(5)
 The Compass News building is near the beach in Loma Portal. Ironically, Unfaithful Tamsin and I owned a house together up in the heights, way up, with a magnificent, almost helicopter-like view over the rooftops, the beaches, and the ocean far below. Here, in the world of the living, where we prefer to spend our days unseen, it is a concrete bunker disguised to look as a white-stuccoed Spanish villa of two stories, with layered clay-tile roof the way the Mexicans build them. The building on the ground floor is C-shaped, with a shady central courtyard full of palms, sagos, palmettos, and bright, iris-blue lantana, and the like. In the middle of that is an elongated rectangular pool with a fountain plashing at one end. The area around the pool is done in Mexican pavers and ornate tiles. It all looks very high-end and lovely.
We have a key, so we let ourselves in when Rector did not answer. That meant he was down under. If he left town, he always let his helpers like us know. We walked through the house, calling his name. No reply. The first floor was all offices, at the moment without staff. The upstairs was an elaborate living quarters for Rector and his beautiful wife, a blue-eyed Jamaican woman whose skin was the color of milk chocolate, and her hair a dark reddish Afro. Her name was Judith, and she came down the stairs. "Hi, kids. What are you up to?" She too was a shaman, and could see us and talk with us. "What's the matter, Tamsy? You been crying, dear?" Instinctively, she walked to Tamsin and embraced her.
"We saw my ex-fiancee and her husband," I explained.
Judith squeezed Tamsin and laughed. "What are you carrying on for, dear?"
At this, Tamsin broke into a howl of tears and rubbed her eyes. At Judith's gesture, I held Tamsin while Judith went and got a damp, warm washcloth. Tamsin laughed in embarassment, and sniffled while Judith wiped her face. Tamsin took the cloth and wiped her own face, taking charge of herself. "I want us to move to another world," she said.
"Oh, dear, I don't think that's possible," Judith said. "You can talk it over with Johannes." She gestured to the elevator.
I walked up and pressed the button marked D, down. Only a ghost can see this button. If you were a living person, as I suppose maybe you are, you would only see the button marked U, up. When I go there, I see two buttons—U on top of D, as in any self-respecting elevator.
The door rumbled open, and Tamsin and I stepped inside. We all waved to each other, Judith smiling sympathetically, and the door rumbled shut. Now if you happen to be going up, it's material. If you're going down, it's metaphor. It's not virtual. It's spiritual.
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Copyright © 2018 by Jean-Thomas Cullen, Clocktower Books. All Rights Reserved.
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