The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  The girl's mouth came open to protest, but she caught her mother's reflection. Gayle's face told her, You are a guest here. Go with it. Talitha read it properly and swallowed whatever she was going to say, replacing it with a smile.

  Henny worked the brush methodically and after a minute she stopped and studied Talitha. "You have such gorgeous hair, you really need to start doing more with it," she suggested in a friendly manner. Henny smiled at the girl, but it suddenly froze on her lips and her face became tight. "I mean..." she started to say and then looked down at the hairbrush, twirling it slowly. With quick movements, Henny put Talitha's hair into a ponytail that was sloppy at best. "I mean, I think I overstepped my bounds here, I'm so sorry Gayle," she apologized, but her tone was flat and lacked sincerity. "Hey, I bet Amy is ready for dinner."

  With that the tour ended abruptly, which was fine with William.

  Seeing the ostentatious opulence had grated on him. They headed down to the dining room by way of the back stairs. Gayle had wanted to see the kitchen, but Henny seemed to have forgotten this and breezed right through it. The kitchen was very similar to their own. It had received no special attention and the appliances were mismatched. The room was obviously not to be viewed by guests and William felt as though he had just peeked behind the curtain and had seen the "Great Oz," in all his indecent humanity.

  However, the moment passed as soon as they entered the dining room, he was right back in the Emerald City.

  The dining room table was so huge it nearly didn't fit the room, and the room was not a small one. The wood of the table and the matching sixteen chairs was a deep rich brown. The place settings for the two families were spread out about the table, so that William at one end was easily fourteen feet away from Greg, at the other.

  This would've suited him just fine, except that Gayle was quite far away, just to Greg's right. With Henny just across and slightly to her left, William had a fine view of both women.

  Gayle sat smiling at her daughter in an amused fashion. It was a warm smile and honest. Talitha was trying in the most unobtrusive manner possible, to pull the silly ponytail out of her hair, she kept pretending to yawn and stretch, giving it a quick tug on each occasion. Gayle's happy looks to her daughter radiated genuine love and it increased the naturalness of her beauty.

  Henny, on the other side of the table seemed relieved and relaxed, as if she had performed some burdensome task. She sipped unobtrusively at a glass of wine, no longer the center of attention and it was oddly enough at this moment that William found her most attractive.

  Normally she had an unnatural beauty about her; she seemed to be an imitation of loveliness. She powerfully aroused his body, but his mind rejected her looks instinctively. The moment passed however when she said in an irritated voice, "It's about time!"

  Amy had finally made her appearance. She stood in the archway between the living and dining rooms, as if waiting for applause. The grating sound of her mother's voice sent her large smile, crashing into an immediate frown.

  "I have to look good for our guests, Mother." Her eyes flashed angrily for a moment but then her smile snapped back in place. "And isn't that what you always taught me?"

  "You're so right." Henny's smile and pleasant demeanor came back as well. "Dinner everyone." The table was littered with covered dishes from which many delectable smells emanated.

  William had smelled the steak as soon as they entered the house and he had forced himself to concentrate on something besides his stomach. All through the tour, he had fought the urge to breathe in deeply and sigh loudly. Their dinner the night before had been Spaghetti Os and the French toast for breakfast hadn't been Gayle's best. The buttermilk, though just opened, had been sour and nobody could find the moving box which contained the syrup.

  Henny stay seated and chatted with Gayle, as Greg served everyone in turn. When their plates were full, an awkward moment ensued as each family waited to see if the other was going to say a prayer or Grace. With nothing forth coming, Greg unceremoniously said, "Dig In!" He commenced to attack his steak with undisguised gluttony. A spasm of disgust slipped out from behind Henny's mask of pleasantness and her face soured briefly. But it lasted less than a second and no one other than William noted it.

  As families, the Jerns and the Harris' had never been more than acquaintances. William had studiously avoided Greg whenever possible, while Gayle and Henny had always traveled in much different circles.

