Sunday, March 30, 2014

NIGHT CREATURES STAND OFF IN THE DARK PHILADELPHIA OPERA HOUSE... 3/30/14

No one made a sound. The baby just kicked her feet and gurgled. The 'born' witch didn't know what to do. She wanted that grandbaby, but spirits and night-things can be tricky. They form chains. They link together and many a complacent opponent winds up spending eons in a cockroach gut or being eternally chomped up by hungry hogs.

She turned toward Tomas, but he didn't know what to do either and Sarah was too new, though she did run that book shop. Read most of the stock. Picked up a lot. Slowly leans over and whispers - We should talk. We have to keep whatever it is talking. .... Witch goes - What if it's a demon? You never talk to demons...... Tomas says - It's not a demon. He's been here since the beginning. He's a ghost. Believe me I know this place very well.

The still, translucent figure dangling the baby over the edge of the box was silent. But the being behind him, the evil elferino, Peter, spoke..... Give me your power - he said..... What power? Whose power? Who do you mean? - said Sarah..... Shut that thing up - he said... And the ghost, the 'man in the box' leaned out a tiny bit more..... How strange it seemed to hear a baby, even a witch baby, go 'bah bah bah bah bah bah bah' in that dark, ancient, haunted space. The painted gold figures adorning certain nooks and crannies smiled at the absurdity of it. Some cracked their necks and turned their heads for a better view.

Tomas knew the elferino meant him, or maybe even the 'born' witch. But he had to think..... Then they heard the voice again..... Give me what I want. Just give me what I want! - he said... The body might be that of a twelve year old. But being welded in that cask gave him lots of time to think. And the soul wasn't that age anymore..... The witch quietly said - I think he wants me..... Tomas motioned for her to stop. Then he addressed the elferino again.... Give me time to prepare - he said...... The juvenile vampire thing up above answered - Do you know who I am, Tomas de Macabea, or Jonathon ben Macabi?..... Tomas just bowed his head and sat there, as the elferino went on - Do you remember the pit? Do you remember the loathsome place where you were 'changed,' the rocky depression far back in that oozing cave? Well, it's legendary in my family. There were two terrified girls down there with you. One for her blood and one for her womb. An ancestor of mine was the later. A life-eater law. See! I know the proper term. I know the laws. If at all possible, the mortal line must go on. Yours did. Sarah came from that line. You know that. (Tomas took Sarah's hand)Well, I did too. And now I want my birthday present. GIVE ME THE BLOOD!.....

Tomas exhaled and said - Give us the baby..... Pig Blood Annie, the 'born' witch, the baby's grandmother whispered - I'm gonna throw a hoo-doo. I gotta do something. I don't care.... But he shook his head and she saw the look in his eyes.

The elferino didn't respond, not with words. But the ghost, the 'man in the box' passed out through the solid balustrade with the baby clutched to his spectral chest and sailed off to a resting place just under the great chandelier, like a macabre finial, or some fiendish decoration. 

And the evil elferino said - Well?

But down on the floor, in the 'orchestra' as it were, certain things began to happen. Here and there, scattered among the seats, 'thickenings' began to coalesce out of the darkness.... Not many, but some. A feminine form there... What seems to be a man here. Dust motes dance about them like silver. People die in theaters, you know, especially in grand opera houses. The scores are very emotional. It happens. The Academy of Music has it's share. Most nights they sleep, or walk about aimlessly. The guards hear noises. They know. But sometimes when a good drama plays out they don't sleep.... Tonight was one of those times.

Then the baby began to cry...

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