The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 07

"I'm already accepting my role as pack mule," Fred replied in his deep, warm voice that had a definite note of fatigue in it. Brenda was as tall as Leila's five-foot-ten with sandy blonde hair down past her shoulders, blue eyes, an average-sized nose and mouth, while Fred was the very stereotype of a farmer at six-foot-two, with brown hair and eyes, a large nose, and a medium-sized mouth with thin lips. Both had the sturdy body build that was characteristic of the Westlanders.

"This Samuel creature wanted to party all night and sleep all day," sighed Brenda. The baby was wide awake, though, and looking around with interest. He had a full head of medium brown hair, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks. "If you weren't so totally adorable, I don't know what we would have done."

"Come on in and let's get a look at both of you," said Leila, holding the door as the visitors trooped in and made their way into the exam room, whose doorway was a few paces ahead and on the left side of the hallway. Fred placed the bassinet on the floor next to the exam table that was in the middle of the room and was covered by easy to clean brown leather. Brenda carefully placed Samuel into it, then managed to get on the table. "How are you feeling? Has the baby been feeding well?"

"I'm sore, of course, since my vagina was stretched to the limit by the little monster, but otherwise I'm OK. I've been drinking like a horse and he's been sucking the milk out of me like there's no tomorrow."

"Leaving none for me," said Fred sadly, grinning impishly at her glower.

"Let's get a look at you," said Leila, conjuring a Window. Fred watched with interest as the Healer gave his wife the once-over, checking her breasts for anomalies and finding none, then doing the same to her uterus and abdomen, finding them a bit worse for the wear, but nothing unusual. "You're a textbook post-partum case," she declared. "Speaking of which, if you start feeling signs of post-partum depression, please come see me as soon as you can. Rest and relax and enjoy your maternity leave. You have been taking your leave, right?" The Mayor would not meet her hard stare.

"Well..." she said, looking to Fred for support, but he made himself busy with the baby. "I was OK this morning until John Martin sent someone to the farm to ask for advice on the ghosts that seem to be accumulating in town, and she told me about the pending arrival of the Wild Hunt. I seem to be supposed to be Doing Something, though I wouldn't know what to do even if I weren't a brand-new mother."

"Directing them all to the Park was a good idea," said Fred from his position on the floor. "They don't seem to like the direct sunlight and prefer the shade or being indoors." Brenda sat up with a grunt as Leila brought her Window over to where Samuel was. Leila spent the next few minutes scrutinizing the infant, who was waving his arms and legs around and making babbling noises, with his parents looking over her shoulders.

"Everything seems to be where it's supposed to be," she concluded. "His heart and brain look fine. I think that he's a healthy boy."

"He definitely is adorable," said a female voice from the right side of the room where a desk, chair, and bookshelf were located. They looked up in surprise to see the shimmering form of a woman in her late seventies or early eighties. "I am, or was, Claire Morgan, the last full-time doctor that Magwitch had before it became important enough to have its own dedicated Healer, who happened to be Leila's grandmother," she added for Brenda and Fred's benefit.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Dr. Morgan," Fred replied, offering Polite Bow #2, followed by Brenda and Leila. "Are you here for the Wild Hunt?"

"Yes, dear, I am. I don't know why I became a ghost instead of moving on, and I've grown tired of drifting around, watching but not being able to interact much."

"My daughter Marcie said that a Ms. Tarken had been with her class all morning."

"Betty and I know each other well," Claire responded with a smile. "She was teaching at the school while I was working. I would go there from time to time to teach the kids about the basics of anatomy and medicine, and what to expect when puberty happens. Oh, and belated congratulations to you, Brenda, on finally pushing through the Main Street paving project. It will be a big help once it's finally finished."

"But a major pain in the ass while it's going on," Brenda replied, giving Samuel a tickle and getting some kicks and giggles. "But apparently we will be getting the entire road all the way up to the main highway to Havisham paved this summer as well."

"How did you manage that?" Claire asked in surprise.

"We're getting a Veterinary Mage School or some such thing," she replied. "It came completely out of the blue just yesterday, which was a very busy day," she added ruefully. "It was the Dean of the Magical Engineering School herself who brought the news of the school, and her trip down the road convinced her that a town with a Magic School branch really should have a paved road. She may even be put in charge of the work."

