The House in the Hills

by The House in the Hills (retail) (epub)

  “Oh, I don’t want any,” Harmony said. “I’ve already been taste testing back at my house. I’m very full.”

  “More for me then,” Edith said and smiled, then opened a drawer and pulled out a pie cutter and then cut herself a big piece and slid it onto a plate. She held it up and nodded with approval. “This looks like something off of TV. Like on one of those cooking shows.”

  Harmony laughed a little and nodded. “I know. I have a food blog and I already took some pictures of the pies for it.”

  “A food blog?” Edith asked, bringing the plate over to the island. Then she turned back to the cabinets, pulled open a drawer and took out a fork. “What’s that? Is that a real thing?”

  Harmony pulled back a little, remembering that Darcy had said almost the exact same thing to her. “Uh, yeah, it is,” Harmony told her.

  “I’m kidding,” she said and pulled out a stool from beneath the island and sat down. “I know it is. Girl, I am not that old. Sit!” She motioned for her to pull out a stool.

  Somehow, Harmony wasn’t completely convinced that Edith wasn’t kidding but she did as instructed and sat down, pulling herself up to the island. She watched as Edith took the first bite, then smiled when she moaned in pleasure.

  “That’s damned good pie!” she explained. “It’s like it melts in my mouth.”

  “Lots of butter,” Harmony said. “So be warned.”

  “I could eat this all day,” she said and took another bite.

  “I’m here!” a voice called from the hallway.

  Harmony turned in her seat and saw a very old woman entering the kitchen. She looked like a character from an old book. She was short, dressed in a black dress that came almost to her ankles, and no shoes. Her very white hair was piled on top of her head neatly and her face, while old, was clear and bright. She might have been old but she was almost as lithe as a ballerina. She stopped abruptly when she saw Harmony, then turned to Edith.

  “Who is this girl?” she asked, staring at Harmony with a look of confusion combined with intrigue.

  “She brought pie,” Edith said.

  “Pie!” she exclaimed, excited as small child on Christmas morning. “We have pie?”

  “Now, Josephine,” Edith said, shaking her head a little. “We have to watch your sugar.”

  “To hell with my sugar,” she spat at her. “I want some pie.” She stared at Harmony. “Are you the one who brought the pie?”

  “I am,” Harmony said and stood, extending her hand. “I’m also your neighbor, sort of. I mean, I live up the road a good ways.”

  “Southerner,” Josephine said and nodded with approval. “My husband was from the South. But so am I. We didn’t meet there. We met here, which was weird. But I love Southerners. We people make good pies, don’t we?”

  “Uh, yeah, I guess,” Harmony said as she shook her hand.

  “Whereabouts are you from?” Josephine asked.

  “Tennessee,” Harmony said and nodded slightly.

  “Wow,” she replied. “I’m from Georgia myself and my husband, God rest his soul, was from Texas. Neither one of us could ever shake our accents, too ingrained in us or something. We met out here. I told you that once, though, didn’t I?”

  Harmony nodded and smiled slightly. “Yes, you did,” Harmony said and pulled her hand back. “Sorry about your husband.”

  “Don’t get too excited,” she told her. “He’s been dead over thirty years. Heart problems.” She nodded like that should explain everything.

  “Oh, sorry to hear that,” Harmony said and sat back down.

  “I was sorry to see it,” she replied and eyed the pie. “I want some of that.”

  “Fine,” Edith said and got up and retrieved a plate, then cut her a slice. As she handed it to her, she said, “Only one piece.”

  “What about some vanilla ice cream for the top?” Josephine asked and took the pie, then sat down on a stool close to Harmony.

  “You already ate all that,” Edith said.

  “How about a piece of cheese, then?”

  Edith shook her head. “Who puts cheese on pie?”

  Harmony raised her hand. “I do, too,” she said shyly. “It’s really good.”

  Edith stared at her then shrugged. “Hell, I’ll try it, too.” She got out some American from the refrigerator, then peeled back the plastic and put a piece on another piece for herself, then on Josephine’s pie. “That good?” she asked her.

