The Man in the Black Top Hat

by Ju Ephraime

  I walked into the bathroom, and it was freezing in there also. The entire house was freezing. I walked around, trying to get warm, when I happened to glance up at the cooling vent. The window curtain was blowing from the air coming out of the vent. I checked the cooling system, and the thermostat had been moved to the coldest setting. The control automatically adjusted itself for cooling and heating. Somehow, the control was set to 55 degrees. I quickly turned it back up and went downstairs to brew some fresh hot coffee.

  I did not feel as exhausted as I usually did when I had a visit from my invisible lover. I felt so good that I could have gone to work had I not been out for so many days. As it was, I was out of the loop and did not know what had been going on in the office.

  I jumped into the shower, then dressed in my casual yard clothes and returned downstairs for my coffee. I spent another glorious day working in the yard. When the girls finally came downstairs, I was already preparing to go out to mow the lawn. They were glad to see me looking happy. Both of them came to help me pick up trash and water the lawn to prepare for our barbecue the next day.

  I was in an upbeat mood because things were good between John and me again. We had a great time together last night, and I still basked in the afterglow. I had not realized how much I’d missed talking and spending time with my husband. I looked forward to being with him tonight, just to cuddle. The way I felt, I thought I would try making hamburgers for the girls and me for lunch. Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to eat a hamburger. I usually only ate cheeseburgers, but I did not want to push it. After my limited diet, a hamburger was a step in the right direction.

  John was not yet home. His half a day usually meant after 1:30 P.M. We’d had many arguments about this, so now I didn’t argue any more. I just waited, and so long as he got home before the day was over, I was contented.

  ***

  The day went by very smoothly. The girls made the hamburgers for lunch and I stopped working in the yard long enough to join them. As much as I wanted to, I was not able to do the edging because the daylight was fading fast. The days were getting shorter now that the summer was drawing to a close. I opted to leave the edging for the next day, and made my way into the kitchen to prepare dinner. My appetite had still not returned, but I had kept down the hamburger I had for lunch, so I was hopeful that I might be able to eat some dinner tonight.

  Last night, John had commented on how skinny I was getting. He had made a joke about me getting too skinny for him.

  “I need some flesh to hold onto, Syria,” he had said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked flirtatiously, showing him where I still had flesh in all the right places. I was thankful my bruises were no longer noticeable. They were still sore if I accidentally bumped into something, but for the most part, they were fading rapidly.

  He’d responded with a growl, reaching for me and showing me just how much he loved my extra flesh. Just thinking about it made me anxious for him to come home. I looked forward to our special time together.

  I had just removed the steaks from the oven when John arrived. It was, as I thought, 1:35 P.M. We all sat down to dinner, and I was able to eat half of a steak. After dinner, we got out the board game and played a couple games of Monopoly. As usual, John won every game. It was not fun for either me or the girls, so after five games, we decided to call it quits. The girls remained in the living room and John and I went into the family room.

  “Did you give any thought to us doing something fun this weekend?” John asked.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “We could take a trip down to New York and do a play.”

  “John, you know I don’t like the long drive home from New York after a late show, unless you were planning on spending the night at a hotel.”

  “We could do that. Would you like that?”

  “Yes. I’d like that very much.”

  “As it turns out, you’re in luck. I’ve made all the arrangements, all we have to do is pack an overnight bag and have your mom pick the girls up tomorrow afternoon.”

  I rushed to give him a hug and a kiss. “You’re so good to me,” I said. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. I do love you with all my heart, never doubt it.”

  We went outside on the patio, John with the newspaper and me with my book. After a while, John returned to the kitchen to get us a cocktail. I was engrossed in my book, one by my favorite author, Feehan. It was just getting interesting, which is why at first I didn’t hear John’s question to me.

  He walked back onto the patio carrying two drinks and said something, but the book was just getting interesting and I didn’t hear him at first.

  “Syria,” he repeated, “did you have someone working out in the yard?”

  “No,” I answered. “Why?”

  “I could have sworn I saw a tall man wearing a hat walk through the solarium. When I looked again, no one was there, so I must have been mistaken, but I thought I’d check with you.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. I could no longer hold my drink in my hand, I shook so badly.

  “Are you okay, Syria?” John asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Oh, I’m all right,” I replied. “I must have swallowed my drink too fast. But don’t mind me. Tell me about this person you saw.”

  “I didn’t really see anyone. I just thought I did, because when I looked again, there was no one there, so it couldn’t have been anyone.”

  “But you actually did think you saw a man?”

  “You know, we are discussing it, I’m not so sure anymore,” he answered, impatiently.

  The snappy answers were a sure indication that he was getting irritated by my questions, and I didn’t want to ruin our time together, so I dropped the subject. But I kept worrying about it until I thought I’d go insane.

  I had not seen anyone, but I had heard him often enough – going up and down the stairs. I had also heard a man’s laughter on more than one occasion. But a sighting? No. What did it mean that the man revealed himself to John and not to me? I began to hyperventilate.

