The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  "I suppose it happens," William said.

  Whatever had just occurred was definitely odd. Most people when shocked like that would jump back a little and maybe make a little frightened noise, but this was different. The man had screamed! There was a long pause; William had no idea what to say to a man who behaved like that.

  The painter's embarrassment continued. "Are you with Vendor Management? I was just getting an early start you know." William looked puzzled. The painter explained, "I'm David, with Papa's Painters."

  "Of course, you're with one of the work crews," William said. "We aren't with Vendor Management; this is going to be our house." The man looked to Katie quickly and then back to William. It was obvious he wanted to say something and he opened his mouth to start, but then shut it. William found himself getting frustrated with this odd man.

  "You're a worker man?" Katie practically jumped with excitement. "Can I have my shutters blue, please?"

  "This house doesn't have shutters, little Miss," David responded.

  "Well, you can put them on. I want mine to go on the outside, right Daddy?" David smiled in an unusually sad fashion at Katie and shook his head, no.

  "Katie, we won't be getting shutters on this house, sorry," William said to her, but then turned to David. "Why were you so afraid anyway?"

  "Oh, I don't know, I guess I'm just jumpy," David's answer was clearly a lie and the Commander wasn't the sort of man you lied to.

  "Katie, go wait on the porch. I'll be right there," his tone was kindly toward his daughter, but when she left his face turned stony. "Now, before I get angry, try answering my question again, truthfully."

  The answer the painter gave him, made his headache rev its engines and it was all William could do not to punch the man.

  "Your house is haunted," David intoned with wide eyes.

  Chapter 4

  Will

  May 26 1980

  1

  "Hey, Willy J," Amy Harris purred seductively. Sometimes the island was just too small for his liking, Will thought.

  "Oh hi, Amy." He'd be polite but nothing more; anything else would be an invitation for her to follow him all the way to Lisa's apartment building. Lisa wouldn't be happy about that.

  Amy had appeared out of nowhere and in fact, had given him a bit of a fright. One second he was walking next to a parked van, the next she was pressing her almost impossibly large breasts onto his arm.

  "So Willy J where you off to?" She put both of her hands into her thick brown hair and teased it. This pulled her sweater even tighter across her chest and she knew it.

  Will Jern prided himself on being a gentleman and did his best to look away and was mostly successful. She was difficult not to look at, but she always made it easier by calling him Willy J. The nickname grated on him.

  "I gotta date with Lisa. So if you don't mind, I'm late and I really gotta go."

  She pouted for just a second and then smiled with insincere sweetness. "Maybe next time then, see ya Willy J."

  He had got off surprisingly easy. Normally getting rid of her was like scraping gum off his shoe. Giving her a small wave, he slipped quickly between the parked cars.

  There had been a time when he had honestly thought about giving Amy a whirl. She was gorgeous and back then he hadn't known about her well-deserved reputation. Thankfully for him, she had insisted on using the name Willy J at every opportunity despite him asking her not to. Will hated the name. He was ok with his full name William Jern Junior, it was that damn nickname, Willy J that really burned him up inside.

  When the Jerns had first moved to Governor's Island a little over year before, he'd tried desperately to lose the nickname and become "Will." He had pleaded with his family for their help and his father and sister Talitha were willing, but his mom had trouble letting go.

  "I love the name Willy J. You've been Willy J since you were a baby," she said during dinner that night, their second night on the island. He had hung his head and played with his mashed potatoes.

  "Honey, you're going to have to let it go," his father intervened, cutting into his food. "Willy J is almost...I'm sorry, Will is almost seventeen, and Willy J is just not a name for a man." Will's father understood at least and the talk of him becoming a man, made Will sit up a little taller in his chair.

  "I think Willy J is an ok name for a man, that is if you live in a trailer," Talitha had said and then giggled. "Remember that guy, Jerry-Jim what's-his-name, in Mobile? Bet yawl diddy con doit. Yawl gonna scritch your beehind," she drawled out her best Jerry-Jim impersonation and this set them all to laughing.

  "Scratch your beehind!" Katie's impersonation wasn't so good, but she made up for it with exuberance and a quick pantomime. Hopping up on her chair, she started scratching at her skinny five-year-old bottom madly. They were all laughing hard and there were tears in Gayle's eyes.

  "All right Katie, have a seat," William cautioned. Katie overplayed it as she always did. If one bottom scratch brought a laugh, then ten must be ten times as funny.

  "Alright, Daddy," she said standing on her chair, delicately rubbing her little bottom now. "That was starting to hurt." This brought on another gale of laughter and Katie realized her time on stage wasn't over with yet. "Yeah it really hurts, Mommy. Can you kiss it better?" she asked putting her bottom in her mom's face.

  Little Katie was a natural and could say and do things that would have got Will in big trouble. His father was strict, but Katie just had a way about her. Gayle gave her bottom a playful slap and tugged her down into her chair.

  That had been their first week on Governor's Island and he had been Will for only the next three. All it took was one slip of the tongue and he was back to being Willy J.

  Quite by accident, Talitha let it slip. The two of them were at the community pool with some of their new friends when it happened. Will decided to splash a sunbathing Talitha and out it popped.

