by D. R. Mather
“And you Ray?” Kevin looked at Ray.
“Na, I’m cool, Chuck’s always been a bit of a chicken shit anyway.”
“Good deal Ray. Listen, are you working tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, five till eleven, why?”
Kevin stood and took out his wallet, opened it and looked inside. He took out money and handed it to Ray.
”Here, make us one of your deliveries. I figure around six, right?” Kevin handed Ray all the money in the wallet. “There’s a very nice tip in it as well. Make them all house specials, what, eight pies in all should do it?”
Ray thought for a second, “Yeah that should be just about right.” He walked away, then stopped and turned while holding out the money.
“Hey, Kevin, you gave me too much, there’s like one hundred bucks extra here.”
“I told you there was a nice tip Ray, go on, do your thing.”
Ray shrugged his shoulders and left.
***
The next morning, Chuck checked out of the Coburn Inn. It was just as well; he had been marked to be killed anyway.
Beth had the day off. Later on, Kevin and Judy found her sitting in the grand living room, reading a book. They picked a sofa that was close to where she was sitting. Beth was what you’d call a muscular-looking woman. Not radiant, but pretty enough. She had auburn hair that just about reached her shoulders and a very slight chin dimple. She had pretty, light green eyes as well.
“Hi guys, what’s up?” Beth asked as she placed the book on her lap.
”Not a lot,” Judy piped up. “We were just enjoying the sun coming through the window here.”
”Same here,” Kevin followed on, “I’m just enjoying the sun and my new voice that talks for me and saves me needing to.” He pointed at Judy.
“Hey, someone has to make something intelligent come out of you.”
All three laughed for a moment.
“So Beth, do you mind a blunt man who doesn’t mix words?” asked Kevin.
“Actually, Kevin, I prefer it that way. I’ve had quite enough of the other way.”
“I want you to be aware that it’s quite obvious that everyone who lives here seems to be very ‘heavy’ into the ‘sordid’ past thing, right?”
Beth didn’t answer, she just raised her hand as if to say, ‘Present’.
“well, I’m wondering if you’d be interested in joining me in a ’project’ I have going on.” For that, Kevin got a light elbow in the rib. He added, “I’m sorry, a project WE have going on.”
Beth stared at them for a full ten seconds before answering.
“Will it get me killed? Wait, I don’t care about that, will I go fast is more my concern.”
Kevin could only stare in puzzlement. Beth leaned forward and explained about a dream she’d been having. It was a dream about Kevin, Judy and several others who didn’t have faces or names. In her dream she seemed to be a part of something; a thing she didn’t quite understand, but she knew it was big enough to affect all of mankind. She told them both that she felt like she was dealing with slime. Not a liquid substance, but a type of people. And she had been chosen to help get rid of them.
They all stood up and Kevin went to Beth and hugged her. Judy joined as well.
“And how do you feel about it?”
“I want to help; more so, I was born to help.”
“Good girl,” then he hugged her again. “You and I will need to talk alone very soon, is that okay with you?”
“I think it was always supposed to be alright with me,” Beth looked at them both and they gave her a big smile and left her to her own thoughts.
A few hours later, Kevin was alone outside, sitting on a marble bench, with a cigarette in his hand. Judy was out running, so he had time to sit and rest. The light snow melted away and the day actually had some warmth in it. As Kevin snuffed out the butt, the main door opened and Will stepped out. He sucked in a full breath of air and let it out in a big whoosh. Kevin waved and Will walked over to him.
“Hi Kev, if you have some time, I never did give you the full tour of the place.”
“No time like the present, Will,” and he stood up.
“Ya know, them cancer sticks are gonna kill you.”
“I don’t think so Will, I really don’t.”
Will took Kevin around the outside of the mansion, down the right side and heading to the back. The shear girth of the place was just amazing.
“There used to be some beautiful gardens on these grounds, but we just didn’t have the time and money to keep them going. A lot has just up and died away, and some plants have taken over entire spots that were designed to have a lot of smaller plants in them.”
As they reached the back corner of the house, Kevin’s mouth dropped a bit. Standing in front of him on about six or eight acres of land, was an absolutely beautiful swimming pool that was surrounded with stone paths heading in several directions, as well as surrounding the pool. Two huge stone monument figures of what seemed to be Greek Gods were situated near the front and the back of the pool. They matched each other in size and width but each one had a separate action going on. Kevin could clearly see by the rust stains at certain locations, that these were once fountains. To the left was a dark stone building that clearly must have been a pool house, although, the size was almost the size of a normal house. As they moved closer, Kevin saw that not only was the pool drained, but it hadn’t been used in decades.
“WOW.”
“Yeah,” Will said with a heavy sigh, “it sure was something once. You should have seen it at night when all the pool area lights were on; it was a beauty for sure.”
Kevin wasn’t talking anymore; he was only looking as his ‘builders’ mind took control of his brain. That’s the problem with builders. The ‘building’ may stop eventually, but the mind can’t stop building. Everything a builder sees has structure, and you’re either putting what you see together in your head, or your head is taking it apart to figure out how it was made. Kevin was always a great de-constructor as well as a builder.
