Paul Kohler - The Borrowed Souls, A Novel

Frustrated, I wound the beads tightly around my fingers until the tips turned white and the crucifix laid positioned toward me. I brought it to my mouth and gently placed my lips upon the cold metal.

“Uh, Father Almighty?” I began, remembering a few words that my grandmother would say when she prayed. “I, uh, believe… in God? Heaven on earth… uh, something about Jesus Christ, his one and only son…”

“You better release the tension there, buddy. You’ll either cut the circulation off in your fingers or break the strand completely.”

I leaped from the bench at the sound of Hauser’s voice. “Jesus, Hauser!”

“No, but I’ve been mistaken for him at least once through my days as a soul collector.”

“You nearly scared the shit right out of me. Can you please give me some kind of warning next time? Seriously.”

“Would you prefer I wear a bell around my neck?” Hauser grinned.

With my heart rate returning to normal, I sat back down next to Hauser. “Well, if you wouldn’t mind, that would be great.”

“Speaking of, try placing the rosary around your neck. That should get you a lot closer to figuring things out than where you were just heading.”

Embarrassed, I fumbled around with the worn beads, avoiding Hauser’s gaze. “Oh, I, uh… was just trying to remember the Apostles’ Creed—”

“No need to explain. It’s like I said earlier, though. Most items are earned, not taken. That was in Wilson’s possession, am I correct?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer, so I just nodded my head.

“And did he give it to you, or did you take it from his person?”

“The cops were there, and if I didn’t grab it, they would have certainly taken it,” I explained.

“I see.”

“And my penance?” I asked, keeping the religious theme rolling in the conversation. “Am I in trouble with the Sentinel, or whoever, for taking it?”

“No penance, Jack. I’m actually relieved that you took it before they moved his body off. You see, I gave that to him after his thirtieth collected soul.”

“So there is a proverbial golden watch with each milestone.”

“No, it was just that Wilson was… special. His thirtieth soul was more than just a regular milestone,” Hauser said, his voice drifting off as he spoke. “It was more of breakthrough…”

“How so?” I asked.

“It’s… difficult to explain,” Hauser said.

Hauser looked off into the distance as we sat in silence for several minutes. It was quite apparent that there was more to the story.

“So around my neck then?” I asked.

Several moments passed before Hauser’s attention returned to the present. He looked at me, smiled, and nodded. “Yep.”

I unfastened the delicate metal clasp and brought it up to my chest, reattaching it behind my neck.

“Okay, now what?”

“No, no. You’ve got to do some of this work yourself. Like I said, you didn’t rightfully earn this, so…”

“Ah, so there is contrition. Just in the form of limited information.”

“Call it what you will, Jack. If you’re going to make it as long as Wilson did, you’re going to have to learn to think for yourself.”

I nodded, and decided not to push the matter further. It was obvious that Hauser was not in the mood.

“Can you at least tell me what the rosary does?”

Hauser looked at me, his steely gaze lightening up momentarily. “It’ll let you see into the future, but only for twenty-four hours, and it is not specific in nature.”

“Twenty-four hours into the future, but not to any particular event?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Hauser said.

“So all this really does for me is, what? Gives me a day’s head start?”

“Sometimes, Jack, an additional twenty-four hours means a great deal to how you cope with some of these deaths. Some are more gruesome than others, and how we handle each of them is key, emotionally speaking.”

Listening to Hauser’s words brought up another question that blurted from my mouth before I had a chance to stop it. “Is that why Wilson earned this after his thirtieth soul? Was that particular collection emotional for Wilson?”

Hauser bobbed his head slowly. “Something like that.”

Silence enveloped us once again. Perhaps at some point I’d ask Hauser more, but for now I opted to focus at the task at hand. I lifted the crucifix from my chest and brought it to my lips. “Noah Clayton,” I said softly.

Nothing happened.

“Show me Noah,” I said, still holding the crucifix near my mouth.

Again, nothing happened. Hauser tilted his head, giving me a sideways glance. Then he smirked. “Boy, you’re getting it all wrong. If I have to show you everything, you need to follow along with everything I say. Agreed?”

I nodded eagerly. “Agreed.”

“First, posture is everything. You have to be standing for this to work.”

Without hesitation, I stood and faced Hauser directly. “Next?”

“No, you’re not quite right,” Hauser said as he considered my stance. “Hold your head up higher, and straighten your back. Your shoulders are far too slouched for this to work properly.”

I did as Hauser said and thrust my chest out, straightening my shoulders and back in the same motion. “Like this?”

“Yeah, kid, you’re getting there. Now, place your right hand on your hip with your thumb to the back and your forefingers to the front.”

I imagined the position in my mind before following Hauser’s latest direction. “All right.”

“Great. Getting close. Next, lift the crucifix with your left hand but only hold it away from your body with your pinky finger.”

“Like this?” I asked. As ridiculous as I knew I looked, I could almost feel the future ready to surge through my mind, body, and soul.

“Great, kid. You’re really outdoing yourself here. Now, this last step is tricky.” Hauser smiled. “If you don’t get it right, you’re going to have to start all over, and let me tell you, you don’t want to look like a fool two times in a row.”

“Okay, I’m ready. What’s the last step?”

“All right. Standing on your right foot only, lift your left foot into the air and whistle ‘March from the River Kwai.’”

Without objecting, I lifted my leg and began to whistle the tune from the classic movie. With my lips pursed together, I made it through the entire first chorus before I noticed Hauser grinning cheek to cheek.

“What? Am I doing it wrong?”

Before Hauser could answer, he burst out laughing. I stood on my one leg for another few seconds before I concluded that he was having fun at my expense. Realizing at that moment that I’d not seen him laugh out loud since I’d known him, I began to laugh myself.

“Oh, God. Jack, I’m sorry, but that was so worth it. I really needed a good laugh right then.”

As my chuckling subsided, I sat down next to Hauser. “I’m glad I could oblige.”

Hauser continued laughing for a few more moments before he wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at me. “All right, Jack. I’ll let you off the hook. You just have to be near your mark for the rosary to work.”

“That’s it? I just have to have the rosary with me and be near him?” I asked.

“No, you still have to have it around your neck, but just be near him and think of the future. Touching him, or her for that matter, helps, but it’s not necessary.”

“All right, then. I think I can handle that.”

“One more thing, Jack. The rosary can be a curse at times, because of the horrific nature of our job. Sometimes it is really better to experience the death just once. Just think about that.”

I nodded, understanding Hauser’s advice completely.