Bobby Iger checked the address he had been given on a stick it note. He frowned at

the odd block of a building sitting next to similar buildings. The difference was his

building looked gloomy. The other buildings looked happy to be buildings.

He shook off the feeling. He had a job to interview for in the gloomy building. He

might as well go in and see what the scam was.

A woman hurried down from the cross street. She had dressed in business casual with

a small bag hanging from her shoulder. Sneakers with neon orange laces drew

attention away from her polo shirt, and suit jacket. She had a glow that attracted

Bobby’s attention as he walked toward the door for his appointment.

She paused as Bobby opened the visitor door into the building.

“Are you here about the job too?,” she asked Bobby. One hand reached to keep the

door open so she could step inside after him.

“Yep,” said Bobby. “It attracted my eye, and I need a job right now.”

“Maria Garcia-Lopez,” she said.

“Bob Iger,” said Bobby. “Nice to meet you.”

“Thanks,” Maria said.

They stepped inside the clear space. A desk sat at the other end of the room. A

counter with a gate separated customers from the staff behind it.

The inside seemed slightly less gloomy than the outside, but Bobby thought it was a

work in progress from the looks of things.

“Hello,” called a voice from behind the counter. “We’re closed for the moment.”

“We’re here about the job,” said Maria. She glanced at Bobby. He nodded at her

statement.

“Janie had to go out for a bit,” said the unseen voice. “I’m sort of watching the store

for her. Come on back. We can shoot the breeze while we wait for her.”

Maria and Bobby walked back to the counter. He flipped the top for her to precede

him into the work area of the floor.

“Have a seat,” said the Asian sitting behind the central desk. His panama was pushed

back from a lean face. He smiled as he shuffled a deck of cards. “Name’s Harry.”

Maria took the seat directly in front of the desk. Bobby had to grab one from another

part of the room and pull it up.

“I’m Bob Iger, and this is Maria Garcia-Lopez,” said Bobby. “We’re wondering about

the job from the ad in the newspaper.”

“Jobs,” said Harry. He smiled as he mixed the cards up one last time. He dealt them

in a pattern on the table while he talked. “Janie is looking to hire three more bodies.”

“What is involved in this?,” asked Maria. “The ad just says it wants people who needs

excitement in their lives.”

“The Lamplighters is an organization that needs people who are not afraid of

anything,” said Harry. “They investigate mysteries from around the world and deal

with them.”

“They solve crimes?,” asked Bobby. He smiled at the melodrama.

“Sometimes,” said Harry. “Mostly what they deal with are unexplained natural

phenomena.”

“You don’t work for the Lamplighters, Harry?,” asked Maria. She leaned forward in

her chair to concentrate on his face.

He hesitated on the answer. A shadow fell across his face as he searched for the right

words to address the question.

“I had a career ending injury,” he finally said. “I can’t climb down elevator shafts like

I used to do.”

“Is the work that dangerous?,” asked Bobby. He didn’t want to chase some loon for

fifteen bucks an hour.

“Sometimes,” said Harry. “I didn’t really expect any problems, but I should have

zagged instead of zigging.”

“Who hasn’t done that once in a while?,” said Bobby.

“Will this Janie hire another woman?,” asked Maria.

“If you can pass the tests,” said Harry. “You have to be able to pass a retina scan, and

a drug test.”

“A retina scan and a drug test?,” asked Maria.

“The scan is to load your eye into our files so you can use some of the specialized

equipment,” said Harry. “The drug test is to make sure you don’t take anything that

would make it easy to victimize you on the job.”

“Has that happened?,” asked Bobby.

“Not to us,” said Harry. “Some of the people we’ve dealt with were heavy users and

their habits made them vulnerable to con men.”

“And it’s a risk to anyone who gets this job?,” asked Maria.

“You don’t want to be in the middle of a case and have gravity start warping

everything,” said Harry. “That’s a quick way to get killed.”

“Drug abuse makes that easier,” said Bobby. He nodded. “I can see that.”

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“You guys will have a great time working here,” said Harry. “Janie has already hired

another guy. He’s out with her shopping.”

Bobby smiled. Something wasn’t right. This Harry guy drew too many shadows when

he talked about himself, and not enough when he talked about the potential job. What

was going on?

Career ending injury? What did that mean? How bad was it? Had the company

walked away from him after that?

What was he not telling them?

“I noticed you dealt out a solitaire setup,” said Bobby. “I don’t think I have ever seen

anything like it.”

“It’s not for solitaire,” said Harry. “It’s for reading your fortunes.”

“Really,” said Bobby. “What does mine say?”

“This is the line if you tell Janie you don’t want the job,” said Harry. “This is the line

if you take the job.”

“Got that,” said Bobby. He stood to look at the cards closely. “What does the readings

mean?”

“If you don’t take the job, you live a long life,” said Harry. “If you do, you only have

three years before you’re killed.”

“Three years?,” said Bobby. “That’s a bad prediction there. I’m as fit as a fiddle.”

“You don’t die of natural causes,” said Harry. He tapped the queen of spades he

turned up. “A woman kills you. Don’t worry. Now that you know what to look out

for, you can change your future on either side.”

“So in three years, I should look out for a woman who wants to kill me,” said Bobby.

“Can you narrow the list down?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Harry. “But I know you will know her when you see her. The

card in this context points to something big in your life.”

“What are the other cards?,” asked Bobby. He pointed at the other two lines next to

his reading.

“They’re hers,” said Harry. “It’s the same set up as yours.”

