Dad is a Ninja

by A. M. Johnson

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
parts: 1, 2, 3, 4

conclusion

The kids and I were settled on the couch with snacks and blankets, allegedly to watch scary movies, but this was all part of the plan we had formulated with Shadow Ricky. Using the little bit of sign language we knew, and doing lots of fingerspelling, we had determined that the djinni was in our home somewhere, otherwise Ricky’s compass would have led him elsewhere. We knew there was going to be a showdown of some sort, and it was happening without delay.

In between movie dialog, I whispered to Elaina and Jamie the story that SPC Baloch had told me. They were pretty open-minded and accepted it basically without question. I guess having a shadow figure moving around in your home can open your mind to lots of possibilities.

We were about halfway into the first movie, the English version of Pan’s Labyrinth, when Elaina gently placed her hand on my arm and squeezed, nodding her head discreetly toward the French doors that separated the dining room from the den. I carefully cut my eyes in that direction while pretending to search for the remote control.

Sure enough, next to the china cabinet, there was a shadow figure, casually leaning on the cabinet with ankles crossed. In spite of the situation, I felt a surge of anger. There he was, this evil djinni, leaning against my china cabinet like it was nothing, plotting how he would ruin us, hurt us, or maybe even kill us. The nerve of that thing! I knew I should be afraid, but if I’d known a way to kill him, I would have done it right then. But I was powerless. I had no weapons at all against living shadows.

What I did have, though, was an important role to play. Untangling myself from blankets and handing the popcorn bucket to Jamie, I stood up. “You two keep on watching,” I said loudly. “I’m going to go put my pajamas on.”

The plan was to draw the djinni upstairs, to have him follow me and leave the children downstairs. Shadow Ricky was waiting in the bedroom. He had thought perhaps the djinni would go after whoever was alone first. I wanted to make sure the djinni didn’t get a chance to go after either of the children, so they had strict instructions to stay together at all times, regardless.

As I walked up the steps, I could see the shadow moving from the corner of my eye. It was moving toward the stairs, just as we’d hoped.

Then, it hit me. A djinni, a magical being with evil intentions, had just followed me upstairs, and I was about to be alone with it. I felt a shiver in the center of my spine, but I kept walking.

In the bedroom, I began to undress, but I immediately felt a presence as if I was being watched. Of course, I was, but I had not expected to feel so self-conscious over a djinni watching me undress. I felt weirdly exposed before I even took off any clothing. Shivering, I reached for my pajamas. The djinni could not know that we were aware of his presence, or the plan wouldn’t work.

No sooner had I pulled my pajama top over my head, covering my eyes, than I felt a push from behind and sprawled face-first onto the bed. I tried to get back up, but unseen hands pushed me back down. I screamed.

The next few minutes were a blur of activity. I could hear footsteps as the children ran upstairs in response to my scream, all the while yelling, “Mom, are you alright??”

I heard a struggle of some type, and my bedside lamp crashed to the wood floor. Still, hands that I could not see held me down. Then I felt an incredible weight, as if two grown men were lying on top of me, wrestling. There was loud thumping as the two shadows rolled off of me onto the floor.

Finally able to stand, I wriggled the pajama top over my head the rest of the way and hurriedly pulled on the pants. That was when I realized I was alone. The battle had moved to a different location.

Listening, I heard noises coming from the guest room and headed that way. Elaina screamed, and I quickened my pace. As I stepped in the room, I saw a shadow: it was the djinni, and it had hold of Elaina’s hair. It appeared to be holding a long knife to her neck. Another shadow, Ricky, was standing in the corner of the room, unsure what to do. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

Immediately, the djinni shadow released Elaina and began flying around the room, obviously trying to avoid what Ricky was holding.

“Don’t let him get away!” yelled Elaina. I searched the room trying to pinpoint the djinni’s location, but he was moving too fast. Looking about, I saw Ricky’s shadow headed for the door of the guest room, and I thought, Where is he going? Then I saw Jamie, and I understood.

The djinni circled the room a few times at crazy speeds I couldn’t even comprehend. As I watched him, I realized that he was still bound by certain physical laws. Sure, he was a shadow, but he had substance. He could hold me down on the bed. He could push Jamie down the stairs. As he was running about the room, I noticed his shadow feet sounded pretty solid as they made contact with the floor.

And they stopped making any noise when the djinni tried to leave the room through the door, where Jamie waited patiently. With exquisite timing, his left leg shot out just as the djinni tried to pass. The djinni tripped, sprawling on the hall floor right at the feet of Shadow Ricky.

Ready with his box, Ricky paused. I didn’t know at the time that he was saying the words, words that he could never remember after the fact. What I did know is that an enormous flash of light blinded me, followed by a loud whooshing sound. It was as if a great wind passed through my house.

I blinked several times until my vision began to return to normal. The house was quiet, except that I could hear myself, Jamie and Elaina breathing heavy, like we’d just run a mile.

