by D. R. Mather
Emma jumped up without even taking her eyes off the cell phone in her hand, and they both walked out to Cindy’s car.
Cindy figured it was now or never, and told Emma as soon as they settled into the car.
“OH SHIT CINDY! It’s over, it’s all over now!”
“Thanks Emma. No really, thanks for your support.”
“Oh hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” But even Emma knew the damage was done as she sat back, took out her cell, and began to busy herself in silence. Ten minutes into the drive, Cindy turned to Emma and noticed that her fingers were just flying all over her cell.
“Oh dear God, you’re not Emma!”
“What?” Emma called out.
“You’re not telling anyone are you?”
“NO, I’m surfing the net.”
“That’s some pretty fast surfing from the way your fingers are flying.”
“For your information, girlfriend, I was looking up orphanages and adoption agencies for you.”
Cindy yelled out one word; “WHAT?” She grabbed the phone away from Emma and was about to throw it out the window when Emma shouted that she wouldn’t do it again. Cindy held the phone as she drove and tried to calm herself.
“Ok Emma, listen up and get it clear in your mind right now. I’m keeping it. Male or female, two legs or 12, no arms or 20; it’s my baby, got it?”
Emma just stared at the floor, silent and brooding.
“And it’s our secret until such time as you personally hear me tell someone else, got it?” Cindy continued. There was still no response from Emma. Cindy was now super pissed and Emma knew it. “DAMN IT, DO YOU HAVE IT?”
“YES,” shouted out Emma, and then meekly added, “I get it, ok?”
“Good Emma, and don’t you dare forget it.” They drove the rest of the way back in silence.
Chapter Six
Benny laid back and thought to himself, ’Motherfucker went and killed me, the cocksucker.’ It took him a minute to realize that if he were dead, he wouldn’t be having this conversation with himself. He was in a very tight enclosed space. He could feel the sides and something above him. It felt like, well, like thick cardboard? Benny pushed up on the top and a small amount of light jumped into his eyes. He squinted as he sat up and looked around. Directly at his feet was what looked to be a …furnace…? All he could say was “SHIT!” as he jumped out. He turned in a circle and didn’t see anyone around. He looked to his left again and up at the far end of the otherwise darkened room, save the small ceiling light just above the box he had just been in. He saw an exit sign. Benny walked to it, opened the door and walked out into the dark night, leaving the morgue behind him.
Chapter Seven
Six o’clock in the evening came at the Colburn Inn and Kevin could hear signs of movement out in the hall.
“Wow, Will wasn’t kidding about 6 p.m., was he?” He got up from the chair and opened the door a crack. The hall was clear. “They must be starving as well,” he said to himself. He had changed a bit earlier and now wore slacks and a nice button-down shirt. Nothing fancy mind you, just semi-casual. Kevin opened the door and headed down to the dining room, he could hear talking as he walked down the grand staircase.
As Kevin turned the corner into the dining room, all eyes went straight to him. He thought to himself, ‘Well, this should help the new guy feel comfortable.’ He headed directly for the chair that Will had said he could use and sat. In front of him was not one but two very large pans with a fabulous smelling lasagna resting in them. He also saw two huge bowls filled with a nice looking salad. On the side of each pan of lasagna sat a bread basket overflowing with homemade garlic breads that had been twisted into a braid. Kevin turned to the far right end of the table to look at Barb.
“Barb, this is one fantastic looking meal you’ve laid out.”
“Oh thank you kind sir, I do say.”
Kevin could see that she was blushing, even from where he sat on the far end. Across and to the right, a man piped up.
“Christ, don’t start saying that or she’s going to expect it all the time.”
No one laughed, but they all looked a bit uncomfortable for it having been said in the first place.
“Well now,” Will said as he stood. He sat directly to Kevin’s left, at the head of the table. Kevin thought that was how it should be; they may have opened their home to the public, but it was their home first.
