One Sunday afternoon Alec Sutherland entered an old office building in Swanston Street and went up in a slowly rising lift to the fifth floor.
He walked quickly down the long corridor lined with heavy oak doors. At the far end, a sign outside a half open door announced Mrs Findlater's 'Temple of Light'.
Mrs Findlater, a Psychic Medium, was at the moment preparing for the afternoon séance. She was arranging flowers on a table.
Alec being the first to arrive was warmly greeted by the older woman who flashed him a big smile.
'You're a bit early,' the woman said brightly, 'but do sit down.' His eyes roved her body and saw she was top-heavy with a large bust in a bright multi-coloured floral dress.
Alec found himself looking into her eyes. For a long moment he had the strongest feeling that he knew her but couldn't imagine where he could have met her.
She's old but beautiful in an unstated way, he thought to himself. Large dark chestnut hair with streaks of grey. The delicate features of her face were flawless with a kind of pristine purity: her make-up was lightly applied with pink lipstick and pink rouge on her cheeks. Perfectly made up, just the faintest hint of perfume. Her blue eyes held a mischievous sparkle.
It was a smile as if she knew him, had recognised him, had known him for years. Her eyes felt to Alec as if they were going right through him. They were the most outstanding thing about her. Alec was mesmerised. He chanced her another glance. He looked again into her large, luminous eyes, they were such a deep blue, they were almost violet. A flash of blue that stirred something deep within him.
Alec stood immobilised, still looking at her. For a long moment his mind just refused to work.
She watched him eyeing her. She did not say anything, did not turn away. Then the woman appeared to turn her eyes off. It was as if she had thrown a switch. It was an unnerving experience.
Alec sat down in the back row of about twenty wooden chairs which were arranged to face a platform with a table of some dark reddish wood.
The table was spread with masses of flowers of many different kinds and about a dozen candles in pretty glass holders.
The woman was now lighting the candles. Alec watched her movements around the table, which served as a kind of altar.
She turned to face him. Her lips trembled slightly as she spoke. 'We'll be starting soon.' Her voice was cultured and charismatic, her lips were soft and full, Alec observed. Sensual lips, ripe and insolent. He could see a pulse beating in her throat. Her eyes flicked up at him, and then down. Alec was spellbound! Hypnosis? Mind control? he wondered.
A heavyset man wearing a headband of some kind stepped through the doorway and stood behind Mrs Findlater.
Alec could hear voices in the passage outside as five elderly women entered the room. The Spiritualist greeted them warmly as they took their seats.
Another older woman then came into the room and went up to a middle-aged lady in the front row. The two women kissed one another passionately mouth to mouth before sitting down.
Mrss Findlater then stood behind the table and said a few words of welcome and gave a short explanation of what to expect.
Alec was eager to absorb her words and the truth within them. He had been told this woman had a remarkable ability to communicate with people who had passed over to the Other Side.
She was now handing out brown paper bags to everyone present. 'I want you each to take a bag, come to the table, select a flower, hold the flower in both hands for a moment, then place it in your bag.' Alec chose a bright blue delphinium, caressed it and put it in his bag before returning to his seat.
'When everybody is seated,' the woman was saying, 'I will go into a light trance. I want you all to be very quiet during this time as I must have full concentration. I will come to you one at a time. I will then give you a reading from your flower.'
While she was saying this one of the other women was closing the heavy curtain at the window and switching off the lights.
And so the meeting went on by candlelight. And as Mrs Findlater went to each person, took their flower out if their bag and then asked if they had an Yvette or a Margery in the Spirit World, several of the women and the one other man present exclaimed, 'Yes. Yes. She was my
daughter ,' or 'My mother's maiden name was Thompson, as you said.'
When Mrs Findlater took the delphinium out of Alec's bag, he was astonished when she told him that his mother had been deserted by her boyfriend when she told him she was pregnant with Alec. She then went on to say that a young girl named Victoria Gay was in the Spirit World and that she sends Alec her love. Alec was instantly overcome with the deepest sorrow as he recognised the bright vivacious girl.
The Spiritualist lady was saying that Alec was to stop mourning this girl and move on. Alec was stunned, his mind strangely blank. For eight years Alec has obsessively mourned Vicky and has suffered a full-fledged depression. He was broken-hearted when she died.
Vicky had been his first girlfriend when he was seventeen. She had been instantly killed in a hit and run accident on the Nepean Highway in Cheltenham when she was sixteen. This was eight years ago. Alec had never forgotten her.
Mrs Findlater, now coming out of her trance, brought the meeting to a close, saying, 'There's tea and coffee available for a small charge. There's no need to rush off.'
Eventually people drifted over to a table by the door where an urn was boiling. They were each immersed in excited conversation telling one another about their readings. 'She's amazing,' said a small grey-haired lady. 'Beatrice gets it right every time, even down to the finest details.'
'She gave an excellent description of my grandmother again today,' said the only other man present. A heavy-set man with a large bandana. 'Old Julie has come through three times this year.'
'It might have been a trick of the light. Maybe hypnosis. But I'm sure my father was in the room,' another woman said.
One of the other women was telling everybody that Beatrice had once told her that a bald-headed man would be of major significance in her life. 'A week later I met Joe. We're now engaged.'
The heavy-set balding man put out a meaty hand and introduced himself to Alec as Bill Faye. Bill was an actor who had recently played the Ghost of Hamlet's father in an amateur production. His fleshy nose was red with open pores. A whisky nose, Alec surmised. 'Ye-es,' Bill was saying, masticating the last crumbs of an Arnott's biscuit. 'Beatrice is spot on. Well, waddyaknow?
Bill's wife Persephone was proudly telling everybody how Bill as a member of the Spiritualist Union had been sent to investigate a poltergeist that has been annoying and frightening a family in Oakleigh. This family had recently moved into a house that had been empty for several years. There had been all sorts of strange knocking noises during the night and something that sounded like a huge chain being dragged across the dining-room floor. And how the Channel Seven News team had made quite a feature of this story and Bill had his moment of celebrity when he was called upon to explain what was going on to the viewers.
'Did you receive a good reading?' Mrs Findlater was asking Alec.
She stared into him sharply and again Alec had the feeling of her seeing through him, as though peering into his skin.
'Yes, I did,' Alec replied. 'How did you know about my mother?' And about my girl, Vicky?'
'I don't know anything about them. They just came through to me while I was in my trance. I don't remember now what they said. All I hope is that their message had meaning for you.'
There was a great sadness in Alec's eyes, she saw, and despite her unease, Beatrice felt for him, for whatever private devils he was struggling with.
'Yes. It certainly was. But what I also wanted was some sort of contact with my Uncle Fred. He was my mother's brother and was like a good step-father to me.'
'I'm afraid I can't just conjure him up like a genie out of a bottle. All you can do is be patient, and hope or pray he will make contact with you. Just relax your mind and open yourself to the Other Side.' Her words hung in the air for some moments,
She was about three times his age. Yet he was attracted to her. He looked her straight in the eye, capturing her complete attention, but not knowing exactly what was going on in her mind. Not a word passed between them. Not a word needed to pass. It was as though it were happening in an isolated pocket of time. Alec looked deep into her face an saw the sincerity there. She then closed her eyes and seemed to be lost in meditation.
People now began to make their way out of the room, their footsteps echoing down the hallway to the lift. Alec followed behind.
Once outside in the street, Alec made his way up Flinders Lane to where his car was parked.
2.
