Chapter 34 - It's the Small Things That Can Kill You - Meet Mr. Farnell

 Chapter 34 – Meet Mr. Farnell

Officer Phil Jennings returned to his cruiser. He attempted to start his car. The electrical system was dead. What was worse, so was the police radio. The police radio was electrically independent from the rest of the cruiser’s electrical systems save for its reliance on the car’s battery.  The high currents generated by the ball lightning created by the spiritual unrest were like a naturally occurring event. A geomagnetically induced current from a series of sun flares. Both the cruiser’s wiring harness and the delicate parts of the police radio had become overwhelmed by the rapid surges of electromagnetic energy.

“Damn it!” Like a spoiled child with a broken toy, Jennings slammed the mic down on the seat of his cruiser. It bounced, nearly rebounding high enough to pop him in the head. He dodged the microphone. In doing so he smacked his head on the roof of the car. He saw small blips of light dance before him that had little to do with the ongoing spiritual light show.

“He is having a bad night.” I observed. "How long does this, whatever-it-is…pulse thingie last?” I asked Fenton. He scratched his curly red hair, looking disdainfully afterwards at what probably was dandruff.

“Maybe an hour. That is, if the pulse didn’t fry the delicate mechanisms of that radio. The cars will be in far better shape than the radios, I’m guessing. It’s all created by all the ambient static in the air. That all seems to be getting more intense with the increasing number of ghosts or whatever you call these orbs.”

“I don’t think the orbs are the same things as the spirits. Can you see the difference between them? I mean do you see the spirits too?” I said curiously. “I wondered, because you told me once that you were an atheist.”

“I told you that I considered myself a scientist. As such, I see large energy balls moving about. I noticed that their movements don’t seem random. Their movements seem to be guided by some intelligence.” Fenton took a beat to clean his glasses with his shirt tail. “Do you see anything besides that?”

“Yes. Some of them look like silhouettes of glowing transparent human beings. If you get close enough you can recognize them. Their features are distinctly human. Some of the newer ones that just joined the procession do look like energy blobs with arms and legs.” I looked back over at Phil Jennings. He had partially recovered from his self-inflicted whack on the head. At least he had gotten to his knees.

“So, we are having unique perceptions of this event, and you are suggesting that it might be linked to our differences in beliefs?” Fenton said in that flat monotone that always seemed devoid of human warmth.

“Yes. Rico sees the newly dead all the time. Even during daylight hours. He hates it. To him they look just like the living.” I felt like this dialogue was moving in a critical direction.

“Why does he hate it?” Fenton asked. As a budding scientist, Fenton always asked the best questions.

“Because it is distracting. He says if the dead notice that you can see them, they follow you around. He finds that annoying...and, oh yeah, the dead don’t wear any clothing.” I explained.

“These energy balls all look like people to you and they are all naked?” Fenton said, trying to sum up.

“Yes, and they sometimes follow him around.” I added.

“I know why they follow him around.” Fenton replied. “People ignore me sometimes too. It’s tough. You want people to notice you every now and then. Being socially invisible must be like being a ghost or really being invisible. It sucks.”

“That makes a certain amount of sense.” I said slowly. “They also follow Jerry around. He sees them the same way as Rico does. But they don’t seem to bother Jerry like they do Rico. He bosses them around sometimes but mostly he treats them like he would treat me or you.”

“Sounds like the reason they follow people around is that they just want to be seen.” Fenton offered.

“Also, they just want to be heard too, I’ll bet.” I felt that I was onto something big. It just hadn’t completely crystalized.

I saw Joey crawl out of the back of the hearse. Rico and Jerry also exited the front of the long black reconverted limo.

Joey walked up to us, but in doing so he seemed to be looking past me and a block down the road at a lone figure. Tall, slim and wearing an innocuous gray and blue government issued wind breaker, walked F.B.I. agent John Farrow.

Clara pointed to Farrow’s wind breaker. It said F.B.I. on the front and back. The only other time either of us had seen one was in the movies.

“The poop is about to hit the fan.” She said to Joey. “What do you need me to do?”

“I’m ahead of this game Clara. Don’t fret.” Joey confidently walked towards Farrow.

She turned back towards me. “Jax, I have to admit, I’m more than a little scared.”

I put my arm around her. “I’m not scared. You don’t need to be either. Come on...He's Joey Flowers, he's got it handled. Right?”

Fenton walked over to where we were. He had been trying to be helpful by explaining what an electromagnetic pulse was to officer Phil Jennings. Jennings was still disoriented from his head trauma.

Clara buried her face on my shoulder and silently began to weep. She then thought better and sniffed. Fenton robotically patted her shoulder. She wiped away a few tears and then said, “Where have you been mister?”

“Trying to talk to officer Jennings.” Fenton replied.

“How did that go?” I asked.

“Not very well. He was rude and used obscene language.” Fenton said disappointingly. “He said he was going to arrest me, but then he staggered around and fell over. Officer Davidson told me to ignore him. Davidson had heard about electromagnetic pulses before and seemed to understand why the cars electronic systems are disabled.” Fenton glanced back over at Jennings and gave him a disapproving look.

Joey returned with Farrow. “Well, he needs to start treating the citizens of this community better.” Joey said as he and Farrow exchanged a package.

“What’s in the package?” Clara asked cautiously.

Joey answered. “The other bundle of C-4 that Sal and I found in the junked cars on the night of the big baseball playoff. They are wrapped in the original plastic with which Jennings and Davidson received it. After we dismantled the explosive detonation devices we found the package. Sal and I gloved up before we touched it. It has Jennings and Davidson’s prints all over it.”

Farrow shook Joey's hand. "I’ll probably also find Alex Coster’s prints on the plastic too. The F.B.I arrested him last week. Coster transports and sells illegal weapons and explosives. He confessed to selling C- 4 to two local cops down here. Now, thanks to Mr. Farnell, we have physical evidence.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed.

“Wow indeed. My partner is borrowing a vehicle at Happy Meadows. Looks like some odd electrical interference is shutting down the cars in the local area. Probably the damn Russians again. They're behind a lot of techno-weirdness. I’m going to walk this evidence back down the road to meet my partner. Don’t go anywhere until we get back.” Farrow waved us good-bye.

“Mr. Farnell! Really?” Clara’s little eyes bugged out when she looked back over at Joey. She looked at Fenton and laughed. "Techno-weirdo!"