There was no sign of the djinni.

Ricky’s shadow stood holding the box. The other shadow, the djinni, was nowhere to be seen. Ricky held up the box and pointed to it, then made motions like he had put something in it and gave us a thumbs up. The djinni was in the box. The plan had worked!

Elaina, Jamie and I whooped and hollered like we’d just won the Superbowl or the lottery or something. Shadow Ricky silently watched our celebration, then held up his hand and waved. We looked at him.

“Where will you go now, Dad?” asked Elaina. Jamie looked at her strangely.

“What do you mean? He’s coming home, right?” Jamie walked toward Shadow Ricky.

“You’re coming home, right?”

Ricky shrugged. He broke out the fingerspelling long enough to tell us that he didn’t know what would happen, then he made the sign for “I love you.”

“We love you too, Dad,” said Elaina, and her voice caught a little. Tears were already slipping down her cheeks.

I wish I could have reassured them, but I just didn’t know what to say. I smiled at Ricky, wiped my own tears and blew him a soggy kiss.

“I love you, crazy man,” I whispered.

Jamie stared silently as shadow Ricky retreated, his shadow growing smaller until it disappeared.

“We need to get to the hospital,” said Jamie.

I started to do some mom-splaining about not getting our hopes up, then remembered what the doctor was planning to do in the morning. Looking at the clock, I realized it was only about an hour until they would take Ricky off all the machines. Our battle had lasted longer than I thought.

“You’re right,” I said to Jamie. “Everyone get dressed. We’re leaving in ten.”

* * *

Ricky’s Story

After we caught the djinni, I put the box in my pocket and walked back out into the endless dusk that is the underworld. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. Was I supposed to keep the box, or hide it somewhere? Or did I have to keep it with me for the rest of eternity while I aimlessly wandered the underworld?

I looked down at my arm and realized the compass was gone. I looked at my other arm, and the coin was still there, right at the crook of my elbow. I hadn’t needed to go to the land of the djinn, so I still had a perfectly good coin. I knew what I had to do.

Finding my way again to that dark, oily river was not easy, but I managed it. Standing on the banks, I waited patiently, and eventually the rowboat appeared on the other side, making its way slowly across to where I stood.

I held out my arm, and the coin tattoo shimmered, then it appeared to be hovering above my arm rather than being on it. As I watched, it rose up in the air to about eye level.

A long, skeletal arm appeared, and a bony hand grasped the coin. The face that I’d seen on the trip over the black water reappeared.

“Where to?” asked a raspy voice, bloodshot eyes bulging.

“Back to the land of the living,” I said.

The bulging eyes stared at me for a moment, then two bony shoulders covered in gray robes shrugged. “Suit yourself,” the skeletal face said. “Hop in.”

* * *

There was quite the commotion when we arrived at Evans Army Hospital. We were met at the elevator to the ICU by one of Ricky’s nurses, who excitedly shooed us back into the main elevator bank.

“He’s not in the ICU now,” she said, “as soon as he woke up, we moved him down to a regular room.”

There were several nurses and doctors standing in the hallway talking in whispers, looking as though they’d seen a ghost. They all went silent as we walked past to get to Ricky’s room, where more doctors and nurses had congregated to discuss the bizarre man who came back from the dead.

Because that is literally what my husband, Staff Sgt. Richard Melrose, had done. He had come back to life after being declared brain dead, and he didn’t even appear worse for wear.

The second he saw me and the kids, Ricky practically jumped out of the bed, doctors protesting loudly. He pushed past the crowd of confused medical professionals and grabbed his children in a bear hug, then he reached for me and kissed me so hard my teeth rattled.

“I will never doubt you again,” I said.

He laughed, then raised one eyebrow. “You probably should doubt me sometimes,” he said.

“Okay,” I said laughing, “I’ll doubt you only when necessary.”

After the nurses got Ricky back into bed and the crew of onlookers finally went back to their own patients, Ricky reached under his pillow and pulled out a small lacquered box. It was deep blue with lovely gold symbols on it.

“It was really hard to conceal this from my ICU nurse,” he said. “I had to hold it in my armpit.”

“Eyoo,” said Elaina. “So you’re saying it smells like armpit stank?”

Of course, Ricky immediately waved it under her nose, then Jamie’s, much to their mock disgust. Laughter ensued. Then Jamie got serious.

“Dad,” he said, “I don’t want you to ever do that again.”

Ricky smiled. “I won’t, I promise,” he said, ruffling Jamie’s hair. “And I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you, the way you tripped you-know-who. Perfect timing, buddy.”

Jamie beamed. “I figured if he could push me down the stairs, he was solid enough to be tripped.”

Ricky nodded. “Good figuring,” he said.

“He takes after his dad,” I said. “You’d like him. I hear he’s a ninja.”

Elaina and Jamie laughed, while Ricky looked confused. He had obviously not heard the stories.