“I don’t think I want to know what my future will be,” said Maria. She held up a hand

to forestall any explanation.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” said Harry. “You’ll live a long life in

either case.”

“Hold on,” said Bobby. “She gets to live a long time, and I get killed. How does that

work out?”

“She’s looking for something,” said Harry. He indicated several cards. “If she doesn’t

get the job, she doesn’t find what she’s looking for in the other line. If she does, she

does find what she’s looking for. In both lines, she gets to live a long life according

to this. She’d have to throw her life away to shorten either line.”

“So things work out better for her than me if we both get the job,” said Bobby. He

rubbed his face with the palm of his hand.

“The future isn’t set,” said Harry. “You both could change things to change the line

of the cards and the future. You just have to know what you’re looking for and put

forth an effort. It’ll be like dealing yourself a new hand.”

“What about the hand you dealt for yourself?,” asked Maria. “I know you looked at

it.”

“I was given a choice,” said Harry. “And I made it.”

“It didn’t work out well for you, did it?,” said Bobby. “I can see it didn’t.”

“I admit it wasn’t much of a choice,” said Harry. “But it was the only one I had.”

“I can see that,” said Bobby. “Would you have done it again, knowing what you know

now?”

“Yes,” said Harry. “I couldn’t change the future enough to change my choice. It still

had to be made, and I’m the only one who could have done what was required at the

time.”

“The only one?,” said Maria.

“Yes,” said Harry. “Even with what I did, we still almost lost. Instead we changed the

future enough that what I did stopped something bad from wrecking the city. I don’t

have any regrets about that.”

“We’re expected to throw our lives away if it comes down to that.” Bobby frowned

at the two of them. “That’s what you’re telling us.”

“No,” said Harry. “You’ll be expected to do whatever you can to protect people, and

stop bad things from happening. There’s a chance that you’ll get hurt. I won’t lie

about that. Lamplighting is a dangerous business. It’s not for the weak. There are

better ways to die.”

Harry picked up his cards. He laid out one more line after a small shuffle. He shook

his head as he picked up the cards and put them in his jacket pocket.

“How long?,” Maria asked.

“Excuse me,” said Harry.

“How long have you been dead?,” said Maria. “I know that you are.”

“A while,” said Harry. “So you know I’m a ghost.”

“I can see it,” said Maria. “I’m sorry for you.”

“Don’t be,” said Harry. “I made a decision to do something. It was my choice. No one

else had the responsibility. You come to work here, you’ll have to make the same

kinds of choices.”

“Even if it kills us?,” said Bobby.

“Especially if it kills you,” said Harry. He smiled. “This job isn’t like any other.

You’ll know that you’re making a difference in someone else’s life even if all you

want is fortune and glory.”

“Fortune and glory doesn’t seem that bad,” said Bobby.

“It is if you get killed trying to get it,” said Harry. He stood up from behind the desk.

“It would be better if you didn’t tell Janie that you saw me. She wouldn’t believe you,

and it would just stir up trouble.”

“It would change the future,” said Bobby. He stood also. He wasn’t sure if he

believed the ghost stuff.

“It would only force you into the non-job line of things,” said Harry. “That would

wreck things for Maria, and force you to get a job that you didn’t like to pay your

bills.”

“You think I’ll like this job?,” said Bobby.

“I think it’s something you will excel at for the three years you have,” said Harry.

“And having you in a slot will placehold it for the person who comes after you.”

“You’re on,” said Bobby. “I’ll fight the future to prove you’re wrong.”

“Good luck, kids,” said Harry. He straightened his hat. “I’ll be keeping an eye on

you.”

He walked into streamers that thinned the longer they grew before they faded away.

“My first time seeing a ghost,” said Bobby. “I hoped for something scarier.”

“I’m scared enough,” said Maria. She stood. “Maybe I should get another job. This

one is too weird.”

“That’s up to you,” said Bobby. “The only difference not being a Lamplighter will

have for you is you won’t find what you’re looking for. Maybe not even trying is the

way to go for you.”

“You’ll die if he’s right,” said Maria. “That’s not a good career choice in my book.”

“I could also change the future,” said Bobby. “That’s something worth trying to do.”

“So you want to try for this job even it kills you?,” said Maria.

“I don’t see why not,” said Bobby. “I’m the perfect candidate.”

“Really?,” said Maria. “How so?”

“Because nothing will kill me for the next three years,” said Bobby. “If I look out for

any dangerous women, I might live longer than that.”

“Are you sure about that?,” asked Maria.

“Not really,” said Bobby. “But I don’t have anything to live for, so this might be what

I need.”

“All right,” said Maria. “We’ll talk to Miss Hillsmeirer, and see who she wants to

hire.”

“I’m game if you’re game,” said Bobby.

The vehicle doors slid up out of the way. A white van with a candle logo on the hood

rolled into the empty space. The room brightened considerably when the woman

driver stepped out of the van.

She frowned when she saw the two strangers standing behind the counter. Then she

remembered she was supposed to be talking to two candidates. She shook her head.

She had muffed that up.

“I’m Jane Hillsmeirer,” the woman said with a smile. “You’re Garcia-Lopez and Iger.

Let me get some coffee and I will be right with you.”

She headed upstairs as her passenger slowly climbed out of the van. He grimaced at

the two strangers as he walked toward them.

“Marcel Hobart,” the man said. “This place is haunted. Are you sure you want to

work here?”

“This is just as good a place as any,” said Bobby. He smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll

protect you.”

“More like talk to me from beyond the grave,” said the other new Lamplighter.

Bobby smiled.