Aunt Sophie’s Holy   Water  

The beast sleeps in all of us—awaking and taking hold as we relinquish control. By our actions, we give permission for the beast of base desires to control us and our actions.

My husband drinks too much. Any occasion, every infraction at work is an excuse. One Friday, he drank all night—and the beast awoke. Soon I could tell that my husband was no longer in control—he was someone else.

The next morning he was sitting in the garage, beer in hand. I wanted him to go to bed, but the beast had other ideas. And so I found Aunt Sophie’s holy water. I sprinkled a little on the chair in the garage and even dabbed some on my husband’s head, unbeknownst to him. I also quickly ran upstairs in our bedroom and sprinkled some on our quilt.

Not more than 15 minutes later, he came into the house—and sat down at the kitchen table. I kept trying to shoo him to bed, but he sat stubbornly—and eventually returned to the garage midafternoon as the holy water’s potency diminished.

Saturday evening, I again sprinkled the chair in the garage where my husband sat. Within a short while, he again came into the house and sat at the kitchen table again and fell asleep. I quickly grabbed Aunt Sophie’s holy water, preparing to douse him where he napped. Even in his sleep, the beast was alert. Like a puppet, my husband began scratching his head exactly where I had put the holy water earlier in the day. After I sprinkled him in the chair, he finally decided to go to bed.

Once in the bedroom, I sprinkled him and the quilt. I also sprinkled his wing chair in the living room and lit a candle to get rid of the rotten egg smell that had appeared in the kitchen and hallway. Even after I blew out the candle, the smell lingered in the hallway near our bedroom.

The next morning, two wall wreaths in our bedroom lay on the floor, as if knocked off by some great wind. Sunday morning, as my husband prepared to sit down in his wing chair and watch TV, the power went out. He spent most of the morning outside on the porch reading the paper. While he sat outside, our daughter and dog were in the study. Our daughter heard a scratching sound and the dog stared through the window at my husband, growling. What did he see that we could not?

Marge L.

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