Stories: All-New Tales

“The afterlife. The baby’s half alive and half dead, as I said. It never ages. It lives a certain number of years; they never know how many it’ll be. That’s different for each child. The day it dies, it looks exactly the same as it did on the day it was born, although some of these children live for decades. It never moves, eats, or breathes. It never opens its eyes. But its heart beats, and most important, it’s an oracle.

“After she’s told you secret things about yourself that absolutely convinces you beyond a doubt that she’s genuine, you’re allowed to ask the mother two questions. You can ask anything—about the past, about the future, anything you want. As long as she’s touching her silent child, she will answer them. But you are only allowed to ask two.”

“What did you ask?”

Ava shook her head. “I won’t tell you. But part of—” She stopped, got up, and walked to the window. I sat still, waiting for some sign about what to do—go to her, sit, talk, keep quiet…

Touching the window glass, she slid her fingers in a long arc across the condensation there. I could almost feel the cold wetness under my own fingertips. What she said next took me completely off guard.

“Did Eamon Reilly ever tell you about his past? About his childhood?”

“Eamon? What does he have to do with this?”

“A lot.” Ava began rubbing both hands back and forth very fast on the glass, as if trying to erase something. Then she turned to face me. “Just go along with me on this—it’s all of a piece. Did you ever talk to him about his past?”

“No.”

“Eamon’s father was a pilot. He terrorized his family for years, beat them all up and did many other terrible things—a genuine sadist. One of his favorite tortures was to fly really low back and forth over their house in a small plane when he knew everyone was home. Eamon said it was so frightening that the kids and their mother used to all hide under the beds or in the cellar because they were sure one day he’d crash the plane into the house and kill them.”

“What happened to him?”

“The guy was also a drunk who luckily drove his car off a bridge one day and died.”

“Jesus! So that’s why Eamon has…what, issues?”

“Yes. Once I got so fed up with the way he was behaving that I slapped him. Only then did he tell me some of the stories and details of his childhood. Finally I began to understand why he is the way he is. It doesn’t make him any less exasperating, but boy, with that background…”

“Terrible. Poor guy.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if that’s the whole reason for him being so peculiar, but it’s gotta contribute.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I asked, “But what does it have to do with the silent child?”

“One of the things Lamiya told me was that I’m part of a curse.”

I slowly uncrossed my arms and then didn’t know what to do with them. “What do you mean, you’re cursed?” My voice sounded both skeptical and desperate at the same time. How useless your hands and voice are at moments like that. They’re all just in the way; none of them knows what to do or how to behave in a crisis that’s suddenly dropped on you in the form of one word—like “cursed,” or “dead,” or “cancer.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m part of a curse. But I guess in some ways I am because of the role I play in this.

“Lamiya said that after I returned to America I’d get pregnant, which I have. But my child will be cursed to live exactly the same life as its father whether it wants to or not. Only some unimportant details will be different.” She stopped and said nothing else but continued staring straight at me. I think she was letting her words sink in.

“She didn’t say who the father would be?”

“No, she wouldn’t. She said whoever made me pregnant, they’d be the one carrying the curse.”

“So that could be me too, Ava.”

“Yes it could, you’re right. We’ll find out with a DNA test, but I wanted to talk to you first before I did it. You’re obviously a big part of this.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said cynically and meanly, although I didn’t want to. I never wanted to be mean to her, but why was she telling me this now? Why not before?

More silence.

“I love you Ava, but this is nuts, absolutely nuts. It sounds like one of the Arabian Nights—the silent child, a djelloum, a curse…How can you know it’s true?”

“Because of the things that have happened since I saw her. Things Lamiya said would happen. Every single one of them has taken place: the pregnancy, my affair with Eamon, and most of all you.”

“What do you mean, me?”

At that moment the washing machine that had been chugging along in the background chose to ping and stop. Ava went silent and didn’t look like she was going to answer my question anytime soon. I made a face and walked across the room to get the laundry. Opening the door to the machine, I bent down to pull the wet wash out.

“Ava?”

“What?”