When Jim cam back into the living room he was pleased to see that Amos no longer lying down and was instead sitting up on the couch fully dressed. “Are you feeling better then Amos?

  “A bit better but my eyes are still quite sensitive to light, I took a pair of sunglasses from the table, they seem to help a lot, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Jim, what did your friend say he wanted the blood tests for again?”

  “Oh that….nothin’ much really, he just wants to be cautious and to be able to check for some rare diseases or viruses if he needs to, somethin’ like that I guess is all that was.”

  “Hmmnn….I see.” Amos had gone silent and was staring at Jim. Even behind the dark sunglasses the boys gaze was unsettling to the older man. He cleared his throat and started to shuffle unconsciously on his feet.

  “Is everything ok there Amos, you seem kind of off right about now?”

  Amos leaned forwards on the couch and tilted his head at Jim, for the briefest moment he lifted his sunglasses before lowering them in place on the bridge of his nose.

  “It’s hard to put into words Jim but I know that you were lying to me just now about the reason for blood tests, I can’t really describe how I know but I am sure of it.”

  There was a long pause and then Amos went on “I know that Dan isn’t worried about rare diseases or viruses is he? He thinks I am using drugs without you knowing doesn’t he.”

  When Jim didn’t reply the boy continued “Please trust me, and Alanah for that matter, we are not mixed up in anything like that.”

  “What ever happened to me came from that old lady and it is not getting any better.”

  “Tell me again who you think this woman was and why you think she came all the way out here.”

  The four of them were in the kitchen with Randy standing watch at the door looking for any new unexpected arrivals to the farm. Simon had been carefully guiding Alanah along with questions as she relayed the details of the recent encounter and then the brief history that had led this woman to the farm.

  “I’ve never seen her before but according to her it was her son who tried to capture us at the Charlestown Market.”

  “Mmm-hmmn…. and how do you think she knew to find you here?”

  “I don’t know, we never told her son anything but he did go through Amos’ pockets to get his gun so maybe…”

  “It was the receipts, the bottle and egg receipts from the farm. I always give them to Amos when he is here and he always folded them and placed them in his pockets. They have our information on them at the top.”

  Andi wrung her hands in her lap as she said this and her obvious distress tore at Alanah’s heart. She did not want to bring any trouble to these people if she could help it.

  “I should leave, I don’t want to cause you any problems and now she knows where I am staying.”

  “Hang on Alanah, this woman came out by herself and didn’t stay long and she is clearly crazy.” Simon stood up and poured himself some more coffee from the pot on the counter and sat back down at the table with his chipped mug. After a pause he went on “I mean a curse, come on that is just so stupid. What does her mother use, a small doll that looks like Amos and a bunch of pins?”

  No one laughed at this attempt at humour, everyone was still rattled by the idea of somebody driving all this way and finding them only to make a threat like this.

  “Look Alanah, she said it herself. You guys busted up her son and got away. You embarrassed him and showed that you can handle yourselves just fine. This is their mother and she is just lashing out because her sons was involved”.

  Simon leaned back, he was pleased with his rationalization of this bizarre incident. The further he could move away from talking about a curse the better off they all would be.

  Andi shook her head “I don’t think that sounds right. That is a long drive for just an empty threat. You weren’t here when that woman was speaking to us Simon. She wasn’t just speaking for herself. She was delivering a message and once she did she was happy to leave.”

  Andi looked at Jim, then Randy and finally back to Alanah sitting across the table from her.

  “You saw her when she got out of the car the second time. That was her speaking for herself then and she looked like she was genuinely trying to tell you to stay away. Who ever sent here, they’ve got her plenty worried, what if she is being honest?”

  “Andi this is just ridiculous. The woman is just mad about her little wannabe thug of a son. She’s like any mom who gets upset when their little bully finally gets his comeuppance at school”. Simon held out his hands. “Look at us all, it’s working, she has you both worked up and afraid and now we’re all arguing over her stupid story. Best thing to do is to forget about it and get on with the day.”

