Channeling Sam

by Niles Reddick

Billy’s girlfriend Samantha died in a car wreck a mile from the apartment they shared. He was fortunate he was off from the fire department that day, or he might have been dispatched to the scene. He’s not sure how he would’ve reacted, but at some point, he had to stop imagining the scene—her Prius t-boned by the drunk’s truck, her internal injuries not visible, blood from her mouth pooled on her yellow sundress, her eye lids closed as if she were taking a nap. He wondered if she saw it coming, or if she even knew what hit her. He wondered if she was in heaven, if she knew how much he loved her, or if she knew how much he regretted not buying her an engagement ring.

Even though it had been months and friends tried to set him up, he wasn’t interested in other women. Even when he glanced at a woman, he had waves of guilt as if Samantha was tethered to him in her afterlife.

One of Billy’s neighbors Mary Sue who lived in an apartment facing the pool with her son Josh had brought Billy a few casseroles, fruit from the middle school fundraiser, and even some ears of corn from her parents’ garden. Billy thanked her, was nice, but didn’t show any interest in Mary Sue. She even took him a piece of junk mail misdelivered to her mailbox and offered to go to the cleaners or grocery story for him if he didn’t feel like it. He declined her kind offers, figured she might be a do-gooder from an evangelical church.

When he stepped outside to have a beer by the pool, Billy noticed Mary Sue by the pool, after she waived and called his name. Her son splashed in the shallows, and he took a seat near her and made small talk.

“I’ve had dreams of Samantha,” she told him.

“Did you know Sam?” he asked.

“I knew of her,” Mary Sue said, adding, “I met her here at the pool, saw her around town. She was beautiful.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I miss her. What did you dream about her?”

“It’s vague. I got the ability from my grandma who had it. Samantha’s there, wanting to speak, but can’t. She’s wearing a yellow sundress.”

“That’s what she was wearing when that drunk t-boned her car.” Billy looked down at the pavement, shaking his head, and when he looked up, Mary Sue was staring at his bathing suit, and he moved his legs together. He remembered Samantha telling him his old bathing suit had shrunk and showed too much, and he needed to get a new one. “I need to go,” he said.

“You got to work? I was going to invite you over to eat with us.”

“Maybe some other time.”

“Josh will be disappointed. He wants to be a fireman, too.”

As he got up, he said, “I’ll talk to him sometime and maybe take him to the station.”

“Oh, he’d love that,” she replied.

That night, Billy’s phone rang. He was watching an Andy Griffith rerun—the one where Andy, Barney, and Gomer went into the haunted house after a baseball. Andy discovered the house wasn’t haunted at all but cover for a still operation.

The phone displayed an unknown caller. Billy figured it was spam, but it was Mary Sue. She seemed hysterical, said she’d fallen asleep early and dreamed of Sam, saw her as clear as day, and she had a message for Billy and asked him to come over. Curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to find out if Mary Sue really had a message for him. He walked by the pool, and MarySue opened her sliding glass door. She was still in her two-piece, told him to be quiet because Josh was asleep in his room.

Mary Sue led him to the kitchen, took his hands, and leaned against the kitchen counter. Her eyes rolled back, she wobbled on her feet, and he steadied her. She chanted repetitive sounds and moved her lower body and rubbed it against his. It was like a scene from The Exorcist, minus her head spinning and spitting up pea soup, but like a devout priest or even Andy Griffith, Billy remained steady and listened to her advice to move on, get involved, and to be a role model for a boy.

When Mary Sue had delivered the message, her eyes came back into place, and her head moved close to Billy’s, but he pulled back and didn’t take her bait. Mary Sue acted as if she didn’t know what had happened, that she was surprised when he walked out.

Mary Sue’s possession was a card trick to win Billy over, and even though he was lonely, he didn’t want to start a new relationship like that. He preferred a more subtle, organic approach. Billy decided to wait for a relationship and hoped Mary Sue’s fire burned out on its own.