Wendy loves Dr. Sylvia Hansberry, but she knows that she is not in love with her. She cares a lot for the doctor, but Wendy hasn’t ever dealt with the loss of her first love, Dr. Teri Nielsen, and until she does, she won’t allow herself to be emotionally vulnerable enough to really accept Sylvia as her partner.
Her ancestors are uncomfortable when Sylvia is at Wendy’s house; Anesuishe and Great uncle usually stand in a different room and whisper to one another. Anesuishe was bisexual in her life so it was not the same-sex nature of the relationship that made her uncomfortable, and she actually helped Great uncle to become less offended by the displays of affection between the women and he understands now that the doctor cared very much for his descendant and he could not ask for much more for her. Neither of them could understand why Wendy had chosen a white partner and they both watched Sylvia so closely because they were sure that she had some secret intentions to kill Wendy, or worse. Even over the year or so that the two spent time together, neither Anesuishe nor Great uncle have ever learned to trust Sylvia. White people in their experiences were not necessarily bad people, but their allegiances were always to people who looked like them which neither of the ancestors wanted for Wendy. She required a strong partner, someone who could empathize and provide support no matter the adversity they faced. And it seemed to them that Wendy never fully trusted Sylvia either. The ancestors watched closely enough to know that Sylvia had no idea that Wendy was a very powerful medium; Wendy never mentioned it and the two hardly ever talked about anything that wasn’t worked related.
Wendy tried to avoid conversations with the ancestors about her relationship with Sylvia and she managed to drown out their criticisms by delving into the abilities that she derived from her vadzimu. Her ancestors loved to teach her and they were easily distracted when she showed interest in their ancient traditions.
Wendy learned to fight very well without Great uncle possession and she learned ancient incantations from Anesuishe that allowed her to throw energy projections and command explosions to send her flying through the air.
At work, Wendy was given a special assignment and she temporarily relocated to Charleston, South Carolina where she studied alongside the Brain Stimulation Service Team at the Medical University of South Carolina. The progress of Dr. Hansberry’s patients at the IBF had stalled and she hoped that electrical stimulation might encourage the restoration of brain function. Wendy was happy to spend time in Charleston and she did not mind months away from her home, or from Dr. Hansberry. If anything, the time away prolonged their relationship because Wendy would not end it while she was away, even though she wondered if she was doing the doctor a disservice by prolonging the inevitable. She didn’t worry that their professional relationship would be affected; they had managed a good work and home life separation that made Wendy excited about their professional future together. But Wendy knew that Sylvia deserved a partner who returned all of her excitement at being in her presence that Wendy felt when she was with her, and that Wendy could not reciprocate genuinely.
Wendy found Charleston to be a very interesting place and she was astounded at the numbers of ghosts she encountered on a daily basis in the city. They may as well had been real people who carried on lives with regular schedules; like the milk man who tipped his hat at Wendy every weekday morning he ghosted through the route he had taken nearly a century before.
She lived in a nice house that she rented on John’s Island near the Stono River, and it reminded her of her own home with different flowers in the backyard garden. There was a high stone wall in the back covered with foliage and creaking oaks with joints in the branches that made them jagged like lightning bolts.
“This place is sticky,” Great uncle said to her one afternoon after they had been in Charleston for a week. “It’s heavy. I do not like being so close to the sea.”
He frowned in the backyard leaning against his long staff that was his weapon of choice and made from the same energies that compromised his ghostly form. Great uncle was a tall and skinny man, with ropey muscles and veins that wrapped his sturdy bones, and when he died in his old age, he had a noticeable slouch that broadcast his age and disarmed potential enemies who thought he looked tired or incapable of the skills that he was said to have.
“You mean humid?” Wendy asked as she stretched her body in the grass in preparation for their training session. “Can you even feel stuff like that?”
“It’s sticky, Anesu. Like quicksand.”
Wendy cocked her head, still confused by his choice of words. English was not Great uncle’s first language, but he had centuries of exposure to the language to know it fluently by that point. He always chose his words carefully and even though he and Wendy talked more as they spent more time together, he was not one to speak unless he had something worth saying.
“Why do you think there are so many spirits here? It’s not more people die here than anywhere else. This place is just sticky. I have been to places like this before. They are difficult places to be for the living.” He had a look of concern on his face.
“You want to leave?”
“I want to finally understand why. I do not like it here, this is no place for an old man like me, but I am not a man anymore, am I? I have been to places like this before and they have always been a mystery. I want to know what makes it sticky. But I worry for you. We must find our best while we dwell here. No one will harm my Anesu.”
Wendy smiled, the sentiment was sweet, but she was also suddenly worried what she had gotten herself into. Great uncle was being very different, very much not himself, or the man that she had grown accustomed to.
Wendy and Great uncle sparred until sunset and Wendy said an incantation that brought fireflies to illuminate the backyard; the section of the yard they used was out of the scope of the house lights. The scene was beautiful and the two continued to punch and kick one another to Great uncle’s satisfaction. He felt that Wendy dropped her guard too much, and he bruised her left shoulder to show her how often she left herself vulnerable.
“It’s as though you are not accustomed to taking care of yourself. Do you rely on your women for physical protection? Is that why you are interested in the husky white woman?”
Wendy was winded when the two finished sparring, but she laughed out loud when he said that.
“No, Great uncle, not at all. I don’t get many physical threats, honestly. I don’t think I’ve ever even been in a fight before all of this started. I like Sylvia because we have history. I want to know how to protect myself, I don’t want to depend on anyone else.”
“Then change your mindset, Anesu. When we sparr, fight as though your life depends on it. Because it does, you know? You are training your mind, your muscles, to react without thought. This instinct will very well save your life one day.”
Wendy had been very serious about her training up to that point, but something changed then. She realized the stakes of it all because Great uncle wanted her to.
Wendy usually ran along the Stono River when Great uncle motivated her to jog.
“Stamina is a warrior’s’ greatest asset,” he said to Wendy often when he nagged her to run long distances.
One morning as she ran, she came across a man who was dressed in bloody rags. Wendy thought his shirt and pants looked like they had both been made from a pillowcase or some cheap material, and they were stained with blood. The man was strong and he was tall and he stood in the path that Wendy normally ran along the river. She stopped a few feet in front of him.
“You a impressive woman,” the man said. He smiled at her. “You remind me my mama. She pick mo cotton dan my daddy in a day, and she was the prettiest woman on her plantation. You know what that mean? Massuh worked hard to break her. Broke her spirit, wasn’t nothin left when she died. I been looking for her since I died, but she ain’t around here no more. Massuh worked hard to break her, and she held on for long as she could, but she was a person. She could only take so much.”
Wendy cried listening to the man.
“Oh don’t cry ma’am,” the man took a step closer. “Don’t cry. She did enough of that. This world ain’t the same to you as it was to her. You ain’t got nothing to cry about compared to her. But I had to stop and talk because you is a bright light ma’am and I was drawn to you. Now I gotta get back to my work, but it was nice to talk to you.”
The man turned to leave and Wendy stopped him. “Wait! What do you do? Can we talk more?”
“I got a feeling I’ll be seeing you again soon. Remember this sweet woman, you the future and the future always win.”
The man walked away and disappeared as he did.
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