Part Four – about getting a job you have never had before. And a small boy.
It took five minutes to get a job at a café. Lisa saw the second café she passed had a sign saying help wanted, and then she got the job. It would be a learning process without experience or knowing anything more than making tea in her kitchen at home. Thankfully no dead people were in the café.
Standing just outside her new place of employment, she thought about where to go.
She had to start the next day, so she decided to work her old job on the last day of not being a café employee.
As soon as she had the thought, dead people came to her.
“What do you want?” She asked a boy no older than 12.
He looked like he had been in some accident, and as soon as she saw it, he was back without scars and trauma to his body. He had tears in his eyes.
“My mom misses me. Can you tell her I still look after her and still love her? I have had so much love for her since I passed over. It has become even more. Please pass it on to her.”
“Who is your mom,” Lisa said, not wanting to go hunting for strangers.
“She works at a Salon not far away. I thought you could get your hair cut or something like it. Her name is Sally.”
After getting the name of the salon, she walked toward the place. It was four storefronts down from the café, and she went in. There were primarily women over the age of 70 in the salon. The hairdresser was the one younger woman. She was closer to 30 than 70.
“Sally?” Lisa said.
“I was told you had time to cut my hair today.” Lisa tried to sound casual.
Every woman in the salon turned to look at her. Lisa looked around at the women feeling like she had walked into some otherworld.
“Who is asking?” The younger woman said.
“My name is Lisa, and I heard from a friend you were here” she tried to smile, but it felt forced.
Lisa thought Sally had long blond hair, making her look like a goddess in her dress and flat shoes.
“I can squeeze you in if you will just have a seat” Sally smiled at her.
“Thank you.” She said and sat by the window in one of the mint green seats.
The boy was standing by Lisa’s side, looking at his mother.
“She is beautiful, right?” he said.
“I always loved touching her hair.” Lisa was scared to say anything because she might look suspicious to the old ladies.
In the past, before she knew better, she had answered the dead people and ended up alienating the living, or at least having them think she had lost her senses.
Lisa knew that if she posted questions in her head, the dead would hear her too, it was her first instinct to answer, but she could do it mentally.
“What is your name?” she thought, looking at the boy and hoping he understood her.
“Samuel and my brother’s name are Isaiah. Don’t judge; my mom is into the bible stuff.” He smiled, thinking about it.
“Thank you,” she thought and asked how long it had been since Samuel passed.
“Three months,” he said, looking sad.
“A drunk driver at school ran me down. My mom still misses me because I was the firstborn. I was good at school, and I looked after my brother. He is now with my grandparents in Oklahoma.”
Sally looked at Lisa and asked her to sit in her wash chair.
“So, who told you I was here,” Sally asked as she put water in Lisa’s hair.
Lisa did not think fast enough and said
“Samuel told me.”
Shit, she spoke before she could censor her words. She had just blurted out his name. I need to think more, she thought to herself.
Sally went white as a sheet and put down the shower head.
“I think I heard you wrong. What did you say?”
“Samuel,” Lisa said more slowly this time.
“He told me to come to talk to you, and here I am.”
“He told you to come?” Sally stuttered while shaking.
“Yes, I know how it sounds, but this is what I do. I talk to passed souls. Please hear me out.”
If a nail had fallen to the ground, it would have made a massive sound in the completely silent room. It was so quiet that all the old ladies must have held their breaths because not even a breath could be heard.
Lisa turned to Samuel and said
“Tell me what she needs to know so she doesn’t faint.”
Samuel laughed and said
“She always does this. Once, she did it while peeling potatoes because she was so angry about peeling them because I did not want to.”
Lisa turned to Sally and said
“you once got so white of anger for peeling potatoes he says. Also, he says he does not blame you for the driver at the school,” she added.
Sally shook and tried to hold back her tears, but it did little good.
Sally started crying like only a mother can cry when the loss of a child breaks them. Lisa sat in the chair and dried her hair a little with her towel.
“Please listen to what he has to say to you. It will give you the peace you need.”
All the old ladies were breathing again and started tutting.
“What does he have to say?” Sally tried to speak while crying a tsunami of tears.
Samuel started talking, and Lisa tried to keep up the best she could.
“He says he misses you, and you were a great mom, the best any boy could want. He says he touches your nose when you are going to sleep. There is nothing wrong with your nose.” At this point, Sally fell to the ground, sobbing and shaking.
“He says you had to send his brother to Oklahoma, off all places,” she added for good measure.
“He says you have not been eating enough and that coffee is not food. That you need your veggies and that he loves you. It is pure love for you. Trust in God, mommy, he says. He says he will be your guardian angel, so don’t worry.”
Lisa stood up and asked if there was anything else he wanted to say now that he was there.
He shook his head.
“Can you tell her to feel when I touch her nose, so she knows the feeling for the future? Then she knows how it feels.”
Lisa looked at Sally and said he is going to touch your nose, so you know how it feels and can know he is there in the future. Sally looked scared.
“What if I can’t feel anything.”
“You will,” Lisa said and smiled.
Samuel put his tiny finger on Sally’s nose, and she had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she made a slight jump in her body when she felt his connection.
“I feel him,” she said.
“I feel him,” she said even louder.
“I feel him, oh Samuel,” she cried. “It is a miracle.”
“No, just dead people,” Lisa said.
“I am glad you had the connection. I better get going.”
Sally looked surprised.
“You didn’t want your hair cut?”
“No, I wanted to pass on the message from Samuel.”
“You are an angel. Oh, I don’t even know your name. Did you say it?” Sally looked confused.
“Lisa and I am glad you got to talk to your sweet boy.”
“Be safe and take care.” Lisa hurried out the door with her semi-wet hair.
How could she leave this job and work in a café? But then she snapped out of it and decided again that she wanted to be normal.
She had been working like this on and off for years. Even though she might seem cold to some, she had learned to control her emotions and pass on messages without falling apart. The first and many times, she had cried and felt the sorrow of the people she passed messages on to. Now it was without her emotions getting in the way, She thought. I am just the messenger, walking back towards the café.
I am done with that and done feeling exhausted, she told herself. I am now in a different place.
She was on her way home to her small apartment, no more than 270 square feet (25 square meters). It had all she needed, even a tiny balcony where she could sit and enjoy the sun.
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