by Shady Grim
I closed up my laptop and stuffed it back into my briefcase and went about eating my nearly cold ravioli. Thor had already finished his dinner and was ready to go home. When I finished eating, Mrs. Donnelly gave me a large bag of left-overs to take home for Thor. I thanked her and proceeded to walk back to my office where my truck was parked. I started it up and turned on the air conditioning while Thor was busy relieving himself. When he was finished, I removed his collar and lead and opened the door for him to climb into the cab. The ride home wasn’t a pleasant one. The closer I came, the more anxious I felt about another confrontation with Shelly and Ethan. I just didn’t need this kind of crap anymore. I was prepared for problems with Rick or Kelly, but not for problems from within my own home. I didn’t feel that I asked too much of my houseguests, and I was determined to stand my ground, come what may. Nobody was home when I arrived at the house. I assumed that either they went to the fair as promised, or I would find a nasty letter somewhere in the house describing their departure, although where they could possibly go was a mystery to me. Neither one had any friends or family that were willing to support two adults and two small children. I was the only idiot who would do something like that. Before I entered the house, I walked to my vegetable garden to search for Nicky. I didn’t find him anywhere, so I decided to bite the bullet and find out what state the interior of the house was in. I entered through the back porch, as I usually do, and into the kitchen. The guinea pigs were hollering as soon as they saw me, so I cut up some apples and carrots for them and gave them fresh water. I made a mental note to tell Emily that they needed to be cleaned. I searched the kitchen for a note and, not finding one, I walked through the house to see if one had been left in another room. I immediately noticed anything unusual in my study, so that was the next most reasonable location for a note to be placed. There was no letter to be found, but I did notice that the portions of the house that were in use looked unusually tidy. I had many of the interior rooms cleaned up, but there were a few rooms that I hadn’t yet reached, and they’d all been cleaned and straightened. The restoration of the interior still needed to be done, but at least the dust and old furniture had been cleared away. There were no toys lying about, which was most unusual for a house with two children in it. I went into the children’s rooms and noted that all of their belongings were still there. Either they felt badly about this morning’s fight, or Ethan was waiting for me to come home so he could use the cleaned house to launch another attack. That would be his way of showing me that he didn’t owe me anything. He could be quite theatrical at times like this. He would likely punctuate his argument with a spectacular exit, which would explain why their clothes and things were left behind. It’s very dramatic indeed to watch someone angrily packing up their belongings and stomping out with overflowing bags in hand.
I had nothing better to do, but wait and see what would happen. I gave Emily a pass and busied myself with cleaning the guinea pigs cage myself. I then retired to the library to do some reading. The library was my favorite room in the house. I spent a good deal of time in it even as a child. There were hundreds of outdated books and some were quite valuable. I always wondered why it had been left so whole. Much of the furniture and all of the wall hangings had long since been removed, but the library remained intact. I had always thought that very strange. The history of the house was rather sketchy. It had been uninhabited for years before my parents bought it. The name of the family that owned it escapes me, but they had owned this house and its surrounding land until their last remaining member passed away. He died a childless widower and the old house stood in loneliness until my parents claimed her. Who it was that claimed the wall hangings and furniture is unknown to me. There are many places in every room where the vestiges of pictures or paintings had once graced the walls. It seemed a great pity to me that all of the images of the former owners were missing. The history of the owners was the history of the house, and to remove their identities was to remove hers. I felt it was cruel to leave her so faceless. Ethan thought it too creepy to ponder over the long-buried owners of the house, but I felt that remembering them brought the past to life. What good are memories that are never remembered? How terrible a crime it is to live a lifetime on this Earth only to be forgotten when the life of the body has ceased. To remember those who have come before us is to feel connected, to have roots, and also to have a tie into the next world. I’m comforted in knowing that the cycle continues. That when I’ve grown old and am ready to pass on, there will be one who’s gone before me to take my hand and guide me through, and there will be a young one to take my place here on Earth. Whether or not I have children of my own doesn’t matter at all. The line of people that owned this place had ended, and yet here I sit to take their places and bring their once vibrant home back to life. Her patience has been rewarded and an heir has come to claim her, or perhaps it is she who has claimed me.