Will brought Kevin to the edge of the pool then headed to the pool house. Inside, Kevin saw that Will had turned part of it into a small work shop.
“Hiding a secret hobby on me Will?”
“Good lord, me? Nope, I needed this just to keep up with maintenance for the house.”
As they moved through, Kevin noticed that the tools were ‘off the shelf’ quality and at best, tools for the home owner. A lot of them were old. Some even looked ancient.
“This is what you work with to keep the house up and running?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so Kevin. As I said, we used up the whole nest egg paying the taxes. I get what I can from yard sales and some were in the basement.”
“Wait, this place has a basement too?”
“Oh hell yes, a MASSIVE one at that, same size as the house! And it’s completely empty as well. You could host a football game down there. Follow me, I’ll show you. Say, you don’t get faint in wide open spaces do you?”
“Not yet Will, but let’s give it a test shall we?”
As they walked back, Kevin saw the back of the house and stopped.
“Hey Will, I don’t recall seeing any of this before.”
Standing in front of him were the back walls to the house, or actually, windows and glass doors that spanned about forty feet from left to right. All the glass was covered in red drapes so that no one could see inside.
“That my friend, is what was called the grand ballroom.”
“But, I didn’t see it from inside.”
“Didn’t notice the doors, huh? They’re right in the grand living room; you and Judy were sitting on the sofa that faces them.” Will had a big smile on his face, as if he knew a secret.
“Ok smartass, spill it.”
“Well, the wall directly across from where you were sitting, isn’t really a wall at all, it’s removable panels. They designed them so well; you have to know how to remove them to
even find them. Once you do, this and the living room all become one massive room.”
“AMAZING! Can we get in to see it Will?”
He was about to answer when Judy popped out from around the corner of the building. “HI GUYS,” she yelled out.
Both Kevin and Will let out a huge smile. She didn’t just walk over to them but rather ‘bounced’ over. The instant she reached them, her arm was in Kevin’s.
“So what’s going on here boys?”
Kevin looked down at her and for a brief second he wanted to just take her and…’Well, never mind that,’ he thought to himself.
“Will was about to tell me if it’s possible to see the ballroom.”
“Oh, sure it is,” Judy said with a perk, and darted off to the far left door. It opened right up for her and she walked in, reaching around with her arm out, waving them on. When Kevin got inside he was in awe. Even with the large dark curtains drawn, he could see the walls were all solid mahogany with millions of filigree decorations on them. The floor was a mosaic done in tiny specks of colored marble. It depicted the same type of scene as the fountains at the pool, only this one must be thirty feet long and twenty five feet wide. There was so much going on in the mosaic that it was hard to focus on any one thing.
“Holy shit,” was all Kevin could say.
“Holy shit is right,” Judy said. She’d moved right back to Kevin’s side with her arm wrapped around his again. Will explained the panels and pointed them out to Kevin. He also said that a section on the left end wall could become a door which in turn led out to the kitchen for what used to be the servants’ food entrance. Will moved the show along over to the far right side of the room and pushed a section of wall. It opened into a hallway which headed up the side of the building, back towards the front. It was a wide hall – about twenty feet wide in fact. As they walked, they passed a set of stairs to their left.
“Don’t tell me Will, there’s a secret panel over on the second floor near my room?”
“YIP, operates the same way the one we just went through does. If you turn around and look at the one we just came through, you’ll see the pull handle on this side of it. This part of the house wasn’t meant for guests to see. It was strictly for staff and such. Just on the right of the second floor door panel is another that goes directly to the third floor and then up to the attic rooms, or to better describe it, the ‘staff’ rooms.”
In the back of the stairs was a door; just a regular, old, everyday house door. Will reached into his pocket for his key.
“How absolutely boring Will, a regular door?”
“Yip, guess this is where great granddad cut the budget.”
He unlocked the door and blackness spilled out. Will reached in, flicked a switch and a set of lights shone over a set of stairs heading down. Everyone went down and they ended up standing at the bottom, looking and staring.
“Will, exactly how big is this place?”
“That’s easy Kevin, measures one hundred and fifty feet by sixty feet.”
All three of them were just staring across a great empty floor. The only thing in the whole place was one tiny steel folding chair with a cushion on it.
“This is where I come sometimes in the heat of summer, natural air conditioning down here.”
Judy turned and slapped Will’s arm; “You make me run outside in the heat and in the snow and I could have been doing it down here?”
“GEEEZZZ, Judy, to tell you the truth, it just never even occurred to me to tell you about the basement. I’ve always keep this part out of the boarding house rentals.”
“Well it’s going to occur to you to get a key made for me, I can tell you that.”
Kevin turned to Will; “I’d get that key made fast if I were you.”
“No need Kevin, I’m thinking it won’t be fast enough to survive,” he handed Judy the key to the basement. She turned and kissed his cheek.
Kevin looked at Will, “Why do I have this feeling she uses those lips for all kinds of comforts?”
Yeah, that earned an arm slap.