  Despite the lack of mingling between the two families, the Coast Guard was such a small service that they were all relatively well acquainted with each other. There was something William and Gayle had never understood about Henny; what could she possibly see in Greg? Gayle had always insisted it was Greg's money, but William knew that he wasn't in fact rich.

  His father, a retired Admiral, was supposedly very wealthy and Greg spoke at length of his coming inheritance to anyone who would listen. William got the impression that Greg's father had been handing out his money in dribs and drabs to his only child. The admiral probably knew that if he gave out any real money, Greg would immediately quit working. All of this meant that if Henny was in the relationship for money, she was the most patient woman imaginable.

  "So Greg, how's the Admiral doing these days?" William asked. He hadn't had a real conversation with Greg in a couple of years and judging by the expensive furnishings and the Corvette, William considered it likely that the inheritance had finally kicked in.

  Around a mouthful of steak, Greg said, "Still alive and kicking. Well not much kicking these days, he broke his hip just before last Christmas." Greg suddenly laughed loudly and incongruously and William had an unfortunate view of the food Greg was currently chewing.

  Gayle looked at William and her eyes asked him, Did I miss the punch line to a joke about an old man with a broken hip?

  When he finished chuckling, Greg took another large bite of food and explained what he thought was so funny, "The old man has these three female caretakers, and he insists that they dye their hair blonde! Ha Ha!" Greg laughed some more and William smiled and nodded in what he hoped was not too phony a manner.

  Purposely, Katie took a large mouthful of food and said in her little voice, as deep as she could make it, "Blonde hair, Ha! Ha!" She had a wonderful ear for mimicry, and this little throwaway line was actually funny. Everyone smiled or gave a quick laugh, even Greg. William looked down quickly, he didn't want to see the spinach Greg had just put into his mouth.

  After a moment he asked Greg, "Is he still in the hospital?"

  Henny answered, "No, he's in some sort of swanky daycare for the rich and ancient." Henny wasn't bothering to hide many of her true feelings tonight. She obviously hated her father-in-law and her feelings toward her husband bordered on loathing. "So don't worry about him, it doesn't seem like he'll ever die, at least not until the Devil himself comes for him." She gave a smirk to her glass of wine and drained it.

  "It’s true," Greg agreed, unfortunately not between bites. "Both of his parents lived past a hundred, so he could be with us another twenty years or more!" Henny looked as if she had just swallowed something nasty.

  Well that explained a few things to William and judging by the frozen smile on Gayle's face she had caught on too. Greg hadn't come into any money; he had simply picked up some of his father's furniture, when he had moved to an assisted living facility. The shocking thing however, was how obvious Henny was being. If there had been any question before about whether she was a gold digger, it had just been answered.

  William decided he'd not had enough wine and took a long pull at his glass. He almost choked on it when Amy said to Katie, "So how do you like living with the ghosts?"

  William had successfully put aside his silly feelings and hadn't thought about his phantom Boiler Monster since his moment in the basement. At the question though, a thrill went up his back and the image blinked into his mind. Damn! He looked over at Amy and felt his anger rise. Her resemblance to her mother was as obvious
as it was unfortunate. She was young, nubile and pretty, but in a skanky unwholesome manner and she was currently wearing a nasty, mischievous grin aimed at his six-year-old daughter.

  Katie glared back with a look of anger and disbelief. "There's no such thing as ghosts," irritation coloring her voice. "Right, Mom? There's no such thing as ghosts?"

  Just then, the strobe light, negative image of the lurking black creature came back to William again. He felt his chest tighten. Looking around him, seeing the calm expression of amusement in the faces of the Harris family and the slight anger in the faces of his own family, made him realize he was the only one with this feeling of fear.

  "Katie-bunny, there is no such thing as ghosts," Gayle replied with a tired, but reassuring smile. The long couple of days, plus the steak, and the wine were starting to weigh her down.

