Jasper stood silently surveying the mangled mess that, yesterday, had been the metal frame of a new convenience store. The freak mid-spring storm that had blown through the night before, had left the structure twisted and broken. If he didn’t know better, and he did know better, he’d think a tornado had hit it. Now after weeks of hard work, the building looked like a Dali painting. Throw in a couple melting clocks and, voila! A masterpiece.
He took a hard drag off his cigarette and tossed the glowing butt into one of the many mud puddles pocking the lot. They were already weeks behind schedule and now this. At this rate, they’d never make their fall deadline. Jasper slammed the door of his work truck; Maybe this site is cursed after all.
“Hey, Jasper!” Maury Heicht waved at him from inside the dilapidated structure.
Jasper lifted one hand in response, settling his hard hat on his balding head with the other.
“You gotta see this, man,” Maury called out, righting his own hat as it slid to the side. No matter what size hat Jasper gave him, Maury’s head never seemed able to keep it on.
With a heavy sigh, Jasper wove his way around the puddles, his work boots squelching in the mud with each step. It wouldn’t matter, at least, tracking muck through the building. No one could tell the difference at this point.
Jasper stepped through the arch that had been well on its way to being a door frame, but now had a drunkenly list to the right. It quivered in the cold breeze sweeping across the lot. Glancing up, Jasper could see more storm clouds rolling in, dark and heavy as the feeling of dread weighing on his soul.
“What’s up, Maury?” Jasper asked, fishing another cigarette from the pack in his shirt pocket.
“Take a look at this,” Maury said, handing over a small, green chunk of wood. “What’s it look like to you?”
Jasper turned it over in his hands, examining it from every angle, a knit in his brow. It was swollen from the rain, but still identifiable.
“A golf tee?” He said. “Where’d this come from?”
With a mischievous smile, Maury crooked a finger at him, gesturing for him to follow. Sliding the tee into his breast pocket, Jasper followed; the smoke from his cigarette curling around him before finding its way out of the enclosure. Jasper took a final drag, then ground out the embers with the heel of his boot as he walked.
Maury led him to the far side of the building, to a section that would one day be a stock room. In the far corner, an array of colored sticks lay in a pile near the base of a support beam. Above his head, he could hear the wind whistling through the metal beams. They creaked and groaned under the weight of the wind. Jasper pulled his work coat around his stomach and zipped it up, wishing he’d put his beanie on under his hard hat. His ears were getting cold.
Boots clunking against the temporary plywood slabs beneath his feet, he advanced on the odd display. His knees creaked and popped as he squatted down to examine the pile. Golf tees. A whole pile of them. All the same color of green. Picking through the pile, he examined a few. Each had a slight beveling around the edge of the cup, but otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary.
“How many, you think?” Maury asked, looking over Jasper’s shoulder.
“Couple hundred, I’d say. Maybe more,” Jasper said, tossing the one he was holding back onto the pile.
“Whew-wee, that many?” Maury stared down at the pile with a grin on his face. “That’s a lotta golf. Some rich person gonna be pissed about that loss.”
Jasper gave his foreman a sideways glance. Maury played up the country bumpkin act, but he was just about the smartest man on Jasper’s payroll. He could crunch numbers and figure angles on the fly, quicker than Jasper could with a calculator and blueprints right in front of him. The man was a walking miracle, when he wasn’t self-destructing.
“I thought I was imagining crap,” Maury was saying, running a thin fingered over the stubble on his chin. “Hang over, you know. Gotta question my reality.”
Jasper knew. Most days Maury stumbled in smelling of last night’s bender and looking like hell. The unwritten rule on the job was, no one spoke to Maury before he’d sucked down at least two mugs of coffee, unless he spoke first. After his coffee, he could out-work, out-think, and out-talk any man on the crew. And both women.
Jasper raised up to his full height, feeling like a giant next to the slight framed Maury.
“Any idea how they got here?” Jasper asked.
“Not a one,” Maury answered, his eyes on the tees.
“No kids? No unaccounted-for footprints?”
“Not that I saw,” Maury looked up at his boss, his hard hat falling back to the nape of his neck. “You know, this was a helluva place in its day. All them rich folks lining up to golf with that pro, whatshisname. Handelman! It was Handelman.”
Jasper shook his head. This was news to him.
“Oh, yeah. It was quite a thing.” Maury was grinning again. “Handelman was out there golfing,” Maury said, waving a hand at the golf course on the other side of the work site. “Had about four rich clients with him, doing a round. At least four caddies. Was struck by lightning on the eighth hole. Bam! Storm came outta nowhere, killed them all.” He shook his head, as if in disbelief.
“Really?” Jasper had heard they’d closed the course due to a tragedy, but he hadn’t been told it was that big of a tragedy. Nine people was a lot. “I don’t remember hearing about this.”
“Yep, yep,” Mary said, reaching under his hat to scratch his head. “Happened on 9/11, so not much coverage. Clubhouse stood on this very spot until last year when they plowed it under and sold the land. And here we are.” There was a pause while Maury waited for Jasper to digest the story. Then, “Not to mention the hotel calamity of ‘76. Sixty-three people burned to death.”
Jasper nodded. “Yeah, that one I heard about.”
“This is not a happy spot,” Maury said with a grin.
“Great,” Jasper said, lighting up again. Across the lot, he heard truck doors slamming and the exclamation of voices as the rest of the crew arrived.
“Where you want us to start?” Maury asked, motioning to the crew to huddle up.
“Start by getting rid of those golf tees,” Jasper said pointing to the pile.
