Someone is Reading a Poem…

Balthazar or Zar to his friends was enjoying what he would consider the most perfect cup of tea. The smell of cardamom and cinnamon filled him with a sense of peace. He picked up the shortbread biscuit his friend Frank had brought him yesterday and nibbled on it. The sweetness of the biscuit and spicy tea complimented each other perfectly. He picked up the teacup once more to take a sip. The cup was of the most delicate china with blue birds in flight painted on it. He loved this set. It had been passed down several generations in his family.

    He looked up from his reading when he saw a shimmering across the room like when heat rises from a hot sidewalk. He started to feel fuzzy and he had tunnel vision like he was seeing the room from a distance. He lifted his hand to his head and he didn’t feel solid. Oh no, not again. 

    It’s the strangest feeling when he shifted. If only he had gum to help with the equilibrium. He started yawning to clear his ears and he realized that he had closed his eyes. Opening his eyes he looked out and saw a crowd of people in a dimly lit room sitting looking up at him and the person standing next to him who was reading some really hideous poetry. 

    He dropped the teacup that was still clasped in his hand when he made the shift. He stared at the broken pieces of his delicate teacup and opened and closed his hand not believing what this human had caused. “You!” He roared at the person next to him. 

    Everyone was frozen in the room hoping that his wrath wouldn’t turn on them. The young woman started to shift from one foot to the next and carefully arranged the papers she was holding.

    “Look what you’ve done.” He gestured to the shattered remains of his cup. 

    “I’m I’m...”

    “Sorry! Is that what you’re going to say.” 

    “Yes, I was just reading poetry. I don’t know how this happened.”

    “Indeed. It was very bad poetry at that.”

    “But... but... How did you get here?”

    Zar sighed. “You tell me. You summoned me here. I was enjoying a lovely cup of tea and a biscuit. I was finally getting caught up on my reading, and now...” He shook his head. “I’m here.”

    “I didn’t summon you.”

    Zar snatched the paper out of the woman’s hands and scanned the sheet. He pointed at it. “Here. This is it.”

    She looked over his shoulder. “What,  you mean this. From the belly of the underworld the great demon Balthazar shall come forth.” She looked up from the paper at him. “So now that you’re here. What does that mean? Do I get three wishes?”

    “Do I look like a genie? No, I do something for you, within reason, and then I take your soul.”

    “But I didn’t mean to summon you.” Zar notices that that woman is slowly inching away from him.

    “Sorry sister, those are the rules.” He looked out and noticed a sea of phones pointing toward him recording his every word. Great! Now everyone will know how to summon me. He snapped his fingers and all the phones disappeared. There are some advantages to being a demon.

    “What if I just ask you to go back. I don’t want anything. Can I just unsummon you?”

    “Unsummon is not a word, but after listening to your poetry, I’m not surprised that you don’t know this.”

    The woman walked off the stage and Zar followed. He didn’t have a choice. Those are also the rules. “If I’m going to be tied to you for the unforeseeable future, can you at least tell me your name. You already know mine.”

     “No! Then you will have power over me.”

    Zar started laughing and bent over trying to contain his laughter. “You humans are so cute.”

    “My name is Sarah, okay.” She headed to the door of the club.

    “Where are we going? You know you’ll eventually have to tell me what you want.”

    “What’s the point of telling you what I want if you’re going to take my soul?”

    “You’re smarter than most who summon me. I’ll have to give you that. I don’t take your soul immediately. You live a natural life span, and then, in the end, I take your soul back with me. It’s not as bad as it seems. I’ve made some really great friends this way. As long as they continue to please me; they continue to exist. In fact, I was enjoying a really lovely biscuit by one of my conquests when you summoned me.”

    They got to a building and walked up several flights of stairs. He understood now why Sarah was so fit. Maybe she can be his fitness trainer. He was getting a little flabby. 

    She entered her apartment and threw her jacket on the floor and kicked her shoes off. This was unacceptable. He liked things neat. There was still time to break her of that habit. He was greeted by a furry fluffy thing on the floor that hissed at him and backed away. 

    Sarah went over to the fluffy thing and picked it up. “It’s okay, Casper. I will get rid of the scary beast.” 

    He would take offense to this, but he was somewhat of a scary beast. That was kind of the point. “Oh!” He snapped his fingers. “That thing is white like a ghost. Humans can be so clever and stupid at the same time.”

    She sat down at her computer and typed something in. He didn’t really care. Maybe he could get a bagel while she put off asking him what she wanted.

    Sarah turned toward him and said, “htrof emoc llahs razahtlaB nomed taerg eht dlrowrednu eht fo ylleb eht morf .”

    His mouth dropped open. She unsummoned (still not a word) him by saying it backward. She found a loophole. He shifted once again and was back in his kitchen.