The Haunting of Kevin Cullen

S.M.F.   Keeeviiiiin……Keeeeeeviiiiin……(getting louder) Keeeviin

K.C.  (loud high pitch)  Who’s there?

        (calmer) Oh, I must have had a dream. Seemed so real.

S.M.F. No dream Kevin. Remember Sister Mary Francis, Kevin? The old days? Malden? The Cheverus School? The Sisters of Providence?

K.C. Holy shit it’s Sister Superior. That really you?

S.M.F. No you schmuck. And watch your mouth. Your in the presence of something holy. And didn’t we teach you anything during the eight years we had you at Cheverus. If this was me how the hell old do think I’d be? I’ve been dead for years. This is my ghost.

K.C. Oh, makes sense. I must be worthy of this Divine visit.

S.M.F. Calm down there you Dennis Lehane poser. I’m here to tell you you have problems. Big problems. Your name’s being tossed about back on the other side and I guts to tell ya, it ain’t good.

The ghosts of Sisters Miriam Ellen and Rose Elvire are besides themselves. Have you ever seen ghosts beside themselves? You have to double up on everything. Instead of cooking for two you’re cooking for four. Let me hear rimshot for that one.

The ghost of Sister Emmanuella, always the Monday morning quarterback, says she pegged you a mortal sinner from the start.

K.C. What’s going on here?

S.M.F. It’s your soul Kevin, your soul. It’s doomed to hell. Hell Kevin. No purgatory. Straight down the rubbiish shoot and a welcome aboard lunch with Lucifer himself.

K.C. Me? What did I do?

S.M.F. Kevin my son, you not knowing is the most disturbing to us in the cloistered ghost world. Kevin, you tried to kill a fellow man. Remember?

K.C. Well yes Sister, but that man was Whitey Bulger,  Whitey Bulger! His brother is Billy Bulger. And the people that printed it and wanted him dead, well they were and some still are good to me Sister. Real good. Don’t you get it?

S.M.F. Yes Kevin. I do. You are talking about your employer The Boston Globe and a few federal law enforcement types. All with their own agendas Kevin.

Don’t you remember anything we taught you Kevin? My goodness Kevin. Not just trying to commit murder, the most sinful of sins, but you hit most of the seven deadly sins too.

K.C. Sister you got it all wrong, I’m telling you. I am good. I do good. I write good.

S.M.F. You write well goddamnit. Well! And you don’t do good. You play God. You and a few others conspired with evil people like John Morris to have a man killed. As far as the Lord is concerned unsuccessful murder and successful murder are the same thing.

I won’t even get into the lust, greed, envy, and pride that drove you to commit your soul to the eternal fires of hell.

K.C. Oh my God Sister, what should I do?

S.M.F. Repent my son, repent. First of course you must confess. Find a priest and spill your guts. Then you must correct your wrongs. Let the masses know the truth.

Kevin, before you do anything I want you to think long and hard. All those phone calls and meetings over the years with nefarious figures. All you wrote based on your contacts with these individuals. Individuals trained in the “black arts”. Men like John Morris. Men superior to you in most areas. I suppose you match up well with them when it comes to ethics, or lack of.

Kevin, what if John Connolly was corruptly feeding you information instead of John Morris? Would you have printed that Moriss’s top echelon informant Sammy Berkowitz was a rat?

Can you explain this when your time comes?

Think Kevin. Think hard. Then ask yourself how you allowed yourself to violate the easiest Commandment to follow. Thou Shall Not Kill!

K.C. Thank you Sister, Thank you. I will. I definitely will. But I have to do something first.

S.M.F. What is that my son?

K.C. I have to get permission first from my editors at the Globe and the good folks down at The Moakley Building.

S.M.F. Oh Kevin, it appears there will be many more visits from me. We really have a lot to go over.

K.C. Yes Sister.