The Sword and the Scythe

Chapter 14: Daydream Believer

1933

Leroy was sitting on the side of Danny's twin bed, reading to him about the recently discovered planet Pluto. "Daddy, how do stars shine in the sky?" Even at four, the boy was fascinated by the skies and what lay beyond them. He was curious about everything to do with it, inundating Leroy with questions all about the sky and the stars and the planets.

"Well, they're big balls of gas and fire."

"Are they going to burn us up? There are so many of them!" The boy asked, his eyes growing to twice their normal size in fear.

"Don't worry, kiddo. They're millions and millions of miles from us. Up close, they'd be bigger than our whole planet."

"Wow!" Danny scooted down, satisfied by the answer. He curled up against his pillow, his eyes fluttering as he started to fall asleep.

Leroy smiled down at him. Having a kid so interested in astronomy was forcing him to have to study it in order to have answers to the boy's constant stream of questions. On more than one occasion, he'd paid visits to the astronomy department at the university nearby to have one of the professors explain something to him. He couldn't help but worry that his son's intelligence would bypass his own sooner than he'd like.

He started to feel that tugging sensation in the pit of his stomach that meant he was needed to help some poor soul to the other side. He stood up and tucked Danny in, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Dream of the stars tonight."

Leroy hurried out of the room, hurrying to make it into the hall before he was pulled away to fulfill his Grim duties. He looked around, confused. The room to which he'd been pulled, a small living room with the white upright piano and matching white walls, was...empty. There wasn't anyone in the room, dying or otherwise.

A wail came from a room at the back and he headed toward it, sure that he'd find a distraught family member hovering over the recently departed soul who'd pulled him there. Instead what he got as he passed through the doorway was a living girl, crying as she lay in a small bed curled up with the white duvet cover. He took a step forward, thinking that the deceased was on the other side of the blanket where he couldn't see them. The floor creaked underneath him and the girl bolted upright, startled.

Leroy stood still, sure that she'd chalk the noise up to an over-active imagination and go back to her crying.

But her large blue eyes focused on him, growing larger at the sight of him. She pushed a lock of her brown hair behind her ear and sat up straighter. Wiping a tear off her cheek, she asked, stuttering a little, "Who are you?"

"My name's Leroy. What's your name?"

"You can call me Jeannie, if you want." She paused, her rosy lips twisting to the side. "Why are you here?"

"Well, Jeannie," Leroy hesitated. He'd never been seen in the middle of his Grim duties before, and he wasn't sure how to explain it. Not to a seven-year-old, at least. He took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound as soothing as possible. "Has anything...bad...happened tonight? Did a loved one of yours get hurt?"

The fact that a strange grown man had appeared in her house did not seem to bother her as she wiped a few new tears off her cheeks. "They took my mom away."

"They? Who're 'they'?" He asked, figuring she wouldn't know what a coroner was.

"The...the people from the..." she lowered her voice into a whisper, "the nut house!"