  Randy was still staring out of the kitchen door but he had been listening to the conversation and now that there was finally a decent pause in the back and forth between Simon and the others he weighed in for the first time. “Why dont’cha just check in on Amos, see how he’s doin? Might put an end ta alla this worry.”

  His simple wisdom was not lost on the three of them and after another long pause Simon said “well, I might as well call Jim then so that we can all get on with our day without any more fussin’ about.”

  Alessia had already gotten back onto the highway and was making good time as she drove back to Boston. Once again her imagination started working through possibilities where she could live out here, maybe with all of her sons again and even her husband.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  It was a silly fantasy. The kind city dwellers often make on pleasant summer days when the long, dark country winters are just a distant memory. The rural countryside would be an alien landscape to her and her sons and what would they do out here?

  These were all very real challenges but even with the practical issues set aside, the demands of life with Nonna Conti as her mother would make any escape like this impossible.

  The roadside restaurant where the old woman had released the curse passed by the passenger window and Alessia did her best to ignore the building entirely. The enormity of what she had witnessed and the realization of what her mother was capable of was weighing heavily on Alessia.

  Her mother was no longer just a demanding, manipulative tyrant. She was something much, much worse and Alessia was seriously considering running to the church for guidance, but she trusted the priests almost as little as she trusted her mother.

  The call did not go well. It was a tense affair from the onset. Once Simon had dialed the number the kitchen had grown eerily quiet with three sets of ears listening intently to every word that Simon made. On Jim’s side he had the expressionless face of Amos behind his sunglasses, listening quietly and without comment.

  To make matters worse, Simon had decided while making the call that he would relay Jim’s side of each exchange to those in the kitchen with him. He had thought that this approach would be disarming and they would all quickly feel foolish for allowing such ridiculous fears and thoughts to fester so easily over a silly claim.

  This plan had backfired almost immediately as soon as the call began.

  “Hello Jim, it’s Simon…how are you doing? “Jim says he’s just fine thanks”

  Good, good to hear…and how is the boy? He’s what….mmmhhnnn…ok….since when?”

  “Amos is a bit under the weather, seems to have caught a serious bug since coming back yesterday.”

  “You stopped at a restaurant….ahh I know the one….decent place …. Hold on ….you think it was the food?”

  “Amos got sick almost immediately after eating at a restaurant….hold on hold on Jim’s trying to say something”

  “What old lady…….you didn’t see her then who did…..what else did Amos’s say…… ?”

  Simon felt the intensity of Alanah’s gaze along with the others and decided to just keep looking at the table ashe twirled the phone cord in his left hand while holding the receiver tight to his face.

  “So she was there but you didn’t see her, only Amos saw her?”

  “There was an old woman there who approached Amos and blew something in his face…”

  “What the fuck….Jesus…let me speak to Jim for a minute.” Alanah got up and reached out for the phone. Simon looked briefly at Andi and then shrugged and handed it over.

  Alanah had Jim go through the entire series of events since they had left the farm yesterday. She grew quiet and just let Jim talk. When he was done Alanah spoke again “I’m coming back, can you come get me?”

  “Hold on, hold on” Simon was standing up and reaching for the phone. “Give me that Alanah, I have a few more questions for Jim. You can fill us in in a minute.”

  After a short exchange with Jim, Simon promised to call him back and then hung up the phone.

  “You see, that lady today wasn’t fucking kidding. They followed us here yesterday and then they decided to go for Amos. I’ll bet that old bitch in the restaurant was her mother. Jesus Christ we are so fucked…”

  “Alanah honey, please just relax, you need a clear head right now.”

  Alanah looked over at Andi and immediately felt bad for her outbursts and then waited for Simon to speak.

  “Look Alanah, this just sounds worse than it is, I’m sure these people are just trying to intimidate you, to freak you out. This curse thing is just a bunch of nonsense.”

  Randy shifted in the doorway and half turned against the wood casing so that he was able to look down the driveway and then shift his attention into the kitchen.

