“Don’t you tell me to get real!” her dad yelled, his face turning bright crimson. “I ain’t got no foot! That’s as real as it gets!”
Darcy gave an exaggerated sigh and pointed to a bedroom door with a poster of Kermit and Miss Piggy thumbtacked to it. “That’s my room. I’ll be there in two shakes.”
Tommy and Esmeralda stepped into Darcy’s bedroom, and Tommy closed the door behind them. A few stuffed animals sat on the bed, and there was a cartoonish plastic piggy bank on the end table. Tommy looked at the collage of pictures on the wall. Some of them were Darcy’s family, but more of them were pictures of Darcy with Ashleigh Goodling, or just pictures of Ashleigh. Darcy also had a few posters of Jesus and seemed to prefer pictures where Jesus was muscular, cut and bronzed like a movie star, his loincloth barely clothing his loins.
Tommy sat in a small armchair by a window, next to a bookshelf crammed with C.S. Lewis and L. Frank Baum paperbacks.
“So, that’s the girl.” Esmeralda kept her voice low.
“She worships Ashleigh,” Tommy said. “It’s perfect.”
“Let’s just get it over with.”
Tommy felt a little hurt. He’d been so happy to find Esmeralda again, but he had to keep dosing her with fear, since she didn’t really want to help him.
They’d driven straight across the country, eighteen hours a day, stopping once to spend the night in a cheap motel. He’d worried that she might find the courage to leave in the middle of the night—but Tommy was a light sleeper. In Bent River, you never wanted to sleep too deep.
Esmeralda hadn’t even tried to leave, though.
Now Darcy returned, sans rubber gloves, and hurried to close the door behind her.
“Sorry, guys,” Darcy said. “My dad’s such a lame-o.”
“It’s fine,” Tommy said.
“He’s handicapped, you know. Type II diabetes got him.” Darcy looked at Esmeralda and forced a smile. “Hi. I’m Darcy.”
“I am Esmeralda.”
“Nice to meet you. So, I guess you’re Tommy’s girlfriend or…?”
Esmeralda looked at Tommy, waiting for some instruction.
“Oh, gosh, sorry if that’s an awkward question!” Darcy said. “I’m such a dodo about things like that.” She sank to the bed, leaving plenty of space between herself and Esmeralda, and she farted. “Whoopsie! Sorry. Being pregnant sucks. Anywho, what’s going on? Has anybody heard from Dr. or Mrs. Goodling?”
“Darcy, I have to tell you something.” Tommy moved over to the bed and sat next to Darcy, so that Darcy was stuck between Tommy and Esmeralda. He smiled. Time to make use of Mr. Tanner’s craziness.
He took Darcy’s hand, and he pushed fear into her. He tried not to do too much—he didn’t want her a panicked, gibbering idiot, but he needed her awestruck.
“I am an angel of God,” Tommy said. “Can you see it now?”
Darcy’s eyes widened, and her lips trembled. “Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir.”
Tommy squeezed her hand.
“Ashleigh’s work on Earth isn’t quite done,” Tommy said. “So God is sending her back from heaven on a special errand. But she can’t use her old body, since it’s ruined.”
“Yes, sir,” Darcy breathed. “It’s way ruined.”
“So Ashleigh needs to borrow yours,” Tommy said. “Just for a little while. This angel here can put her soul into your body.” He nodded at Esmeralda.
“Okay,” Darcy said. “If that’s what God wants.”
Behind Darcy’s back, Esmeralda frowned and scowled at Tommy.
“But wait, sir,” Darcy said. “I’m pregnant.”
Tommy didn’t know where she was going with that, so he just watched her quietly.
“So,” Darcy said, “If you put Ashleigh’s soul in me…does that mean my baby will have Ashleigh’s soul? Ashleigh will be my little girl?”
“Is that what you want?” Tommy asked. The gleam in the girl’s eyes when she talked about Ashleigh was unsettling.
“Oh, holy cow, yes,” Darcy said. “I mean, if I can, sir. If it’s okay with God.”
“Then that’s what will happen,” Tommy said.
“Oh, wow,” Darcy said. “And is it okay to say ‘holy cow’ or is that swearing? Cause I’ve never been sure and I figured you would know, sir.”
Tommy reached into his jacket pocket and took out a wad of tissue. He unwrapped one of Ashleigh’s finger bones and handed it to Esmeralda. Esmeralda grimaced, but she curled her fingers tight around it.