  "See," Katie said smugly. "And really, they aren't scary anyways, they're like Casper. And I don’t see why everyone gets all ascared." She looked across to Talitha and smiled. "It’s a ga…ga…ga…Ghost! Right, Tal? Tal and I both think he is kinda cute." Whenever she was in doubt, Katie liked to drag her big sister in on conversations. Talitha gave her a nod. The little girl continued, "And on Scooby Doo the ghosts aren't even real, on-a cuz, it’s always some mean old man." Katie paused and turned her head the slightest bit toward Greg and cast a look at him out of the corner of her eye. He was shoveling his second helping of dinner into his mouth and took no notice. Katie continued but in a slightly quieter voice as if what she was saying could be found offensive, "So there aren’t no such things as ghosts and if there were, they'd either be cute or fake." Katie felt her logic to be well founded and looked down her tiny nose at Amy, dismissively.

  "That’s only on TV," Amy spoke with a superior air. "My mother saw..."

  "Amy!" Henny said sharply and then softened, "Dear, that’s enough. You don’t want to scare the little one with silly stories." Her eyes flashed daggers at Amy, but then went to Talitha. "Talitha, I've heard that you are a…ah, a girl with high moral standards. You know—a good girl? Our last neighbors, the Nelsons, their daughter was quite the tramp." This statement was greeted with looks that darted back and forth across the table. What were they expected to say to that? Henny drained her wine glass again and looked expectantly at Talitha.

  "I think you can rest assured that not only is Talitha a good girl, I like to think of her as the best girl," William gave his oldest daughter a smile.

  "What about me?" Katie asked in alarm. "Can I be the best girl too?"

  Katie was closest to him, so that she got an arm pat and a warm smile. "Of course you're the best girl too, sugar bottom."

  "I don’t have a sugar bottom," Katie announced with a quick glance toward Amy. It was clear Katie thought Amy might actually believe she could indeed have a sugar bottom.

  "Well that’s something," Henny said as she poured herself another glass of wine. "I'm glad my new neighbors won’t be influencing my sweet Amy into being naughty." She then smiled all around. William smiled back, but when he glanced down the table, Talitha’s face was set neutrally but also set in stone and Will’s face was completely expressionless.

  "I don’t think you have anything to worry about." Gayle had a smile pulling at the corners of her lips as she said this. William had only found out that morning that Amy was a slut, but he wasn't the last to know. Greg had been so engrossed with his meal that he missed not only the looks, but the entire conversation as well.

  Moments later however, Greg finally stopped eating and William braced himself mentally for the coming onslaught.

  "You know what I think is the neatest thing?" Greg paused and looked around, just in case any of the Jerns were mind readers and knew what he thought was the neatest thing. "I think it's just so neat that in June, you can still feel the crispness and coolness in the mornings."

  William was feeling a little worn out from the move and having Greg start in on the weather, caused his brain to shift into neutral. He quickly started to feel sleepy and to combat it he attacked the remainder of his food with gusto. However, he was soon full and the sleepiness came back even more powerfully.

  He suddenly remembered the story of Rip Van Winkle. It was about a fellow who fell asleep for twenty years and woke up with his beard grown down to his toes. Subconsciously, William reached up and rubbed at his chin. It had only a little stubble on it, but there was still time. With Greg, talking about the weather, there was all the time in the world.

  After what felt like a very long while, he glanced over at Katie and half expected her to be grown up, but she hadn't grown perceptibly and was currently trying to build a pyramid with her peas. Will made a small noise to get her attention and demonstrated, how with a small bit of mashed potatoes acting as mortar, she could build a stronger pyramid. His was quite large, four inches tall and the apex wasn't yet completed.

  "This is perfect weather for sailing too. The wind is constant and not too strong. I don’t actually sail and don’t like boats in general…" Greg continued, almost without pause for breath. Gayle sat glassy eyed, her focus had slid off of his face, and she was currently staring at his large abdomen. William felt his chin again, and the stubble was definitely longer. He wondered how long it had been since anyone else had said anything, fifteen minutes at least, maybe an hour, it was hard to tell.