"Or put herself in charge of it," Leila added. "I only met her yesterday, but I believe that she is a force to be reckoned with. I can imagine her bringing along some students to get some practical experience in road building. Is there anything that I can help you with?"

"Well," said Claire, looking uncomfortable, "word on the street has it that Mages can give ghosts a little boost with some electricity from the coming thunderstorms and I was hoping that you'd be able to help me out. I'm tired and don't want to miss the big event."

"Of course," Leila replied. "We have a connection with Nature," she explained to Fred and Brenda. "It allows us to read the weather and even tap into the electric field in the atmosphere. Far too many silly pranks are pulled at the Mage School every year by students who charge up metal objects to shock others. Never by me, of course," she added, turning a bit pink and not meeting their eyes. Fred chuckled.

"There are no metal privy seats, are there?"

"Metal is cold on the bottoms," she replied briskly, getting laughs from the others. "Let me see what I can do." She closed her eyes and they felt something change in the air as she reached out to where the thunderstorms were. "There is a lot of energy bouncing around out there," she murmured, carefully tapping into it, then opening her eyes and extending her left index finger to the ghost. "Pull my finger," she said with a mischievous expression, getting snickers. Claire tentatively reached out, tapped the finger, shot backwards two feet and briefly lit up like a lantern before fading back to a much healthier looking glow than she had before.

"Wow! That made a huge difference! Thank you very much!"

"Thank you for everything that you have done for, uh, past residents of the Town," Brenda replied. "I have to get back home and get some more rest so I can be First Cow of Magwitch for this creature. Don't look at me like that," she warned Fred, who was leering at her unashamedly. A sudden loud banging from the front door's knocker made them all jump, and Samuel started to cry.

"Who the hell is that?" Leila marched to the door as Brenda picked up Samuel and comforted him. "John, Brenda is on maternity leave. You're the one who's supposed to be in charge while she rests and enjoys her new baby!"

"I'm well aware of that, Leila," he said patiently as Brenda with the now soothed baby, Fred with the bag and bassinet, and Claire, entered the hallway. John Martin's eyes widened a bit when he saw the ghost, and he bowed politely to her, which she returned graciously. "I thought that you might be interested in the latest developments in the ghost issue."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that things are going bananas," she said dryly.

"You could say that," he replied, equally dryly. "More and more ghosts are coming out of the woodwork, some literally, as the time for the Wild Hunt approaches. I had no idea that there were so many in the area - some have said they are from Portnoy!"

"That's about fifty miles away!" Leila exclaimed. "That is, or was, Harold's first stop in his circuit."

"It gets better. I sent someone to the school to see if they were OK, and he found Harold acting as an interpreter for a set of twenty-two ghosts from Argosy. Apparently, they got separated from the rest, as there are supposed to be 250 of them." They looked at each other in astonishment. "I had told the messenger to tell any ghosts he came across to make their way to the park. It's large and there's lots of shade for them, and I've set up a command post of sorts in the gazebo. I've got people galloping around with horses and buggies, carts, and whatever to round up our spectral friends and bring them in."

"Thanks for telling me this, John. I would have killed you if you hadn't." They all grinned. "Maternity leave can wait for one more day. You can come with me back to the park in our buggy, if you need a ride?" He shook his head.

"I've got a cart out front. Would you care to come with me, Ms., um?"

"Claire Morgan, former Town Doctor," she replied. "And I'll gladly hitch a ride."

"How can you ride in a buggy if you can pass through solid objects?" Fred asked as they all went onto Leila's front porch.

"I don't know," she admitted as all but Leila moved to their conveyances. John's cart was clearly marked Webber Transportation. "If I want to, I can ride. If I don't want to, I go through. It's just something that we seem to be able to do."

"I will stay here to close up the house," said Leila. "I'll make my way to the park as soon as I can."

"Thank you very much, Leila," called Brenda as she and Fred waved after he had backed the horse and buggy onto the street.

