“Dad, I’m still dating Jacob, remember? I won’t be going out on any dates here.”
“Oh, of course,” Dad said. He smiled weakly and turned back to his food.
“How was your day, Marie?” Mom said, turning to her youngest.
Marie, who had been bursting with all sorts of information about her first day, began describing her day in full. Kate zoned out after a minute, thinking instead about spending all those Friday nights at home, watching television with Dad.
“And, Matthew, Seth...are you both ready for your classes at the university? When do they start?” Mom needed to get all the information from everybody. It was like an inquisition every night at dinner.
“All ready,” Matt said. Matt was eighteen and just starting his freshman year at college. He had wanted to go away to school, but since Dad’s furniture store went bankrupt, the family’s savings had evaporated. He and Seth both would have to live at home if they wanted to go to school. Luckily, Marshall University was just down the street.
“And how about you?” Mom then looked at her oldest, Seth. His massive shoulders were slumped over his plate of barely touched food. Seth was twenty, and although he was tall and strong, he had never been particularly athletic. He preferred music and books to sports.
“Yup.”
“Yup, what?”
“Yup, I’m ready to go.” Seth didn’t share much these days.
“Make sure you get out there tomorrow and put in some job applications too. You are living here for free, but your car and your car insurance are your responsibility. We’ll help you with tuition, but we’re not going to be able to....”
“I know. I know.” Seth pushed back his chair, plunked the paper plate and all its contents into the trash, and stomped up the creaky servants’ stairs.
Normally, Mom would have flipped out at such an affront. She would at least chase him down to finish the conversation. The entire family sat quiet, waiting to see what would happen next. Mom sighed deeply and forked a bite of coleslaw into her mouth.
*
Kate giggled softy into the phone. She had been talking to Jacob for nearly an hour and the phone was warm and slick. She told him all about her first day of school. Telling Jacob made her feel so much better.
“I love you so, so, so much,” she said, yawning through her words. It was getting late.
“I love you more,” Jacob’s husky voice came over the receiver. She could almost smell his cologne through the line. She could imagine those warm arms encircling her, the tickle of his lips on her cheek.
“Oh, Jacob. I miss you,” Kate whispered.
“I miss you too, sweetie.”
“Then come here so I can give you a big hug.”
“You know that I want to. I just can’t right now.”
“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just, we have this big house. You could stay here and go to school. The university is just down the street. It would be so perfect.”
“That would be great, but I just started my semester here. I can’t just up and leave now.”
“I know,” she sighed. He was right after all. “Listen, my mom is going to kill me if I talk much longer. My phone bill is out of control already.” Kate knew her parents felt bad about sabotaging her relationship with Jacob by moving her across the country to this God-forsaken place, but the pity would only last until they got her phone bill.
“I know, I know,” Jacob said. “I’ll tell you what.”
“What?” she asked, interest piqued.
“Send me an application to the university and I’ll see if I can transfer my credits after this semester.”
Kate yelped with joy. Jacob probably took the full brunt of her scream directly in his ear, but she was so happy she couldn’t control herself. “Do you mean it? Will you transfer here?”
“Why not? I’ve never been there. I’ve never lived anyplace except boring, old Nebraska. I think it’s time I get out of here. Besides, I need to be where you are. You are everything to me.”
“Oh, my God,” Kate whimpered excitedly. “I’m so happy, Jacob. This is all I want.” The smile on her face was so big, it hurt her cheeks.
“Send me the application,” he said softly. This was how he always spoke before he ended the conversation. Kate knew they were going to hang up now, but his announcement was enough to keep the smile plastered to her face.
“I will,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She hung up the phone with a smile. She brushed her teeth and hair, washed her face several times, changed into her pajamas, and crashed onto her bed with her stationary and purple pen. She flipped on some music. Ace, her old terrier, jumped on the bed and curled up next to her. Kate scratched him behind the ears and he looked at her appreciatively.
She wrote to Jacob every night since leaving Nebraska. She hoped eventually somebody would set up the computer so she could email him too. Further complicating the situation, her phone was her mom’s old one, vintage. It didn’t take pictures, it didn’t text, it just dialed. It was downright embarrassing. If she wanted a new phone, she had to get a job. She’d have to look into that at some point.
But she liked writing letters to Jacob. Even moments after finishing an hour-long phone conversation, Kate still could find things to say to him. She told him more about her day and doodled pictures, drawing cartoonish dogs and cats and big hearts with bubble letters saying “I LOVE JACOB!” When she was done writing, the letter got a spray of perfume and a kiss with red lipstick that Kate never actually wore out of the house. Tomorrow, she’d put it into an envelope and drop it into the mailbox. It seemed very romantic that her letter would soon be in his hands.