  “It would be better if you put it in the microwave and melted it a little,” Josephine said and held her plate up.

  Harmony smiled at this because that’s how she liked her apple pie, too, with cheese on top. Slightly melted, of course.

  “Always something extra with you,” Edith muttered to herself and took her plate to the microwave.

  Josephine turned to Harmony and said, “Now who are you?”

  “I’m Harmony,” she said. “Harmony Franklin.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” she said and shook her head. “Why are you here? Not that I don’t love having company, I do, but I need to know why you dropped by.”

  “Just decided to get out and meet some of my neighbors,” she told her and smiled at the old woman, oddly enough enjoying the interrogation.

  “And how many did you meet?” Josephine asked then smiled when Edith handed her the plate. She looked down at the melted cheese and nodded with approval. “This looks good.” She motioned for a fork and Edith got her one, then she sliced into the pie, popped it into her mouth and moaned in the same manner as Edith had. “That’s damned good pie, Harmony,” she said as she chewed.

  “Thank you,” she replied and smiled at little. It never got old whenever someone complimented her food.

  She took another big bite and spoke with her mouth full, “So, how many neighbors did you meet?”

  “Just you and Edith,” Harmony said. “No one else really answered their doors.”

  “A lot of folks at work,” Edith said.

  “No, some were home, I could tell,” Harmony said. “They just didn’t want to answer their doors.”

  “Bunch of assholes,” Josephine said. “In my day, people had to be polite, you know, to get along. Nowadays, they don’t give a rat’s ass. They’re plain damned rude.”

  Harmony chuckled at her, really beginning to like her.

  “Amen to that,” Edith said.

  “When me and my husband moved into this old house, well, it wasn’t as old then as it is now…” Josephine said and trailed off, lost in nostalgia. She shook herself then continued, “We had parties and went to parties and for drinks and whatnot. Now? They won’t throw their hands up at you if they passed you on the road.”

  Harmony laughed harder. “It’s true!” she explained. “Of course, I am not an overly friendly person myself, but I do try to be polite.”

  “Of course, you do” Josephine said. “You were raised right. I can tell.”

  Harmony nodded. She had been. Her mother had always been really strict about being polite.

  “I try, too,” Josephine said. “But I have always been a big mouth. I say what’s on our mind. I think that’s one of the reasons my husband fell in love with me. I always spoke my mind.”

  Harmony nodded.

  “He was a good man, my husband,” she said and sighed.

  “How did you meet?” Harmony asked.

  “Oh, at a diner I was working at so many years ago it’s almost embarrassing,” she said and smiled at her. “He’d come in and order the same thing every single day: Corned beef and hash with a coffee. Ick. Never liked coffee. Anyway, we’d talk and I’d rib him about doing that and one day he told me he wanted to take me to a ‘real’ restaurant, on a date. Well, I accepted, of course, and we got together. Of course, he was doing quite well for himself and as soon as we married, I tried to be different, more ladylike and he told me, ‘Josephine, stop that. Just be yourself. I didn’t marry a lady, I married you.�
�” She threw her head back and laughed loudly. “And so that was that. I went back to being me and we had a good marriage.”

  Harmony smiled at her, really liking her story. “That’s cool,” she said.

  “Edith, be a dear and get me another slice of pie,” Josephine said and finished off her slice.

  “No, one is enough,” Edith said.

  Josephine gave her a look. “Come on now. Let me have another. It won’t hurt anything. I’m old. I need this.”

  Edith groaned then got up and walked over to the counter and stared down at the now empty pie pan. “Damn, would you look at that?” Edith said. “We ate that whole damned thing.” She turned to Harmony. “I guess I sliced the pieces too big.”

  “There’s more in the bag,” Harmony told her. “You can have them if you like.”

  “Just one leave one,” Edith said. “Or two.”

  “Leave three,” Josephine said and pointed at Edith “’Cause that one will eat two by herself.”

  “Thanks for being my friend, Josephine,” Edith said and leaned back, eyeing her.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “Another piece, perhaps? And then I won’t eat any more, I promise.”