“What say we do some introductions here shall we?” continued Will, “I’ll just let everyone speak for themselves, if that’s ok?”
Will’s butt wasn’t half way back to his chair when the woman sitting directly across from Kevin jumped up and reached over the food, putting out her hand with a huge smile on her face.
“Hi, I’m Judy. I’m so pleased to meet you, really I am!”
Kevin instinctively reached out and shook her hand. “Hi, Judy, I’m Kevin.”
“Nice,” said Judy and abruptly plopped right back down in her chair. Sitting next to her was the ‘comment’ man.
“Stan,” he said, half flashing out his hand before flipping his wrist in the direction of the man sitting next to him, as if to indicate, ‘go on, your turn.’
“Hi, I’m Ray, room 1.”
It followed around the table; Beth, room 3; Chuck, room 8; Marie, room 5; Alex, room 6; Mark, room 7; April, room 9.
Judy suddenly jumped back up and looked at Kevin; “Is it too late to say I’m in room 2?”
“Yes Judy, it is,” Will chirped in, “so now Kevin will never know you have room 2.”
“Oh ha, ha Will, very funny, and is Barb aware of how much time you spend in room 2?”
The room dropped to a dead silence for all of two seconds, then barb laughed out loud, “Oh lord aren’t we a bunch. The family we never had, I swear.”
Everyone saw the punch line then and breathing commenced once more. Kevin sat in silence, looking down at the plate in front of him, wondering what ‘the voice’ had gotten him into.
As the meal progressed, Kevin was mostly aware of two things. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of Judy, and Stan was a problem. Maybe even a big problem. Kevin knew trouble; it was kind of his line of work, after all.
The light talk was all around the table except for Stan. He sat in front of his plate and stabbed at his food, not saying a thing and not looking up. Kevin keyed in on this but wasn’t afraid to talk.
“So, Stan, what’s your story? How did you end up here?”
“You know Kevin, if I wanted you to know that, I would have already told you.” Stan then looked back at his plate as if nothing were said. The tension suddenly peaked and everyone grew silent.
“You’re absolutely right Stan, it is your business and I had no right to ask. Sorry about that.”
Stan waved his fork in a ‘forget it’ gesture and went back to eating. Kevin had defused the situation before anyone could get really uncomfortable.
As the meal came to a close, Judy popped up and said, “Barb, I’ll get the pans out to the kitchen.”
Kevin turned to Will as if to ask, ‘do we do that here?’
Will knew the question the second Kevin looked at him, “No, no, Judy loves to help, leave her to do it, it makes her happy.”
“Got it Will, no problem.” Within a few minutes, the only ones left at the table were Will, Kevin, Alex and April. April turned to Kevin and asked what his story was.
“Do I get to answer like Stan did?”
“God I hope not – that was rather uncomfortable, wasn’t it?”
Kevin gave April a warm smile that told her he knew what she meant, before launching into his made-up tale.
“Well, I’m thirty-five and I used to have a small building company back East in New Hampshire. Nothing big – me, a few guys, you know, small. I was married once but let’s just say it didn’t work out. Shortly after that ended I wound up with a rather large inheritance which made it possible for me to never have to work again. I thought I’d get out while I was still in on
e piece. I’d always wanted to visit the country and thought I’d try doing it with flare. So instead of visiting around the states, I thought maybe I should try living in some for a while. You know, get a real feel for life outside of New Hampshire. So, I’ve moved from place to place for the last few years and I’ve learned a lot. This was my next destination and that’s pretty much how I ended up here.”
“Wow,” said April, “that’s just freaking cool.”
“Well, it has its highs and lows April.”
“I’ll just be it does.”
Kevin turned to the sound of the voice to find Judy was leaning on the corner of the dining room door casing that headed to the kitchen. Barb was leaning on the other side.
“Heard the whole thing, huh?”
“Yip, I heard every bit of it. So, you’re an EX, huh?” She didn’t wait for an answer but turned and walked back to the kitchen.
