Hidden Secrets - 13. Three of Wands

What I’d seen in the stalls had shaken me. It was a definite progression of events and not one that I’d expected. To be honest, I’d taken George’s stories of a ghostly figure having been seen as another of those cinema rumours that become exaggerated and elaborated in each telling. Much like the current one concerning Dan’s weekend away.

All of the expectation I’d had earlier drained away, to be replaced by something very different; a sort of sick fear. Because I had been the catalyst, it had become my responsibility to do something about it. If you start a job, you have to finish it.

I shut down the screens on autopilot. I didn’t even remember much of the walk home. Thankfully, Cynthia was still up. This was one time I needed to talk.

She sensed straight away something was wrong and sat me down with a cup of tea.

‘Something happened tonight,’ I said. ‘Something I’m not sure how to deal with.’

‘Go on, then.’

I described the apparition, firstly, the smell, then the sighting. ‘I know this might sound strange to you, but I’ve never seen an actual ghost before. If that’s what it was. I just can’t find any other explanation and god knows, I’ve tried. Trick of the light, tired eyes. All of the ways anyone attempts to rationalise away something they find disturbing.’

‘So you didn’t see anything more than a silhouette?’ she asked.

‘Well, that’s just it. When I saw it at the time, I thought was only an outline. But the more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I’m convinced I knew him.’ I tried to describe the feeling. ‘You know when you have a dream that you’re talking to someone? Say for example I dream I’m talking to you. The person doesn’t necessarily look like you, but in my dreaming state, I just know it is.’

‘Disjunctive cognition,’ Cynthia said. ‘That’s the term for it.’

She would be the one to know something like that. ‘It was dark in the stalls. I only caught a glimpse as the screen brightened, then the figure disappeared. But in that brief instant, I recognised him. I just can’t remember who he was now.’

‘It may come back to you,’ she went on. ‘Or, of course, you might see it again.’

I shuddered. ‘I’d rather not. I think I know why people who see ghosts feel scared. It’s not so much that it was doing anything frightening, it’s just that sense of something being wrong.’

My phone pinged. I glanced at the screen.

Home yet?

Yes. Just got in. Having tea with C.

I definitely didn’t want to tell Dan about this. While he seemed a lot more open minded with regards to the uncanny than I’d expected, dumping too much information on him at once might not be a good idea. Cliff had made me naturally cautious about such things.

‘Is that your young man?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s sweet,’ she said. ‘Must be missing you already. Maybe you should have a chat with him before you go to bed.’

I’d been thinking more along the lines of chatting - or texting, as it was quieter - when I was in bed. ‘I’m not going to tell him about this,’ I said. ‘Don’t want him to think I’m crazy.’

‘No, better not,’ she agreed. ‘Although, in all honesty, it’s making me even more inclined to think a seance might be the way forward. Whoever it is clearly wants to make contact.’ She finished her tea. ‘Right, I’m going to feed Nipper then get off to bed. You should try and do something that will distract you before you go to sleep.’

I gave her a smile. That was exactly what I intended.

I’d heard about people sending each other explicit text messages; there had been a big news story concerning a celebrity the previous year, but it wasn’t something I’d ever done before. Now phones were available with built in cameras I could see it becoming a lot more popular, but with my old Nokia 3310, the written word would have to suffice. I put it on silent mode so that at least Cynthia wouldn’t get annoyed by multiple pings. Her bedroom wasn’t right next door to mine, but considering I could hear every creak of the boards whenever she made a trip to the loo at night and the flush sounded like a waterfall in full spate, I knew how well noises carried in this old house.

I considered how to begin. I’m in bed and not wearing anything? Maybe that was a bit blatant. Ready for action if you are. Ditto. Eventually I texted.

Want to play that game now?

I take it your aunt isn’t around.

Nope. All alone in bed.

Me too. Paul and Marta are at it next door though. I can hear them.

That must be hard for you.

I smiled at my clever wordplay.

Marta does nothing for me, but Paul’s quite hot. Not as hot as you are though.

I thought of Dan, lying there stroking himself.The image was enough to start me off.

I wish you were doing to me what I’m doing to myself right now

I typed with the hand that wasn’t occupied and covered in lube.

I could send you a picture of what I’m doing.

Have to rely on imagination. This phone too old!

