A Fine Line

5

Allan sat in his old chair at his dusty desk. Every translated note was haphazard over the surface, unmoving, staring up at his dark ceiling.

It was quiet. His back was slouched, and his finger traced languidly over one arm of the chair.

Within one more appointment, he would have enough money to buy a well-sized jewel. Probably two.

The next de-haunting was scheduled for later that afternoon. Allan trekked his way over with his bag and knocked on the according door.

"Oh, thank you!" A man answered and placed a hand over his heart. "Um, just..."

"Daddy?"

Allan watched around the man as a child toddled up.

The man briefly laid a hand on her head. "Yes, Lou. See, there's a nice man here; he's going to be fixing up some of the things going wrong in our house."

Another child padded up, and the man herded them aside. Allan filled in after him.

"I'll be taking a look around," he informed his busy host, beginning a journey down the hall and poking his head into the branching rooms.

After a moment of observation, a wisp caught his attention. It was pale and almost light; as it glided by again, he saw it was the form of a person, passing absently by the window of what looked like a sitting room.

Allan dug into his pack and fished out two special rocks which he didn't use for wards. When the apparition showed itself again, he clapped them together in the midst of its form. It dissipated before it could finish its reel.

He reentered the forefront of the house and found his customer in the kitchen. There were three children, asking after their father, pulling at his pant legs and climbing over the chairs with blabber.

Allan stood at the entryway. When the father finally noticed him, he approached. "Did you get it?"

"There was a walker in the sitting room. Were you, uh, having any other issues?" Allan queried.

"There was a sort of creak in the attic—but that might just be settling," the man considered.

"I'll just place some wards," Allan decided. "How many?"

"Uh... How about right here? And then in the attic, just to be safe."

Allan nodded and pulled one out of his bag. He skimmed the kitchen, spotting a shelf where the top never seemed to be touched for its height and stretched.

"What are you doing, mister?"

Allan looked down over his shoulder at a kid who had wandered up beside him.

"He's working! Let him do his job!" her father chirped.

She skittered away. Allan rested flat on his feet.

After, he found his way to the attic, and he completed his job. It resulted in a check worth thirty dollars.

He bought the two jewels, and soon enough, another customer inched along to supply the rest he needed for the third and final jewel; another staff was needed at the center, where the portal would appear, and required herbs to be sprinkled about. Many of the herbs were leaves and roots Allan already had in stock. It wasn't hard, on Saturday, to set up the two staffs at IHOP and Denny's, and for the center: Waffle House.

No breakfast restaurant was all too crowded midday, and especially not with the moon burgeoning in the sky. Most people were excitedly outside with special glasses prepared. Only the Waffle House employees briefly cast him a glance for establishing a stick in the middle of their joint before returning to mundane chores like wiping the counter.