“What was that about?” Kevin asked April.
“Oh, I think someone might just have her eye on you, that’s all.”
“All ready?”
“I’m afraid so Kevin. Life moves fast, Judy moves twice as fast as life.”
***
Later on, everyone was sitting about in the grand living room and stories were flying around.
It seemed Alex had been a highly paid computer genius somewhere once, but he loved to bet on the horses. The habit had since been broken, but the damage was done. He’d lost his job and his reputation along with it. Now he worked in a thrift store outside of Denver proper. Alex had been at the hotel for about eleven months now. He clocked in at age thirty-one.
Ray just never amounted to much at all. A hard childhood took most of his chances from him before he was even old enough to get a say in the matter. His dad up in the state Pen could attest to that. Ray was a thirty year old who made just enough delivering pizza four nights a week to keep this roof over his head, and he felt lucky to have it. Soon he’d be celebrating his second year at the Colburn Inn.
Beth, it seemed, was raped several times in the span of two months by a gang of thugs who hung out near her house in the Denver inner city area. She found this place when she got hired to manage a Laundromat about ten miles away. At twenty-eight years old, Beth saw it as a milestone in her life. She told Kevin that she’d been in room 3 for the better part of three years now.
Chuck, well, let’s just say Chuck had some trouble back home in Montana that he didn’t want to talk about. He worked at Big Ben’s gas station and mini-mart. He’d been at the hotel for about three years as well. Chuck said he was twenty-seven but everyone else wasn’t so sure. Chuck and Beth would argue sometimes about who had arrived first. Will and Barb knew, but it wasn’t their fight, and no one ever thought to simply ask, so they didn’t tell. Sometimes the way they bantered back and forth could actually warm the room. Free heat is free after all, right?
Now, Mark was a simple case of state aid to those who have figured out a way to get state aid. Let’s just say it’s a mysterious back ailment that no doctor could seem to track down. So far, the state had paid for Mark to be here for some two years and counting. Mark didn’t work, and his rather large belly was showing it. It wasn’t exactly a good way to be going for a thirty year old.
Marie said she was forty-eight but they all thought she left a few years off. She could end up being in trouble because she lost her job last month and was living off her small savings. Everyone at the Inn all prayed it didn’t come to that. Marie was the kind of person who was quiet and kept to herself, but people always seemed to want to help her be more than she was. They just hadn’t figured out HOW yet. She’d been here off and on for about four years now. She would move out, and then the next thing you know, she’d be back again.
April was Judy’s competition here. She was thirty-four, very pretty and had a wonderful sense of humor. The doorbell was always ringing for April. She worked full-time at a grocery store and had visitors come to the Inn a lot during her spare time.
And of course there was Judy. Judy was the Inn’s little ball of fire. Judy was, well, different from the others. She didn’t work, she didn’t have to. Her parents lived in the affluent area of Denver that the locals called ‘SNOB HILL.’ She seemed to have a problem with her parents though; they saw her as an embarrassment to the family because of her high energy and bright cheery attitude. She just became too much for them so they paid for here to be, well, not there. She got a check every month without fail and just before winter settled in, they sent her enough to cover the entire winter season just in case the mail couldn’t be delivered. Judy was a good woman, maybe too good for the parents who had her. Judy’s only problem was that she had never really been loved and she had never really been in love. She had a great insecurity problem as one should expect to see when a young woman was raised in a loveless home. She was also the Inn’s longest resident. She came here only four months after Will and Barbara opened up the place. And Judy was as sharp as a tack, not a lot got by her. She was thirty and in the prime of her life.
As for Stan – no one knew much of anything about him. If you look up the word weasel in the dictionary, you should be able to see a picture of Stan next to it. He stood about five foot eight, and one could describe him as ‘spindly’ looking. His shoulders slumped and he had next to no muscle tone. He was VERY white, as if he’d never seen the light of day. He had a very thin, wiry moustache, which everyone guessed he thought made him look good. Stan also had a full head of blond hair.