Judy looked at the chair and then looked at Will: “Isn’t that one of the cushions for the marble seats out front? The one Barb has been looking for all over the place?”
Will got a rather sheepish look; “Maybe.”
“There are cushions for the seats out in the front entrance?” Kevin intervened.
“Oh my, I forgot to tell you about those, didn’t I? They are in the left closet in the entrance foyer. Sorry Kevin, it slipped my mind. If we know the marble’s going to be cold, we just grab one and take it with us. Just bring it back when you’re done please.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that Will, I nearly froze my ass off this morning out there”
“Well why don’t you just go up and smoke in your room then?”
“We can smoke in our rooms?”
“I didn’t tell you that either, did I? We only don’t allow it in the open house areas and we have you use your own ashtrays.”
“Is there anything else you forgot to tell me?”
“I’ll let you know Kevin, when I remember them.”
Kevin just realized that Judy wasn’t beside him any longer; she was out in the middle of the basement, dancing in a circle. Then he suddenly smelled mint.
“Can I ask a strange favor from both of you; could you give me five minutes alone down here? I have some building things going on in my head and I need to concentrate to figure it out.”
Judy stopped in mid swing and came over. “Sure thing Kev.” She grabbed Will’s arm and led him to the stairs, up and out of sight. Will seemed confused, but followed just the same.
Kevin went to the chair and sat. It came, the ‘voice’. It was urgent, it had to be, as the voice had never done this before, not with people around. He listened and he talked, but not so a human could hear; he talked in his mind. When he was finished, he jumped up and headed to the stairs. At the top, he looked at Judy and told her he had to go and now. Then he turned to Will.
“Will, get me out of this maze please?”
“Oh, yeah, sure, head to the front of the house, you’ll see another pull handle.”
Kevin left Will and Judy and walked briskly to the front of the hallway. There were three very surprised guests in the living room when the wall opened and Kevin came through it. Yes, three surprised guests, only there were four guests in the living room at the time. Kevin hit the grand stairs two and three at a time. Not three minutes later, he was back down and out the front door, heading to the garages, wearing his trench coat. Everyone, save one, who was in the living room, was looking out the front door now as Kevin went speeding down the driveway; the car exhaust roaring a mighty sound.
“Damn,” Mark said, “does he have a funny car engine under that hood?”
They all walked back inside and closed the door. Judy was just standing at the door looking out, her face showed the fear inside her. Ray came over to her and put an arm around her shoulder, then ushered her back in.
She looked at Ray; “Is he coming back?”
“Why would you ask that silly girl; his things are still here.”
She looked at Ray, put her hands over her mouth and giggled: “Really?”
“Yes,” Ray said, and brought Judy back inside the Inn.
At dinner, Stan was well aware that Kevin wasn’t back yet. Once the meal was well under way, Stan figured Kevin wasn’t coming back soon. He got up and began to head over to Judy’s side of the table; he had his dinner plate and drink in his hands.
Ray looked at him. “Ah, Stan, you best get to sitting back where you were, don’t you think?” He was pointing to Stan’s chair.
“Oh, okay, sure, whatever, I just didn’t want Judy to be lonely over there with no Kevin and now no Chuck.”
“For Christ’s sakes Stan,” Will spoke up. “She isn’t alone; we’re all here aren’t we?”
Stan sat back where he was and turned towards Ray, his face seething.
�
�You’re looking at the wrong guy that way Stan, you best face front and knock it off.”
Everyone went back to eating, but things were much quieter than before. Stan figured it was time for Ray to go bye-bye. He devised a plan.
Chapter Thirteen
Cindy sat at the counter of the truck stop; another dead night and she really didn’t need that because it wasn’t about to help her budget – she relied on tips. She had to find just the right way to explain all of this to her mom. Mom was coming over tomorrow and they were going out for lunch. ‘Maybe we can come here,’ Cindy thought, ‘Oh yeah; mom would love that, lunch in a truck stop. Well, I suppose if I did that, telling her would no longer be a problem, because the woman would never talk to me again’. She snickered as she thought about that. The door opened and the bell that hung above the door rang. She turned and there was Roland with his usual large grin hanging from his face.
“I say Ma’am, am I to be seated or am I to consume my dinner here while standing at the door?”
Cindy smiled and waved him over. She loved him, she just couldn’t help herself.
Roland sat next to her and gave her a kiss. “How are my babies?”
“Which ones?”
“Why, all three of course!”
“All three of us are doing just swell honey.”
“Nice.”
Cindy leaned closer to him and asked if he’d seen the apartment complex manager today like he said he was going to do.
“Not only did I see him, but he informed me that there may be an opening. Apartment five is supposed to be vacated next month. That’s the three bedroom one if you recall.”
“Oh please let it be. Did he tell you how much more it is a month?”
“Yeah, ahem, well, it’s an extra $150.00 a month, but he said he’s giving you a discount because you’re a very reliable tenant and he happens to like both of us.”
“It’s a good thing he’s giving me one, because it’s very borderline at the price we can get it for.” Then Cindy spun in her seat, “Maybe I could start a prostitution ring there, that would help, don’t you think?”