“You want I should report it?” Maury raised his eyebrows.
Jasper huffed out cigarette smoke. “That’ll slow us down, but yeah, you better report it. Get a copy of the report so I can send one to the client for their records. Just in case it’s more than a couple kids having some fun.”
Maury nodded.
“Then get rid of them.” Jasper continued. Raising his voice slightly so the whole crew could hear, he said, “Any of you golf and want to take some of those tees, I’m fine with that. Otherwise, sweep them up and dump them in the dumpster. Any questions on that?” He dragged on his cigarette while he waited for the crew to respond. Everyone shook their head. “Good. Another storm is supposed to hit us this weekend, so we have four days to fix this mess and get back on schedule.”
There were grumbles from the crew. Jasper understood. It was unlikely they’d ever get back on schedule.
“Come on guys and gals, we need to really push it this week,” Jasper went on. He pointed at the damaged beams as he spoke. “These beams need to be replaced, then we need to get the framework done so we can wrap her up by the end of day Friday. Okay, let’s get to work.”
“Hector, Donald, Evie, and Jake,” Maury’s voice became strong and serious. “You four start on the beam work. Everyone else will start on the far side getting the frames up. Doug and Harry, when the cops finish up, I’ll have you take care of the evidence. Anyone needing tees, talk to these two.”
There was a chorus of affirmations, then the scuttle of boots as the crewmen set off to work. Maury traipsed over to the corner to call the police while Jasper made his way to the small trailer set on the edge of the lot. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he unlocked the door, and stepped inside. It was cold in the trailer, the heater set to just high enough to keep the tiny bathroom from freezing up. A couple more weeks and the heat wouldn’t be needed, even with a storm. Jasper looked forward to that.
From the bathroom, he filled a pitcher with water and started some coffee. Donna would be in at nine to keep the site running smoothly until he got back from his rounds. At this point, he had two other sites to touch base with. The Boise area was exploding, and he was raking in the jobs and the money. Another couple years at this rate and he could pass the business to his son and take an early retirement. If it ran that long. You never knew with construction, which way the wind was gonna blow.
Jasper loaded up the blueprints he was going to need at the new site in Boise, left a brief note for Donna outlining the day’s workload, and headed out the door. Raising a hand to Maury as he drove to the exit, it occurred to him he hadn’t checked the perimeter fencing. They were just temporary, chain-link panels. It wasn’t hard to move one enough to slip through. It had happened before on other sites. He braked, slipped the truck into reverse, and backed up to Maury.
“Hey, send someone to do a perimeter check before the police get here,” Jasper said.
Maury pointed a finger to the road. “They’re already here.”
“Before they leave then,” Jasper clarified, watching the cruiser pull in. “You got this handled?”
“Hell, yeah,” Maury said, with a dismissive flap of his hand. “You go on.”
Jasper met the cruiser at the edge of the lot. He lifted a hand in greeting as they passed each other.
Maury waited patiently for the policeman to pull up next to him. He felt ridiculous calling them in for a pile of golf tees, but if they were being punked, and it turned ugly, it was important to have a string of documented evidence. Motioning for Doug and Harry to join him, he gave a nod of greeting to the policeman who parked in front of him.
“Yeah, Maury?” Doug asked, eyeballing the cop car as if it might attack him at any moment.
“I want you two to walk the fence. Look for any sign of entry and report back before the officer leaves. Just in case you find something.”
“Will do, Boss,” Harry said. The two men trotted across the site and began walking the fence line.
Maury introduced himself to the cop and led him to a pile of little wooden pegs. The policeman listened politely as Maury explained finding them there when he’d arrived at work a few hours before, shortly after the rain had stopped.
The cop nodded in an encouraging way and asked a few questions. He was taking pictures of the area when Doug and Harry returned. Doug trotted on by, leaving Harry to sum up what they’d found.
“Found nothing, Boss,” he said with a shake of his shaggy, brown hair. He hadn’t gotten around to pulling it back into his usual ponytail yet. “No footprints, no drag marks, and all the panels are still in position. If they broke in, it wasn’t that way.”
“Thanks, man,” Maury said, dismissing him. Turning back to the police officer he said, “It’s a mystery.”
The cop gave a smirky half laugh. “Maybe they dropped in from above.”
“Yep, yep,” Maury agreed. The two chatted for a few minutes more, the officer agreeing to make a copy of the report and Maury promising to pick it up before the end of the day.
Maury watched the cruiser pull onto the main drag, wishing he was a smoker because he could damn well use a cigarette. This was his twenty-second job with Knight and Knight Construction, and never in all that time had he come across anything as weird as this. From behind him, someone cleared their throat. Maury nearly jumped out of his skin. Fighting to keep his composure, he turned to face the culprit. Doug stood two feet behind him, a sheepish look on his round, baby face.
“Sorry, Boss,” he said, his chubby cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. “You ready for us to clean up the golf mess?”
“Yeah,” Maury grunted, his heart still galloping along. Silently, he chided himself for over-reacting. He couldn’t put a finger on why he felt so jumpy, but he felt creeped out, like someone was just out of sight, watching. He scanned the area as far as his eyes could see, but he saw no one. “Jasper said anyone who wants to can keep a few, but I think maybe trashing them would be best.”
Doug shrugged. “Yeah, okay, no problem. I’ll grab Harry and we’ll take care of it.”
Maury wandered over to the pile. Fighting against his instincts to leave it alone, he scooped up a couple pegs and dropped them into his pocket.
