I turned onto the county road that leads to Kiara's driveway as Lou Gramm's "Lost in the Shadows" ended. I noticed Kiara standing in the road with a man I didn't recognize. I pulled up, parked and stomped over to her and put my hands on my hips. "What in the hell are you doing running in the dark?" I asked with just enough vehemence to cause the man standing next to her to back up a step. He actually had the nerve to snicker. I ignored him.
Kiara contritely responded that it had not been the most brilliant idea to go for a run. She also informed me that she had just been chased by a big fat hog and asked me to take her to the house for a bath. I noticed a horrible smell drifting over from the woods and figured that the hog had been laid to rest, so to speak. As Kiara moved to the car, Hank ran up all wiggles, tails and tongue aching to be petted and reassured. She, of course, let the muddy dog into the back of my car. As I started the engine, I took one last look at the man who had stood with Kiara. He looked to be just over 6 feet tall and was wearing a dingy white cowboy hat and scrumptiously tight jeans. I asked her if that was Bubba White.
"Yes'" she said. I grinned and and was told that's all the response I'd get until she was in the house and cleaned up.
I drove the short distance to her house, parked and stepped out onto the caliche driveway. We crunched our way to the porch and took the two steps leading up to her front door. It was very quiet. The humidity weighed heavy on me and the breeze was a no show.
"Why are the frogs, crickets and cicadas not performing their nightly serenade?" I thought. I remembered the other night when I felt silence surround me as I gazed at the sky, but at least the insects were making their usual noise. Tonight was different.
I noticed Kiara's hands were shaking as she opened the door and first let in Hank before we followed. She closed the door and gingerly walked to her room and shut that door too. Hank looked up at me and I patted him on the head. "Everything will be fine," I told him. Cleopatra, the old calico, rammed her head against my calf demanding to be noticed. "I guess you don't need to be told all will be fine. You know it, don't you?" She looked at me with her green eyes, her pupils partially dilated, and said nothing. Of course, she's a cat.
The smell from the kitchen let me know Kiara had baked chicken strips. They wouldn't be the same as a juicy chicken leg, but the mac and cheese and fried okra I saw laid out next to the baking sheet appeased my irritation and my stomach started to rumble. I grabbed a plate and loaded up with artery clogging deliciousness.
"Where's the beer!" I called.
"On ice in the blue cooler at your feet Miss Oblivious!" Kiara snapped back.
After her bath, I knew she'd feel better so I ignored the jibe. I grabbed a Corona, a slice of lime and a leopard print koozie to keep it nice and cold and sat on the couch to wait for her. I thought about the hog. She had told me that the hogs were breeding like nuts and overtaking the area. I supposed Bubba and his hunting party must have been out culling the herd when they came upon Kiara. Chased by a hog. If it would have got her down...I didn't even want to think that thought.
I turned on the television and began flipping through the channels. I didn't really want to watch anything, but neither did I want to be alone with my thoughts. I landed on "Ghost Hunters" and decided to watch. I thought it was ironic.
The air conditioner must have kicked on at just about that time. I felt a chill along the back of my neck and my hair blew softly against my face. Cleopatra had jumped up on the couch to join me. As I was stroking her under the chin, her neck stretched so I wouldn't miss any part of her head; I felt her rumbling purr cease.
I looked down at her and almost asked her what was up when she crouched and leapt to the back of the couch. Her tail was swishing slowly back and forth as she quietly growled, intently staring in the direction of the stairs to the second floor. My heart hammered against my chest. I did not want to look at the stairs. If I didn't see anything, then it really wouldn't exist. That theory worked for me as a child, I figured it might for me now as well.
Of course I knew better. I slowly turned to look and gasped at what I saw. A large amorphous shape floated inches above the stairs. Blackness and emptiness, that's what registered in my mind as I stared.
"What are you, who are you?" I whispered.
"What do you want!" I said louder.
"Kiara!" I yelled. The shape moved almost imperceptibly changing into the likeness of a human figure. Kiara ran out of her room, hair damp from the bath, but fully clothed and carrying her Bible with the gilded page edges.
Kiara intoned in an authoritative voice, "By the power God and in the name of Jesus Christ, I demand you leave this house immediately!" I stood and went to her to add my strength.
The shape flickered. Together, we spoke, "In the name of the Lord our God, we demand you LEAVE!" And it did. My mouth agape, I gazed at her and asked timidly, "How did you know to do that?"
"Faith, Rihanna." Then she calmly walked into the kitchen and grabbed herself a plate of chicken strips, mac & cheese and okra, reached into the cooler for a beer, walked over to the couch and sat down.
She patted the couch. "Come sit next to me. I've seen this episode of "Ghost Hunters" and its pretty good." I did as I was told.
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