Texting while getting off required a degree of multi-tasking I wasn’t sure my brain could cope with. Still, I reckoned I was getting into the swing of it.

I’m stroking something hot and hard

Nice description. Dan was better at this than I was. I used my imagination to fill in the missing details. Pictures were far more arousing than words, even if I had to provide them myself.

Wish I could rub mine against yours

Mmm. Nice. Next time we meet up my mouth’s going to be where your hand is right now

That one ramped everything up a notch. I visualised his head right there, with recent memories providing the images. I reached for the lube beside the bed, needing some more to add to the realism of my fantasy and ended up unintentionally squirting quite a lot of it on the phone.

‘Shit!’ I swore, glad he couldn’t hear as I searched for something to wipe it before the stuff got too far down into the keys. The Nokia vibrated again, proving at least it still worked.

You still there?

Things gttin a bit mssy hr

The 3DEF key wasn’t functioning properly now.

Abut 2 here

His spelling mistake proved that.

I needed to catch up. The phone could wait. I got back into the groove and my mind provided graphic images; Dan’s hand moving faster, his breathing more intense and that expression on his face as he got to the brink.

That was good.

Dan texted, after a while.

Thinking of him lying back with cum all over his belly and chest was exactly what I needed to get there myself. I managed to keep it off the duvet cover. If I needed to wash the bedclothes again so soon, Cynthia would definitely suspect something.

It was. But I might hav 2 gt a nw phon.

You didn’t cum on it? 😄

No spilt lub. Guss what ky not working.

I could manage to text without it, but dialling numbers might prove a problem.

Gonna wash it. C if I can sort it.

Just get a new one. With a camera. Join the 21st century!

Will hav 2 c.

I was relaxed now and a little sleepy. I knew I should go and try to salvage my phone before I dropped off, but somehow I didn’t care enough. If it worked it worked. If it didn’t, then maybe it was fate.

‘Did you sleep well?’ Cynthia asked, at breakfast.

‘Not bad.’ I didn’t remember any dreams and my memories of what happened at the cinema had faded too.

‘You were tossing and turning a bit before you dropped off,’ she said sympathetically. ‘I could hear you.’

Damn that old, creaky house. I thought I’d been pretty quiet, too, except for swearing when I accidentally lubed my phone. I’d checked earlier and found the 6MNO key was now non-functional as well. I was going to try and clean it later with some of the spray we used for getting gunk off film splicers, but didn’t hold much hope for its survival. ‘Once I’d settled down, I slept like a log,’ I commented. ‘I might not be back tonight, so don’t wait up.’

Cynthia smiled. ‘I hope this all works out for you. Isn’t it a bit risky having an affair with your boss? What if you fall out over something?’

‘We don’t actually see much of each other at work,’ I pointed out. ‘I’m alone most of the time and even though he’s the general manager of the cinema, I run my own department.’

‘Well, that’s all right. But do be careful. And maybe you could ask about that seance,’ she added, at the end.

‘We’ll see.’

I set off to work. It was a frosty morning and brilliant sunshine filtered through the almost bare branches of the trees along Cynthia’s road. The cinema looked as if it was illuminated in a spotlight. Once inside, I immediately felt a difference. Normally, it was quiet. Today, the quietness felt - to me - like calm before a storm. A poised, brooding stillness.

I knew I would have to face going through the stalls to turn on the plenum. Without it, the vast auditorium of screen one would never warm up sufficiently and there would be complaints. In multiplexes, the air handling units switched on with timers. Here, it would always be a manual task; the ancient motor switch had not been designed for automatic operation and would never be altered due to the cost.

I dropped off my bags and food first, glancing out of the porthole to see if anything looked different. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see; a looming hole where the well lay, perhaps? Everything looked the same as it always did.

On my way down, I swung the keys and occupied my mind by going through facts and figures again. If twenty-four frames of film equal a foot and a half in length and run through the projector gate in one second, how many feet before the last frame would the end sequence cue need to go in a screen where the curtains take fourteen seconds to close? I barely felt the chill reaching up and held my breath so as not to let my nose betray me. Coming back, I did the same again, almost sighing in relief when I was through the door and once more in what I considered to be the ‘safe’ area of the rear stalls corridor.