"Dear Goddess, what a day this is turning out to be," she said out loud, going back in and closing the door. The next few minutes were spent going room to room and making sure that all of the windows were closed and locked. Before doing the same with the kitchen, she made a quick, but necessary, trip to the privy. "It's better to be empty than full when excitement's afoot," she muttered, firmly securing the privy door, then going back to the kitchen and doing the same with its door. The sky still showed no sign of the coming thunderstorms, save for a thin layer of altocumulus that was obscuring the sun a bit.

"Excuse me, Healer Leila," said a familiar man's voice from behind her. Startled, she screamed and whirled to face the direction from which it had come, landing in a defensive pose from the Mage's Martial Arts that could be quickly converted to a hand or foot strike. All that she saw was the head and shoulders of a ghost who'd come part way through the door. Equally startled, he jumped back through the door and, after a moment, cautiously stuck his head through it again.

"Greg? Greg Blandford?" she asked in amazement. "You're a ghost?"

"I'm afraid that I am," he replied. "I've been dead for a year and a half, and I'm still not used to how walking through things feels," he admitted. He was relatively short at five-foot-eight and had the look of a dapper man in his mid-seventies, though he was dressed in the gardening clothes that he had been wearing when he'd died.

"What happened to you?"

"I'd taken a cup of coffee out to the backyard to drink while checking on what was left of the garden at the end of November. It was just starting to rain, so I made my way back to the table and chairs where we would often sit after dinner to enjoy the evening and feed the mosquitoes," he added dryly, and Leila nodded knowingly. "I suddenly started feeling sick, with sharp pains in my heart and left arm. I managed to put my mug on the table and sit down, and then suddenly I was standing and looking at my body. Kim didn't come home until later, and my heart broke, well, broke more, when I saw her reaction."

"She was totally devastated at the funeral, as were all of your friends."

"I know, I was there. It was so maddening being unable to make myself seen or heard, to be able to tell Kim that I was all right, sort of. Thank you for your kind words, by the way."

"You're very welcome. I was quite broken up by it. But you must have learned how to manifest yourself so that we can see and hear you."

"After some weeks of drifting around, I bumped into the late Claire Morgan, and she showed me. It's something that gets passed from ghost to ghost, but it is tiring."

"Funny you should say that. Claire was here just a few minutes ago and went off to the park to wait with the others. I presume that you want to cross over?"

"From the stories that Claire and some others told me, I could see that I was in for a long period of sadness and boredom as people continued their lives without me, and eventually I'd be forgotten. There are ghosts all over the place now, and I've been hearing that Mages can give us boosts?" he asked hopefully. Leila nodded with an encouraging smile. "But I also have a problem that I hope that you can help me with."

"I can certainly help with the boost, but I'm not sure what other problem I can help with. But if you tell me more, I can see what I can do." He hesitated, then finished passing through the door, and she saw that his pants had a serious tent in them. "A ghost with a boner?" she inquired, somewhat amused.

"I really don't want to cross over looking like this," Greg sighed. "I made the mistake of walking past your house yesterday afternoon, just as a large, blonde lady was knocking at your door. There was a sudden wave of warmth and comfort that washed over me just as she went inside, and soon after I started to get hard. I stayed around in the faint hope that a woman ghost would come by and be interested in a quick fuck, but then I got hit by an even bigger wave of warmth." Leila was turning pinker as he was talking. "It was something you were doing, wasn't it?" She nodded, unable to meet his gaze. "I have masturbated three times since then, and it keeps coming back." He crossed his arms and glowered at her.

"I am really sorry about that, Greg. Mages have the unfortunate tendency to blow out energy when we orgasm, and it affects people who get caught by it by making them horny. Let me give you the boost, first," she explained, once again reaching out to the storms, which were getting really close now, tapping into the energy, and giving Greg a shot of it.

"Yow!" he exclaimed, lighting up like a lantern and shooting back through the door, then wobbling through it again, glowing much more brightly. "Wow, I feel like a new man!" he exclaimed, checking his arms, legs, and hands with amazement. "It didn't solve the other problem, though," he sighed.