By Friday, things were running smoothly again. The damaged beams had been replaced, the framework complete, and the entire building was shrouded in a heavy plastic to protect against the next rainstorm. That one was moving in fast. The few early morning clouds had multiplied, going from a soft gray to a heavy charcoal. The wind blew hard, driving the storm forward.
Jasper sipped his coffee, watching the morning sunshine disappear behind a dark veil. Around him, the wind whistled through the half-built store, tugging and tearing at the protective layers of plastic in an attempt to rip them down. He’d been in this business a long time. Storms were not strangers to him. Everything should hold up to the storm with little to no damage. Yet, Jasper was uneasy. Ever since those damn golf tees had shown up, the whole site had felt off. Weird things had been happening. Things that alone meant nothing, but together, over such a short amount of time, were unusual to say the least.
Behind him, the crew worked. The sounds of the pneumatic drills, hammering, cursing, and idle chit-chat was soothing to his ears, if not his soul. The hairs at the back of his neck suddenly bristled, sending a chill along his spine. The unsettling feeling of being watched, had been with him all week. Even now, his skin prickled as though someone stood close behind him. Fighting the urge to spin wildly around in hopes of laying hands on the culprit, he turned around as casually as possible, his eyes scanning the area behind him. No one was there. Of course not. It was only his over-active imagination working overtime, or so he wanted to believe.
By three, the overcast sky had turned dark enough for the streetlights to kick on. The rain had sailed in by four, beating against the plastic like tiny fists, demanding to be let in. The sound was deafening. At four-thirty, the power went out with a flash of lightening and a boom of thunder.
“That’s a wrap,” Jasper called out, his voice fighting to be heard over the storm.
Maury sidled up to him, his usually jovial face drawn and serious.
“Can I talk to you, Jasper?” He asked.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Alone, I mean.” Maury rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jaw. “In the office, maybe?”
“Of course,” Jasper agreed, watching his crew pick their way around the obstacles hidden in the dark. Cell phones set to flashlight mode, the crew took to clearing up the work area.
Jasper and Maury stepped out into the storm, hunched against the wind and driving rain. The drops tapped out a symphony on the hard hats. Jasper kept a tight grip on the trailer door while Maury stepped inside, then he followed. The wind tried to tug it from his hand, but he muscled it safely closed.
“Wow! That’s quite a storm,” Maury said, shaking the rain from his hat. A strained smile touched his lips. Fine wisps of hair stood out around his head. To Jasper, he looked just short of a psycho killer from a slasher flick.
“That it is,” Jasper agreed with a nod. “So, what’s up?”
The smile fell. Maury turned the hard hat over in his hands, looking at it like it was his long-lost son back from the dead.
“We’ve known each other a long time,” he began, refusing to meet Jasper’s eyes. “I’ve worked for you most of that time.”
“Yeah, Maury, we’ve been through a lot together.”
Maury’s eyes met his.
“You know I’m always straight with you.”
“Yes,” Jasper said slowly, not sure he was liking where this was going.
“I’d never do you dirty or willingly give you bad information.”
“I know that,” Jasper said, glancing over at the empty coffee pot before meeting Maury’s gaze again. All the spit seemed to have left his mouth. It felt like the Sahara Desert had taken up residency behind his teeth.
Maury’s eyes shifted away again. A long, drawn out sigh escaped him, his hands still tumbling the hat over and over. Free of Maury’s gaze, Jasper slipped behind the Donna’s desk and rescued a bottle of water from the mini fridge. He held one up for Maury who shook his hand. Jasper popped the top and guzzled half the bottle.
“I’m going to be straight with you now,” Maury said quietly, almost to himself.
“Go on, Maury,” Jasper nodded, settling the water bottle on the desk. He fingered the pack of Camels in his shirt pocket, wishing he could light up. There was no smoking in the trailer; Donna could not abide the smell of cigarette smoke.
“Okay,” Maury flopped down on the arm of the couch in the corner. “Here’s the deal.” From his coat pocket, he produced one of the green pegs. “You remember these?”
“How could I forget,” Jasper said drily, making himself comfortable in his desk chair.
“Well, I took a couple with me the other day. For research purposes,” Maury handed it over to Jasper, who set it on his desk. “Remember I told you about that golf pro?”
“The one struck by lightning over there on that golf course.” Jasper nodded. There was a sick feeling in his stomach about what was coming next, but he asked the question anyway, “What about him?”
“These are his tees.”
“Oh, come on!”
“Seriously, Jasper.” Maury dropped his hard hat onto the couch and clomped over to Jasper. Reaching across the desk, he snatched up the tee and held it up or his boss to get a good look. “See this slight scalloping along the edge?” Maury pointed at the cup then turned the tee upside down. “See how the point has this long taper to it? It’s one of his.”
“Maury!” Jasper took the tee from the man’s hand. “They must sell millions of these every year!”
“No.” Maury shook his head, his eyes wide. “According to the manufacturer, these specific tees in this specific shade of green, were made specifically for golf legend Joey Handelman. They had a contract. The company only sold these to Handelman. After he died, they were discontinued and destroyed.”
“Until they wound up in my building.”
“You got it.”
“So, how did they get there?” Jasper wondered aloud, eyeing the peg as if it might move.
“You want to hear my theory?” Maury sat back down on the couch, his hat once again dangling from his fingertips.
Jasper turned his gaze to his foreman. After a long pause, he said, “Not particularly. I don’t think I’d like what I hear.”
A smile flashed across Maury’s face. “I doubt you would.”
