If Bubbles Rise

Eva is a mystic and a policewoman

IF BUBBLES RISE

“My name is Eva. My last name is not really important to this story or even the syntax of my everyday life. For many years I’ve had a gift. When I was young, I feared and loathed it.
“When I finally got this gift under some control about ten years ago with the help of my family and the PIU of the RCMP, I soon found it could be put to use for the good of others. The Psychic Investigations Unit helped me put the braked on the unbearable noise of multiple impressions coming at me all at once. I’m so grateful for their help that now I use my unusual skill to assist the RCMP in some of their cases as a fully-fledged Mountie and crime scene investigator.
“But how my abilities express themselves is totally unique. When I’m doing my investigation of a crime scene, I see bubbles, usually violet ones, rising into the air over an item or area of the scene, I know to look deeper, both in my physical investigation and my psychic one.
“When I see the bubbles, especially there are a lot of them, I know I need to find peach in a quiet corner somewhere in order to call upon my spirit guide, Arakoon. I do this by meditating myself into a trance and letting her show me what I need to know. After that, it’s just a matter of finding evidence to prove what I know psychically. My guide often helps me there too.
“That last part is often the hardest. But that’s what I enjoy most about my job. Digging and probing people, scenes, records and things until I find the truth. Not everyone on the Force or elsewhere thinks what I do is real or much use.
“Take the Fraud Squad. For two years, they followed me around and checked on my every move. They read my reports minutely and insisted I have a partner from their squad to keep tabs on me.
“Taylor Deuce, the guy they finally stuck me with was an easy sell. He claimed his grandmother was a sideshow mystic and palm reader with real psychic abilities to boot. He admitted he was actually a believer, but made me swear to keep it to myself.
“That wasn’t hard to do, since I had few friends in the department anyway. Taylor claimed that was mostly because they were afraid of what I could find out about them. It amazed me how little faith they had in their own Psychic Investigations Unit, if they believed I couldn’t screen my impressions and sometimes even shut them down when I wanted.
“It was this last case that I was involved in, that almost finished me for good; emotionally, physically and psychically. It started with me being woken up from a sound sleep in the middle of the night by a terrified and terrifying scream. I sat up in bed, my gun in my hand before I was even awake.
“I listened, but the night was silent. I knew then that the scream had been in my mind. What was most terrifying of it all, was that I knew instinctively it was my partner who’d screamed!”
“Hey bud, are you okay?” I stammered.
“I was until some inconsiderate bimbo woke me up,” Taylor growled.
“I’m sorry, Tay, go back to sleep. I guess I had a nightmare.”
“The loud click in my ear convinced me he was taking my advice. But my uneasiness persisted, so I got up and dressed. Thoughtfully I made my way to my meditation room. I had to talk to Arakoon!
“We were a silent and exhausted pair when we got into our patrol car to canvass a neighborhood across town the next morning. We were looking for witnesses to a drive-by shooting. Taylor didn’t hold out much hope of us getting anyone to talk about it. I knew better since I had bubbles to guide me in that department.
“Things were pretty quiet between us at first, so quiet I thought my usually alert partner had fallen asleep with his eyes open.”
“I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night,” he groused finally.
“I said I was sorry,” I replied defensively.
“Oh, it wasn’t just you. My grandma called just after you, all upset to see if I was all right.”
“That the one who’s the mystic psychic?” I asked eagerly.
“That’s her. It took me an hour to calm he down and convince her I was okay,” Taylor added. I let silence fall for a while.
“You know, she and I probably have a lot in common. I’d like to meet her,” I said tentatively.
“Sure, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. I always go to her place for dinner every Sunday and she’ll be thrilled when I show up with a woman. She’s always after me to get married and give her great-grands.”
“I’d love to go with you. What should I bring?” I asked.
“Just your appetite. She always cooks too much. But she’s Hungarian and says it’s in her genes,” smiled Taylor.
“As we pulled up to the first house we wanted to check, Taylor got out of the car. As he turned to grin at me, I felt a chill. Dark violet bubbles were floating around his head and shoulders.