  “No matter what, it sounds like that woman is connected to some heavies in Boston, you an’ Amos might need to lay low for a longer while now.”

  “We knew that but now he is sick. What if she poisoned him? I am not going to just wait here to see if he dies”.

  Simon spoke again “They’ve taken some blood and urine samples, we will hopefully know soon what was done to Amos.”

  “How long will that take?”

  Simon looked up at the clock, a stylized plastic cut out of a Rooster on the wall with two elongated wings serving as the minute and hour hands. “Jim said end of day for the results. That’s just a few hours from now. Let’s just take a break and see what the test show.”

  Randy took Alanah out to the barn and set her up grooming the three horses housed in the stables. It was demanding work and just what she needed to keep her mind from running wild with possibilities. At five o’clock she tried to return to the kitchen but he made her clean up and put everything back in order first and then set out the feed and water for the horses.

  “There’s time enough for everything and these horses don’t like to be kept waitin’ long for their supper so let’s get em’ fed.”

  Once back inside the house Alanah asked Andi to call Jim and while the four crowded around the phone once the call was made she started to feel a sense of foreboding return to the kitchen.

  After speaking for a few long minutes to Jim, Andi turned to Alanah with her hand over the bottom of the telephone handset. “Jim says the blood and urine tests all came back with no problems. All of Amos’ measures were fine, no issues at all.”

  Alanah wanted to feel relief but there was nothing in Andi’s expression that encouraged it.

  “He’s not doing any better though, Jim is getting worried about him and he doesn’t know what to do next. He offered to take Amos to the hospital but Amos refused, he said it wouldn’t do any good.”

  “Fuck it, I need to get back to see him, this is just so messed up. Andi, please tell Jim I am coming to his place as soon as I can.”

  “Hold on, hold on, let’s figure this all out and then we will let Jim know what we are doing. Andi, please tell Jim that we will call him back soon.”

  In the end, there was not much left to discuss. Alanah was insistent on leaving and for a while Andi and Simon objected but ultimately she was able to convince them that she was safer with Jim, at least the crazy lady from Boston did not know where Jim and Amos were.

  “I’m really sorry, you’ve been so good to me and I have just put you all in danger.” The young girl looked to be on the verge of tears and Randy did not want to see her break down in front of them all.

  “Don’t worry about us Alanah, we farm folk can handle ourselves. Tonight I’m bringing my dogs over here and leaving em’ here for a few weeks. That’ll be over two hundred pounds of snarling fur that no one’s gonna sneak up on. Simon seems like a real sweetheart but I’ve seen him drop plenty of deer with his rifle from three hundred feet out.”

  “These City toughs like to wave around handguns that ain’t much good for anything much further than twenty feet away. With the dogs here Simon and Andi will be just fine. It’s you and Amos that we are worried about. I’ll be back with the dogs and I’ll stay the night, first thing in the morning I’ll run ya in and I’m sure Amos will be feelin’ much better soon.”

  Alessia had not been in the house for more than a minute before her mother called for her.

  “Alessia come here, I want to talk to you.”

  Ugghh, not one goddamn minute goes by in this house without that woman controlling everything. Alessia trudged up the wooden steps after deciding not to take her shoes off. It was a coin toss, either the old woman would yell at her for wearing them in the house or for taking too long to answer her call.

  Today was different, Nonna Conti did not have the time or energy for such trivial concerns.

  “Did you tell the girl? Did you tell her what I told you to say?”

  “I did mama, she didn’t like it and she didn’t believe me but I told her that her friend had been cursed and only Nonna Conti could lift it. I said she could find you in the North End and to look for you when they were ready.”

  “Ahhh good. They will already be talking I’m sure and they will be getting scared. It won’t be long now. Now we need the neighborhood to make their whispers. I want all the old ladies to do their pettegolezzo. I want the boccalone to travel. You must tell everyone what your Nonna has done. Tell them that they will soon see what Nonna Conti has done.”