Colin Cotterill - The Coroner's lunch

Siri was sure Lao Jong had knocked himself out. His head was inches away, unmoving, unbreathing. Siri reached his hand forward to see if he could help. But in the speed of a breath, in one swift motion, the shaman rose to his feet. It was as if a film had been reversed. As if the tree had been un felled. The crowd gasped.

The new owners of Lao Jong’s body leaned over the stunned doctor and brought the palms of the shaman’s hands together in front of the hood. The deities spoke in their own voice, a voice that could never have belonged to Lao Jong.

“Yeh Ming. Tell us where the evil spirit Phibob is lurking. Whose body has he chosen? Who is the host?”

Siri was overwhelmed. This was a grave responsibility. Why him? Every eye was fixed on him, an actor who’d forgotten his lines. He gazed around the room and through the open windows. He looked at every face, every man, woman, and child, hoping there’d be a sign, an arrow or something, a flashing light. But he saw nothing and conceded defeat. “How the hell should I know?”

Even though the shaman’s body had come no closer, Lao Jong’s gnarled hand somehow shot forward and grabbed Siri’s wrist. A sliver of pain shot through his arms and down his legs. It was as if his nerves were being over-stimulated. Then that energy traveled up through his body and settled at his neck. The amulet, which had been so cool against his skin, began to burn like a white-hot ember. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He yanked at the leather to take it off, but the thong held. Worse, the amulet burned. It burned through skin, through muscle, to the bone. There was the sizzle of flesh. He tried to wrestle the thong over his head now, but the leather constricted, tighter and tighter, like a garrote. He couldn’t breathe and he knew he was going to die. He was going to die anagonizing death. He was choking, but nobody came to help him. Nobody came to pull the burning amulet from his skin. He could understand none of it. Kumsing sat beside him as if nothing were happening. Couldn’t he see the flames? Smell the burning flesh? He was writhing with pain, kicking his legs, yanking at the thong. Then in his death throes he saw her. She sat beneath the window smiling serenely like an angel.

Kumsing saw none of this. He only saw Siri gaze calmly around the room, close his eyes, and breathe deeply. Then Siri re-opened his eyes and looked directly at an old lady beneath the window at the farthest point from the altar.

Siri knew now who was killing him. The amulet had been a screen to stop him seeing Phibob . In his dream, she’d collected together the spirits of the jungle and released the plague of insects. It was her. Auntie Suab was hosting the malevolent spirits. Phibob was in her. He looked at her through the slits that were left of his eyes and she smiled. And the smile was red, not with betel, but with the blood of revenge. Suddenly he could see them, the unsettled souls of the troubled dead. They sat inside her. And with the last of his strength he raised his hand and pointed at the old lady under the window. And although his hearing was draining away along with his life, he heard her speak. He’d never heard such a sound. The voice that came from her mouth contained the voices of many, gruff, angry voices,voices of generations of lost souls. They belonged to the spirits of men and women who had suffered violence and indignation, unsettled ghosts denied a resting place. They all spoke from the mouth of the tiniest, most gentle lady in the village: “Fuck you, Yeh Ming. You’ll be cursed for this. Believe us. You will be cursed.”

Fire spread through Siri’s chest and over his skin, the garrote cut through his neck, he kicked and grunted the finale to his death knell, and he was gone.

Kumsing watched as Siri stared at the old lady. The doctor sat cross-legged, his hands in his lap, more serene than ever. She smiled back at him, a little nervously. Then the doctor lifted his hand and pointed at her.

“ Phibob ,” he said, calmly. “ Phibob is in her.” Then, as if he were suddenly tired, he keeled over sideways and collapsed.

That was the end of the ceremony as far as Siri knew. When he woke up, the sun shining through the unshuttered window was like warm balm against his face. He reached instinctively to his neck, but there was no dressing, no contusion, no injury at all. The amulet was gone.

“Spiritual wounds don’t leave scars, Yeh Ming.”

Siri looked to the end of the straw mattress to see Auntie Suab spooning soup from a large black pot into a bowl. His face must have shown fear. She smiled. “Don’t worry, they’re gone. You missed quite a show last night. I missed a lot of it myself, although I was apparently the star.”

“I’m sorry for ratting on you.”

“It had to be done.” She brought the soup over to him and helped him sit up against the beam of the hut. He felt weak. She handed him the bowl and a spoon. He looked at the soup with suspicion.

“Nothing poisonous, Yeh Ming. You need some nourishment. You were as sick as a dog last night.”

“I was?”

“At least you waited till they got you outside.”

“I’m polite that way. What happened?”

She sat cross-legged on the floor as he ate. “I’m afraid Lao Jong was a bit beyond his depth. He’s actually more of a fixing-of-stomachache, saving-of-vegetable-garden type of medium. He can deal with little troubles like that very well. But what we had last night was hell and brimstone. He’d never experienced anything like that before. Fortunately, you had.”

A sudden dark flash came across Siri’s mind. He saw himself with his hands around Auntie Suab’s throat during the exorcism. He shrugged it from his mind.

“Me? What good was I? I was unconscious.”

“This body was. But Yeh Ming was with us. You acted as a mentor for Lao Jong. Kept everyone calm. Between the two of you, you were able to chase the Phibob from my body. [Siri again saw himself with his hands wrapped tightly around the old lady’s throat, but this time there were sounds: the gong, screaming.] We made certain they couldn’t possess anyone from the village, not even your soldier friend. He was crying like a baby at the end.”

“Where did they go, the Phibob ?”

“Back to the trees. They don’t use hosts very often. They’re more at home in the jungle.”

“Why did they pick you?”

“The amulets, I suppose. I pick up a lot of bad karma from my clients. I handle a lot of cursed talismans. Malevolent spirits often target women.”

“And you didn’t know they were in you?”

“The host never knows. Their influence works on your subconscious. This, for example.” She held up the black prism in front of his eyes. “I had no idea it had been tampered with.”

As it swung back and forth, the images of the previous night became more vivid. He could smell the beeswax from the lamps. Suab was fighting him off with incredible, unearthly strength. Nobody came to help. Lao Jong lay unconscious on the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Auntie Suab looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I’m getting visions of last night. They’re so real.”

“That’ll continue for a while, I’m afraid. It’s only to be expected after what you went through. That’s one more reason why you need to put this back on.” She slid across the floor toward him and held out the amulet.

“Put it on? But it was the amulet that stopped me seeing the Phibob in the first place.”

“It stopped you seeing them while they were in the host. Now that they’re gone from me, there’s no danger. The amulet’s charm has been reversed. The prism will protect you from their revenge. Are you listening?”