The Word

“Under penalty of perjury, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“I do.” She raises and then lowers her right hand.

“Good. Now just tell us about what happened.”

He leans back and lets her talk.

She adjusts herself in the seat. Her folded hands rest on the table. Eying the coffee cup, she decides against more before beginning. She is jacked enough.

“It started a week ago. I went into the house to inspect it.”

“Ahead of renting it out?” The lawyer interjects.

“Yes.”

“Can we let my client finish her thought?” Her attorney asks the other.

“Sorry. Go on.”

“Thank you,” she takes a second to take another sip of coffee. It is lukewarm and she makes a face and pushes it to the side, “right, I went in to inspect it ahead of re-renting it.”

“Go on. What did you find there?”

“At first, nothing out of the ordinary. Some minor repairs that needed done, the carpet cleaned. Nothing unexpected.”

“And?” The questioner leans forward, staring at her.

“I will tell you everything in my own way, if you will allow me.” It comes out harsher than she intended. This whole situation has her nerves up.

The two attorneys share a look. The transcriber calmly waits.

“Once again, I’m sorry. Please go on. I will only interrupt if it is absolutely necessary.”

He moves back until he is out of her space. She takes a moment, looking beyond them, remembering.

“Like I was saying, at first everything looked normal. I was taking notes to give to maintenance. I walked through the living room, the downstairs bathroom, the kitchen, before heading upstairs. The first bedroom was nothing out of the ordinary. Nor was the bathroom between them.”

Everyone but the transcriber, who was in the dark about what was coming next, grew tense. It is coming, the unbelievable story that they are here to document.

“Then I entered the last bedroom. I saw the closet door was slightly ajar. When I went to open it…”

Again, she takes a pause. If she hadn't actually experienced it, she would believe she was crazy. Would they think the same? Oh, she knows that they already know. It just still feels like they are all living in a fairy tale, some kind of insane matrix.

“At first I thought it was a strange bird and was trying to figure out how it got itself trapped in there. There was no open window. I mean, I had no other frame of reverence, after all.

I was trying to figure out how to get it without hurting it. I didn't want to harm it,” she subconsciously rubs the bandage on her arm. The doctor had just rebadged it that morning before this, “ironically, as it turned out.”

She feels other eyes on her and turns to find the transcriber watching her. Now she has all their attention.

“I went to reach out, to see if it would fly up. I then planned to open a window and let it go. My worry was about getting pecked not… I would have never expected what actually happened.”

“I believe my client needs a break. Can we take ten minutes?”

She looks at him with gratitude. The hard part is coming up. She needs a moment.

“Alright,” he turns to the transcripter, “off the record for now.”

“Just when we were getting to the good part.” She thinks. She says. “ I understand.”

She asks for water, refusing the offer of more coffee. No way she needs to be more jacked up.

“We can talk about your former tenants if you wish when we go back on the record.”

She looks at her attorney and tries to smile. The longer they delay naming it, on the record, the more anxious she gets.

“Thank you, but I need to finish this part.”

Ten minutes later.

“Back on the record.”

“You were saying that you were trying to figure out how to get the bird out, or what you presumed to be a bird.”

She starts to tap the table and realizes what she is doing and tries to make herself stop. Fisting her hand, she takes a deep breath and continues.

“Presumed to be, right. I reached out,” she looks down at the bandage on her left hand, “with my left hand. The pain,” recalling it isn't hard to do. No pain meds today with the deposition, “it was immediate and overwhelming. I couldn't understand what happened. My mind couldn't make sense of it. Had it pecked me? But that didn't make sense either. I have been pecked by birds before. It has never felt anywhere like that.

It was only when I smelled the burning that I understood,” she shakes her head, “not really understood but knew what the pain was coming from. The how though… it was only a matter of a few seconds, but Lord Almighty did it feel longer.

I looked down and my hand was on fire.”

A gasp from the other woman. She blushes at realizing she has made a noise. She is supposed to be invisible. But that last statement.

The other lady continues her story, relentlessly moving towards the word that felt stuck in her throat. Getting it out might make her feel better. Maybe.

“I had the presence of mind to roll my hand on the carpet, putting the fire out. The pain only increased. My focus then turned to where the fire came from. If my unit was ablaze, I needed to deal with that.

I looked back into the closet. It still sat. What I saw then, I thought I was seeing things. If my hand wasn't so painful, I would have believed I was dreaming. But that pain, I couldn't be.

There was a puff of smoke coming out of its mouth.

I saw it then, what my rational mind tried to deny. It wasn't a bird. It was a dragon.”

It is out now. The word. Another gasp from the transcripter. No one notices.