  Edith nodded and motioned for a pie from Harmony, who took a few pies out of the bag then handed one Edith who prepared Josephine yet another piece.

  “Now what house do you live in?” Josephine asked Harmony as she ate.

  “Oh, we bought the mid-century modern up the road.”

  Josephine stopped eating and stared at her, long and hard. “Which one?”

  “Well, it’s kinda off to itself,” she said. “We have neighbors but they’re not that close to us. You know? It’s the gray one? Really nice landscaping? Butterfly roof? You might not know what that is. It’s like the roofline swoops down and forms… Well, a butterfly.” She paused and thought about it, then formed her hands in the shape of a butterfly. “Like that? I don’t know if I’m explaining this right.”

  Josephine shook her head as if something Harmony was saying was really disturbing her.

  “What is it?” Harmony asked, feeling very uncomfortable and placed her hands in her lap. “You know which house I’m talking about?”

  “I knew it when you said it,” she replied. “I know all about that house.”

  “What do you mean?” Harmony asked.

  “Nothing. I don’t mean nothing,” Josephine said, then pushed her plate away. “But you do know that place is evil, right?”

  Harmony felt hairs rise up on the backs of her arms and she visibly shuddered. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because it’s true,” she replied.

  “Oh, shut up now,” Edith told Josephine and pointed her finger at her. “Don’t scare her!” She turned to Harmony. “Your house isn’t evil! She’s a silly old woman!”

  “I know stories about that house, thank you very much!” Josephine exclaimed. “Stories that will make your skin crawl!”

  Harmony watched their exchange, becoming very curious but somewhat uneasy.

  “Josephine, you’re getting too excited,” Edith said. “No more sugar for you.” She grabbed Josephine’s plate and took it to the sink.

  “I didn’t want any more anyway!” Josephine snapped and turned to Harmony. “You seem like a nice person. Just forget what I said. I probably am just too old to know anything.”

  Harmony didn’t know how to respond, but she wanted the information that she was sure Josephine had. “It’s okay,” she told her and smiled as genuinely as she could. “You can talk about my house. I already know some stuff.”

  Josephine said, “Well, if you know, then you know it would probably be a smart move to get out of it.”

  “Josephine!” Edith hissed. “I am going to put you to bed!”

  “Well, I won’t go,” she told her then turned back to Harmony. “Just don’t worry about it.”

  “No, I want to know what you know,” Harmony said and glanced at Edith. “It’s okay. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

  Edith shrugged and started cleaning the dishes.

  “You seem nice,” Josephine said. “Like those flipper girls. I told them, you know? Told them the same damned thing.”

  “Flipper girls?” Harmony asked.

  “They were the ones who redid that house and they were from the South, too,” she said, nodding. “But not where we’re from… Louisiana, I believe. Nice girls.”

  “Oh?” Harmony asked.

  “Yeah, real nice,” she replied, nodding. “I used to get out and walk and one day, I walked up the hill and one of them was out in the front yard working.”

  “You don’t walk!” Edith said and told Harmony, “She wanders.”

  “I do not wander!” she hissed, clenching her fists. “I am not losing my mind!”

  “Well, you act like it,” Edith said.

  “Ugh,” Josephine said, glaring at her before turning back to Harmony. “Anyway, that’s what I was doing that day. I was out walking.”

  “Wandering,” Edith interjected, then turned to Harmony. “She gets out and gets lost.”

  “I’ve never been lost in my life!” Josephine screeched, glaring at her. “How dare you?”

  Edith shook her head at her. “Okay, fine.”

  Harmony, eager to abate their arguing and wanting to get back on the subject, asked Josephine hurriedly, “What about the flipper girls?”

  “Nice girls,” Josephine said. “Real pretty. I liked the shorter one. She cursed like a sailor, like I used to. Don’t curse much anymore. Lost my taste for it, really.”

  Harmony didn’t understand what she was getting at but decided not to interrupt her. She nodded for her to continue.