The two men fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. Outside, Jasper could hear the crew calling to each other as they hustled across the lot to their respective vehicles. Thunder rolled. The drops fell harder, the heavy tapping turning to banging. One of his men yelled and battered at the door, startling both men.
Jasper leaped to his feet, reaching the door in two strides with Maury at his heels. The knob turned and the door shot open, carried by the wind to slam against the side of the trailer. Doug stood huddled under the eave, struggling to get a hold of the door again. There were dents in his hard hat, and his coat was torn in several places. Jasper grabbed hold of the young man’s jacket and jerked him inside. With Doug out of the way, he could see what was causing all the racket. The sight beyond the door frame had him dumbfounded. He stood speechless for a moment, his jaw hanging open, then he grabbed out his cell phone and began to record what he saw. Thousands of green tees tumbled from the sky as if hurled down by an angry god.
“Holy shit!” Maury exclaimed from behind him. “We could be in some serious trouble here.”
The downpour of tees stopped abruptly, and rain poured once again from the heavens. Doug groaned and collapsed on the floor.
“Whoa, Doug,” Maury knelt down beside the young man. “You okay?”
Jasper pocketed his phone and muscled the door closed, the wind still blowing hard enough to drive the rain into the trailer. Dropping to his knees, he joined Maury on the floor next to the young man.
“I’m okay, I think,” Doug said, sliding the hard hat from his head. “I’m glad I had the hat on. No blood, no foul, right?”
“Right,” Jasper said, looking the kid over to be sure there was no blood. Finding none, he helped him to his feet.
“I’m telling you; I think this place is cursed,” Doug said, running a hand through his dark curls.
“You and me both,” Maury said, solemnly.
“Stop.” Jasper put up a hand. “I know some weird things are happening, but I don’t buy that ‘cursed’ crap.”
“How do you explain what just happened, Chief?” Maury gestured frantically out the window. “Normally, tees don’t rain from the sky.”
“I can’t explain it,” Jasper said with a shake of his head. “But I don’t think ‘curse’ explains it, either.”
“So, what are we supposed to do?” Maury asked, plopping his hat back on his head.
“Finish the job,” Jasper said, simply. “This building will be completed by Labor Day, as planned. Then we wash our hands of this whole thing.”
“What if we can’t?” Doug asked. “What if Handelman stops us?”
“Handelman is dead, he can’t do anything to us.” Jasper’s tone had a little more edge to it than he had intended.
Maury paused, one hand on the doorknob, “I hope you’re right.”
Jasper hoped so, too.
Spring blossomed into summer. Days stretched into weeks and as each one passed without incident; Jasper began to relax. The project was nearing completion, creating a cautionary joviality that was felt by the whole crew.
A week before the “Grand-Opening”, Jasper arrived late to the site to find the entire crew standing outside the trailer sipping coffee. He felt a pang of guilt at being late, but at least Maury was here to oversee everything. The heat was already climbing through the 70’s when he stepped out of his truck. The blacktop had been poured and leveled the week prior, and was now radiating the heat it had absorbed, sending it out in rippling waves that reflected in the new day sun.
The sound of his work boots clomping across the parking lot as he approached, turned everyone in his direction. His steps faltered. Their faces looked glum.
“Hey,” he said, joining the group. “Sorry I’m late, did everyone get coffee?”
“Yeah, Jasper,” Donna said, leaning out the door. Jasper was surprised to see her. She wasn’t due in until nine. The look on her face concerned him. “We have a problem.”
Jasper took the steps two at a time.
“Talk to me while I grab a cup.” It wasn’t that he needed a cup of coffee, he’d already sucked down a travel mug full while he’d been stuck on the interstate, waiting to get around a six-car-pile-up. It took over an hour to inch to the closest exit and leave the wreck behind. The exit took him several miles out of his way, but he knew the back roads well and made good time, all this considered.
The warm mug of coffee felt good against the palms of his hands, calming his nerves. It helped to have something to hold on to while he listened to Donna explain why she was early and no one was working.
“Maury called me at six. He’d tried to reach you, but the call wouldn’t go through,” Donna refilled her own cup as she talked. “A tower problem or something. Anyway, he was able to reach me, so I came on out.”
“What happened, Donna?” Jasper sat down on the edge of his desk, making him closer to Donna’s height instead of towering over her. “Where’s Maury?”
“There was an accident,” she went on. Putting up a hand to indicate she’d get him all the facts if he remained quiet, she paused to swipe at her nose with a tissue. “Doug and Harry were working on the wiring when something happened. I don’t know what exactly, but both men suffered a jolt.”
Jasper waited patiently when she paused again. This time, tears leaked from her eyes. Things were worse than he’d anticipated. The coffee tasted bitter in his mouth; he set the cup down on his desk.
“Maury cut all the power and was able to remove them from the area,” Donna said, her lips quivering as she spoke. “One of the guys called for an ambulance while Maury and Dave performed CPR. The ambulance just left here a few minutes ago. Jasper, it doesn’t look good.”
Jasper rose to wrap his arms around his office coordinator. Gently, he patted her back while she sobbed into his chest. These guys were more than workers, they were like family. Losing one was like losing a brother or a cousin, it hurt. Jasper waited until she pushed away and wiped her tears to speak again.
“Do we have any news on their condition?” He asked.
Donna shook her head. “They were both breathing when they left here, that’s all I know. Maury said he’d call as soon as he knew anything.”
“Okay. You be all right to work for a few hours?”
Donna nodded without looking at him.
