Page 22 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
The next morning, Pearl shakes me awake with, “Hey doll, I was reading history on your phone, and a little rectangle popped up. It said ‘Sharon’ on the top and ‘Come to the store’underneath that.”
We head to Rosa’s first thing. Sharon waves us to the back as soon as we walk in and hands me a hairnet as I pass by. Rosa is at her desk, drinking a coffee, and reading from what’s possibly the thickest book I’ve ever seen.
“Sit, sit,” she waves to Pearl and me as we take our seats. “We’ve figured him out. Now’s the time to plan, ladies.”
“We’re ready to hear what you found,” I say as I take Pearl’s hand in mine.
Sharon closes the door behind her, leans against it, and crosses her black velvet-wrapped arms across her chest. “I looked up his military records, since we know that whatever changed him happened when he was deployed. He was sent to Italy, but when the battle was won, he didn’t return with the rest of the troops. They didn’t find him until 1945, and when they did, he was on some island in Greece. I had to dig pretty deep to find the rest, but apparently, when they found him, he was alone in a dark room. It was filled with shallow water and labeled ‘Experiment: Reminisce.’ Fucked up stuff. There wasn’t much else I could find, but mom and I started putting the pieces together.”
Rosa jumps right into where Sharon left off, eyes sparkling with excitement. “Now, you must understand that this is all a guess, but we’re pretty confident. It’s going to sound a little crazy. Just listen though.”
“I’m made of paper. Crazy is my life,” Pearl shrugs.
Rosa points at Pearl. “Crazy is this whole damn town. Anyway, we need to send him to the underworld.”
“You want to send him tohell?” Pearl interrupts, her hand on her chest, her eyes wide with shock. “I don’t think I can do that, even to someone so terrible.”
“Oh, sweetheart, there are many different worlds. When I say underworld in this case, I’m referring to somewhere not for you and me. Somehow, Sharon and I think the monsters—humanmonsters—who captured Brigley brought water from Hades, the Greek underworld, to ours.”
Rosa glances at Sharon, who nods at her to continue.
“They used it to do something to him—something that changed him into acreature that’s no longer human and no longer meant for,” Rosa spreads her hands out wide, then raises them up, “this place.”
“I looked up how to send a baseball coach, who's been possessed by water from the river Lethe, back to Hades, before he can poof a paper woman out of existence. Obviously, that led me nowhere,” Sharon says, dryly as always. “I did look more into the river itself and found that in some of the stories people can reverse the memory loss effects with water from the pool of Mnemosyne, which is also found in the underworld. I think if we’re going to get rid of this guy, that’ll be a major part of how.”
“Oh, cool, so we just waltz into Hades and grab some water. No biggie.” I groan as I flop backward on the sofa.
“So little faith.” Rosatsksme.
“Obviously I wouldn’t bring it up if I didn’t already have it,” Sharon says as she unzips a pocket in her black skirt. She pulls out a purple vial with a wax seal top and waves it side to side. “I’ve gotconnections.”
Pearl claps (though it doesn’t make much sound) and giggles with glee. She asks, "Was it from the phone?"
Sharon shakes her head while Rosa snorts a laugh. I sit back up, heart racing with excitement now that I know we’re close again.
“That’s so awesome Sharon! What now?” I ask.
“Well, after we got this, we had to figure out what to do with it. We didn’t know if he was able to be harmed in any traditional way, considering he’s been alive so long. So, we had to test it.”
“Oh, boy. You had to hurt him?” Pearl asks. “Who did you get to do that?”
“Angelo,” Rosa replies. “He was at practice and was able to get close enough to scratch him with a hidden razor. Unfortunately, it didn’t hurt him.”
I slump in my seat. “Well, shit. He’s invincible? How are we going to get to him?”
“We’re gonna make him eat it,” Sharon says.
“What? How?” I ask. “I never see him eat anything.”
Rosa sighs, exasperated, with her hand on her forehead. “You do. All the time.”
I think of Brigley’s creepy face, trying to remember any time I’ve seen him eating, but all I can see is him either smoking a cigar or chewing—
“Oh! Gum!”
Rosa snaps her fingers “Now you’re thinking! We’re going to make the gum and give some to you and some to Angelo. Both of you will have some when you go to the stadium so whichever of you sees him first can offer it to him. We’re also going to make something for you to locate the other girls, which should be much easier. I’ve made location spells before.”
“Ah, this is so exciting! We’re gonna save the girls!” Pearls says with the biggest grin.
