a Duwamish Bay Adventure
by
a.m. moscoso
Pt 1
Was Sunny Longyear Dead Wrong?
Peebles Bookstore has cats in their window.
Real cats, the kind of cats that meow and shed fur and sharpen their claws on your furniture.
They’re also the type of cats that spend all day waiting in the window for that one person to come into their store that will have an allergy attack requiring medication just so they can be ready to climb into their laps and watch them wheeze.
Those kinds of cats.
The owners of Peebles ( and the property of The Cats in The Window ) are fond of Swing Music and from the time the Bookstore opens until it closes the stereo is always on.
That’s the Peebles Bookstore Sunny Longyear went into 15 minutes to close last December.
Milton was stacking books on the counter for mail orders and his wife Avis was feeding the Cats when the bell above the door jingled. It surprised them both because the bell was tilted up and neither one of them had gotten around to fixing it.
At any rate, the bell tinkled and they felt a chill creep go around and over the counter and when they looked up Sunny was at the door.
She asked if they had a moment and when they said yes of course they did. Then Sunny looked over her shoulder and then from her right to left and she when she looked back at them she seemed puzzled.
” Sorry, ” she said, ” I wasn’t sure you could hear me.”
She walked by the Cats who took no notice of her and when she got up to the counter she looked at the clock and said, ” I’m sorry, I have to make this fast. I have a train to catch. I’m looking for books by an author called Bancho Church. Have you ever heard of him? “
Avis was the collectables expert at Peebles and she told Sunny, ” his graphic novels are impossible to find – in fact nobody has seen one since the 1950’s. “
Sunny looked puzzled and then she spoke slowly and leaned forward. ” Graphic Novel. “
” That’s code for ‘expensive comic book ” Milton said from his growing stack of books.
” I don’t understand, ” Sunny said ” I’m looking for books by Bancho Church. Not- uh…”” Graphic Novels. “
Sunny looked around the store and said, ” this was the place, the print shop, I came to the right place I know I did. “
” Of course you did Miss…. ” Milton started to say.
” Sunny, Sunny Longyear ” Sunny told him.
Avis told Sunny, ” Actually Bancho’s- ” here Avis chose her words carefully because the customer is always right even when they’re dead wrong ” novels were banned by the Government back in the 1950’s.”
” You mean Graphic Novels ” Milton chimed in.
” Shut up Milt. Anyway Sunny, stories like Bancho’s were seen as a threat to the moral fiber of our youth.. Really though, in those times anything that led people to think outside of the box was considered subversive. So in the end Bancho’s stories were collected and destroyed. You could be called Un-American for even owning a Bancho Church book. “
” See they made it law that couldn’t write about Werewolves, Ghouls, Vampires or Zombies. So that was the end of Bancho Church. “
Sunny looked up at Avis and her dark eyes looked empty and sad, ” Yes it was…but the books- I’ve been hired to track them down and…”
” I’m sorry Miss, I’d really like to help you but…”
Sunny looked up at the clock and she said, I have to catch my train. Please, a start, a name, a place anything…my clients are very anxious to locate these works.”
Instead of turning to the door to leave Sunny started to squint again and she shook her head, ” I have to go…” she walked quickly towards the back of the shop. ” my train is there. “
Then Sunny walked away from the counter and Avis saw her turn a corner and she called out thinking the woman must have terrible vision because she didn’t look or sound dumb enough to not be able to find a door that was right behind her
” Miss the door is this way- “
No answer and it was cold.
Without saying anything Avis and Milton both guessed Sunny had left through the Emergency Exit…she must have.
Avis looked at Milt and she shook her head. ” You go look.”
When Milton got to the back of the store he saw that the door was closed and the alarm it triggered when it was opened was quiet so the woman with bad eyes didn’t leave the store this way.
He checked the rows and then he went back to the Emergency Door.
He pushed it opened and it started to beep and he wondered as he looked out onto the remains of the Prefontaine Train Station- shut down and abandoned by the main line since the 1920’s- if Sunny Longyear caught her train after all…
and what he would tell her when she came back.
pt. 2
The Grave Tale of Bancho Church
Bancho Church died back in 1954 when his car slammed into a tree out on Poplar Road in a town called Kilburne.
For over 50 years some people wondered what that terrible last hour was like for Bancho- and you’re about to find out.
Some people have all the luck.
Bancho spent the last hour of his life wondering if he was going to be burned alive in the wreckage of his car. And as awful as it sounds that wasn’t the worst thing Bancho went through that night.
The worst part of it all- worse then the steering wheel burying itself in his chest, worse then the broken legs and dislocated shoulder, worse then the fact he could feel his ruined eye running down his cheek…worse then all of that was the awful fact that Bancho could see with his one good eye, just on the other side of the road-he saw someone watching him die.
And they were smiling.
That’s how Bancho Church’s story ends…and everyone else’s story begins.
Sunny Longyear use to be a grave digger- she wasn’t the kind of Grave Digger you see in the old black and white horror films from the old days.
