The Book of Sarah

Greetings. It is me, Tomas, coming to you through my wilkravitz 'familiar' person. Tonight you must permit me to transmit this information as if it were a play. We are sitting in the dining room of the penthouse. The interior illumination is turned down. The draperies are open. The lights of the city sparkle beautifully. We discuss the events of the past twentyfour hours. POW WOW WOMAN - The small one is named Annie. At least that's the name she goes by now. She is what we Pow Wow people would call a lucid wanderer. I can see her in your mind, Tomas, and I know. TOMAS - What is a lucid wanderer? POW WOW WOMAN - It means that she, or it, has never been dead. It has never been divorced from the world of the living. As soon as it dies in one incarnation, it is born into another. BAYLAH - How long has this been going on? POW WOW WOMAN - I don't know. I can't tell. But something happened to it the first time out, something bad. TOMAS - And? POW WOW WOMAN - It's been like a transmitter of the enemy ever since. Yeah, a transmitter. That's what it's like. The people, the bodies are just like the cables or the signal carriers. That's all. SARAH - Is that 'Annie' girl the only one? BAYLAH - No. I can tell you that. I saw a man. I'm sure I saw a man. I think he was the same one who set the dogs on that 'foreign' vampire a while back. What can you tell us about him? POW WOW WOMAN - I don't know. I'm not typing him as a lucid wanderer. I think he's just a regular person who's been soul-jacked by some presence. I don't know. That's all I can tell you. BOB - What are you? Who are you. Just what is a Pow Wow Person? I mean we're supposed to be the weird ones, but she scares me. Tomas, do you think if you asked her, your Old Woman would get me a cup of hot tea? BAYLAH - What the hell are you gonna do with a cup of hot tea, you crazy bastard? You're a vampire! What are you gonna do, throw it up all over the new, antique carpet!? Jeez!! BOB - No, I'm not going to drink it. I'm just gonna hold it, okay? I like it. I like how warm it is. It calms me down. Alright? TOMAS (to Old Woman) Get him the tea. BOB - Thank you. But, no, really, what are you? POW WOW WOMAN - I'm just a plain, old Piney woman. We Pineys are what you call Heinz 57 varieties, a real mixed up conglomeration. We got French blood from the colonial trapper days. We got English blood from the early settlers. Some original, Leni-Lanape Indian and a sprinkle of run-away slave blood to top it all off. Hell, you know that old, ruined Jew church we camped in that first night on the road? Well we even got a few of them thrown in the mix too. That's who I am. We got it all. All that rich folk knowledge flowin' down to us from generation after generation. Village 'wise women', Frenchie Capuchine monks, English Druid-like mystics and rebellious rabbis who've read too much Kabalah, if you know what I mean. Shit, what don't we know. TOMAS - Then tell us. What should we do? POW WOW WOMAN - Well, you could kill that skinny, little Annie girl. That ought to slow things down a little. Won't stop it, but it'll force the Enemy to gnaw into another soul, some newborn and start all over again. That ought to give you a few good years. BAYLAH - But what about the voices? We heard voices. POW WOW WOMAN - Yeah, I know. I figure that means it can leave her body for a teensy bit if it wants to. Can't really do nothing to you. Can't hurt you, 'cause it's only a sound in your head. But it can play with you a little. It can scare you... if you're the type. Look at Bob. We all hear him hollerin' in his sleep every day. He's scared shitless already. BAYLAH - Oh, he's always scared shitless. How he ever worked in that god-damned museum is beyond me. BOB - Shut up! You never appreciated all that stuff, so shut up! I hate letting them down. God knows what they think happened to me. TOMAS - You can all relax. My familiars know what to do. They will take care of everything. Sarah's shop is safe. Your reputation is safe. BAYLAH - Yeah, and we should all be safe, for a few weeks anyway, seeing how we just fed. We can just stay up here. It can't get us up here. Right?  Well, can it? BOB - Phew! What's that urine smell?.......... Tomas trades glances with The Old Woman, as she delivers the cup of hot tea. Bob takes it, reveling in the steamy warmth. The vapors rise up to the ceiling, as they all sit in silence, bathed in the twinkling lights dancing into the darkness from the surrounding buildings.