Tree of Life, Part Three

10 December 2006

Rick was finishing a smoke and talking on his phone when he came in the door, and gave us a half wave and nod when Jackie and I glanced over at him. We turned our attention back to the movie while he chatted about something to do with work on his way to the kitchen, and by the time he returned with a can of pop and sat next to Jackie on the couch the phone was back in his pocket. She leaned over and he put his arm around her as she grabbed his smoke and took a drag.

“How was Pittsburgh?” I asked.

“Pretty good. That’s actually what I came over to talk to you about.” He turned to Jackie and said to her, “We were all pretty disappointed you couldn’t be there.”

“You wanted to talk to me about being disappointed Jackie was at work?”

“No, no,” he said, accepting his cigarette back and taking one last drag before snuffing it out in the ashtray. “She’s got a ghost problem.”

“Is that why they were disappointed I wasn’t there?” Jackie asked, pinching him. He yelped a little.

“Alice just wanted to meet you, I’m sure.”

“Mhm.”

“What kind of ghost problem?” I asked.

“A ‘they scream in the night and she thought someone was breaking in’ ghost problem.”

“Did that happen while you were there?” He nodded. “Wasn’t Mandy with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Bet she loved that.”

“Didn’t sleep a wink.” I grabbed the remote and paused the movie, then turned to face him.

“Alright. What’re we doing?”

“Well, actually, it’s mostly just you. She wants to hire you.” I raised a brow.

“For what?”

“For…ghost, stuff, I guess! She said if you can do something about the ghosts she best pay you for it.”

“Professional services are usually paid work,” Jackie said. “Really, this shouldn’t be a radical idea for you.”

“I’m not some kind of supernatural plumber,” I said, sitting back. “Guess I never thought of it that way, anyway.”

“Well, whatever, but her family has money so it isn’t like it would inconvenience her at all,” he said. “Will you just call her? She’s a good friend and needs help here.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call her.” I tossed him my phone, which Jackie caught and handed him. “Just put her number in there.”

“It’ll be under Alice,” he said, tapping away.

“Could you include a last name, just in case? I like to have whole names in my phone.”

​“Fine. It’ll be under Alice Templeton.” I nodded and turned the movie back on.

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