"I have an idea. Please undo your pants." He gladly complied, exposing his six-and-a-half-inch erection, which was nice and thick. "Too bad I can't fuck it myself," she said, kneeling for a closer look. It was surprisingly well defined, she thought, since she'd never inspected a ghost's private parts up close before. All of the veins and other external features of a penis were clearly visible, and it felt cool to the touch when she stroked it, but this generated no reaction from him. Staring at it evoked memories of various times when Harold had come home after a circuit and she'd been able to get him into the bedroom, pull down his pants, and gobble that wonderful cock until it filled her mouth with his cum that she greedily swallowed. Then somehow, she'd wind up on her back with his head between her legs, gently teasing her pussy with licking, sucking, tongue thrusts and little sparks into her clitoris until her brain could take it no more and she came. If he'd managed to time his arrival for when Marcie was at school, he'd be on her, shoving that wonderful cock deep inside and they'd go at it like wild things until their orgasms would rip through them and leave them panting and ruined on the bed. She had to yank her mind back to the present before she got the need to use her Joy Buzzer.

"This cock has only pleasured Kim, in every way that she wanted, when she wanted it. Which was frequently," he added, appearing to blush a bit. "She would often come home from a contentious session with Town Council, rip off my pants and fuck me in the middle of the floor of whatever room we were in."

"Hmm. We Mages can send little sparks of energy into our partners to help drive them over the edge. Since you seem to respond to electricity, maybe they will work on you too. Let's take this outside. I don't want to have to deal with whatever comes out of you." She opened the door and they went onto the grass just at the edge of her back patio. "OK, hold still. I don't know what this will do." She reached out with her left index finger, which was glowing turquoise and yellow, and circled it around his glans, sending little sparks into it the way she sometimes did to Harold when she was feeling particularly devilish. His reaction was the same as Harold's, a low moan. "Let's see what happens when I do this." She wrapped her hand as best she could around the spectral cock and started pumping, sending sparks into it all the way up and all the way down again.

"Oh, fuck," he moaned, starting to shake. "I've never felt this before! I'm, I'm coming already!" The Healer stood aside as his body went rigid and three huge squirts of spectral cum shot out onto the lawn, followed by three smaller ones, and his cock went limp. "Uhh, oh, dear Goddess, that was something else. Thank you, Healer Leila. I really needed that." He did up his pants and stood there woozily. "I'll go down to the park now and see if I can find Kim to say goodbye." He wandered down to the gate to the front and passed through it, leaving Leila looking at the grass where his cum had landed and was now sinking into the soil.

"I'll have to keep an eye on that to see what happens," she said out loud. "I really did not sign up for this," she added, shaking her head ruefully. She went back inside, locked the kitchen door, then went out through the front door, locking it as well. As she passed by Cartwright's Bakery, she saw Wanda and the ghost of another woman engaged in a vigorous conversation while Carlos was working in the background on a cake. Further south, Pella and family were engaged with some customers, as well as Ellen Ashcroft, the ghost of the former shop owner, and a male ghost. Marcie's idea of getting the stories from the ghosts seemed to have caught on with the townspeople, as school kids, their parents, and quite a few others, including a reporter from the Magwitch Weekly Times that she recognized and waved to, were chatting with the ghosts and taking notes on a variety of papers and notebooks. Most normal business had stopped for the occasion, and there was a happy and festive air. Macy's Diner was open and serving some customers, and as she approached the park, she started sensing Harold, Lakash, Dana, and Mark.

"Mama!" shouted Marcie over the din which, aside from the voices of hundreds of people and ghosts packed into the park, especially the shady areas, included the musicians who had played at her wedding yesterday, who were belting out some old tune from way back when that most of the ghosts would have known well. They were next to the gazebo, where she could see Brenda and Fred, as well as John and some Councillors talking animatedly. She and her friend Donna must have been waiting for her to show up. It was just after the end of school, which was at 4:00, but clearly school had also been thrown out the window for the day. She zoomed in for a hug, and Donna got one too. "We got lots of stories from ghosts and our friends are helping!"

"That is truly the best idea I've ever heard!" she replied. "You both should get an award for it!"

"Thank you, Healer Leila," Donna replied. "Don't tell Ms. Franklin, but I think that I learned more this afternoon than I did this whole month!" The girls giggled, then looked around guiltily, but Ms. Franklin was not in earshot. Leila started walking along the top edge of the park toward where she could sense Dana and Harold, with Marcie and Donna in tow.