Staff arrived, their chatter pushing back the silence. I opened the screens and set the foyer music playing at a low level. Staff always complained about the tracks repeating, as they had to listen to it all day. I tried to change the CD’s a few times, if I remembered. We really needed a multi-player, but that was another pipe dream for an old cinema like this, unless I managed to scavenge one from somewhere that was due to close.

Once I had the first shows running, I decided to tackle my phone. Getting the back off was easy. I was probably lucky the lube hadn’t got to the battery and shorted it out. It was still a bit gooey inside the plastic housing, so I washed that under the tap. Six small screws held the rest together. I was slightly reluctant to progress any more, but hey, it didn’t work properly now, so I had nothing really to lose. I’d never dismantled a phone before, so it was an interesting exercise, finding how the various pieces of plastic clipped together. I washed anything that didn’t look as if it would suffer from immersion and finally got to the copper pads where the keys made contact.

At that point, the end sequence shrilled out, meaning I needed to clean and re-lace screen three. The foyer was busy now; most people would have finished Sunday lunch and a trip to the cinema might seem like a good idea. For the next forty-five minutes I was up and down the stairs, getting my daily exercise as the next programmes, then the features began. The need to get everyone in and out without clogging the narrow exits and corridors meant that timesheets were always written with staggered gaps between each programme starting. Not having everyone coming in at once enabled more customers to be served their choice of overpriced snacks, so never mind if it wore out the poor projectionist as he tried to keep everything on time.

Once everything had settled down again I made another mug of tea and carried on cleaning the gunk out of my phone with a cotton bud and some of the more gentle cleaning fluid from the box. I didn’t dare use the powerful stuff. It had been known to melt certain types of plastic. Some of the ingredients had long since been banned, but most chiefs had stashed away a good stock before that happened, as there was nothing like it for degreasing a leaky projector. There were at least twenty cans tucked away on the back shelves of the Regal’s spares room. Once everything felt clean, I put the pieces in one of the old carbon trays on top of the box radiator, to let it dry out, then started doing some cinema related work.

I’d boxed up a load of old trailers and was taking them down to the film dump for collection when Sylvia saw me. The kiosk wasn’t busy, so she was probably looking for some conversation to make the time pass.

‘All right, love?’

‘Fine. Looking forward to a day off after a long weekend.’

‘I bet you are. Here, have you heard about our manager?’

‘Heard what?’

‘He’s taken this new girl of his off for a dirty weekend.’ She leaned closer. ‘Apparently he met her in a lap dancing club.’

I had to try very hard not to laugh. ‘Are you sure? He doesn’t seem the type.’

‘You can never tell,’ she said, darkly. ‘Anyway, that’s what managers get up to when they go off on those monthly meetings. Strip clubs, casinos. You name it.’

‘Seems a bit unfair on the female managers.’ Or the gay ones, I added silently.

‘Oh, they have their own fun. Wilder than a hen party in Dublin so I’m told.’

‘Well, it’s all news to me.’ I couldn’t wait to tell Dan, later.

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he brought her in to show her off. Mr Bartleby was terrible like that. New model every other month. Each one cheaper and brassier than the last. His poor wife! She divorced him in the end.’

‘Terrible,’ I agreed. ‘Anyway, I’d best get on.’ Staff gossip was fine, but sometimes you needed to get away. It was a pity my phone was still in pieces. I’d have loved to text Dan with this juicy news. Mind you, it would be even better kept until later. Then I’d be able to see his expression.

After the next shows had started, I reassembled the phone and switched it on, keeping my fingers crossed. The screen lit up, so I hadn’t killed it. And when I tried the buttons, they all did what they should as well, although the 3DEF button didn’t always make contact on the first push. I felt as flushed with success as when I’d diagnosed and fixed a projection problem.

I got back up to the staffroom at about seven-fifteen to eat my dinner. I’d had a text from Dan while I’d been busy.

On the way back now. Should be there around ten-thirty.

Great. Got my phone working again.

Only a projectionist would even try 😉

Or someone with no money, I thought. I was hanging on for that first month’s pay to go in to my bank account. If I hadn’t been staying with Cynthia, I’d be living on air.