  He forced his eyes up to Greg’s face and Greg snatched them. William was in that terrible position where it would be rude to look away. So he nodded sagely, hoping that Greg would turn his focus elsewhere. Greg was saying something now about underground weather and William felt that he couldn't last much longer.

  He went with a desperate ploy; when reaching for his drink he 'accidentally' knocked over his napkin ring. He bent down to retrieve it and with Greg’s eyes momentarily off him he felt a little better, but the endless droning was still in his ears and he knew he couldn't spend the entire evening down there beneath the table, he would have to surface at some point.

  "She must have gone to poop."

  William straightened up in his chair. Katie had just said something, he was sure of it. Feeling sleepy and dull-witted William looked over at his youngest daughter. Did she just say poop?

  "Tell me Mr. Harris, do you wipe?" Katie asked conversationally. William looked around. Henny was nowhere to be seen; Amy and Will were both staring absentmindedly at Amy’s breasts, Gayle looking as if she had just woke up, was gazing at Katie with an extremely bewildered expression, and Talitha was grinning a mischievous grin.

  The little girl's question had nothing whatsoever to do with Greg’s current rambling and he was slow to respond. So Katie filled the verbal void, "I only ask on-a-cuz of Brandon Wilcove…you know Brandon? A boy in my class…" Her expression suggested Greg was stupid for not knowing the different boys in her class. "Anyway, he said that boys don’t wipe after they pee, on-a-cuz they stand up to pee." Katie paused politely for any comments, but since none were forth coming from the disorientated people around the table, she expounded on her topic, "I think he is a liar on-a-cuz when I pee standing up, I have to wipe…a lot!"

  Gayle’s eyes widened and she looked a little frantic. "Honey? Ah… ah…" Her eyes now began to flick from her daughter and then to Greg repeatedly. "When did you try this ah… standing up peeing?"

  "Just now, Mr. Greg was talking about underground rivers so much, it made me have to go pee." When Gayle closed her eyes hard and began to rub her forehead, Katie must have sensed her mother’s frustration so she added, "But don’t worry, I cleaned up the mess really good. It’s just Miss Henny will have to wash the yellow towels on-a-cuz they are all wet." She paused, but there was only silence, "On-a-cuz of the pee…" she went on helpfully. Katie looked at everyone in turn and waited for a response but the room was silent.

  Greg’s face appeared comically frozen in surprise, while Gayle kept looking from Katie to William, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

  Amy had been looking disgusted, but then shock
and outrage widened her eyes. "The yellow towels? Did you use my bathroom?"

  It was then that Henny came in carrying a pie. "Who’s hungry for lemon meringue?"

  Talitha smiled and nodded her head up and down slowly, "Perfect," was all she said.

  Chapter 7

  Will and the First Body

  May 27- June 4th

  1

  The day after Lisa broke up with him and still five days before M-Day, Will went looking for answers.

  "Mom! Your other daughter just told me she has been trying to toast quarters! I thought you would like to know." Talitha's voice called out in the tiny apartment and Will oriented on it.

  If anyone knew what was going on with Lisa, it would be Talitha. Within seconds, he cornered her in the tiny room she shared with Katie. "What the hell is wrong with Lisa?"

  Talitha, who was sitting on her bed, looked up at him from her book. "Did she breakup with you?"

  "How did you know? Did you have anything to do with this?"

  This was preposterous and he knew it, but his anger was in charge at the moment and it was very great and his thinking tended to diminish at such times. Will stood over Talitha, towered over her over in fact, and looked to be on the verge of exploding.

  "No, that was all you," she replied coolly. She didn't fear him in the least and calmly marked her place in the book. "And before you ask, we did not discuss it either. It was just obvious from your manner, coupled with the trajectory of your relationship."

  "The trajectory!" He slammed his hand down on her dresser. "Love is not about science, Tal! It’s…It’s…" he began to splutter. "It’s..." Now he cast about the room for the answer, but none was forthcoming. Talitha still remained exasperatingly calm and Will found he couldn't finish his sentence. The rage wilted within him and turning away from her, he leaned his head against the wall. It was cool and made him feel the slightest bit better.