When I walked into the church I heard a familiar sound coming from the sanctuary. I ran hoping I would find Claire vacuuming, as always, up and down the aisles. When I opened the huge door, however, I was surprised to see Cordo the homeless accordion man vacuuming instead. He didn't notice me so I ducked back into the main room and headed up to the pastor's office. The door was open so I peeked inside and knocked on the door frame.
"Hello there Ray. Aren't you supposed to be working on that house with Claire?" the pastor asked.
"Something terrible has happened pastor," I said.
He folded his hands, sat back, and looked at me with a grave expression.
"What's happened?"
I told him the story about the demon on the roof, and Claire falling over the side. As I relayed the story, something stranger than finding supernatural demon fighting tools under a church started happening to me. My throat was tight, and my voice feeble. I sniffed and wiped my eye to feel a tear smear onto my thumb. I think the shock of it all had finally given way. As I replayed the story in my mind, while I told it to Pastor Clarke, a different deep kind of sadness I had never felt welled up inside of me.
The only sorrow I knew was for myself. For the horrible childhood and lonely selfish life I have lived, but these were new feelings of sympathy for my hurt friend. The girl who always made me laugh. The girl who knew how to fix up a mansion, belch louder than a trucker, and looked good in coveralls with no make up. Not some fancy rich girl I had envisioned ending up with some day. A down to earth, genuinely joyful, woman. A woman who I was in love with. I had to do something to help her, even if she didn't feel the same way about me. I looked over at the pastor.
"Do you know anything about her insurance situation? Do you think she'll have a lot of medical bills?" I asked.
Pastor Clarke nodded.
"As far as I know she just has a catastrophic insurance plan. Her deductible is probably going to be several thousands of dollars. I have no idea if she can pay that," he said.
"Okay," I said. "I need your help. I need to figure out how to get this house restored and sold. I want to pay all of her medical bills."
"That would be extremely generous of you Ray. How can I help?" he asked.
"Well, I came here to give you the sword back, and forget about all this. I was just going to go back to being a realtor, but I feel like I need to help Claire. If it weren't for me, she would be fine right now. Probably happily vacuuming the church. I don't know how I'm going to do it, or if I even can, but I'm going to try and renovate that house and use the money I get from my share of the sales to pay Claire's medical bills. To do that, I need to make that demon leave, but I dropped the sword from up on that roof. I was just at the mansion searching around for it, but I couldn't find it. What do you know about the sword. I know it just goes through everything. Is it possible it just went right through the ground and is still floating on its way to the other side of the planet?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," he said.
"What about the table it was on under the church? Do you know anything about it? Is it like some kind of special table or something?" I asked.
"I'm sorry. I only know the tools purposes and that God chooses who will use them. That secret room was built long before I was ever born. This church has been here for a very long time, at least as far as American history is concerned," Pastor Clark said.
"Do you have any idea about the sword?" I asked.
"I am sorry, but I do not know," he said.
"And there's no like, I don't know, ancient scroll or something that can tell us more about the tools?" I asked.
"No. Nothing is written down anywhere about them. That knowledge is passed on from one pastor to the next, so that nothing can be discovered about them," he said.
"But they were just sitting there under the church!" I said.
"Yes, but only those who are chosen can find them," he said.
I was about to yell back about any random person being able to crawl down there but the look of absolute certainty on his face stopped me.
"If you say so," I said.
"I am sorry."
"So what's up with the homeless guy down there? I thought you would like, you know, bring him to a homeless shelter or something," I said.
"He did not want to go there. He says there are many more demons there, so I'm letting him stay with me. I'm trying to keep him busy. If you would ever find it in your heart to help him out, I would really appreciate it. I'm finding it hard to get my work done because he's a very needy person. He's a great guy, he's just been through a lot and really needs something positive in his life right now. I wish I had more for him to do," Pastor Clarke said.
"I guess I could take him," I blurted out.
Some hastily made plans were forming in my mind.
"I could use all the help I can get working on the mansion. That would give him plenty to do. And he can stay with me. I live alone. It won't be a problem. After getting to spend some time with Claire I've realized how lonely my life is. It's all I've ever known so it's what I'm used to, but now that I've been able to spend time with someone kind and fun I realize how nice it is," I said.
"Yes!" Pastor Clarke said. Then he pulled his bible toward him and flipped through it. It had things underlined and highlighted all over the place. I could tell he had spent a lot of time reading it over the years. It was pretty impressive.
"Ah here it is. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil," he read.
"Their toil?" I asked.
"Hard physical work. What you'll be doing with Cordo," he said. "And the next verse fits perfectly for today with you being there for Claire. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecclesiastes four verses nine and ten. Those both apply to you pretty well today," Pastor Clarke said.
"Yes they do. Thank you Pastor," I said.
I thought about the money I would need to fix the roof and renovate the house. It was going to be a lot. My percentage of the sale of the Poltergeist Palace would help, but I knew I would need more.
"I wonder if Mr. Pennwater would let me live in the mansion while I work on it," I wondered aloud.