Chapter Fourteen
My wandering imagination was brusquely interrupted by the approach of Ethan’s noisy truck. I slid the unopened volume back into its place and made for the kitchen. Thor had already run to meet friend or foe, bellowing a deep warning on his way. Seeing that it was only Ethan, Shelly, and the kids, he sat down and calmly waited to give them a polite greeting before he trotted off into another room. Emily went running after him with a present that she had picked just for him, shouting excitedly about her day as she ran past. Jimmy stayed well away from Thor as I had requested of him, and Thor ignored Jimmy’s presence as long as Jimmy made no effort to touch or speak to him. Ethan, followed by Shelly, slowly entered the kitchen looking very shamefaced. Both of them were carrying a pile of plush toys, presumably won at the fair. The three of us stood in uncomfortable silence for a few seconds before I chose to be the one to break the tension.
“How was your day?” My tone was a little more hostile than I’d intended.
“It was nice,” Ethan answered, looking at the floor. Shelly never moved. “The kids had fun.”
“Good,” I said coldly. “Okay then, I for one would like to get this morning’s events cleared up, how about you?” They both nodded their heads and moved toward the kitchen table to sit down. Ethan put his hand on one of the chairs and stopped.
“Um, let’s get the kids ready for bed before we start talkin’.”
“Okay, that’s a good idea,” I said as Emily came running back in, dragging Jimmy behind her, to show me the toy she’d picked up for Thor.
“I gave it to ‘im, but he won’t play with it. And I got these for the guinea pigs. It’s got a picture of a cat on it, but Dad said that they could play with ‘em too.”
Emily showed me a package of colorful plastic balls with little bells inside them. “Oh, that’s great. I’m sure they’ll love them. Let’s wash them off in the sink before we give them to the pigs.” Ethan placed a chair in front of the sink for her to climb on, and I opened the package and handed the toys to her for washing. She turned on the faucet and gave each toy a quick dunk. She shook the water off of each toy, jumped from the chair, and ran onto the porch with Jimmy to give the guinea pigs their new toys. We all had to witness the pigs testing their new toys and were given detailed descriptions of which guinea pig preferred which color ball. Her gifts being favorably accepted, she went on to describe the events of the day with Jimmy occasionally chiming in with “yeah” and “that was cool” and other similar comments. The biggest hits were the roller coaster, the pony rides, and the obviously overindulged cotton candy; the telltale signs of which were clearly visible as pink and blue stains on their t-shirts, hands, and faces. The next chapter of daily events included describing each plush toy and how it was obtained. Emmy was exceptionally proud of her father’s marksmanship, as it was he who’d won every toy at the “duck shootin’ booth.”
“Dad said that your dad taught him how to shoot a gun.”
“Yes, that’s right. My dad was a good shot.”
“Did he show yeh too?” she said, priming me f
or an appeal.
“Oh yes, he showed me too. Your dad and I used to have contests with each other when were little like you.”
“Can yeh show me?” was the expected request.
“Tomorrow morning after breakfast I’ll set up the targets, okay?” My answer was received with much excitement.
“Okay,” said Ethan, “it’s time to get ready for bed.” With that statement, the excitement turned to complaints and both children wanted to know why they had to go to bed so early, as it was only seven o’clock. “Yeh don’t have to go to bed yet, just get washed up.” Shelly chose to use the opportunity to leave the room and accompanied the children upstairs, leaving Ethan to be the one to start the aforementioned discussion. On their way down the hall to the stairs, I heard them ask her if they could go back again tomorrow. I heard her start to tell them that she didn’t know when her voice trailed off to an unintelligible murmur. I picked up Thor’s new toy and washed it in the sink before I went into the living room to place it in his toy box. He didn’t play with his toys much anymore, but was unwilling to part with any of them. Every now and again he would rummage through his toy box and pull out a toy to sleep with or to play a game of tug-of-war. I came back to the kitchen to see Ethan pacing the floor.
“Let’s get this out of the way.”
“Yeah...well...I...uh...I’m sorry for takin’ a swing at yeh earlier.”
“It’s okay. We’ve had fist fights before. It’s all part of being family, right?”
He nodded his head and continued, “I still don’t like what yeh did, but yeh were right about doin’ that with the kids around. They ain’t ready for it.”
“You don’t like what I did? I don’t like what you did, and it better not happen again! I won’t live like that, Ethan, and I won’t make exceptions for anyone else, not even you.”
“It won’t happen again, but I still don’t like it.” He was firm, but he admitted to partial wrongdoing. “But it’s yer house and I know how yeh feel, so I guess I shouldn’t have done it.”
“Okay, what about Shelly? Does she plan on speaking for herself?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So, are yeh still goin’ tonight?”
“Going where?”
“To see my friend.”
“Oh shit! I forgot about that. Yeah, I guess so.”