She used a backhoe to open the grave, she ran the machinery to lower the coffin into the ground and then she closed the grave and the entire time she worked she could take hits from her candy Pez Gun.
And even though she was a woman running a huge piece of heavy machinery and eating candy from a dispenser that had a frog’s head no one really ever saw her at work.
So on that day when everything in Sunny’s life changed, the day she looked down into the face of a small dark woman with eyes so black they looked like empty sockets in a snow white skull, she didn’t answer the woman’s greeting and she certainly didn’t realize the woman had asked her a question because she was listening to music on her cassette player.
The woman motioned for her to pull her headphones off and Sunny did.
” I said, hello ” the Dark Woman said, ” My name is Livia Cotard and you are-”
” Uh- Sunny, Sunny Longyear. “
Sunny felt like she needed to fill up the space around herself with words and as she started to talk she had the unpleasant feeling that emptiness was being caused by the woman on the ground below her.
” I’m sorry, I’m not use to people- ” here Sunny searched for the right words and all she could think to say was, ” I’m not use to having people notice me.”
Livia Cotard’s smile was as bright as an exploding star ” that’s magnificent. Yes…that will do. So, my next question is- does Death bother you? “
Sunny straightened up in her seat, pulled her Pez Gun from the front pocket of her work shirt and snapped the Frog’s head back. A little rectangle piece of cherry flavored candy shot into her mouth and she crunched it slowly.” You’re kidding right? “
Livia Cotard motioned from Sunny to lean forward and she handed her a business card. ” I need for you to find a someone for me…”
” Miss Cotard…”
” Livia “
” Livia, I don’t work with living people. I work with dead people. I bury dead people.” Sunny said hoping that she was making herself clear.
” Miss Longyear, I know what it is you do for a living, I asked if Death bothers you and you said no. Therefore you are the perfect person for the job I’m offering you. “
Sunny who didn’t realize that not only was her life about to change and the world she use to know was about to end laughed and asked, ” and what job is that? “
” I need for you to find a friend- and it’s very likely that I’ll need for you to kill someone.”
Sunny spit what was left of her Pez out of her mouth and said, ” Are you freaking crazy? “
” Oh…Miss Longyear don’t worry, the person I’ll need for you to dispatch is already dead- this isn’t like murder or anything like that. “
” Oh, ha, ha, ” Sunny choked and she reached over to start the engine on the backhoe back up ” that’s a relief. I thought you were asking me to break the law or something wild like that…”
” No Miss Longyear, I’m not asking you to break the law. I’m asking you to help me find someone very important to me. I’m asking you to do whatever it takes to accomplish that. “
Livia reached up again and handed Sunny a dust jacket from a book.” Gone To Croatan ” was splashed across the cover in red ink and there was a picture of a Woman with no eyes under the title.
” The man who wrote this died under horrible circumstances, but before he died all of his books disappeared. All that’s left is this, and of course the manuscripts. I bound those myself and they’re quite- ” Livia said with an unpleasant smile ” capable of taking care of themselves”.
“I’d like them found and returned to me. “
Sunny turned the dust jacket over and looked down into the face of BanchoChurch.
‘Master Of The Macabre’ was written in the same red letters under his picture as the ones on the front of the cover and Sunny tried not to laugh.
She had the feeling that she could have lit herself on fire and the Livia wouldn’t have batted an eye…but she didn’t think that Livia Cotard would sit still while she laughed at the picture of the late Bancho Church.
Sunny saw that Bancho didn’t look like the ” Master of The Macabre “
The face that Sunny saw looked like it should have been in a photograph of a teenager sitting at a Soda Fountain sharing a malted milkshake with a girl in a poodle skirt
” Looks like a kid. “
” He was…once” Livia told her.
Sunny starred down into that darkness that was seemed to cover Livia Cotard’s face like a veil and she was glad for it. Whatever was under that darkness was best left just out of sight.
Sunny could feel that in her bones.
” There’s a train that leaves from behind Peebles Bookstore in Seattle- at the Prefontaine Station. Be on it Miss Longyear. “
Then Livia pulled herself up straight and said as if she had been rehersing what she was about to say next for hours upon countless hours “Please.”
” That’s the train station where the fire was…” Sunny said
.” Yes.”
” Eighty years ago.”
Livia shrugged. ” Unless train stations in Seattle burst into flames on a regular basis- then we’re talking about the same one.”
” It’s off line now…I mean, there hasn’t been a train on it for years. “
” That’s a relief. It would be another nasty mess if the train from Duwamish Bay comes through and there’s something on the tracks.”
” I see your point.” Sunny agreed.
” Then we can expect you Miss Longyear. “
Sunny didn’t answer her because she really didn’t need to.
” I’m glad we’re already understanding each other Miss Longyear.” Livia turned and walked deep into the cemetery and Sunny finished digging the grave.
That night Sunny Longyear left for Duwamish Bay
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