Lois Anthony’s friends dress just like she does. They wear sweaters and brown pants and boots and some have glasses and their hair is long. We all sit on foldout chairs on a rug in a circle in Lois’s living room. They all have objects by their feet or objects in their laps. The fir eplace is wider than ours and I think about the first time I met Lois, at the party at our house. But there is no fire. And the fir eplace is dark. There’s a plate of lit candles in the center of the circle instead. How are you feeling, Bela? Lois asks. It’s a lot of people to meet at once. No it’s not, I say. It’s okay. They laugh at what I said. But it’s true. There’s just six of them. My classes at school are a lot bigger than this. Good, Lois says. So long as you’re comfortable. She breathes de ep. Then she laughs. I’m sorry, she says. Just a little nervous. We’ve never done something exactly like this before. Not even close, Lois’s friend Kyle says. Kyle has blond hair and blue glasses and his shirt has swirling colors on it. There’s an old tel ephone on the floor next to his shoes. If we can help, Lois says, we will. The room is quiet for a moment. Then Lois says, We’re going to ask this thing to leave you alone, Bela. A woman named Mary stands up. Okay, she says. I don’t mean to be negative from the start but... what exactly does that mean? This is heavy. It doesn’t have to be, Lois says. We normally exchange crystals here, Lois. This is just... wow. We all brought phones and stuff. Anybody can st ep outside at any time if they feel uncomfortable in the circle, Lois says. Mary looks at the candles on the plate. She sits down again. Lois says, Bela? Yeah. When you’ve addressed this... Other Mommy... have you called her that before? Does she know this name? The room feels dark past the circle. Even with the sun coming through cracks in the drapes. Yeah. Good. Are we really ready to try this? Kyle asks. Really ready? We’re going to talk to her, Lois says. No harm in that. Really? Kyle says. Because there’s actually a lot of harm in talking.
Like, over the course of history a lot of harm in talking. Lois breathes out long and slow. Then they all start talking at once. Daddo looks worried. Grandma looks impatient. A woman named Adina starts crying. It’s just so... powerful, she says. What we’re trying to do. For her. So big. We’re trying to help, Lois says. Yes. But it’s... so big. It might be, Lois says. The candles on the dish actually have meaning and each one means something different. The red one is to weaken the veil. It thins the space between this world and any other. The cream-colored one is a peace offering, an olive branch, intended to let any other know we’re the ones thinning the veil, and that we do so in peace. The purple one is for protection, though I don’t anticipate we’ll need that. And the black one is for— But a friend of hers interrupts. The black one means we’re serious, the man named Duane says. It’s intended to remind all things that all of existence is bigger than we are, no matter what side of the veil we exist on. In any plane, we know our place. A woman who told me her name is Ashley of the Moon says, Do you know what a plane is, Bela? I shake my head no. A plane is like... a place of being, Ashley of the Moon says. We believe there are other worlds than our own. Do you know what I mean? Different realities, a woman named Maxine says. Do you know what realities are? I look to Daddo. He puts his hand on my knee. It’s okay, he says. Given Bela’s age, Lois says, I think we can rightly assume there will be some terms she hasn’t heard before. And while I would like for her to understand everything that happens here, it’s more important we talk to the thing that’s been talking to her. Tell it to leave, Grandma says. It feels like everything starts now that Grandma said that. Lois sits up straight in her chair and takes a really de ep breath. First, Lois says, we need to make contact. She lifts what looks like a big piece of ice from her lap. The objects we’ve each brought are the closest things we have to spiritual tel ephones, she says. Her friends pick up the things at their feet or in their laps. Crystals, Daddo whispers to me. I’ve brought crystals, yes, Lois says. But, as you can see, we have a touch-tone tel ephone here, a microphone, and even pen and paper. All were asked to bring what they consider to be the best form of spiritual communication. For them. And everybody here has attempted to speak to the dead before.