  ****

  I tried very hard to recapture the mood we had before John mentioned seeing a man in our home, but it was gone. I was not able to settle. Now that I knew I was not going crazy, I excused myself and picked up the telephone and called Marta.

  “Hi Marta, I’m sorry I haven’t returned your calls, but I haven’t been feeling myself for a couple of months now. How are you doing?”

  “How am I doing? I have been racking my brain trying to recall our last conversation, thinking I may have said something that caused you to be upset with me.”

  “Stop it, silly. You’ve known me too long to believe I’d be upset with you. We go back too far for that. Anyway, enough about this. What’s been going on with you and the kids?”

  “They aren’t kids anymore. Things have settled down with Michael, but I’m still having a bit of trouble with Mandy. She still insists she’s grown and I can’t tell her how to live her life. Every day is a battle of wills, but I’m handling it. I can’t depend on her father because he doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. What about you?”

  “I’ve been having some health issues, but I’m getting over it now. My other problem is a bit more serious. I believe I have a ghost in my house.”

  “A ghost in your house? Get away! You are too funny, girl.”

  “I’m not kidding, Marta. This is very serious. You know how you always said I was a problem solver? Well, this problem I don’t know how to solve. I’m the only person in my home the ghost has targeted, and I don’t know how to tell John or my mother about it because of the nature of the attacks.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, let’s just say I’ve been screwed out of my mind. It’s the most intense sexual experience of my life. The problem is I’ve never seen the person, I can’t touch him, but every night I’m kept awake with marathon sex, right in my bed.”

  “
Syria, tell me you’re kidding. I can’t process this. It sounds like something out of the movies.”

  “I’m sorry, Marta, but I’ve been living this nightmare for the past three months. I don’t know how to tell John. I’m afraid he won’t believe me. Then today, he said he saw a man in our home. When I tried to pursue it, he got upset and said he’d made a mistake. So, I’m back to square one.”

  “Maybe you should tell him you’ve seen a man yourself. That would give you the opening you need. But I wouldn’t do it today. Wait a couple of days.”

  “I won’t. We’re going to Manhattan tomorrow for dinner and a show. We’ll spend the night, and return Monday morning.”

  “I miss that about New England. You can spend the night in beautiful New York and be home the next day. There’s no such excitement in North Carolina, but I’m not complaining. It has its moments. Speaking of New England, do you still go to O’Mallery’s for your antiques?

  “Yes, why?”

  “My mom told me he might be closing his store. He’s been having a rough time since his son drowned. He was very close to his son. He depended on him a lot. It was his son who did most of the work at the shop. Losing him must have been devastating for poor Mr. O’Mallery.”

  “Yes, I read about it in the paper. I met the son once, when Mr. O’Mallery had stepped out. I did have a powerful reaction to him. I was sad to hear of his death.”

  “What do you mean, ‘a powerful reaction?’” she asked.

  “It was nothing,” I said. “You know how you meet someone and you immediately begin to have lascivious thoughts about them? That’s how I reacted to him.”

  “You had lascivious thoughts about Jeff O’Mallery? Was he gorgeous?”

  “No,” I replied, “I don’t know why I reacted to him that way. Anyway, the man is dead. We shouldn’t be discussing him this way.”

  “Okay, Ms. Thing, if you insist,” she said with a laugh.

  “But I do miss going antiquing. I haven’t been in a long while. For one thing, I don’t have the extra money because I haven’t been bringing home an income like I used to, what with me being out of work for so long.”

  “You’ll get back to your routine. I have no doubt that you will, but you should have that talk with John, sooner rather than later. It’s critical.”

  “I know, I promise I will,” I replied. “It was good talking with you, Marta. You always put things in perspective. I’ll take your advice and let you know how it goes with John.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  My parents were excited we were going to Manhattan, and did not have a problem keeping the girls. To avoid a repeat of the problems we had packing for our trip to the cape, I only took one change of clothes for John and me, and stored the bag in the car overnight. The next day, we left right after lunch, giving ourselves plenty of time to get to the city. The traffic to New York was highly unpredictable.

  We had a wonderful time in Manhattan. We saw the play, Chicago, and went to dinner afterwards. The air of excitement that seemed to be a permanent part of Manhattan never ceased to amaze me. Everywhere I looked, people rushed about. We walked hand in hand, like new lovers, and spent a wonderful night together when we got back to our hotel room. The episodes with the ghost in my house receded, and it was just the two of us.

  We did take advantage of our time alone together to recapture some fond memories, but it was not all about sex. We cuddled and fondled each other, and took the time to appreciate the little things we sometimes took for granted about each other. It was amazing! I dreaded going back, but, oh well, life goes on.

  We made it home just in time for John to leave immediately for work. I felt so good that I got into my car and drove into town to do some shopping. I was trying my best to remain away until the girls were due home. I planned on taking them shopping.

  I visited the beauty salon and pampered myself with a shampoo and cut, a manicure and pedicure. This took care of the better part of the morning. I went to lunch and enjoyed a long, cool ice-tea drink with a sandwich. I went home to meet the girls’ bus. They were excited when I told them we were going to the mall, and off we went.