“I saw pale violet bubbles around the head of the guy who opened the door of the third house we went to. I looked at my partner. He raised an eyebrow.
“When we started asking questions, he acted evasive and was obviously lying through his teeth. When we asked to come in, he tried to close the door in our faces. Taylor stuck his boot in place to stop him and I got him in a headlock so I could read him his rights, while my partner cuffed him.
“It turned out to be a good lead for the drive-by case and got Taylor and I an early lunch. As we munched tacos and refried beans at our favorite street-side cart, I got curious.
“So, what exactly was your grandma worried about when she called last night? I asked through a mouthful of corn tortilla.
“Taylor or Tay as he insisted I call him, gave me a strange look.
“She says she heard me scream in a dream.”
“The chills became shudders that he could see.
“What’s going on with you?” Taylor leaned forward and looked in my eyes. I shook my head.
“Come on, Eva, give it up. They don’t call me Bloodhound for nothing. You might as well tell me. I’ll get it out of you eventually.” Tay swore long and creatively when I refused to answer.
“The rest of the shift was a little frosty between us, but I couldn’t tell him anything before I talked to his Grandma Marina. To say that dinner with Tay’s Grandma was an interesting experience is treating it much too lightly.
“One look into her piercing black eyes, I knew she knew all about me and was pleased I was her Taylor’s partner. I also saw hundreds of tiny violet pink bubbles all around her, that moved when she did.
“I was itching to get her alone so we could talk. She must have wanted it too as she shooed Taylor into the living room to watch football while we were getting dinner ready. As soon as she heard the sounds of the game come on, she led me to the kitchen table and sat me down.
“Sitting down across from me, she simply sat and looked at me. “You know what’s going to happen to him, don’t you?” I said before she could speak. She nodded slowly, tears filling her eyes.
“What can we do to stop it?” I pleaded. “Nothing, WE can do nothing, but YOU can,” she said softly. “What can I do then?” I wanted to know.
“Have his back and keep extra alert. It’s going to happen soon.”
“I nodded a lump in my throat. The dinner was a blur and Tay had to ask me twice to pass the goulash. I was glad when we left, copious leftovers in hand. Marina gave me a last searching look as we were leaving.
“We were doing are weekly foot patrol when I spotted violet bubbles oozing out of the open window of an approaching black sedan. With a mighty shove, I pushed my partner to the pavement and threw myself on top of him. Tay screamed like he had in my dream as a hail of automatic gunfire sprayed harmlessly around us
“Will you get the hell off me, woman! I think you broke something!” Tay shouted in my ear.
“I slowly got up. From the awkward angle of both his arm and the leg on the opposite side, I knew I’d broken more than one something, so I called 911 and tried to do first aid on him. He wouldn’t let me near him, let alone let me help him. The air got so blue, I walked away.
“I got it. So, I let him suffer like he wanted to until the EMTs came just so he could feel macho again. He made we swear not to tell the guys I save his life even after he’d thanked me three or four times. I promised just to make him feel better.
” It was all over the news before I got back from the hospital. So much for saving my partner’s dignity, I guess. I decided to keep the details to myself for both our sakes. I called Marina, but she already knew in spite of the fact that she never watches anything on television but her soaps.
“Six weeks later, when Tay was in a walking cast, he insisted I owed it to him to take him to stay at his Grandma Marina’s for the rest of his recovery. I was happy to do it, though I pretended not to be. Marina fussed over Tay even as she eyed me over his left shoulder. I grinned and so did she, adding a thumbs up for good measure.
“After she had her boy settled in front of the TV with snacks and soda, she came and sat in front of me at the kitchen table, gratefully accepting the sweet tea I offered her.
“Thank you, Ava my dear. Taylor is all I have left now and is very precious to me. Thank you from my heart and soul for what you did.”
“I shook my head through the whole speech.
“Don’t thank me, thank my bubbles,” I said laughing.
“Marina soon joined me in laughter. We were so loud and laughed so long, Tay roared from the living room that he couldn’t hear the game and what was so funny anyway. We decided with a shared look, he didn’t need to know.
1819 WORDS