Chapter Seventeen

 

Most addresses in St. Pete are easy to find. The city is pretty much on a grid system. Finding the address on the box was no problem. I parked my car on the narrow, tree-lined street. The house that we were to deliver the package to wasn't unusual or frightening in the least. It was a small brick house with concrete steps that led up to a screened-in porch. At the bottom, on each side of the steps, was a concrete lion. Though the blinds were closed we could see that a light was on in a front room.

"So," I said. We all sat in the dark car. "This is it."

"Sure is," Eve said from the back seat.

"I guess I'll deliver the package and you two can wait here." I opened my door just a crack and the interior light came on.

"If anyone should deliver it, it should be me," Koji said. "You two can wait in the car."

"But it's my responsibility," I argued.

"I don't think any of us should wait in the car," Eve said. "There's safety in numbers, right?" She got out and stretched. "You guys coming?"

Koji and I got out of the car. "I don't think this is a good idea," Koji said. "I should just go up there. That way if it's dangerous, I'll be the only one in danger and you two can speed away in the car."

"I would never leave you if you were in danger." I walked around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. The box was lying there amidst the jumper cables and the jack. I picked it up. It felt warm and I could feel it vibrating slightly. I checked the address on the label again. There was just enough light to make out the black block letters.

Koji climbed the stairs first. We gathered on the small, cracked concrete porch.

"Ready?" Koji asked.

Eve and I both nodded. I could feel the anticipation like a knot in my stomach. I wondered if they felt it too.

Koji pushed the lit-up white doorbell.

"I didn't hear anything. Did you hear anything?" Eve asked.

"No, but can you usually hear a doorbell when you're outside?" I said.

"Most times you can. It didn't work. Press it again." Eve nudged Koji in the back.

"We should wait a minute to see if anyone answers." Koji looked at Eve, annoyed.

"How's anyone going to answer a silent doorbell?" Eve shot back.

"He's right, we should wait a minute," I said. We were all nervous.

We stood on the porch in silence for a few minutes. The dark seemed to be closing in on us. No cars passed on the street; no dogs barked.

Koji tried to peer into the long narrow window next to the door. It was completely covered by a curtain so he couldn't make out anything inside. He pushed the button for the doorbell again.

"This is a waste of time." Eve crossed her arms and looked out toward the street like she thought someone might be watching us.

Still no movement or sound came from inside the house. "Just knock," I said.

"Okay." Koji's knuckles struck the door. It gave a hollow thump.

We waited some more, but there was still no answer. It seemed like twenty minutes had passed though it was probably more like five. The whole time the box was vibrating gently in my hand.

"Should I knock again?" Koji asked.

Eve and I both nodded our heads in reply. I didn't want to be in possession of the box for another day. I just wanted to get rid of it and get out of there.

As Koji raised his hand to knock again the door flew open. A tall, round, dark-skinned woman stood in the doorway. She wore a leopard print dress, made of some kind of sheer material, with a black slip underneath. She smiled brightly. "May I help you?"

"Prophetess Jackson?" I asked.

"That's me." Her voice was somewhere between a full voice and a whisper.

"We have a delivery for you." Koji motioned toward the box in my hand with a nod.

"I've been expecting you. Why don't you come in?" She stepped aside to give us room to enter.

We all looked at each other, worried, each of us thinking that we didn't want to go in there. None of us moved. My feet felt like they were stuck to the concrete. My legs felt slightly weak, and I suddenly needed to use the bathroom.

"Don't be shy now. I just made some fresh lemonade." She gestured with her hand for us to come in. The loose flesh under her upper arm jiggled.

None of us moved a muscle. I wanted to turn around and run to the car, but I still held the box in my hand.

"You drove all the way from California with that thing, aren't you curious about what's inside it?" Prophetess Jackson asked.

Eve nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to open it the whole time, but she wouldn't let me." She pointed at me.

"She's wise," Prophetess Jackson said. "Nothing good would come of opening it before you're ready."

"How would I know if I was ready?" Eve asked.

"You just know." Prophetess Jackson looked at Koji with her soft eyes. Her eyelids drooped making her look very sleepy. "You weren't ready, were you?"

"What?" Koji said.

"How about that lemonade?" Prophetess asked.

Why was she pushing lemonade on us? I just wanted her to take this box from me and let us go. I wanted this thing out of my life.

Prophetess Jackson turned and walked in. "Come on now."

"Maybe we should go in," Eve said.

Koji grabbed Eve's arm. "Are you crazy?"

"She offered us lemonade." Eve grinned, nervously. "How bad could she be?"

"Arsenic-laced lemonade," I said.

"I prefer cyanide. It works faster and is harder to trace," Prophetess Jackson called out from somewhere in the house. "You don't have to come in. Just leave the package at the door and run away if you want. It makes no difference to me."

I couldn't believe she'd heard my comment about the poison. "There's three of us. If we don't drink the lemonade we'll be fine." I stepped over the threshold first.

We walked into the whitest room I'd ever seen. The floor was covered in shiny white tile with perfectly white, new-looking grout. The walls and ceiling were covered with glossy white paint. A long florescent light lit the room. I'd seen these lights in schools and office buildings, but never in someone's house. The only thing that wasn't white was the large square black television that sat against the wall opposite us on a lacquered white TV stand. A white rocking chair sat in the front of the television. It was the only chair in the room.

"She must not have much company," I whispered to Koji.

He nodded.

