Walking Through Walls by Philip Smith Page B

okay to tell people.”
    â€œI don’t think that girl would want you telling people what happened to her. It was like she was sick, and now she’s going to get better. Do you understand?”
    I was very disappointed. I thought I would make a lot of new friends telling this to everybody. Finally I could brag about my father. It didn’t make sense that he didn’t want me to share his victory over the devil with the class. But I agreed. “Okay, but I’ll just tell Mom.”
    â€œMom gets very upset when she hears about things like this,” he said. “She might not be happy that I took you to see the devil. She would be worried that you might get hurt.”
    This bothered me. It sounded as if my father had just put me in a very dangerous situation where either one of us could have gotten in trouble. I could have been eaten alive by the devil or had him jump inside of me. I was a little mad that my father had put me at such risk. Clearly he was flirting with danger. I was afraid that if my father kept doing exorcisms, he might come home with the devil inside of him. Then what would I do? It would be the sanpaku thing all over again.
    Obviously my mother was not happy with her husband’s newfound hobby of exorcism. Had she known how I had spent my afternoon, Mom would have probably grabbed me, gotten on the next plane to New York, and taken me back to her family.
    â€œYou don’t want to get Mom scared, do you?” he asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOkay, then, don’t tell Mom either. This is our secret. I just wanted you to see this so that you knew what could happen in case the devil got ahold of you.”
    â€œWell, I’m not going to let him near me. Besides, I don’t want to bite anybody.”
    â€œThat’s good.”
    â€œBut what if the devil tries to find me and get inside of me when I’m sleeping?” I asked.
    â€œDon’t worry, I am always watching, and nothing like that will ever happen to you.”

five
Spirit Talk in Overtown
    â€œYou gonna buy all that ?”
    The black checkout lady wore a little white hat bobby-pinned to her hair that made her look like a nurse. She was staring at me, waiting for an answer. It was a bit like going through customs: I couldn’t make my purchase until I had fully declared my intention. Her questioning made me feel slightly criminal.
    Too embarrassed to answer, I just sort of nodded my head and looked away.
    She wanted an explanation and wasn’t going to check me out until she got one. All I wanted was to get out of the Food Fair with my dignity intact.
    Unfortunately, this was happening on my first date ever, with a gorgeous Brazilian girl named Maya. She had the most remarkable blue eyes, which seemed to dilate and ratchet wide open when they fixed on you. Once fully opened, her eyes overwhelmed your vision until you couldn’t see anything else but this cerulean blue field. The rest of the world ceased to exist. I often found myself stopping in mid-conversation, completely hypnotized by her eyes.
    Maya started nudging me, wondering what was going on. She was dressed in tight jeans and a man’s shirt, which was unbuttoned at the bottom and tied in a calypso-style knot that showed off her tan, flat stomach. Her goggle-sized amber sunglasses were perched on top of her head, and her feet wore turquoise Greek espadrilles.
    â€œWhat you doin’ with all that?” The checkout lady pointed to the thirty pounds of carrots that I had heaped high on her conveyor belt.
    Yes, I was buying thirty pounds of carrots as part of my first date with the most beautiful woman in Miami. I had just turned sixteen and had gotten my driver’s license, and with that, the freedom to date. I no longer had to have my father drive me somewhere, which meant that I no longer had to introduce him to a total stranger. “Hi, meet my father, he’s from another planet and is a macrobiotic. If