Whatever reason he had for being there, he wasn’t talking about. He’d have to be around forty or so, though he’d never mentioned his age, and no one cared to ask. He paid for his room, that’s all they knew.
Chapter Eight
Kevin had excused himself and now sat outside the main entrance to the house. He was sitting on one of six marble benches that were there, three on the right side, three on the left. Kevin thought it was nice of Will to put large ashtrays out for the guests. While he sat there enjoying a cigarette, the door opened and through it came Judy. He looked up at her, and just stared.
‘She’s absolutely gorgeous,’ thought Kevin.
Judy had long, almost jet black hair, a tiny perky nose and eyes that were dark brown but almost black She was about five foot four inches tall, and as the old farmers used to say, ‘built like a brick shithouse’.
She walked over to where Kevin was sitting and sat beside him. They were big seats and could probably hold four people each. She sat sideways to face him, with one leg up off the ground and under the other one.
Kevin looked at her, “Oh, oh, I know that position. That’s the ‘grilling’ position.”
“Oh, is it? I’d never realized that there was a special way to sit for that.”
“Well, there is, and you’re in it, so what’s on your mind?”
“Well now that you ask, I was just wondering if you think they all bought that story you just gave them in there, about why you’re here, that’s all.”
Kevin looked at her eyes now and he could see that she didn’t buy one part of it.
“Well, that was the general idea behind it. Yeah, I thought they did, however it looks like I had one ‘no sale’, didn’t I?”
“Well, let’s just leave that question this way: in gambling, they have what’s called a ‘tell’. This shows when a person is bluffing. You, Mr. Chase, have a ‘tell’ that maybe most can’t see, but I can.”
“Oh do I, and what would that be?”
“Sorry pal, my little secret, I may need it again sometime.”
“I see,” said Kevin, matching the same grin oozing off of Judy’s face.
“So it’s just you and me here now. Go on, and tell Judy the truth.”
Kevin looked into her eyes and he couldn’t seem to help himself, he told her the entire first half of why he was there. Right down to the point where he came home after work holding a new lamp for the table next to the two cribs. He explained how he called out and got no answer and how he w
alked down the hall and found his entire family gone in an instant.
Kevin had to stop several times to regain his composure. He left the rest blank, for now at least. He looked up at Judy and tears were just streaming down her cheeks and dripping onto her lap. She was poised like him, looking down to her legs. Judy looked up after a minute of complete silence and turned to Kevin.
“Now THAT, I believe,” she said.
She leaned over and grabbed him, pulled him to her and hugged him, hard and tight. Kevin just lost it then, as the pain began to finally spill from deep within him. Judy didn’t let go, she held on to Kevin. After nearly five minutes of this he finally regained some resemblance of himself and pulled back. He looked at Judy with somber reddened eyes.
“Not once has anyone just hugged me since the horrible thing happened, Thank you for that.”
Judy knew she didn’t have to answer; she just took his hand and gently patted it. He decided he needed another cigarette and lit one, leaned back against the hard marble back and smoked quietly. It was nearly half burned away before Judy spoke again.
“But that doesn’t explain why you’re here Kevin, does it?”
He turned to her, “No it doesn’t explain that, but at least for now, I can’t tell you why I’m here.”
“That’s okay Kevin, I’ll get that out of you as well, you’ll see.” Judy had a sly grin on her face. They spent the remainder of his cigarette with small talk about the Inn and the Coburn’s, and then Kevin stood, suggesting they didn’t want to seem like snobs so fast. They could do THAT later. So they went off to rejoin the others.
As they entered the living room, Alex was talking about the newest computer crazes that were out there and what they could do. He seemed to have everyone’s attention save one. Stan was sitting in a corner chair and one would think from the look on his face that he was actually pouting! Kevin assessed him for a few seconds more and thought to himself that he was wrong; it wasn’t pouting, Stan was PISSED.