  We spent a wonderful time shopping in the mall, and went home to prepare dinner. We all pitched in and in no time, we had dinner on the table. After dinner, the girls went upstairs to their rooms, while I remained downstairs. I was still not able to bring myself to go upstairs unless it was absolutely necessary.

  I was sitting in the living room around eightish when the door alarm announced John’s arrival, an hour earlier than usual. I was so happy to see him home early that my excitement knew no bounds. I rushed to him, and gave him a big hug and a kiss.

  “You’re insatiable for me, admit it,” he teased.

  “You wish.” I tried my best to appear unaffected by the love that had my heart full to overflowing for this man. I could not resist reaching up to give him a second kiss, which became very heated and left us both breathing hard.

  We went upstairs together and began undressing each other as soon as we had reached the privacy of our bedroom. We walked into the bathroom in the nude. John’s body was all hard planes and firm muscles, and I loved running my hands over all that muscle. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for his erect penis. His reaction was always the same – ragged breathing as I examined him. His cock had always fascinated me, so hard and yet so soft, like velvet over steel. I had just begun warming to my theme when he lifted me and entered while the water cascaded down our bodies. After this first round in the shower, we took it to the bed where we continued to love and worship each other’s bodies.

  John made me feel loved and appreciated by the way he caressed my body. He paid special attention to my breasts. I loved the way he always made me feel, as if my breasts were precious to him. It was wonderful, the way it used to be when we first got married. I was happy to have my husband back.

  That night, something woke me from a sound sleep. I had no idea what, but one minute I was sound asleep, and the next, I was wide awake. As I lay there, my bedroom door snapped shut as if someone had walked out of the room. I looked across at John, who was fast asleep next to me and snoring lightly, and thought, what now? I didn’t wake him, but I could not get back to sleep. I lay still with my heart in my mouth, not daring to breathe, to alert the intruder that I was awake. A sudden urge to use the bathroom came on, but no way in hell was I venturing into the hallway. I remained in the bed and held it for what seemed like hours until, eventually, I went back to sleep.

  I woke up the next morning to John saying something to me.

  “What did you say?” I asked, still not fully awake.

  “I said, I see I wore you out last night. Are you going to have breakfast with me? I’ll fix you some sausages.”

  “I’m wide awake now,” I said. “Please wait while I freshen up. We’ll go down together.”

  I rushed into the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth, then joined John where he waited for me in the bedroom. We joked and laughed while he prepared breakfast. Nothing pleased John more than fixing breakfast in the mornings. Unfortunately, his current schedule didn’t leave much time for this. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy doing these little things with him.

  Soon the smell of fried sausages and eggs brought the girls downstairs, and we all sat down to breakfast like a family. The girls were ecstatic that their father had prepared the breakfast, and they kidded him about his runny eggs.

  “Dad,” Kelsey said, “your scrambled eggs are getting better, almost like Mom’s.”

  “My eggs are better than your mother’s,” he responded, pretending to be offended.

  “Okay, let’s put it to a vote, shall we?” Kelsey continued, undaunted. “All in favor of Dad’s scrambled eggs over Mom’s, raise your hand.”

  We all raised our hands in favor of John’s. This began a friendly competition, with everyone comparing what he or she thought of as his or her signature dish, to mine. None of them could hold a candle to my cooki
ng, but I graciously conceded the field to whomever the winner was at the time.

  This was a good start to our week. There was a peaceful relaxed atmosphere in the house, just like it used to be before my episodes began. We planned a barbecue to take advantage of the good weather, and the still late sunsets.

  We prepared for the barbecue early, going back and forth between the outside patio and the kitchen. I had to hose down the flagstones and stock up the cooler with our favorite drinks. John was the grill master, and he promised to be home early. We would have steaks and salmon. The girls wanted hot dogs. They loved them with grilled onions and tomato sauce, and they were preparing this ahead. I made a garden salad to accompany the protein. John was the only one who knew how to handle the grill, so we left that to him. He’d better be home early, as he promised.

  John made it home around noon, and our barbecue got underway. It was a huge success. We had music playing while we played a game of basketball, which Johanna won. The salmon was a hit with Johanna. There was so much food left over, we would have no need to prepare any dinner for the next two days.

  We remained outside until dusk, when the buzzing mosquitoes forced us indoors. It was as if, by some unspoken consensus, we did not want to go back into the house. The girls went to their rooms because there were very few dishes to clean, and the kitchen only needed a bit of straightening up, which I did while John put the leftovers away.

  John and I watched a movie in the family room, and then we went upstairs to together. We showered together, and made passionate love to each other, until the shower ran out of hot water. This gave our relationship a much needed boost.

  We retired to bed in each other’s arms. I believe I fell asleep immediately after John. Nothing interrupted my sleep but a dream here and there. I made certain that at no time was John’s arm not around me. Our previous routine was that the moment he fell asleep, I would retreat to my side of the bed and we would spend the night that way. Not anymore—I had to be touching him or have him touching me. That was the only way I felt safe, and it seemed to have worked for the past couple of days.