Venus

I watched Venus rise through the bedroom transom window this morning in the cobalt sky.  There was that, then the rising, and the coffee, and the coming light.


How such things happen is a mystery beyond mysteries. Life just short circuits, the wires cross, and suddenly nothing is normal, or rather, normal is nothing. Tommy and I were going with his sister and Russell, who was on leave from the army, to stay in the hotel of a small town of clairvoyants and seers and mystics for Christmas. I hadn't told my father, hadn't the need since he was not there, and my mother didn't mind. I'm sure she had plans of her own. I'd be back in time to see my father Christmas day, but we were determined to stay Christmas Eve in the spooky old hotel.

We drove up that night full of stupid, crazy excitement and before we did anything else, we took a turn around the town. It was small, and it seemed to us that faces were appearing in the windows of houses to watch us drive down the street just prior to our getting there. Next we drove through the town's small graveyard, parked, and walked about in the darkness. But not for long. We half-heard and half-saw everything one is supposed to see and hear there, the moaning of corpses, the specters of translucent light, and finally, when we spied a solid shadow heading our way, we jumped in the car and fled. We headed straight for the hotel.

An older gentleman came out to greet us at the desk in the lobby. "What can I do for you," he said to us in an uninviting way.

"We want to get two rooms for the night," Russell said in his most adult voice.

"We are closed now," the older man replied. "We have no rooms."

In another room, people were seated on old chairs and sofas.  There was an old, heavily patterned carpet and thick drapes.  Curious faces glanced out at us then turned away.  There was something going on in there, a seance, perhaps, or something worse.  I thought of corpses and sacrifices and the raising of the dead.  

We queried him for a bit trying to find a way to break through his resistance, but it was no use.  He wanted us gone.  There was no way we were going to get to spend the night.  So disappointed, we headed back to the car. 

"Did you see that?" we all said at once, and excitedly everyone began to report and to speculate.  We had stumbled upon something for sure.  Man, oh man, oh man, we were saying over and over, not sure of what else to say, shaking our heads in pride and fear, convinced once again that faces were appearing in windows of houses before us as we drove the narrow streets.  

And so we headed out of town and pulled out onto the interstate wondering what to do next. It was late and the area was rural and it was Christmas Eve, so we were practically the only car on the highway. Then suddenly, we were caught in a pair of headlights. It was the police. The car followed us for a long, nerve-wracking while. Then suddenly, we were caught up in the flashing red lights. Shit, I thought, what had we done? I wasn't speeding.

"I want everyone out of the car." There were two of them. They weren't even highway patrol. They were local cops from a neighboring town. "Where are y'all going," asked the bigger of the two in a harsh, southern drawl.

"Home," I said.

"What are y'all doing out here?"

I told him we had gone to the town of seers and mystics and soothsayers.

"What were y'all gonna do up there?" he wanted to know.

"We were going to stay in the old hotel tonight," I answered.

He turned to Tommy's sister. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

He looked like he had something now. "And y'all were gonna lay up in a hotel room with her?"

"We're friends," I said. "That's her brother."

"We got a call that y'all were up in the graveyard. What were y'all doin' up there?"

I was too innocent to lie. "We wanted to see ghosts or something."

"Y'all are lucky tonight," he said. "It's Christmas Eve. Now we watch out for the people up there, and when anything happens, they call us. Tonight, they called us about y'all, and we could make y'all pretty miserable, give y'all a pretty bad Christmas present. Now I don't ever want to see y'all up here again, y'understand? If I see this here car again, I'm going to run you in. You got that?"

I had it.

And so we piled back into the car. Nobody laughed. Thank god we hadn't been drinking. Now what? What were we going to do now?

It was Christmas Eve. We were convinced that there was something terrible going on in that town that night. We had almost witnessed the Devil's Christmas, we thought. We were more than certain.

Christmas Eve. All around us, sleepless kids were in their beds listening for the sound of harness bells in the big, hollow night. Too early they would be at the Christmas tree and later they would eat turkey with relatives and friends. I guessed that I would drop off Tommy and his sister and Russell at his house. I guessed I would go home.