As I ate, I wondered if Dan would meet me in the cinema, or wait in the car park, as I’d imagined Jack’s secret love had done. The thought of there being so many parallels between our lives, separated only by time, made me uneasy. I really hoped George would have his contact details so I could ask him some of the questions I still had no real answers for. I’d need to be careful, though. Judging from many of the reports I’d heard, Jack had been difficult at best and possibly violent. I was a lot younger than him though and reckoned I could handle myself against a sixty year old. The worst that might happen was he shut the door in my face and told me to fuck off.

Once the last shows were on, I had another mug of tea and started to psych myself up for the journey backstage to switch off the plenum fan. It was a pity it couldn’t be left running, but I knew that wasn’t an option. Once the boilers went off, it would be forcing unheated air into screen one all night. If the outside temperature sank too low, the cold water remaining in the heater banks might freeze, causing burst pipes and a lot of bother. I would have to to face my fears again.

As I reached the foyer I was surprised to see Karen and Dan standing by the kiosk. He looked up and smiled to see me.

I thought it best to keep it discreet. Sooner or later, cinema being what it was, someone would find out we were involved but even though Dan had said there was no problem, my natural caution came into play.

‘Evening,’ I said.

Dan was very smooth. ‘Just who I wanted to see. Can I have a quick word?’

‘Fine.’ I had no idea what sort of excuse he’d given Karen for coming into the cinema on a Sunday evening when he wasn’t due back at work until the following day. ‘I was just about to turn off the plenum.’

‘I’ll come with you, then. Speak to you later,’ he said to Karen.

I was relieved I wouldn’t have to face the stalls area alone. For a moment, I wondered if I should say something to Dan, then decided not to. If he didn’t know about what I’d seen - or smelled - then if he experienced the same, it would be a genuine reaction rather than response to a suggestion.

‘Had a good day,’ he said quietly once we were out of Karen’s earshot.

‘It just got a lot better.’ I unlocked the stalls door and we went through.

Dan only took a few steps before he sniffed. ‘Can you smell that?’ he asked.

‘What?’

‘Like something’s gone off in here.’

I took a cautious breath. Yes, exactly as it had been before. ‘Tell you about that later, okay?’

We both detoured around the top of the well. I felt that shivery coldness yet again. It wasn’t until we were out of the public area and under the stage that I spoke. ‘Maurice said something about that, too. A bad smell at this time of year. “When it happened,” he said.’

Dan looked slightly puzzled. ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

‘The body. The murder.’

‘Ah.’ he paused. ‘But if it really happened…’ he stressed the if, ‘then there wouldn’t be any smell after all this time.’

‘It’s not real.’ I tried to explain.

‘A ghost smell? Is that a thing?’

‘It’s not usual. I smelled it yesterday morning and brought Karen down. She couldn’t smell it at all.’

‘There’s something up with her nose, then.’ He looked around. ‘You know, I’ve not been in this part of the cinema before.’

It didn’t really surprise me. ‘I can show you may big plenum if you like.’

‘Is that a euphemism?’ He grabbed me with a sly smile and pulled me close.

‘In this case, no.’ I wasn’t objecting to the contact, though. I’d wanted it all weekend. The way he kissed proved he’d been missing me, too. We had to stop to breathe after a while.

‘Can’t wait until I get you home.’

‘You’re going to have to. There’s still another twenty minutes until the shows end.’

‘Damn.’

A little banter and the sexual tension made me forget about what I’d seen the previous night, until we went back through to the stalls. I was a a few minutes later tonight and the nighttime scene had started, along with the suspenseful music. A dark, undefined figure sat in that seat, next to the aisle. I stopped. Dan almost ran into me.

‘Don’t do that.’ he hissed, aware of the customers above us.

‘Look.’ I pointed him in the right direction. ‘Can you see anything?’

His eyes weren’t as used to the dark as mine. Most projectionists are used to working in dim light to the extent some people say we’re almost nocturnal.

‘There’s someone there?’ He sounded hesitant. ‘I could have sworn you locked the door behind us.’

‘I did.’ Emboldened by his presence I took his hand and led him closer. I could tell from his reluctance he must realise it wasn’t just a customer. I had an itchy, uncomfortable feeling between my shoulder blades and wondered if he felt the same. Even in the dim light, it was obvious that what we could both see wasn’t a living human being. The outline of the form seemed to shift and change constantly. Once again, I couldn’t make out any distinct features, although I had the same feeling that I recognised something about him. Once again, as we came closer, the apparition disappeared; not suddenly, but dissipating slowly into the surrounding air, like smoke. I shivered.