  "Hey, Willy J! Stop it," she groused angrily, but realized her mistake immediately. The moment seemed to drag out for the two of them as they looked at each other.

  And then it started.

  Amy Harris, who had a huge crush on him from the moment he first stepped foot on the island sang out, "Willy J, that's so cute! Is that what they call you at home?"

  It was all downhill from there. Talitha felt terrible, and tried to correct anyone who used the nickname but it was a useless battle. For his part, he forgave her quickly since it was an obvious accident and he loved her all the more, seeing her repeated attempts at bringing back Will.

  "Hello Will," she would say loudly and importantly and for some reason with a slightly deeper voice than her normal one. "Are you done with the comics, Will? Say Will, what do you think about those Mets, Will?"

  Finally, a week later, when Willy J seemed to have been carved in stone, he'd asked her to give it up. Talitha stopped being so obvious about it, but she never called him Willy J again. Katie and his mom however continued to use the nickname. His mom figured if everyone else got to call him Willy J, then she should be able to as well. And Katie was five years old; she didn't need any other reason. His father, who either went by William or Commander Jern, rarely changed his mind on anything, so he continued to call him Will.

  The only other person, who called him Will, was Lisa Kawalski.

  It was oddly enough, one of the reasons he was initially attracted to her. Will was tall, athletic, and handsome. He had his mother's thick brown hair and his father's blue eyes and he knew that he could have his pick of the girls on the Island. Lisa was not the obvious first choice. She was pretty, but not strikingly so and there had been some real beauties who had made their affections very clear to him.

  It was just the simple way Lisa said, "Hello, Will" that caused him to look at her in a different light. It stood out in stark contrast to all the other girls squealing, "Hey, Willy J."

  She was calm and direct and it lent her an air of maturity and seductiveness that played on him. Lisa was small and athleticall
y slim with dirty blonde hair. Her best feature were her green eyes; they always caught people's attention. Lisa enjoyed that moment when first meeting people, when they would pause and stare into them. They changed her somewhat average face into something closer too beautiful.

  Now with June almost upon them, the two had been going out for a year. Actually, just three weeks shy of a year and there was a significance to the date that a number of people thought him oblivious to. Will could be oblivious to a great many things. It wasn't that he lacked smarts; he was just a daydreamer of the highest order. If he wasn't playing football or kissing Lisa, he was likely not paying very close attention to the world going on around him. It was in fact the reason why he was currently hurrying along the seawall late for his date.

  Time had slipped away from him once again. His bedroom window had a wonderful view of New York Harbor and sometimes it was all he could do to pull himself away from the sight. It wasn't the tall buildings or the lights of the city that drew him, it was the amazing number and variety of ships that swept by.

  Hundreds a day, came through the harbor and they reached out and touched something within him. He had been looking out on a two-masted schooner strutting about, showing off the plumage of its beautiful white sails. In his mind, he was out on its yardarm, drifting up and down with the light seas, letting the glow of the evening sun warm him, when a voice interrupted his daydreaming.

  "What are you still doing here?" He jumped as if bitten and Talitha gave him a smile. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"

  "What do you mean? What time is it?" he asked suddenly worried.

  "It's time you learned how to read a clock. I won't always be here you know, so one of these days you're going to have to start relying on yourself." Talitha had a beautiful smile even when she poked fun. "One more time...when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the seven it means you are late for your date."

  "Seven! Oh man!" He hopped up quick and darted from the room.

  "I think you forgot to say thank you," she called after him, "and I think you forgot your wallet as well."

  He was back in a flash, and kissing her on the cheek, said, "Thanks." Will grabbed his wallet but remembered his money was actually in the jeans he wore the previous day. As he searched through the mess of his room he asked, "So do you and Brian have a hot date as well?"

  "Oh yes. We're going to the library. He seems to believe in the silly notion that hypnosis can be an occurrence completely separate from autohypnosis. It's my conjecture that...what are you doing?"

  "I can't find the jeans I wore yesterday, my money was in them."

  "You didn't wear jeans yesterday; you wore your brown cords. Remember, you spilled jelly on them at breakfast and thought no one would notice, but everyone did. They're right there." She sighed heavily reminding Will of their mom. "You're going to have to work on this self reliance."

  "I will, I promise. See ya." He was gone again thinking she was probably right.

  He did tend to lean on his little sister for help. In school, he relied heavily on her. They were in the same grade and when they could, they always tried to share classes.

  Will hadn't been held back due to grades, he'd just been born too late in the school year while Talitha had been born a month premature and only ten months after him. That meant he was always one of the oldest kids in their class and she the youngest.

  They were both very smart, but Talitha actually used her brain scholastically and during test time, she'd take two tests at once. Her eyes darting back and forth from her work to Will's and if she ever made even the slightest noise, he would quickly change his last answer.

  Will thought Talitha was beautiful, but he knew that she didn't see herself that way. She saw herself as bookish, nerdy, and shy. There was no denying the bookish part, since the girl read two or three books at a time constantly. She wasn't nerdy either, but rather frightfully smart with a very quick, funny and sometimes biting wit that left most boys her age feeling stupid and lost.