All her life, Kate wanted a picture of a handsome boyfriend to put in a frame beside her bed. She finally had one, a nice picture, but not as stunning as the prom snapshot. It was Jacob’s senior picture. Jacob sat smiling in front of a bookcase filled with important looking books, which was kind of funny, because Jacob wasn’t much of a reader. His grin looked a little forced, and he was wearing a striped gray button-down that Kate didn’t like much, but it was Jacob.
She looked at his picture and smiled. He was such a tidy boy. Kate loved that about him. His nails were always clean and trimmed, his hair, clipped to perfection, and he always smelled of Ivory Soap and cologne, which to Kate, was the best smell in the world.
She first noticed Jacob when she was a freshman in high school. He and her brother Matt both played football and Matt occasionally brought Jacob around the house. He was tall with dark brown hair and large brown eyes. His skin was just a shade darker than most other kids in her school, his grandmother being a Pawnee Indian who married a white farmer. Kate found that incredibly romantic as well.
She knew she had to get Jacob’s attention. When she heard Jacob was coming over, Kate always attempted to be doing something grown-up and interesting. One day, she played Beatles albums on their old turntable. Very sophisticated, she thought. Other times, she baked a cake or cookies. Her mom said that always got a man’s attention. In the winter, she read by the fireplace. In the summer, she sunbathed in a bikini. That finally did the trick.
It wasn’t long after the sunbathing incident that Jacob timidly asked Matt if he could take his sister out on a date. After much teasing, and a chorus of “You can’t be serious,” Matt finally shrugged his shoulders and gave his okay.
Jacob took her bowling on their first date. Bowling is very big in Nebraska, so he probably thought this was a good idea. However, Kate hated bowling, probably because she bowled so badly. Over and over again, she launched the ball right into the gutter. Once, her fingers got stuck in the holes and she ended up throwing the ball in the air, after which it crashed down onto the wood floor with a sickening thud.
Luckily, Jacob thought it was all very cute. He laughed and tried to help her roll the ball properly, pressing his body against her back as he held her arm, swinging the ball forward. Aft
er a while, he bought hot dogs and a big paper cup full of greasy fries that they shared. Despite her lack of talent in the bowling alley, it was a great date. The best.
They ended the night with a long kiss in his car. All through his senior year, her sophomore year, they were inseparable. She cheered at every football game. She wore his championship jacket. He came to her locker every day after school to drive her home. It had been so perfect.
A solitary tear dripped off her chin. She didn’t even realize she was crying. Again. But he’s coming here. He’s really coming! She knew she shouldn’t get her hopes up, but she would anyway. She finished her letter to Jacob, sprayed it, kissed it, and set it on her night stand. She gave Ace a pat and then let her head fall into her pillow.
Her gaze drifted to the many dark corners of the high ceiling of her room. The house must have been built by loonies, she thought as she glanced around the strangely shaped room.
After school today, she had finally had time to unpack a little and make the room her own. She hung up a few posters, mostly Beatles’ album covers and one of a man wearing nothing but a tiny towel wrapped around his waist. She also had a framed print, given to her by her mother when Kate was just a child. It displayed a cool mountain lake and a just a few words. “Find your strength from within. You can move mountains.” Every morning, Kate read the words and knew she could face the day.
There were still lots of blank spaces on the wall. It was proving to be a hard room to decorate, due to its odd shape and many angles. Kate’s twin bed was flush against a wall, with barely room to get in and out. Her dresser drawers, when pulled out, nearly blocked access to her closet. There were other, normal-shaped bedrooms in the house, but Kate had chosen this room. This was, in part, because it was on the third floor, away from her parents and sisters on the second floor, but there was something else about it.
Seth’s room was on one side of Kate’s. It had been a ballroom at one time, a long room with polished wood floors and big chandeliers. It was entirely too big for a bedroom and Seth’s bed and dresser, which made up the entirety of his possessions, floated in the middle of the huge space. The corners of the room held nothing but dust bunnies.
The room on the left belonged to Matt. In the past, it was probably a lounge. Right now, it held a small couch and bed, both covered with Matt’s recently-unpacked possessions. It was an average-sized, average-shaped bedroom.
But not Kate’s room.
*
The Blacker House wasn’t just big. It was huge. It was so huge, the house had been on the market for nearly two years. It was too big for any normal family, too many bathrooms to clean, too many old pipes to keep up. The Gilbert family got it for a steal.
From the first moment they drove up to the curb and looked upon the enormous house, Kate stood in awe. It dominated a small rise in the land, three glorious stories high. It was composed of red brick with two white columns atop a long porch. White shutters framed large windows. The houses on either side were similar in size and structure, but somehow lacked the stately, satisfied look of the Blacker House, as if it knew it just looked better.