“I need to go check things out,” he went on. “See what needs to be done. If Maury calls, let me know right away.”
“Take Pam and Warren with you, they were closest to the scene,” Donna said, settling into her chair behind the desk. “They can fill you in more.”
Jasper grabbed the two from the group clustered outside the door. Together, they trotted across the parking lot to the store. To Jasper, it was a beautiful building; the perfect balance of stone, wood beams, and glass, he was proud of the work they’d done here. Inside, the register counter was in place, creating a horseshoe just inside the doors. The cooler units, taking up an entire wall to the right, were ready to be connected to the power. In the kitchen area at the back of the store, the ovens and deep freeze were set, the sinks plumbed and ready, only the counter tops and floor tiles remained unfinished.
“They were back here,” Pam said, guiding Jasper to back room.
The floor tiles were absent here, also. The room was empty except for the double sinks and drains. Jasper could see where they had been working on the soda system. Scorch marks marred the floor and wall as if whatever happened had caught one man on the floor and the other leaning against the wall. Jasper moved in to examine them closely.
“This makes no sense,” he muttered to himself.
“I agree,” Warren said. “Pam and me, we were up there,” he gestured further back into the room, “putting up lights when Harry yelled.”
“Yelled?” Pam interrupted. “Hell, he screamed. Scared the bejeezus out of me. I nearly fell off my ladder.”
“Yeah, okay,” Warren agreed, “he screamed. I looked over and he’s pointing at the corner just screaming. I looked but I didn’t see anything. Then Doug looks that way and gives a yell of his own.”
“There was nothing in the corner,” Pam asserted. “I don’t know what they were trippin’ on, but nothing was there.” A frown crossed her face. “Only…”
“Only,” Jasper prodded, when neither went on.
“Only, I saw a spark of some kind shoot across the room,” Pam said quietly.
“We saw something shoot across the room,” Warren affirmed.
“Like what?” Jasper knelt down to get a closer look at the marks on the floor. From his vantage point, he could see the corner from ceiling to floor, unobstructed. Up high in the corner, he spotted a green speck.
“I don’t know,” Pam shrugged looking at Warren. “Like a tiny green spark that zipped across the room towards the guys.”
“Then, poof!” Warren picked up the story. “They were both shaking like a bolt of electricity shot through them. Maury came running, shut off all the electrical leads, and started checking on the guys.”
“It all happened so fast,” Pam said. “Faster than I could get off the ladder.”
“Interesting,” Jasper said, crossing the room to the corner. Standing on tiptoes, he reached up and plucked the object from the wall. A green tee dropped into his hand. Dread coiled in his stomach. Whatever weirdness had plagued them, had jumped up a notch to something dangerous. Possibly even deadly.
“What’s that?” Pam asked from behind him.
Jasper opened his hand.
“What the crap?” Pam gaped at the small green peg. “More of these things? Where are they coming from?”
“No idea,” Jasper said with a shrug. “You two didn’t see anything else?”
Pam shook her head.
“No,” Warren said. “Now what?”
“Now, we go back to work,” Jasper said, sliding the tee into his pocket, “and hope the boys are okay.”
Jasper rounded up the rest of the crew and sent half of them to work in the kitchen, and the rest on the main floor. Instructing them to leave the electrical work alone until the incident had been investigated and cleared, they tag-teamed on the counters and started the tile work. It was lunchtime before anyone heard from Maury.
Maury drifted in with Dave just as Jasper was handing out fresh coffee and sodas to the crew. It had been a traumatic morning. Wishing to ease some of the impact, Jasper gave his crew extra time for lunch, but they soon drifted back to work without taking the extra time. So, Jasper had gone to Plan B: Extra drinks on him. Donna was happy to comply, zipping off to the nearest store and loading up on everything she could think of, including snacks that she left in the office, open to everyone.
Maury was half out of the truck before Dave had stopped the wheels from turning. Scurrying across the parking lot, he met Jasper in front of the store.
“We gotta talk,” he whispered urgently. “In the office.” Practically running, he beat Jasper up the stairs and inside. When Jasper stepped inside, Maury was holding a mug of coffee cradled in both hands. The steaming liquid sloshed over the side as he raised it to his lips, the shaking in his hands evident from across the room.
Jasper gestured for Donna to leave. He needn’t have bothered, she knew the drill. She scrambled out the door and was gone before Jasper had crossed the room.
“How are the boys?” Jasper asked, moving to sit at his desk. Maury settled onto the couch.
“Not good, not good.” Maury shook his head. “Critical condition. Had to rush Doug into surgery. You wanna guess what they pulled out of Doug’s chest cavity?” He didn’t wait for Jasper to answer, he tossed a green peg on to the desk.
Jasper stared at it in disbelief.
“How?” Jasper asked.
“No idear,” Maury answered. “Doc said if he didn’t know better, he’d a-thought Doug was shot. Only instead of a bullet, they used a golf tee.”
“Donna said you had to do CPR,” Jasper said, hoping to guide Maury back to what had happened.
“Yeah, Dave and I performed CPR.” Maury’s face turned grave as he thought about it. “Neither of them were breathing. Honest to God, Jasper, I thought we’d lost them both.”
“How did it happen, Maury?” Jasper leaned forward, his elbows on the desk. “You explain to me how it happened.”
“How?” Maury cocked an eyebrow at his long-time friend. “You explain to me how it happened. They’re young, but they ain’t stupid. They both knew this job inside and out. Them boys were a-shaking like they was bein’ electrocuted, but when I hit the panel, it was already off.”