"I hope she doesn't kill us," I whispered. I stood in the middle of the floor, still holding the box.

"It's fine," Eve whispered back.

"How do you know?" Koji demanded in a louder voice.

"When you all are done arguing in there you can have a seat in the dining room," Prophetess Jackson called to us from the kitchen.

The dining room was through the arched doorway on the same wall as the TV. The white floors and walls continued into this room, but the large, rectangular dining table was made from dark wood. Ten simple matching wooden chairs sat around it. Beneath the table was a shaggy white rug. I thought the rug was a daring decorative choice.

"She must have a lot of dinner parties," Eve said.

"She must have to change out that rug a lot," I said.

"I hardly use this room at all." Prophetess Jackson came out of the kitchen with four tall, narrow glasses of lemonade balanced on a wooden tray. Each glass had plenty of ice and a sliver of lemon at the top to garnish it. "Sit down, sit down. I make the best lemonade in town."

"Sure does look good," Eve said, as if you could tell anything about lemonade by looking at it.

"Well, wait 'til you taste it." She set the tray on the table.

Eve took a glass from the tray and sat at the head of the table. Koji and I both took glasses and sat down too. I placed the box in front of me on the table. I was surprised that Prophetess Jackson hadn't seemed particularly interested in it. Tom had made it sound like it was of the utmost importance that I deliver it, but she didn't seem in a hurry to open it at all. She hadn't even glanced at it.

Prophetess Jackson sat down in the empty seat next to me, took a gulp of lemonade and let out a satisfied sigh. She looked around at her blank dining room and said, "I make some good lemonade."

Eve took a small sip of hers and agreed, "You do."

Koji and I eyed our glasses suspiciously. I ran my finger down the side of the glass, making a line in the condensation that had formed.

"Drink it. It's really good." Eve took another sip. "I'm not dead yet."

"I was joking about the poison." Prophetess Jackson laughed. Her laugh sounded more like she was choking on something than laughing.

"No, thanks. We're fine," Koji said.

"Yeah, we're fine," I agreed.

"Don't trust me yet, huh? That's okay. What have I done to earn your trust? Nothing yet. Notice that I said yet." She smiled. Her smile was warm.

I couldn't tell how old she was. Her face was smooth and dark brown. No lines marked the passing years, but if I had to guess, by the way she spoke and moved, I would say that she was in her fifties.

"It's a shame really, having all this space for only me. This kind of dining set is made for dinner parties, and I'm just not a dinner party person," she said.

"Really?" Eve said. "You seem like you'd be the life of the party."

"A lot of people say that to me, but I'm really not. Sometimes I'll have a small group of friends around. When I say small, I mean two or three."

I watched the drips of water slide down the side of my glass to the table, forming a ring. I couldn't believe Eve was bantering back and forth with this woman, like they'd met under completely normal circumstance. "Here's your package," I said. I slid it over toward her, nearly knocking over her lemonade. She caught the glass before it tipped.

"Here it is," she said.

"I thought you'd be more interested in it," I said.

"I am interested in it." She placed her hand on top of the box and smiled at me. "But aren't people more interesting than objects?"

"Depends on the people," Eve said.

"Depends on the object," Koji said.

"Sometimes, I guess it does." Prophetess Jackson looked thoughtfully at the box, and then at Koji.

"So, is Prophetess a title?" Koji's voice had a sarcastic edge to it. He often sounded liked that when he was uncomfortable.

"It's become one over the years. But really it's what my mama named me. Maybe she knew. The day I was born she knew."

"Knew what?" I asked.

"That I had the calling."

"What kind of calling?" Koji asked.

Prophetess Jackson took a sip of her lemonade before answering. "Some people were put here to help and others were put here to destroy. I'm the helping kind."

"Really?" Koji said.

"That's right." Prophetess set her glass back on the table and looked down at the box for a moment.

"Can I call you Prophetess then?" Eve asked.

Prophetess closed her eyes, as if she were looking inward for something. "Of course you can, Eve."

We hadn't told her our names. Maybe Tom had told her, but I didn't remember mentioning my friends' names to him.

Prophetess closed her eyes again and tilted her head back, opening the moist creases in her neck. Her breathing deepened.

We sat silently, watching her.

Finally Koji spoke. "What should we do?"

"I don't know," I whispered back.

Prophetess opened her eyes and snapped her head back up straight. "Do about what?"

I couldn't speak. I just kept wondering how I got myself into this.

"You can go." Prophetess groaned as she pushed herself up. "You can go for now, but you need to come back tomorrow."

"Why?" Koji asked.

"You always have to have a reason, don't you?" She walked through the arched doorway into the living room. We all got up and followed her. "I think it would be in your best interest to come back tomorrow."

"Why?" we all asked.

"Trust me. I know you feel you have no reason to, but maybe your curiosity about what's in that box will compel you to come."

"What time?" Eve asked. We were standing in the living room now.

Prophetess opened the front door to hurry us out. "You'll know."

"How will we know?" I asked.

"Koji'll know. He'll know and he'll tell you."

"I will?" Koji asked.

"Yes, you will."

The three of us were out on the porch when the door closed hard behind us. We stood out in the dark.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"I don't know," Koji said.

"That went okay." Eve held onto the railing as she slowly made her way down the porch steps. "I mean, we're all still alive, right?"

"You're asking like you're not sure." I pulled my car keys from my pocket.

"Are we coming back tomorrow?" Eve asked.

"No," Koji and I said in unison.