‘Let’s get out of here.’ We got back into the corridor.

Dan had gone very pale and was shaking as if from the cold. I opened the nearest projection box and took him inside, sitting him down in the chair. I didn’t want to let him back out to the foyer looking like that. Karen might wonder what was going on.

‘Was that…? Did I just see…?’ His eyes were wild, darting around with nerves. Adrenaline must be starting to kick in, together with the normal ‘fight or flight’ response.

‘A ghost? Yes.’ I was shaken too, although not as badly as the night before. Maybe you got used to these things?

‘How can you be so calm about it?’

‘It wasn’t the first time.’

‘You’ve seen it before? And you didn’t think to warn me?’ He sounded slightly hysterical.

I stroked his back, trying to soothe his nerves. ‘I didn’t want to give you any preconceived ideas. Plus, how was I to know it would show itself again?’

‘I suppose not,’ he agreed. ‘When was it you saw it?’

‘Yesterday night.’

He took a deep breath and forced a smile. ‘No wonder you accidentally lubed your phone.’ He held up a hand. His fingers still trembled slightly. ‘I don’t know what to say. Or think.’

‘It’s all right. You don’t need to explain. It’s a natural reaction.’ Only a few minutes had passed, but already the image was fading. I had a feeling that this was how a human mind coped with the inexplicable, by forgetting it as quickly as possible.

Colour was returning to Dan’s face. ‘I feel a bit better now. It was a shock.’

‘I know.’

‘You were right.’

A shiver went down my spine; cold as if I’d just stepped on top of the well. Memories of my dream rushed back; of Dan speaking those same words. ‘Well, maybe. It’s not conclusive proof of anything.’

‘Isn’t it? If you told me there was a whole host of bodies buried under the stalls I reckon I’d believe you right now.’

The end sequence shrilled abruptly, telling me that screen one had finished. Dan jumped at the noise. ‘Time to start packing up,’ I said. ‘Do you want to stay here?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ll go back to the office. When we’re ready to leave, I’ll casually offer you a lift home.’

‘Clever.’

‘Sensible. I don’t want the whole cinema gossiping about my private life.’

That reminded me. ‘They already are.’

‘They know about us?’

‘No,’ I smiled. ‘Remember I said they thought you were away for the weekend with a girlfriend? It’s got better. You’ll laugh.’

Everything went smoothly, including Dan’s offer of a lift. It had started to rain by then, so Karen and Robert would just assume he was being considerate. She gave Robert a lift as they apparently lived on the same side of town.

We’d hardly pulled away from the cinema when Dan asked. ‘So, what are they saying about me, then?’

‘Apparently, your new girlfriend is a lap dancer you met at a drunken orgy. That’s what they seem to think goes on at the managers meetings.’

‘No. Really?’

‘You couldn’t make it up.’

He carried on driving. Orange street lights washed over the car. I could tell he was deep in thought. ‘Why did we both see that ghost tonight?’

‘I reckon it’s what Maurice told me; close to the anniversary of the death. Cynthia’s more of an expert on this than I am, but I’m guessing it’s trying to make contact.’

Dan shuddered slightly. ‘So, how do we do that?’

‘The traditional way is to hold a seance.’

‘And your aunt does that, I suppose.’

I nodded. ‘It’s not an exact science. It’s not a science at all. Some people think the whole idea is rubbish.’ Of course, Cliff came to mind when I said that. ‘But it’s probably our best chance to find out what happened all those years ago.’

‘So once it’s told its story, the spirit can rest?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Then maybe she ought to have a try.’

I could hardly believe Dan was contemplating it. But then, he was still shaken from what he’d seen. It wan’t totally surprising. ‘I can ask her, if you like.’

‘The staff better not get to hear about that. Or the company, for that matter.’ He turned the car left off the main road. We were only a few minutes from his house. ‘I’m glad you’re staying with me tonight. I don’t think I’d fancy being alone after that.’

I could totally understand. ‘You know the best way to avoid any nightmares?’

He glanced at me. ‘What?’

I smirked. ‘Make sure you get plenty of distraction before you go to sleep. Worked perfectly for me last night.’