“Could you have been mistaken?” A frown creased Jasper’s face. “Maybe someone got there before you and hit the breaker?”
“Not a chance,” Maury said, shaking his head slowly. “I was the only one anywhere near that box. No one else could have reached it without going through me.”
The two men were silent for some time, both contemplating the curious circumstance of the accident. Jasper searched for a logical explanation for the electrical mishap as well as how the green peg appeared high up in the corner and another inside Doug. It was so illogical. He couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it at all.
“Well.” Jasper heaved out a puff of air. “I, for one, will be glad to shake the dust of this job off my boots.”
“How safe will these people be after we leave, Jasper?” Maury asked. “Shouldn’t we do something?”
“What can we do?” Jasper burst out, throwing his hands in the air. “Tell them a phantom golfer is trying to kill people, so they’ll have to tear out this store and build it somewhere else? Do you really think anyone will go for that? Hell, Maury, I hardly believe it myself and I’ve witnessed parts of it.”
Mary rubbed absently at the scraggly beard on his chin.
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “But I feel we should do something. A blessing or an exorcism… Something.”
“We have six days to opening,” Jasper said, sliding the green peg into his desk drawer and standing up. “You figure it out before then and I’ll back you up.”
Maury stood and held out his hand to Jasper.
“Deal,” he said.
Jasper met Maury’s hand with his own. Maury pumped it a couple times before letting it go.
“You won’t be sorry, Boss,” Maury said, scooting out of the trailer. His boots thumped down the steps and across the lot.
Jasper waited until he was sure Maury was out of earshot before he spoke.
“I already am,” he mumbled aloud. Dread coiled like a snake in the pit of his stomach. How bad could it get in six days? He was afraid he was about to find out.
Wednesday morning, with the crew hard at work putting on the finishing touches, Jasper sat drinking coffee in the office, looking over invoices. He was working on his second cup, when Maury burst into the room.
“Hey, Jasper,” he began in a rush. “You remember how you said you’d back me up if I found a way to get rid of this thing?”
“Yeah,” Jasper said, slowly.
“I think I figured it out.” Maury paced the room as he spoke. “I been doin’ some readin’ and I think I can heal the rift and send ole Handelman off to the big green in the sky.”
“What are you talking about?” Jasper said, massaging his temples. This damn job was giving him migraines. The end couldn’t come too soon.
“It’ll take too long to explain and I gotta pick up some materials,” Maury said, his hand on the doorknob. “Just meet me here at three a.m. On second thought, be here at two-thirty. We need time to set up.”
Jasper opened his mouth to protest, but Maury was gone.
“No!” Jasper exclaimed loudly, slamming his coffee mug down on the desktop. Coffee sloshed onto his papers, infuriating him further.
“There’s no way in hell, I’m coming here in the wee hours of the morning, at a time when I’m already exhausted from working extra hours,” Jasper muttered angrily to himself, sopping up the spill with a paper towel leftover from his lunch the day before. “I need my damn sleep.”
Though he complained, he knew he’d be here, sleep or no sleep. His conscience wouldn’t have it any other way.
When Jasper pulled up in front of the building at two-thirty in the morning, he found Maury already there. With a yawn big enough to crack his jaw, Jasper slid from the truck, settling a baseball cap over his balding pate and wishing for a cigarette. Maury waved at him from the shadows near the door, a backpack resting at his feet.
The only light came from a lamp post on the corner and the quarter moon high in the sky. By this time tomorrow, the place would be a blaze with light and ready for the opening. Tonight, the dark hung around the building like a death shroud. The thought sent chills along Jasper’s spine.
“What’s in the bag?” Jasper asked quietly. Fishing his keys from his pocket and unlocking the sliding glass doors, he slid one half back along the track. He stepped inside, holding the door panel open for Maury.
“Supplies,” Maury whispered back, refusing to elaborate. He dragged the bag across the floor and muscled it onto the register counter.
Jasper pushed the glass panel back into place and locked it.
“I think I have everything we need,” Maury said, unbuckling the backpack flap and flinging it open.
“To do what?” Jasper asked, peering over Maury’s shoulder at the odds and ends stuffed into the bag.
“Get rid of Handelman. Maybe save some lives.” Maury paused. “I popped by the hospital earlier. Harry didn’t make it. Never regained consciousness. You wanna guess what his Mama said the found in his brain?”
Jasper didn’t have to guess. He was pretty sure he knew. A lump formed in his throat, making it hard to swallow and harder to speak.
Maury went on, “One of these damn things.” He dropped a green tee on the counter. It bounced twice before rolling onto the floor behind the register. “We gotta stop him.”
Jasper gave a curt nod.
From the bag, Maury pulled out a Bible, a piece of chalk, five candles – set in ornate holders made of a heavy dark metal – a sports bottle filled with a clear liquid, and a clump of herbs tied together with some string. He tucked the Bible under his arm, placed the chalk in his pocket, and scooped up the heavy candles, holding them close to his chest.
“Grab the sage and Holy water,” he instructed. “We’ll set up in the backroom.”
Jasper did as he was told. “Why didn’t you just unload where we needed to be?”
“I don’t want my pack anywhere near here,” Maury answered. “If I coulda juggled this all myself, I wouldn’t have brought it at all. I don’t want Handelman hitching a ride home with me.”
Jasper blinked, but kept his mouth shut. It hadn’t occurred to him that a spook could tag-a-long with a person from one place to another. It shook him up a bit.