  “The other one was tall, real skinny and all business,” she continued. “Anyway, I walked up there,” she said and shot Edith a sharp look. “And the short one was in the yard, like I said. Well, I’d always heard stories about that house and didn’t much want to get too close, but she saw me and, I guess ’cause I was so old, she came over and asked if she could help me.”

  “Okay,” Harmony said, nodding.

  “I told her I was fine and asked what she was doing and she said she and her business partner were flipping that house. The one you live in.”

  “Yeah, I knew it had been completely redone,” Harmony said.

  “Well, they were doing it,” she said. “They had all sorts of men in and out of that place and digging up the backyard, I guess to put in a new pool or something. It was a wreck.” She paused, as if thinking about something. “Well, I didn’t want to say anything about the house, but the girl asked me if I knew anything, you know after I’d introduced myself and told her I lived down the road. And I told her all I knew was that years ago, mind you, they had some really crazy parties there. That’s all I knew. We didn’t go to them but it wasn’t like we were invited. Besides, they were those kinds of parties.”

  “What kind of parties?” Harmony asked, not getting it.

  “Like sex parties,” Josephine.

  “Good Lord!” Edith said and threw a dishrag down. “You’re making all this up!”

  “I am not!” Josephine said. “It was like Caligula up there! That’s what I heard and I believed it!”

  “Shut up!” Edith snapped at her. “You don’t know that!”

  “Why, I do,” Josephine snapped back. “You think you’re the only person I’ve ever talked to in my life? I had friends! We went to lunch down on Sunset and at other places! I talked and they talked and we knew! We knew what was going on!”

  “Josephine,” Edith said, as if she were losing patience, and quickly. “You have got to stop this.”

  “It’s okay,” Harmony said and smiled at Edith, hoping to disarm her. “I can handle this. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  Edith grunted under her breath and turned back to the dishes in the sink.

  “Now if she’ll let me talk, I’ll tell you so
me more,” Josephine said and shot Edith a hateful look. “Anyway, that’s what we heard about the house and, well, if you looked it, back in that day, that house was really sexy. It was a sexy looking house. And that’s what they did there. That’s what all of us heard. There would be lots of cars going up the hill to that house. I stood in my front yard one day and counted twenty! I did! And don’t say I didn’t, Edith!”

  “Whatever,” Edith said and shook her head. Just then, her phone beeped. She glanced over at the other side of the kitchen and spotted it on the counter beside the stove, then hurried over to it. She picked it up, then turned to Harmony. “Excuse me a minute. I have to take this.”

  Harmony nodded.

  “You’re okay to keep an eye on her?” Edith asked. “This might take awhile.”

  “I am fine!” Josephine yelled. “Just leave!”

  Edith ignored her and stared at Harmony, who nodded quickly, letting her know she would keep an eye on Josephine. Edith mouthed “thank you” and left the room, dialing a number on her phone. Harmony turned back to Josephine and said, “Continue.”

  Josephine leaned in and whispered, “No matter what Edith says, I am not lying about all this.”

  “I believe you,” Harmony whispered back.

  She pulled back and said, “But, no, I didn’t go to any of those parties. Wouldn’t have minded an invitation, though. I mean, I wouldn’t have gone, probably, but it would have felt nice to be included.”

  Harmony almost smiled at her words but stopped herself just in time. She didn’t want anything to sidetrack Josephine from her story.

  “But back then people were willing to try anything,” she said. “And they did. This is Hollywood. Debauchery lived well amongst these people, to say the least. Now, I don’t know exactly what they did as I didn’t ever attend a party there, but, like I said, I heard stories. It was just sex and drugs, mostly like any other party. And I have been to some wild parties myself back in the day. That’s the way it is anytime you get a bunch of horny people in a room with some alcohol. Things will happen. And from what I heard, they happened all the time at that house.”

  Harmony nodded and thought about the people in her dream, who all seemed to emit that sexy sophistication, like they knew something the rest of us didn’t and they liked this fact. Like they had figured out the truth to something just because they had been willing to believe in the first place. But what that truth was would be anybody’s guess.