  And lastly, she wasn't shy, but instead quiet. She listened to those speaking around her and only spoke when she thought she could contribute to a conversation meaningfully. However, since she considered most of what her peers talked about inane, she tended to listen more than she spoke.

  Will knew other boys thought her to be pretty as well. Talitha always looked to have just come from the beach, sporting a warm golden tan year round. Her straight hair was a dark brown that matched her eyes and she had high cheekbones, a small slim nose, and full lips. She never wore make up and never appeared to need to, but despite all this, Talitha considered herself plain. Will valued her opinion on all matters, except for her opinion of herself.

  Part of why she didn't find herself attractive was that she was so seldom asked out.

  Will tried to explain the logic boys used: asking a girl out was tough—asking a pretty girl out was even tougher—asking a pretty girl out who was not only smart as a whip, but also seemed to enjoy cracking the whip was just not worth the effort.

  "And you believe I enjoy cracking the whip?" she had asked. "When have I ever cracked this metaphorical whip?"

  "Yes, you enjoy cracking the whip," he replied. "Remember Danny Mcland? And another thing, more boys might ask you out if you didn't sound like a walking dictionary all the time. You're sixteen! Try talking like a teenager for once. By the way, what do you mean by metaphysical whip? And don't tell me to look it up!"

  "I was being figurative," Talitha explained without explaining anything. "And it's not my fault that Danny Mcland can't string two words together intelligently... uh, uh, Ta, Ta-leee-tha, uh, uh, douwannna, uh, uh, douwannna, uh," she mimicked.

  "He was nervous! It's not easy asking out a girl, you know." Will became exasperated, "How many of the other guys do you think wanted to ask you out when they heard that you responded back to him in Chinese?"

  "It was Cantonese and it was the only eighteen words I know. I was just trying to demonstrate that it's impolite to speak in a language that the listener doesn't understand," Talitha justified.

  "You're being obtuse. The point is no guy wants to be shot down as well as made fun of."

  Talitha sighed heavily and Will could see that she was considering the points he had made. She suddenly brightened up and said with a mischievous smile, "You looked up obtuse didn't you? I knew you would."

  That was the only time that Will had tried to help her romantically, while he on the other hand, seemed always in need of help. In early December, he'd been completely surprised when Talitha asked him if he was ready for the big day.

  "Christmas? I think I'm ready to open presents if that's what you mean." They were in their Dining Room doing homework. Their dining room consisted of their living room, only with the TV turned off and their folding card table opened out.

  "No. I'm talking of your big day with Lisa," Talitha said with a knowing look. The look bewildered her brother.

  "I have time to get her something still, Christmas is like three weeks away. But that reminds me, can you help me pick something out and can I borrow a little money?"

  "Not Christmas. Your six month anniversary." She shook her head in disbelief.

  "That's a thing?" He managed to look panicked, angry, frustrated, and lost all at once. "What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to get her a present? Do you even think she knows it's almost our... six month...wait." He stopped in mid sentence while he tried to figure out if it really was almost six months. "It's close I guess."

  "What do you mean you guess? You don't know when you asked her out?" Talitha closed her textbook, so he knew this was getting serious.

  "Sure, it was ah, like a few weeks after we moved in...the first week or two of June, right?" Will started to get a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  "Try June 15th and she definitely knows the date. You should get her a small present and maybe some flowers." Talitha had a slight dreamy look about her.

  Their mom was eight
feet away in the kitchen and said, "I don't think you should make a big deal of this Willy J. You might be setting yourself up, you know."

  "In what manner would he be setting himself up?" Talitha had an odd way of asking the questions that Will was just thinking of, and she sometimes seemed to speak as if she was his attorney.

  "I'm just saying if he begins his relationship by spoiling her, where will it lead to?" their mother asked. "He'll have to constantly top the last 'big day' and that can get expensive." Despite holding a spatula in one hand and an oven mitt in the other, she still managed to put air quotes around big day.

  The nervous feeling slid toward fear. He never seemed to have very much money and his mom using the word expensive had Will thinking she was winning the argument.

  Talitha wasn't done yet however. "I think he should spoil her and she should spoil him right back. This is what people do when they're in love. Doesn't dad spoil you? And I'm not talking anything expensive, even a card if it contains the right message, will be sufficient."

  Will liked the idea of getting Lisa a card, but only since it was in his price range. He was never partial to giving a card as a gift; it felt weird using someone else's words to try to describe how he felt. Besides, he really didn't know what he felt.

  2

  Eventually, Will went with the card Talitha picked out for him. It was a wise choice as most of her choices were and Lisa almost cried, but in a good way. His mom had been right about one thing, he subconsciously felt the need to top the small gift at Christmas. So he went with a sweater and another card.

  Then came Valentine's Day and the word love was thrown around far too casually for Will's liking. Lisa talked frequently of love and started saying that she loved him, and he felt forced to say the word back. But he honestly didn't know if he loved her or not and despite what Talitha and everyone else thought, he was painfully aware that their one year anniversary was coming up.