Miles Straume's Flashbacks

Dead Man Talking

A woman turns a faucet on and off and the man says, "I'm telling you, it's a steal at four."

She looks around the empty apartment.

"What?" he says. "You've got to check with your husband?"

"It's just me," she says.

"Mommy?" The woman turns to look at a boy in the doorway. He says, "Can I have a quarter for vending machine?"

"Honey," she says, "I said wait for me by the pool."

"Thought you said it was 'just me,'" the man says.

"I meant my husband's out of the picture," she says. "It's just me and my son."

"I don't know," the man says. "Most of the other tenants, they don't like noise."

"He's very quiet."

"I'll need two months up front."

She gives the boy a quarter and he runs off. She says, "Hey, no running. Do you hear me, Miles?"

Young Miles stops in front of the vending machine. In his head, he sees someone laying on the floor next to a sandwich. He looks around at the apartments and stops on apartment number four. He walks over to the door and puts his hand on it. He reaches down and gets the key from under a ceramic bunny. He opens the door.

In the other apartment, Miles' mother is writing a check. She hears Miles yell for help and runs to him. She bursts into the apartment and sees a dead man on the floor beside a sandwich. "Miles, what happened?"

"Mommy," Miles says. She goes to him.

The apartment manager comes in and says, "Oh, God. Mr. Vonner."

"What were you doing in here?" Miles' mother asks him.

"He was all alone. He was scared. His chest hurt. He kept calling out for Kimberly."

"Kimberly," the apartment manager says. "That's his wife. No, she died last year. Now how would you know that?"

"I heard him."

"Miles, what are you talking about?" his mother asks. "Honey, he's dead."

"I told you! I can hear him! I can hear him!"

Miles Asks Why

The woman lets him in and Miles goes into his mother's bedroom. She is surrounded by medication and machines. "Ma," he says. "It's me."

She opens her eyes and then grabs his hand. "Miles."

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it by sooner."

"It's okay. You're here now. Why did you come, Miles?"

"I need you to tell me why I'm this way. How I do the things I do. And I need to know why you won't talk to me about my father."

"Because he never cared about us. He never cared about you."

"I need to know where he is, Ma."

"It doesn't matter where."

"It does matter!"

"Miles, please."

"I have a right to know."

"He's dead."

Miles lets go of her hand.

"Your father kicked us out when you were just a baby. He didn't want anything to do with us. So the less you knew about him, the better."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because it was over. Your dad has been dead a long time."

"Where's his body?"

"Somewhere you could never go."

Helping Mr. Gray

"Last labor day weekend, a drunk driver ran the light. That was that."

"Where is your son buried?"

"We cremated him and scattered the ashes on the football field at school."

"For what I do, it's much better if there's a body."

"But your ad said you could communicate with the dead anytime, anywhere."

"I know what my ad says, Mr. Gray, but-"

"Please. I just want you to ask him, did he know that I loved him?"

"It's going to cost extra."

"Of course," Mr. Gray says and gets money from his wallet.

Miles takes his hands and tells Mr. Gray to concentrate on Russell, get a picture of him in his head.

Miles concentrates for a bit, then looks up. Mr. Gray asks if it worked and Miles says, "Your son says he knew that you loved him. He always knew."

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Miles leaves and goes to put his things in the trunk of his car.

Naomi walks up and says, "Excuse me? Miles Straume?"

"Yeah," Miles says.

"Hi. My name's Naomi Dorrit." She hands him a business card. "My employer's been following your work for some time now. He's interested in retaining your rather unique services. There's a restaurant not too far from here. Would you like to hear what I have to say?"

"Yeah, absolutely."

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