The Onryo

Conversations on God and Paul's Yang

"What happened?" Kiona asked. "My cross turned cold as ice. So did Mama Mei's."

"Patty's cross glowed." Mei said. "Why did her evocation seem to affect the ghost?"

"Possibly because you weren't a hundred percent sure of what you were doing." Jim said.

"You mean our faith wasn't strong enough." Kiona said. "We weren't right with God."

"Well, Patty is a reverend now, so maybe you just didn't have all of the connections she did." Jim smiled.

"You're a reverend. Like a Christian reverend?" Key was shocked. "I knew you'd started reading the bible and all. I thought you weren't really believing in God anymore."

"I guess God and I came to a understanding." Patty rubbed her cross. "That doesn't mean I've got any special connection or power. I think it was because I have more understanding these days how God works. Besides, I still didn't make her go away. Just seemed to piss her off. What Jim did was what made her go away."

"I just threw salt at her." Jim still had the salt container in his pocket, he picked it up from the RV dining table. "It's know to banish ghosts."

"So the person who doesn't worship God is the one that turns away the ghost." Mei sighed. "It doesn't help my faith any."

"Just because Jim isn't a Christian doesn't mean he doesn't worship God. We all have different opinions of what God is. The reality is that God is bigger than a single belief system or anything that our imagination can conjure up." Patty said. "Besides none of us have any real metaphysical experience. Jim does. He is used to dealing with the things we tend to think of as not real."

"Faith may have had nothing to do with this." Key said. "Jim knew what would affect the ghost. I mean he knew that salt was an option. Patty used an incantation which seemed to protect her from the ghost. I mean it's Christian, but it's still a incantation that calls up power. She called up the power to protect herself."

"That is blasphemy Key." Kiona was still uncomfortable that her show of faith had no affect on the ghost. "Power comes from faith in God. It is the belief in God that allows you to change the world through faith and prayer."

"Yet, Jim won this encounter using a ancient and well know banishing agent known as salt." Mei added. "I believe in God, I have faith, and I pray. But there are things I don't understand. This is one of those things. I know all the Chinese myths about ghosts. I never believed in ghosts. But I know this event is going to strengthen my faith. Because I wasn't that sure about God, now that I've seen a ghost, I find it easier to believe in God."

"I encountered something similar when I went down to rescue Key. Both Key and I told you about it, but you never believed me. I think it's best if we keep this to ourselves." Sophia said. "It might change our outlook on God, and life in general, but because no one else has seen it the way we did they aren't going to believe it."

Kiona didn't mention that this whole affair had made her doubt her spiritual beliefs. "I don't question the existence of God. I feel similar to Mei concerning that. If there are ghosts, then there may certainly be a God. Yet, it doesn't follow my Christian faith. What am I supposed to do, if my faith doesn't believe, but I do."

"Christians believe in ghosts. There are incidents in the Bible that mentions ghosts. Saul had a witch call up a ghost." Patty explained. "The most important of those ghosts is the Holy Ghost. Jesus became similar to a ghost after he died."

"The Holy Ghost refers the spirit of God. More of a presence, than a actual ghost." Kiona said. "Not a ghost like we saw today. That thing was evil."

"Hey, it wants to have ghost children, or so it said." Key mentioned. "With Paul. If Paul screws her and makes ghost babies I'll kill him."

"Are you sure that is what the ghost said." Jim tried not to laugh at the thought of a ghost and mortal having children.

"It said it wanted my permission for Paul to help her get children." Key said. "I said no and the monster screamed and broke my window. You all were here for the rest."

Jim looked at the clock in the kitchen of Sophia's trailer. It was three o'clock. "Lets try and get a few hours of sleep. We can discuss this more and check on Paul and Jack later in the morning."

The rest of them agreed. Keyote slept in the guest room with Kiona. The shattered windows in Key's room were covered with blankets to keep some of the cold and elements out. Sophia said that she would see if Jack and Paul could board up the windows until new ones could be installed. Key was happy to keep the windows boarded up until they had resolved the situation with the ghost.

Around seven in the morning, Paul and Jack arrived at the trailer. Paul had told Jack about his encounter with the ghost. That it had wanted children and told Paul to go to Key. So, Jack and Paul loaded up in the ancient pick-up and they went down to Sophia's first thing in the morning.

"Now, I know what she meant. Kun went to Key for permission for me to have sex with her." Paul had just heard the account of last night from Key.

"Like I am going to give you permission for that." Key was somewhat outraged. "She asked me and I said no. I mean, you could get some spirit sexually transmitted disease or something."

Paul and the adults around the kitchen table laughed. "I'm more worried about the thing sucking out my soul or some such thing as that. Maybe it wants to make me a ghost so that we can have the ghost babies."

"Paul may be right. This girl may be trying to feed on Paul's psychic energy." Jim said. "I think that we should try to banish this thing for good, but to do that I may have to study up on oriental ghosts."

"There are a lot of types of oriental ghosts, but this thing seems to be a soul trapped in purgatory. She hasn't fulfilled an important goal. We may want to try to communicate with it." Mei had heard of this type of ghost a lot in her youth. "These aren't like the Hungry Ghosts who feed off of others. They have a specific purpose."

"Yeah, to bump uglies with Paul and suck his soul in the process." Key said sarcastically. "And of course make spirit babies."

"Paul, did she ask for sex?" Mei wondered if this was a misunderstanding. "Tell me what you remember she said."

"She said that she needed my body, my strength, for children." Paul remembered that part of it.

"It is possible that the spirit seeks Paul's Yang." Mei said.

Key giggled. "We knew that all along."

"Mei means Paul's male spiritual energy. Called Yang. It is possible that by draining this energy from Paul's Yang, Kun could become pregnant in some way, creating a spirit child." Jim found the concept intriguing.

"Um, wouldn't that change Paul in a girl?" Key wasn't sure about either Paul or she would want that.

"No, but it wouldn't be healthy for Paul's libido either." Mei said.

"If it's all the same to you I'd just assume keep my Yang where it is." Paul was very uncomfortable with this whole conversation.

"Don't worry boo, nobody is going to get your Yang as long as I have anything to say about it." Key smiled as she embarrassed Paul and the adults laughed again.

"Excuse me? Boo?" Jim looked over to Patty.

"Like babe or honey. A term of affection people are using these days." Patty explained.

"I like babe better." Jim said.