Dead? I say. The friends are all looking at me again. Do you not think she’s dead? Mary asks. She looks to Lois. What’s going on, Lois? Exactly what are we trying to make contact with here? The friends are all talking at once again. Two of them get up from their chairs. I’ve seen teachers look like Lois looks now. When the classroom is out of control. Listen, Kyle says. I am not thinning the veil just so something we know nothing about can come through. What did you think we were doing? Ashley of the Moon says. What exactly was the help you thought we were giving this kid? We can’t reach out to something nefarious, Duane says. That’s madness. They get louder and some walk around the room and Lois is trying to calm everyone down. Daddo checks his phone. Where’s Mommy? Where is she? And I don’t know if I want these people talking to Other Mommy. These people don’t know her. They weren’t there when she was my friend. When she was the only person with me in my bedroom. When she was the only one I talked to, the only person I told about how Mommy and Daddo feel different than they used to. Because they do! They don’t laugh at movies like they used to. They don’t hold hands like they used to. They’re always sending me ahead and fighting behind me. They’re always having secret talks while I’m supposed to talk to nobody! But I had Other Mommy to talk to! Now I yell, to Lois and her friends, I yell: I don’t know what she is! And the room goes quiet. And one by one the friends sit down again. We’re sorry, Bela, Kyle says. It’s just... energy is a big deal. And when you work as hard as we do to make sure yours is okay, well, you don’t wanna mess it up. But... we’re gonna try to help. Because we said we would, Ashley of the Moon says. Yes, Kyle says. Because of that. He sits down but I can tell he’s still not sure. Bela, Lois says. This part might be a little uncomfortable for you. Then maybe she should leave the room, Grandma says.
I think it’s important she’s here for this, Lois says. Why? Grandma says. Can’t you talk to this thing without her? If someone, if this other... well... this other has taken a shine to her. A shine? Daddo says. He looks up from his phone. All I’m saying, Lois says, is that if this thing is interested in her, then it may not want to speak with anybody else. Lois picks up another crystal and hands it to Grandma. Pass this along to Bela, please. Grandma gives it to Daddo and Daddo gives it to me. Lois picks up another one. This is for Russ. And this... She hands Grandma a third. ... is for you. It’s heavier than I thought it would be. I hold it with both hands. Daddo has to set his phone in his lap so he can do the same. Lois raises her crystal higher, so it’s near her face. Let’s all close our eyes, she says. Everyone in the room. Let’s speak to Other Mommy, silently first, but together. They all close their eyes. Daddo and Grandma too. Lois says, I want you to imagine your voice, your true voice, traveling through you, out every pore of your body, and into your mode of communication. It can be your ideal voice. Your inner voice. I won’t tell you exactly what to say, but I think we should remain civil. Tell it to leave like you would tell an acquaintance to leave your home who has given you reason to do so. No need to get combative. Not yet. Tell Other Mommy she needs to leave Bela alone. She needs to find som eplace other than Bela’s home and Bela’s bedroom. Speak as definitively as you can, using your best inner voice, and send the words into your spiritual tel ephone, where Other Mommy may hear you, and will know, from our energy and from our communal voices, that we mean what we say. We are serious about what we do. We are the first line of defense for Bela, who does not want Other Mommy visiting anymore, who is not left feeling good, in any way, after these encounters. Bela doesn’t want to see you again, Other Mommy. Bela wants to be left alone. So that Bela might grow into the beautiful human being Bela is destined to become. Everybody, together now... tell Other Mommy to leave... tell Other Mommy to go... I haven’t closed my eyes. That’s it, Lois says. Tell Other Mommy it is time to go. Everyone’s mouths are moving but they’re talking without talking. They hold their objects tight. I don’t tell them that sometimes I did feel good when I saw Other Mommy. Do you feel it? Lois asks. Yes, everyone. That’s it. Mary brings her microphone to her lips like she’s whispering into it. Ashley of the Moon lowers her face so that her hair touches the paper in her hands. Duane slowly moves his head side to side.
Other Mommy, Lois says. Other Mommy, leave Bela alone. Kyle stands up. His eyes are still closed. I look to the dark, open fir eplace behind his chair. Other Mommy, everyone says now. Other Mommy, leave Bela alone. Grandma’s lips don’t move but her eyes are closed. Other Mommy, leave Bela alone. Kyle gasps. Eyes still closed. She answered, he says. Did anyone hear him but me? Ke ep going, Lois says. Everybody, ke ep telling Other Mommy to leave Bela alone. I look into the dark, open fir eplace behind Kyle’s chair. Other Mommy, leave Bela alone. Kyle moves his head like someone’s tickling him. He brings the old phone he holds to his ear. Inner and outer voices together, Lois says. Tell her... everybody... tell her to leave Bela alone... Kyle shakes his head like Milky is licking his face. He opens his eyes. He hangs up the phone. He’s looking at me. Other Mommy, the others say. Leave Bela alone. Daddo, I say. But all the voices together are loud and Daddo doesn’t hear me. Everybody breathe, Lois says. In for two, out for three. In for two, out for three. We need to become unified, we need to be in tune. Breathe. In for two... out for three... tell Other Mommy to leave. Daddo, I say. In for two... out for three... In tune, Duane says. Leave Bela alone, they say. Other Mommy, leave Bela alone. Kyle crosses the rug. He walks toward me. One voice, Lois says. One strong voice... inner and outer... He bends toward me and whispers in my ear, She wants you to know she gave you a present. What are you doing? Grandma asks. Her eyes are open. She’s looking at Kyle. But Kyle is already crouching by the candles in the middle of the rug. One voice, Lois says. One voice now! Communicate! We’re right there! We are doing it.
