………….

I arrived as I always do, heat, shadow, the inconvenience of being summoned. I found myself standing on a crocheted rug that had seen better decades. The candles were real, the circle careful but unsure, as though she’d followed the instructions while doubting them the entire time. She looked up at me from her armchair, not startled, just relieved.

“Oh,” she said. “You came.”

I waited for the demand, the bargain. Instead, she asked if I’d like to sit. The house had been too quiet since her husband died, she explained, and people didn’t stay long once they’d heard the same stories twice. I looked around, no observers. I made myself comfortable. One good deed couldn’t hurt.