“I’ll get washed up when the kids are done soakin’ the bathroom. It was freakin’ hot out there today.”
“I know. I have to get cleaned up too. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll be in my bedroom.” I left the kitchen and headed for my bedroom. I passed Shelly in the hallway, trying to control two rambunctious eight-year-olds on a sugar high. She sent the two kids in to brush their teeth and took me aside to apologize for this morning. “It’s okay, everything’s settled, but it better not happen again.” She nodded her head and swore that there wouldn’t be a repeat. About half an hour later, Ethan knocked on my door. He was ready and wanted to leave right away. “Aren’t we going to be too early?” I asked, surprised at the rush.
“It’s okay, I called ‘er.”
“Let’s take my truck,” I said as I lifted my keys from the hall table.
“No way, mine looks nicer.”
“Mine runs better, and I don’t want to get stuck anywhere.”
“Okay, but I’m drivin’ ‘cause you suck.” I handed him my keys, and he left his for Shelly in case of an emergency. We left her playing a board game with the children and assured her that she would be safe with Thor standing guard. I hated to leave him at home, but Shelly was too frightened to be by herself in the evenings.
“I hate to see that sad face looking out the door. He’s used to coming with me.”
“He’ll be fine. It’s only a couple of hours. Don’t look at ‘im,” said Ethan as he shoved me into the truck. He ran around to the driver’s side and jumped in as fast as he could, bumping his knee on the dashboard. “God damn it! Why do yeh have the seat so close?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“No, it just jumped out,” he grumbled as he readjusted everything to his liking. “Roll up yer window and lock yer door.” He turned on the air conditioning and started down the driveway.
“What for, it’s much cooler now?”
“Because I don’t want any spirits gettin’ in the truck.”
“If ghosts can walk through walls, I don’t think a locked door will keep them out.”
“Just do it! This place freaks me out at night. It’s so dark and the road’s really bumpy.” He searched nervously in the mirrors for anything that could belong to the realm of the supernatural.
“It’s a dirt road cutting through woodland. What do you expect it to be like?”
“Not haunted!” he shouted and I laughed. “All the bumpin’ around makes yeh drive real slow and careful. It just adds to the amb...abi...what’s that word?”
“Ambiance.”
“That’s it, ambiance. Oh, look! Did yeh see that?” He reflexively hit me on the shoulder and pointed excitedly towards something in front of the truck.
“I didn’t see anything. I was looking at the floor.”
“What the hell were yeh lookin’ at the floor for?”
“I don’t know, I just was.”
“Yer supposed to be watchin’!” he shouted, slapping his hands on the steering wheel in temper.
“Watching for what? You didn’t tell me to watch for anything?”
“Watchin’ for spirits!” he explained testily. “What have I been talkin’ about since we got in the damn truck?”
“Yes, but you didn’t tell me to watch for them.”
“Well, yeh should know what I mean.”
“I’m not a mind reader. That’s who we’re going to see tonight, remember?”
He was silent for a few seconds, waiting for me to say something. When he realized that I wasn’t going to respond any further he said impatiently, “Oh, don’t even ask me what I saw.”
“Alright, what did you see?”
“I saw a glowin’ ball fly past the truck.”
“Was it one glowing ball or two?”
“One, why?”
“If it were two, then it was probably the eye shine of some animal.”
“What if it was just one?”
“An animal with one eye, I guess.”
“Real fuckin’ funny, Heather! Yeh should take this stuff seriously if yer gonna live here!” He pointed his finger at me to add authority to his warning. “Yeh could wind up gettin’ possessed or goin’ insane or somethin’. And for yer information, it wasn’t on the ground; it was floatin’ in the air. It was an orb, an evil orb.”
“Whatever.” I really didn’t feel like arguing with him. I was tired from all the anxiety of the day. After several minutes of relaxing silence he cleared his throat and said, “Um...there’s somethin’ else I want to talk to yeh about.”
“What is it?”
“This thing between me and Shelly–”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore!”
“Just hear me out. It’s not what yeh think. I didn’t mean for what happened last night to really happen. It just...I...I felt lonely and scared and I wanted company.”
“Well, you sure found it.”
“Yer not listenin’ to me!” he snapped.
“I’m not listening because you’re not telling me anything! If there’s something on your mind, just spit it out! It just better not be the ‘I couldn’t help myself because I’m a man.’ routine. That’s bullshit, and you know it!”
“I’m sorry, Heather. Sex is my biggest weakness. I just can’t help myself. I don’t have yer self-control.”