Part 1
It's his first day out of the hospital, two months after a cult of Satan worshipers conjured up a demon that blew up his apartment, and PB James finds himself standing alone on the street with just the clothes on his back, a $27,000 medical bill, and no where to go. He walks aimlessly, trying to prioritize his worries so his thoughts will settle. He steps into a cafe and uses what is left on one of his credit cards to get a cup of a coffee and some time on the Internet. He sends out e-mails to everyone he knows and leaves messages on Facebook explaining he needs a place to stay for an unspecified amount of time. He hangs around the cafe until almost closing, waiting for a reply.
The only person that offers to put him up is a friend from high-school, Barney Dorset, better known as Barn Door. Some would call Barn Door a bum but he prefers to refer to himself as an "artist". He lives in a warehouse space in San Francisco with several other "artists". Barn Door writes in the e-mail that there is an old ripped out seat from a Chevy truck in the corner with PB's name all over it.
PB takes a train under the Bay to the warehouse. He receives a warm greeting and drinks beer with Barn Door until the sun starts to come up. They mix in medication that PB had left over from his hospital stay and they talk and giggle before passing out a little after dawn.
Barn Door gives PB coffee and granola early the next day and then takes a moment to explain that he and the four room-mates are nearly four months behind on their rent. They have agreed that the best plan of action is to throw a party that night in the warehouse to try to raise money. If they don't get around $7,400 they will have to be out by Friday.
A few hours later the party is in full swing and PB knows he's going to have to search out another place to stay. Only five people have shown up and he knows for a fact that none of them have paid to get in since they all are friends with at least one of Barn Door's room-mates. The room-mates have scraped their last $350 together to buy alcohol and everyone congregates around the bar that's set up. Barn Door's spirits are high, he chats with everyone and let's out long prolonged streams of throaty laughter in two minute intervals.
A girl with thick rimmed glasses greets him and introduces Barn Door to a friend she has brought along. Barn Door in turn introduces them both to PB and mentions some of his friend's most recent adventures. The girl with the glasses and Barn Door then drop into a long discussion about Burning Man and their mutual relations. PB and the friend stand to the side, silent and awkward.
The friend's name is Samantha and she has blond hair that looks like it may have been curly once and will revert back if not properly controlled. The lighting in the warehouse is dim but it is apparent to PB that she is pretty.
"So your house blew up? Is that what Barney said?" she asks.
PB tells her the story of his encounter with Lord Zaldig and his followers. She listens closely and doesn't seem to think he's crazy like the police and arson investigators that have interviewed him over and over in the past months. She offers some background on similar groups from her study of the occult in college and things she's picked up from pieces she's read here and there.
He gets her another drink and their conversation shifts off to other places. A DJ begins to blast music through the empty warehouse and they climb a ladder to the roof and continue to talk over looking the City, the bridge and lights of downtown to their right, the twinkling hills to their left.
Hours fall away comfortably and PB knows he shouldn't be enjoying himself as much as he is.
"So where will you go after this?" Sam asks.
"I have no idea. I don't have much family left. There's an Aunt in Maine but I've never met her."
Sam looks at him closely and then glances over the roof tops and out into the Mission district.
"I have a place you can stay?" she says and PB feels his heart pop two beats out of time.
"You do?"
"My brother's place in San Rafael. He's on vacation for a few weeks. You can stay there at least until he gets back."
PB feels a slight disappointment but grateful never the less. Sam gives him the information and her number and they give their good bye's, no hug or hand shakes, just a wave.
The next morning PB says his farewell to a hung over Barn Door before catching a bus over the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Rafael. He gets off at a gas station and hoofs it up a street called West which twists and turns for two miles until he reaches the address at the top. He is astonished to find himself in front of a large multi storied mansion. He finds a key in the birdbath like Sam had explained and let's himself in through the heavy front door made of redwood.
The house is sparsely furnished like the occupant hasn't fully moved in. There are two chairs and a TV in the main living room who's dark wooden flooring seems to stretch to the length of a football field. Everything in the kitchen is brand new and top of the line. There are four bedrooms upstairs and all are empty except one which holds a mattress, a desk, and a small bookshelf. PB lies down on the mattress and falls asleep.
He awakes the next day hungry and depressed. He goes downstairs and finds the freezer full of TV dinners. He heats two up and eats them both. He stands out on the porch and looks out over the town of San Rafael. He goes back in and watches TV but that reminds him of the hospital and depresses him more. He switches it off and lies on the wood floor, staring at the ceiling.
The sun starts to go down and he goes back up stairs. He fingers through the books on the shelf in the bedroom but they are all medical journals and thick texts with names like "The Infinite Connection of Genetic Reconciliation" and "DNA: Tracing Man Kind". He continues to pick through until he happens upon a green notebook shoved in deep between two encyclopedias. He yanks it out and finds it worn, with it's corners bent and turning to felt. He flips it open to the first page and finds the name Abraham J. Siegel written cleanly and concisely in the exact middle of the page. He flips it and finds the following written in thick block letters:
"WARNING: anyone that comes across this text should know that by reading beyond this page you could very well be putting not only your own life in danger bur also the lives of your loved ones and others around you. This is a warning."
PB pauses briefly and then turns to the next page.
To be continued in Part 2 of PB James and The Man at the Top.
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