While Jasper looked on, Maury drew a pentagram on the floor with the chalk. On each point, he placed a candle.
“Crap,” Maury muttered looking down at his notes.
“What?”
“I forgot the salt.” Maury chewed on his lip for a moment. “Too late now. We’ll just have to hope the candles hold him. You hold onto that water. If you see him moving about, blast him with it.”
Jasper gave the bottle a curious look. “Ghosts are afraid of water?”
“That’s Holy Water,” Maury explained, thumbing through the Bible in his hands. “I pinched it from the font after Mass.”
“You stole it?” Jasper raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Doesn’t that negate the holiness?”
“Shhhtt,” Maury flapped a hand at him. “Don’t distract me with the abstract. It’s Holy. It’ll protect us. End of story.”
Jasper wasn’t so sure, but he kept his mouth shut.
Maury raised his hands high above his head, the Bible open in his left, and began to speak loudly in a language Jasper was unfamiliar with. Latin, he thought.
In the center of the pentagram, a fog began to form. Spreading upward, it evolved into a fuzzy human shape. The shape howled, bending and twisting as if in pain.
“What’s happening?” Jasper hollered over the growing noise. Maury ignored him, continuing to yell at the shape in Latin, shaking the Bible as if to shake some Holy Spirit from the book onto the phantom.
Jasper stumbled back away from the shape as it began to spin wildly, rushing at the space between the candles as if to try to escape. It seemed unable to cross the lines. The moaning increased in tone and decibel.
“The Holy Water,” Maury yelled above the rising din. “Jasper! Hit him with the Holy Water!”
Jasper fumbled with the lid on the sports bottle, nearly dropping it altogether. A portion splashed onto the floor at his feet. The specter, wailing mouth wide and distorted, pressed against the invisible barrier between the candles. Jasper could feel the hatred and rage wafting off the wraith.
“Hurry, Jasper,” Maury said. “There isn’t much time.”
Pulling himself together, Jasper squeezed the bottle and a stream of water shot out. Handelman, if it indeed was Handelman, let out an ear-piercing scream that echoed around the room. The apparition writhed and spun.
“Hit him again, Jasper!” Maury yelled.
Jasper complied.
For a moment, Handelman held his form: a tall man with jet black hair, piercing blue eyes, and sun-tanned skin dressed in a green polo, green checked pants, and white golf-shoes. His eyes stared into Jasper’s with an intensity that bore right into his brain. Raising his right hand, his eyes never leaving Jasper’s he pointed a finger at Maury.
Maury gasped and dropped the Bible, his hands jumping to his throat. A strangled cry left his lips as he sank to his knees, his face turning purple.
“Maury!” Jasper tried to move to his friend’s side, but he felt frozen in Handelman’s gaze. Fear crawled up his spine, settling deep into his heart. The sounds coming from Maury were desperate; Jasper knew he needed to act. Somehow.
Concentrating hard, he tightened his grip on the bottle. Water shot out hitting Handelman in the chest. The form gave way, melting once again into fog. Maury fell to his knees.
Free of the apparition’s gaze, Jasper rushed to Maury’s side.
“Maury!” He knelt down beside his foreman. “Maury, are you alright?”
Maury nodded, pointing his finger at what was left of Handelman. Jasper didn’t need him to say anything, he knew what he meant. Struggling to his feet, he squeezed out every last drop of water on the foggy cloud until it disappeared altogether.
“Is that it?” Jasper asked. When Maury didn’t answer, he turned toward him. Maury was slumped on the floor, his chest barely rising and falling. Jasper whipped out his phone and called for an ambulance.
“Hang in there, Maury,” he said kneeling next to him. “Help is on the way.”
Maury’s eyes fluttered open. “Sage,” he whispered. “Burn the sage.”
“What do you mean?” Jasper asked, staring at the clump of herbs Maury had given him earlier. “Where do I put it? How long does it burn for? Maury?” He gave the man a shake, but he was out cold.
Jasper wiped a hand across his mouth. This was way out of his league. With no idea what Maury meant, Jasper snatched his lighter from his pocket, lit the clump and tossed it into the center of the pentagram. Dropping onto the floor next to Maury, he watched it burn, waiting for something to happen, until he heard the sirens. Not wanting to have to explain any of the weirdness, he plucked up the sage and dropped it into the sink in the kitchen. Then he dragged Maury into the main lobby, closing the door to the backroom behind him to prevent any prying eyes.
He’d just finished when the ambulance pulled up in front of the door. Jasper took the room in three large bounds and flipped the lock on the automatic doors, allowing them to be pushed open. The paramedics hurried through.
Jasper gave them a version of what happened.
“Heart attack, I think,” he said.
“What’s with the Bible?” One medic asked, prying it out of Maury’s hand. “And what’s that peculiar smell?”
“They open the day after tomorrow,” Jasper explained. “Maury was blessing the building.” The paramedic nodded as it made perfect sense to him.
They loaded Maury onto the gurney, hooked him up to an I.V. and were gone in a blare of sirens. Jasper wanted to follow, but he had some cleaning up to do first.
Friday morning Jasper hustled to the site, arriving just as the dawn lightened the sky from gray to pale blue. It would be another hour before his crew would arrive, but Jasper wanted a little time to look over the site before then. The company representatives would be arriving later today along with the Store Director and every manager in-between. It was important that he be able to show them a beautifully crafted building ready for business.
