Page 91 of Play Nice

When they looked at me, I could tell they didn’t see a middle-aged single mother in distress on the verge of losing her mind, of losing everything. They saw me as a person.

My problem didn’t intimidate them. And they took it seriously. Took me seriously. Took themselves seriously, but not too seriously.

“We’re going to do separate walk-throughs and then compare notes,” Ruth explained. “You don’t need to worry about anything right now.”

Jed laughed. “Nothing to worry about. Except for the fact you’ve got a bunch of weirdos roaming around your house.”

Ruth elbowed him. “You know what I meant.”

“We’re here to help,” he said, smiling. All his teeth were chipped.

Mariella escorted me to the back deck. The two of us smoked cigarettes—she used one of those old-fashioned Holly Golightly holders—and talked for hours. She told me about the spiritualist movement, about her upbringing, her beliefs.

“Does it bother you?” I asked. “That some people think…”

I stopped myself, not wanting to offend.

“Darling, what other people think of me is none of my business,” she said.

We spoke until it was her turn to make a pass through the house.

When she left me, Roy joined me.

He didn’t speak. He looked paler than he had when he arrived. I offered him a smoke, and he accepted.

After a while, I asked, “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

He reached out and put his hand on my hand. His way of both answering my question and comforting me.

By the time they were finished, the sun had set. They called me inside and we gathered around the dining table.

Jed spoke first. “The bad news is you have a demon living in your crawl space. The good news is we can help.”

“How?” I asked.

“We will need to call in Father Bernard and have him perform an exorcism,” Mariella said, pouring me a glass of bourbon from a bottle she must have brought—it wasn’t mine. “Ruth and Roy have experience with demons and can assist.”

“I’m glad you called us. With all our experience, I feel confident in our assessment,” said Ruth. “We can help. But we shouldn’t delay the exorcism. I believe the demon has taken an interest in your daughter, Cici.” CLIO

“What does that mean, ‘taken an interest’?”

“Please know that it won’t come to this. We won’t let it,” Roy said, standing. “But from what we can tell, the demon living in the house has attached itself to Cici. That attachment will be severed through this exorcism, but the sooner the better, before it progresses to codependency. Now, I don’t think it will. If the demon had any intention of possessing Cici, I believe it would have done so already. Some demons want to possess bodies. Humans. Minds. Others are content to possess places. Some demons thrive by causing chaos. Others pain, and grief. What most people fail to understand is that demons, above all, are beings of attachment. On their own, they have no power. We give them power. We give them purpose. Now, some use their power to exert control. Others for fun. They’re just bored.”

—

It’s maybe the most jarring thing I’ve come across in the entire book.

They’re just bored.

I’m not sure why I find this particular detail so unsettling, why it’s got me queasy.

I set the book down on the coffee table, stretch, check my phone. Austin sent me a novel-length text about having to cover a coworker’s shift because their babysitter fell through and they have no one to watch their kid, so now he has to stay on until one a.m.

I type out a response. Okay but who’s gonna watch me??

I delete it and say nothing instead.

I’m unjustifiably angry with him for not being around. I resort to scrolling to temporarily change my brain into placid mush.