Part 1 of 1
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Tonight we present a tale in which Mulligan Smith, private investigator, stumbles into an unlikely conversation with the dead.
The Skinner Co. Network
FP324 - Mulligan Smith in From Beyond, Part 1 of 1
Some days, gloomy, my hours are slumberless Dearest, the shadows I live with find number less Little white flowers will never awaken you Not where the brach ultra-sol is taking you Angels have no fire ever tuning you Or they'll be angry if I so don't join in you Welcome to Flashpulp, Episode 324 This evening we present Mulligan Smith in From Beyond, Part 1 of 1 This week's episodes are brought to you by Abroad the Night Bus Welcome to Abroad the Night Bus Welcome to Abroad the Night Bus What do you get when you mix two Hufflepuffs? Gull, I want to go to Hogwarts so bad A Ravenclaw? Oh, come on, a Slytherin But I like my Hufflepuffs, leave them alone You want me to beat up Hagrid for you guys? And a guest host All of Andr kind of creep me out Well, I don't want to just say magic That's the answer That is a good question though Actually, it's the board the night bus The new chapter by chapter Harry Potter podcast Dedicated to taking a light-hearted and fun look at all things Harry Potter I'd wear my cool earrings everyday From chapter reviews to character analysis We're taking a not-so-indeck look at all the things that really matter The trowel The ball goes the trowel It's a fish Join us each week for good discussion That's scary that every conversation they have from now on is they have Peter Pettigrew their listening I'm going to argue otherwise but you'll have to wait till I do chapter eight in our next episode to find out why A few games Chocolate frogs Pumpkin pasties Every flavour beans And a bit of light-hearted banter Does anyone get anything to add to that? No Not that I feel like adding at the moment Oh, okay A board the night bus Subscribe on iTunes Flashpulp is an experiment in broadcasting fresh pulp stories in the modern age Three to ten minutes of fiction Brought to you Monday, Wednesday And Friday evenings Tonight we present a tale in which Maligan Smith, private investigator Stumbles into him Unlikely conversation with the dead Maligan Smith in From Beyond Part 1 of 1 Written by J.R.D. Skinner Art and narration by Popenax An audio produced by Jessica May [Music] They'd left the sliding door open And from somewhere in the sprawl of townhouses And bungalows beyond the balcony The smell of burgers cooking on an open grill Had invaded the apartment The day-long breeze that seemed to be rolling The sun slowly over the horizon Also spared the occasional gusts strong enough To toss the white curtains into a haze of lace And every surge carried the smell of roasting meat Further into the silent residence The occupants Trish Adams A 34-year-old customer service representative For American Airlines And Scott Clark, a 38-year-old mechanic And her living boyfriend Relining heavily over the living room's broad glass-topped table The small zen garden that normally filled the surface Had been moved to the kitchen counter As had a collection of guitar magazines And the vintage bottle containing essential oils and diffuser sticks Now the space was occupied by only a tablet And the display's glow Was all that stood against the shadows That had begun to creep from under the retro-styled couch And its matching chaise lounge The couple were not using the furniture, however Like eager teens, they'd shuffled up to the expanse on their knees Their soft toes digging into the cashmere rug And their trembling fingers only brushing the screen They had used the same approach on each of their previous spirit raisings The app that acted as their medium was a simple one A brown rectangle filled from left to right with the alphabet Yes, no options and, in the bottom corners, indicators for "hello" and "goodbye" In the center, beneath the pair's unguided hands A representation of a planchette weagled across the digital Ouija board Their breath was shallow and their eyes were locked on the device On the common grass below the balcony, a pair of dogs began a loud and sharp shouting match And the pointer stopped, aimed at the faux wood background Scott whispered "Do you think?" But his jaw locked at the largely expected knock With popping knees he stood and answered Behind the chain, locked front doors stood a thin-faced man in a black hoodie There was this old gen who held the entrance for me, so I didn't ring up I thought I'd be rude to turn him down He had to brace himself against his cane to keep from being pushed over It was as close to a greeting as Mulligan offered But it was enough to carry him into the seance area Trish remained in her stooped stance "I haven't learned your lesson yet, huh?" inquired the private investigator He worked hard to keep the smirk out of his voice, but failed The customer service rep gave a non-committal smile, saying "It was Scott's suggestion" "Oh bullshit, you were just as curious as I was," said her boyfriend As he reached for the dimmer switch on the plum-colored wall The room brightened, and Smith asked "And what did the phantoms say?" "No, wait, don't tell me, I'll tell you" For my first trick, however, I will reveal secrets to a maze and a stand For example, the three grand you told me you sent to the supposed urban scholarship federation of Detroit? It wasn't the only donation you made, was it? Trish's gaze lingered on the now dark tablet as she spoke "So, I guess you're sure now that the urban scholarship federation wasn't a real thing?" "Yeah, I'm sure" "The fact that they were asking you to wire transfer them cash via Western Union should have been a hint," replied Mulligan "But that's not what I asked" "Never mind though, with my newfound psychic detective powers, I'll answer for you" "You sent out two other sums, they were much smaller, and private individuals, so you didn't mention them in hopes of not looking like morons for being burned three times before realizing it" At least, that's what I'm telling myself "It's better than the incredulous alternative" Now, you might think that I just dug up some receipts or that I've peeked into your bank accounts So let me tell you about a dead boy named Martin A poor lad of fourteen who died of malnutrition because he kept secretly giving his already meager supper away to his little brothers Those unlucky kids, all seven of them living in that tiny house and the shame of their mother not even noticing his slow starvation as she drank herself through a brewery's worth of Milwaukee's best Scott's jaw had gone slack, leaving Trish to ask the question "You found Martin's family?" Smith blinked He exhaled "He blinked again" "You really still believe?" he asked "No, I mean, you obviously don't," she replied "But they knew so much about us!" "They knew about Uncle Kenna's cancer, our birthdays" "Martin himself told us he'd talk to my grampy on the other side" Mulligan shrugged "Told them those things yourself" "The moment you accepted the apps request to access your social network data" "Your favorite apparition, Martin, is only a ghost in the machine" "He never really existed and neither did any of the other poltergeists you were supposedly chatting with" "All who seemed to have mysterious money problems back in the living world" "For my last trick, I'll tell you what the Ouija was whispering to you just before I came in" "Absolutely nothing, unless you were psyching yourself out" "I knew this because I was on hand yesterday when the police visited the Motor City College kids who wrote the Spirit Board program" "My gas mileage ain't going to be cheap either" "They were the ones pretending to be Martin and the rest" "The pseudo-spooks were pretty careful about who they used their back door on" "They apparently just wanted decent meals and tuition" "Not to be greedy" "But you weren't alone in being suckered" "Still, I, uh, hate to say it" "But there isn't a ghost of a chance you'd be getting a cashback" "Scott winced" "And Mulligan told him" "Frankly, it was a long drive back and I had time to think of a hundred more of those" "I can keep going for hours before I have to, uh, queue up the ghost" "I mean, unless you want it, just pay me" "The detective pulled a printed invoice from his pocket as he spoke" "Finally standing" "Tush made for the front hall" "And her checkbook" Flashpulp is presented by flashpulp.com and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 3.0 Unported License Text and audio commentaries can be sent to comments@flashpulp.com but be aware that they may appear in a future flashcast We'd also like to thank the FreeSound project found at freesound.org For a full listing of effects used during the show as well as credits for the users who provided them check this episode's notes at flashpulp.com and thanks to you for listening. If you enjoyed the show please tell your friends. [Music]