Friday, October 11, 2013

Poltergeist Leak, OR, To Each, Another

Tuesday D’amato smells it, but thinks it’s a bad dream. Then Trystram and Ysolde’s claws tack-tack-tack up the stairs as they flee the basement, and they mewl so loud they’ll wake Delilah. Cats are so needy. So Tuesday gets up and opens the basement door, and they flee for the safety of the bedroom, while he takes in the musty smell. Like sweat on copper pennies.

There are two water leaks down there. Physical water is at least two inches deep in the gloom, lapping around the base of the stairs and the boxes from two years ago that he still hasn’t unpacked. His fault, he’s resigned, and he doesn’t care about that water. The other water, a ghost leak, shimmers halfway up the stairs, and translucent trout swim in the air.

“Except they’re not trout,” he corrects himself. It’s late and he’s groggy. He pads back into the bedroom, careful not to wake Delilah. Trystram and Ysolde are already in his closet, twining around his iron harpoon. Ninety-nine percent iron, a ghost’s least favorite metal. Delilah had just about killed him when he ordered it, but it kept coming in handy.

Tuesday D’amato hastens back to the stairs and sits at the top. He stirs the second water, the spectral water leak, with the tip of his harpoon, and the things that look like trout spook and swim away, into the recesses of the basement. Of course they look like trout. The ghost pipes are leaking directly above his unpacked boxes, and so they’ve gotten into his mementos, and they know all his childhood memories. About him falling in the water while fishing.

The trout fleeing, he rests the harpoon on the third stair down. The tide is climbing and he’ll need to keep an eye out until the ghost water dissipates back into another plane of existence. Then he’ll need to call a plumber. The super better cover this.

He doesn’t realize he’s grown nervous, that his bare feet are shifting on the top stair as though begging him to run. He doesn’t realize anything until Delilah touches his shoulder, and then he jerks up at her. He’s never been so relieved her head isn’t a trout.

“What is it, Big D’am?” she asks, pushing on his shoulder until he slides over. Then she plops down beside him, her hip rubbing against his. She’s wielding a night gown and that precious tablet of hers.

“Another leak,” he says, gesturing at an errant spectral trout with his iron harpoon. “Got to make sure it doesn’t rise to this floor.”

“Mhm. Mhm,” she says, turning on her tablet. “Anything neat in the water this time?”

Tuesday D’amato so tired that he forgets how to answer, and he rests his head against the harpoon. Sweat on iron does not smell the same as sweat on copper, at least not when you’re afraid for your life. Or when you’re relieved for company.

Delilah takes his head from the harpoon and instead lays it on one half of her broad lap. He can’t argue; it’s more cushioned here. But she doesn’t baby him, rather staring down into the retinal screen, booting up an avatar to slay digital ghouls for better loot drops. As the beeps and squelches and high-def MP3 soundtracks whirr into being, he wonders if there are harpoons in her game. She always plays the same one, never buying different ones, only the sequels to this. He doesn’t understand the game. He doesn’t like the game. So why, he wonders as he hears the attack sound for the two-millionth and thirty-thousandth time while resting his temple against her knee, does he find that sound soothing?

“Got to keep watch,” he says, trying to blink sleep from his eyes, trying to blink sight back into them. The ghost water laps five steps down now; he thinks it’s receding, draining into another dimension. “Got to keep us safe.”

The two million, thirty-thousand and first attack noise is her first response. Then there’s a little victory tune, and she strokes his temple with the back of her hand. “I know, and you always do. Lucky you don’t have to stop the Ghoul Lords from breaking out of the digital dimension.”

“Yeah,” he murmurs into her lap. He’s glad he bought her the silk nightgown for Christmas. “That work seems hard, too. How do you keep it up?”

“Hm?” she asks, eyes already diving back into the game, new attack noises sprouting up as she slays the undead trapped into silicon chips. “It helps having someone who understands.”