The Gilberts, led by the real estate agent, walked up the long front path, up several steps and to the large, white door. After fiddling with the lockbox for several minutes, the real estate agent managed to open the door. Kate’s youngest sister Marie pushed the door open and ran into the large foyer.
“Wow!” Marie squealed. “Look at this place!” She turned and immediately ran toward the back of the house.
The Gilberts entered the huge foyer and were immediately greeted by the standard wide, winding staircase, so often associated with old southern homes. The stairs and railing were painted white and royal blue carpeting spilled down the center of the stairs like a luxurious waterfall.
As their eyes led up the staircase, Kate nearly gasped. Three enormous stained glass windows glimmered at the top of the stairs, displaying blue flowers blooming against a sunny yellow background. It was truly breathtaking.
The foyer was flanked on the right by a mammoth living room, which contained not one, but two marble fireplaces. The dining room, on the other side of the foyer, boasted the same. This led into the large kitchen, which had been completely remodeled.
Next to that, at the back of the house, was the small breakfast nook. Its door led into a family room, the walls of which were bookcases from floor to ceiling. In this room, Kate’s father pretended to cry.
“Would you look at these bookshelves? I could actually take my books out of the cardboard boxes they’ve been in since I got married!” He smiled and winked at his wife.
The party trooped up the grand stairs to the second floor. Here, the family toured the five bedrooms and three bathrooms which spanned the house. As the walk-through continued, Kate’s two sisters yelped, one after the other, “This is going to be my room!”
After the tour of the second floor, another, more narrow staircase led to the third floor. Directly at the top of the stairs, Kate stopped and stared into the strangest room she’d ever seen. It was the oddest shape. In fact, Kate couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Alcoves went in every direction.
The real estate agent, noticing Kate’s interest, announced “You see, the third floor of the house, including this odd little room, was added during the Prohibition days of the Twenties. Apparently, the Blackers hosted big parties up here, where the hoopla wouldn’t be heard by the neighbors. Or the police, for that matter.”
She went on. “This funny little room was the coatroom for the ballroom, which is next door,” and she left to show off the elegant ballroom, but Kate remained.
Kate walked across the threshold and into the strange room. The door led into a sort of wide hallway. Kate walked to the center of the room and stopped. The hallway continued ahead of her and stopped at a large window. Looking to her right, another large hallway stopped at a set of closet doors and on the left, another hallway ended in a complete dead end of plaster and yellowed paint.
Kate turned in a circle. There was no other way to describe it. The room was shaped like a cross. How strange, she thought. Kate then looked up. At the very center of the cross, over Kate’s head, was the most fascinating chandelier she had ever seen. It was a gray-colored metal (pewter, her mother later told her), shaped in a stout cylinder. Carvings of dogs covered the metal all around, inside and out. The dogs appeared to be running in circles around the perimeter of the chandelier, and stranger still, their heads were twisted around so that they were looking right at Kate, smiling big toothy smiles. Finally, the entire cylinder was crowned with navy blue fringe.
“Bizarre,” Kate whispered as she gazed at the strange fixture. Yes, this is my room, she thought. She visualized her bed, her bookcases, her things in this room. It felt right.
She was suddenly startled, as if from a trance. “Kate, come on honey, we’re going down to the basement,” Mom’s voice came from the hallway.
“Coming,” she said as she gazed again around her new room. If she had to live here, in West Virginia, she might as well have a cool room.
4.
First thing Tuesday morning, Kate opened her locker while grasping a roll of tape. She opened her backpack, removed seven photos of Jacob and began taping them all over the inside of her locker. She wanted to make sure everybody saw her handsome Jacob.
“Isn’t that going a bit overboard?” a voice, thick with drawl, asked her.
Kate turned around. A slim blond boy stood beside her, leaning against the lockers. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and flashed her a lopsided grin.
“What do you mean?”
The boy leaned forward to examine the pictures. “Who is this goofball? Your boyfriend?”
“Yes, he’s my boyfriend and he’s not a goofball. He’s in college, thank you very much.” Kate turned her back on the boy.
“Oh, a college man,” the boy said with a sarcastic lilt. “So, do you think he has this many pictures of you up at college?”
Kate froze. For an uneasy second, she was sure Jacob didn’t have this many pictures of her displayed, but dismissed the thought quickly. Instead, she whirled to face the boy.
“Can I help you with something, or do you just like to walk around being rude to people you don’t know?”
“What do you mean ‘people I don’t know?’ We have, like, every class together. I’m Chris Atkins. Doesn’t it ring a bell?”
“Whatever,” Kate murmured. She finished putting up the last picture and closed the locker.
“Hey, I’m just kidding witcha’. Don’t get yer panties in a bind.”
Kate walked away, just wanting to get away from him. What an accent, she thought. How can anyone be taken seriously when they talk like that?
The Blacker House Page 3