven’t done any actual work. I just watched. Your neighbour has been in hospital for two days. They had to do surgery and it takes a long time to heal that sort of thing.” I daren’t speak as I tried desperately to remember what I’d said. Dee looked exasperatedly at me. “They had to remove a blockage from his bowel. They were hoping it would work itself out, but it started to look dangerous.” I still said nothing, so he continued very slowly and loud, like an English person abroad who speaks none of the local language but thinks it’ll help make the foreigners understand if he stretches out words and increases the volume. “He’d swallowed a kids’ building brick and, while it was OK for most of its journey, it went so far but no further. Things were…building up behind it.” And he laughed at his own joke. “I thought about making it a proper house brick, but I figured that would probably kill him and I know how you feel about the body count.”
Then I remembered. One of my regular expressions that I’d uttered in a time of stress. “I said ‘shit a brick’ didn’t I?”
“Yes. I didn’t follow your instruction exactly. He didn’t actually get to do the dirty deed.” He paused, as if expecting me to comment on his pun, but I was too disgusted to say a word. “I did my best.”
I had to find a way of removing this carbuncle from my life. Even when he claimed to limit the damage, people were getting hurt, and badly. In spite of what I’d told Minty I knew I had to find someone who could give me practical help and advice on exterminating the rat in my attic. Throughout everything the old woman’s words hung in the back of my mind and caused concern. She had called me possessed and named Dee as a demon. Since she had actually seen him, and had been the first person to offer me anything concrete I had to assume she understood what I faced. But there would be no point in returning to Madame Rosa to ask her assistant for help. She told me I would be hard pressed to defeat him without help and had given me what she had to offer. She also mentioned being blessed, so I beleived. I knew where I had to go next.
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