Things had been strange all week. One minute a tool sat waiting for the user to retrieve it, the next it was gone. Some were found, far away from the area they’d been lost in, while others remained missing. A hammer mysteriously disappeared from the tool belt Warren was wearing around his waist while working on the soda fountain, only to be found hours later in the deep freeze. No one had been in the freezer that day.
Pam took a tumble off the ladder while hanging the last of the light fixtures in the main body of the store. Jasper had seen it happen. One second, she was on the ladder, the next, she was falling. It looked as if someone had yanked her off the rungs, but no one was anywhere near her. Luckily, she’d landed on her feet. She twisted her ankle in the fall but sustained no life-threatening injuries.
It had seemed to gain momentum as the days rolled by, getting worse after Maury’s and Jasper’s late-night adventure. Whatever they’d done, they’d done it wrong. Jasper’s biggest concern was what would happen today when all the bigwigs arrived.
Slipping the keys from his pocket, he unlocked the front doors and stepped inside. An eerie silence met him. On quiet feet, he wandered through each area checking for signs of damage or anything out of place. He found none. The hush remained, enticing him to remain as soundless as possible, as if a sleeping giant lay just out of sight; to wake him was to incite his wrath.
In the maintenance room, he checked the breakers, flipping on the power to the inside of the store. One by one, each room lit up. Another walk through showed him everything was in order. In the kitchen, the walk-in cooler with attached freezer hummed merrily along. He checked each oven, every work surface, shelf and plug to prove to himself that all was well.
Despite all the setbacks, accidents, and injuries, they had pulled it off. The store was ready to open on schedule.
A noise behind him startled him out of his thoughts. Jerking towards the door, Jasper was startled to see a woman standing just inside the front entrance. For a nervous moment, he wandered if she were an apparition, then she spoke.
“Hello?” She called out. With the light behind her, Jasper couldn’t see any features beyond her mass of short curls and lanky frame.
“Over here,” Jasper said, walking from the kitchen into the main body of the store. The woman stepped forward to meet him. Dimples showed in her cheeks when she smiled.
“Hi, I’m Nonni,” she said holding out her hand. Jasper took it and gave it a brief pump.
“Jasper,” he returned. “I wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon.”
“Yeah, sorry, I was driving by and saw your truck.” She smiled again. “I hope you don’t mind. I just couldn’t wait any longer to see my store. Is it okay if I take a look around?”
Jasper hesitated. What if the sleeping giant woke? Shaking the thought from his head, he said, “Yeah, sure. So, you want me to show you around?”
“Um… I think I’ll be okay. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Just checking the equipment,” he said. “Give a holler if you need anything.”
“Sure,” she said, wandering into the office.
Jasper made his way to the beer vault, checking the other coolers as he went. In the vault, the temperature was dropping slowly. There had been trouble with it from the start. The temperature constantly fluctuated between too hot and freezing, the fans would stop working, and often he found the switch flipped off or the unit unplugged with no explanation. Today, it was humming along, but the temperature was still hovering just below fifty degrees. It had only dropped three degrees in the last twelve hours. He could hear the fans turning; they were working. Removing his cap, he stood directly under one. He could feel the air moving slowly. It should be forcing the air out fast enough to blow his hair around. What hair he had barely moved. The air barely felt cold to his scalp. Exasperated, Jasper plopped his cap back on and pulled the step stool out of the corner. He centered it under the switch and climbed up the two steps putting him at eye level with the switch and plug. He flipped the switch off, counted to ten and flipped it back on again. The fans roared back into rotation, the sound like a jet engine gearing up for takeoff.
A hand grabbed his leg, starling him. The ladder swayed beneath him. Pressing his fingers tight to the vault ceiling, Jasper tried to steady himself.
“Sorry,” Nonni said loudly, grabbing hold of the tilting ladder. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” The roar of the fans had covered the sound of her approach. Now, they made having a conversation difficult.
The ladder anchored, Jasper climbed down.
“It’s too loud in here, let’s talk out there,” he gestured to the main body of the store. Pushing open the vault door, he let Nonni out first and followed after her.
“The store looks great,” she said with a big smile. The bright white of her teeth contrasted beautifully with her rich mocha skin tone. At first look, Jasper had pegged her age around thirty-five, but now, standing closer to her, he could see the fine lines around her eyes and mouth. A few silvery-white strands of hair wove their way through her curls. Mid-forties was more like it, though she wore it well.
“I was sorry to hear about your friend,” she said, quietly. Jasper shifted uncomfortably.
“How’d you hear about that?” He asked her.
“My supervisor told me,” she said. “I hope he’ll be okay.”
“The doc says we should know in a few days if he’ll recover or not.”
An uncomfortable silence followed. Behind him, the beer vault fans hummed along. A ping, ping, ping suddenly came from the cold room.
Nonni frowned. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” Jasper asked turning to see what she was looking at.
Nonni wrenched open the door and plucked something from the floor. Opening her hand, she showed it to Jasper; he took a step back. Nonni didn’t seem to notice.
“It looks like a golf tee,” Jasper said, trying to hide his discomfort.
“Huh,” Nonni said with a frown. “I wonder how that got there.”
Jasper remained silent.
“Are you through here?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Yes,” Jasper said, shooting a glance over his shoulder. “I’m through here.”
“Cool,” Nonni said, heading toward the door.
Jasper followed quickly behind her.
“Oh, do you want this?” Nonni held the tee out to him.
“No,” Jasper said, firmly. With a shrug, Nonni tossed it into the garbage and walked out the door.
Jasper gave the store one final look before sliding the doors closed and locking them into place. If he were lucky, he’d never have to set foot in there again.
If he were lucky.