23 comments:

  1. Like a game in a game. Playing Diablo 3 lately? I read it twice to let it sink in better. I was a little thrown when Delilah took his head from the harpoon; seems to read strange for me for some reason. Great descriptions of the water leak and ghost fishing, and it feels like it could become a bigger story if it wanted to.

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    1. Actually been playing Terraria, though I was imagining something akin to a tablet Diablo. Can you say what about her taking his head from the harpoon was jarring? The wording?

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    2. For some reason I kept thinking his head was stuck on the harpoon. He was resting his head against the harpoon, but my mind wanted to think Delilah pulled his head from the harpoon. No sure why, could be wording or my head. I haven't looked into Terraria. Yeah, I as imagining a tablet version of Diablo in the story.

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  2. Intriguing story, she plays one game and he's playing another, yet one could be more deadly than the other. I think this too could be developed into something much longer.

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  3. Fascinating. I am intrigued wondering what the trout are, when they are being themselves. I love the relationship between D;amato and Deliliah. And yes, I too would be interested in hearing more. Rather a lot more.

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  4. Interesting piece. I wanted to keep reading.

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  5. Several games going on there. They look like trout? Interesting.

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  6. Missed your stuff, John, I really have.

    1. I initially assumed Tuesday was a woman's name, I'm not sure why. Is it common where you are?

    2. The last few lines made me wonder if this was all in Tuesday's head and it's a little game he plays and Delilah now humours him, as in someway helping him cope with some form of mental illness. Just me?

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    1. I've missed you, too, Jack. Just got Last of Us for my birthday, which reminded me of our Twitter chat.

      To respond mathematically!

      1. I can't remember ever meeting anyone named "Tuesday." There was a girl Wednesday Addams on a certain sitcom, and it made me think it'd be fair if there was a boy day of the week as well. That's actually where this whole thing started. Have you met any girl or third-gender Tuesdays?

      2. That is a fair read and up to you. I daren't weigh in.

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    2. Love that you used the name Tuesday. I wrote a flash piece once using Tuesday as a last name.
      The ghosty stuff was creepy yet fun at the same time and I liked how you used the mementos and old photographs for the conjuring of the spirits. Even more than that, I enjoyed the relationship you described between the two "gamers." Lovely work, John. I was "hooked" from the get-go.

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  7. I got the impression that it's Delilah who's draining the ghost water with her game - that would explain why she was cheesed about him buying the harpooon. Or perhaps she's got a different task? Either way, this was a cool story.

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    1. The former and latter are totally fair theories. Glad you dug the story, Larry.

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  8. So are the ghosts leaking FROM her game?

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  9. I can't claim to fully understand the ghost leak or why he has to keep them safe from it but what struck me about the piece is the connection between the two. There's an obvious intimacy between the two of them that can only come from sharing a living space for a long while and there's a vivid sense of comfort in the way they interact. It was really, really touching and felt very real.

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    1. That is secretly (or really, rather obviously, I'm not that clever) what it's all about. Thanks for the kind words, Bev, because you got out of it what I most wanted to give.

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  10. This is great! I love how none of the oddities present seem to disturb the normality of those two's interaction. I mean it's great. It have me a chuckle a smile and I so much love gameceptions and leaks from other dimensions. Thanks John!

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  11. As with many of your stories John, I always enjoy the read, but quite often feel as though I don't fully understand them. I have the same thing with several writers, maybe my brain just isn't analytical enough. :)

    Are some of the ghosts trout-like because they know of his falling into the water when he was fishing, exploiting one of his childhood fears?

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  12. Nice work. I really like the intimacy between the characters. I find their world and their games intriguing.

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  13. I have to wonder who's playing what! Great story, John.

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  14. My wife often surfs around on her tablet while I read, so even though I do not own a harpoon, I connected with their relationship, liked the dynamic between them.

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  15. I got to the end of this and was still thinking, "the guy keeps a freaking HARPOON to deal with this stuff????". I mean, they're only poltergeists.

    The last paragraphs with his wife were sweet, though. They seemed like a good match.

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  16. I thought she was using the tablet to dispatch the spectral trout but I like that she has a digital alternative to his real life battle.

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