Other Mommy, leave Bela alone... Kyle blows out the candles. Lois opens her eyes. Kyle? The doorbell rings. Louder than any phone. Some of them cry out startled. They all open their eyes. Ursula, Daddo says. He gets up fast and leaves the circle. He was talking to Bela, Grandma says about Kyle. What was he doing? Who? Lois asks. Kyle? Grandma grabs my hand and we get up. We walk out of the room and all Lois’s friends are arguing with Kyle and Lois looks at me like she feels really bad about how things are suddenly going. I hear Mommy talking to Daddo at the front door. Mommy’s here. She says to Daddo, He’s dead. Mommy is crying. And Daddo says, Who, Ursula? What are you talking about? Who’s dead? Lois is behind us now, saying she “apologizes” and she thought “they could at least try” and maybe they’re all “just a bunch of old hippies” and she’s so sorry and “Kyle is a troubled man” and she shouldn’t have invited him and then Mommy r epeats to Daddo, He’s dead. Daddo says, Who? Frank Doherty, Mommy says. And Daddo says, What? How would you know if Frank Doherty is dead? Ursula... what’s going on? And Grandma says, Bela, this is not something for us to hear. Let’s head outside. And I look back to see Kyle is sitting in one of the chairs in front of the open fir eplace, alone. Grandma takes me by the hand and walks me through the kitchen, and Lois Anthony says, Ruth, Bela, please, a moment. And we stop to face her and she says, I’m embarrassed. I believe I can do better. I can help. I can look into this. I think it’s best we find a specialist, Grandma says. Lois nods. I understand. Beyond her, at the front door, I hear Daddo say: Ursula. Are you serious? And then I say to Lois, Why did that man blow out the candles?
I don’t know, she says. He didn’t think we were doing it the right way, I guess. I don’t care. Whatever it was, he was wrong to do it. Grandma says, You did what you could. Thank you for that. He said she talked to him, I say. Wait, Lois says. Kyle said that? But Grandma is pulling me out the side door and we’re in Lois Anthony’s driveway and I can hear Mommy and Daddo talking on the front porch still and Mommy is still crying and she says, He was in the closet. Like he’d sl ept there. Follow me to the back of the house, Grandma says to me. Some friends are leaving through the side door. Mary and Duane. Getting in their cars. I can still hear Mommy and Daddo because they’re talking loud, mad, scared. Really, Ursula? Daddo says. Frank Doherty? It doesn’t matter anymore, she says. None of it matters anymore. Then Grandma is walking me to the back of the house. There are paintings on easels and rugs on the grass. But I can still hear Mommy. The closet, she says. Like he was asle ep in there. And I think of the man Kyle sitting alone in front of the fir eplace. I think of him saying, She gave you a present. By the time we reach the paintings, I don’t care that they’re paintings of the sun. I don’t care that they’re paintings of each other, Lois’s friends. I ke ep thinking of Grandma asking if Other Mommy ever hurt anyone or said she would and I ke ep thinking maybe. The answer used to be no but now it’s maybe. Maybe Other Mommy hurt someone else. Maybe she did. So I say it, Maybe... And when Grandma asks me what I mean, I start crying, and she holds me, and I ke ep saying maybe, maybe, maybe between my tears. Even when Mommy and Daddo come around to the back of the house I can’t stop crying. And shaking. She gave you a present. And Mommy’s eyes are puffy and she’s watching me. Daddo is on his knees trying to make me feel better but Mommy is watching me. Like she’s thinking maybe too. Like she’s thinking maybe Other Mommy hurt someone too.