Carter saw the yawn’s of the new tenants kicking into high gear. They tried covering them up with their hands, but it was a long day for them.
“I can’t believe our luck,” said Wendy.
“Yeah, and all we did was put up a flyer.” Carl smiled proudly with this accomplishment. “We didn’t even get the chance to contact the newspapers. My company sprung this on us so fast. The guy who had the job ended up failing a drug test, which is a requirement for the company, and especially the actual manufacturing end of it.”
The new tenants were very sociable people, and Carter really believed he hit the jackpot in his first attempt as a landlord, especially since they had to live with the family. He listened as Carl and Wendy Blankenship talked about his company and the details behind the transfer. Carl sat straight up in his chair as if he was trying to eradicate years of work on the manufacturing floor. He was not a giant, but he was solid enough, and his shoulders did not slump one bit. His thick mustache was a perfect color match to his thick, dark brown hair, and the back hung dangerously close to a mullet.
That style of man seemed to fit well with the girl Carl married. Wendy seemed librarian-like as her narrow face barely held her glasses. They both fit their ages. He was 28 years of age and she was two years younger. Wendy wore her dirty-blonde hair up in a bun, which certainly weighed heavily in the librarian comparison. What sold Carter and Brenda on their tenants was that they were soft spoken.
“So what do you two do for a living?” Carl asked.
“Caaaarl!” Wendy said, dragging his name out to indicate inappropriateness.
“What?” Carl replied. “That’s a fair question.” He nodded in self-approval after he said this.
“He’s fine,” said Brenda. “We’ve been hearing a lot about you two, and you two hardly know about us. We do have to live with each other. I help out a friend with her cleaning service. We do mostly residential homes, but she just landed a couple of commercial cleaning jobs and her business is beginning to grow.”
“I also help out a friend,” said Carter. “He’s an accountant, and that’s where my expertise comes into play. I used to work with my father at his accounting firm, but he passed a couple of years ago and I decided not to pursue his business.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” said Wendy, as she shot a look of annoyance at Carl.
“What,” said Carl. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you wouldn’t know,” said Carter. “It was four years ago and it’s been tough, but I’m doing okay now.”
“He actually lost both of his parents in a car accident,” said Brenda. “Thankfully, he’s made it through such a difficult time.” She stroked Carter’s hair and gave him a tight-lipped smile.
Wendy again shot a glance at Carl, but nobody could have anticipated an answer like that to such a simple question, so her husband could not possibly be penalized. The session did bring them closer, but not everybody was covered.
“How about you… Wendy?” Brenda asked. “I bet you have your hands tied with twin boys.”
Wendy made a whistling sound, tilting her head forward so her hair flopped out of her bun and hung where her face had been. She then flipped her head back until her face returned, and her eyes grew in size. “Let’s just say it’s a full time job.” Wendy looked down at the boys who were just sitting and giggling quietly in their chairs as they played patty cake, unaware that the conversation was now on to them. “It was an extremely difficult birth.” She glanced over to the twins again as she said this.
“She almost didn’t make it,” Carl broke in.
“I made it, though,” Wendy replied. “They are identical twins, if you couldn’t tell. Billy and Willy. The only way that we can tell them apart is that Billy has a bottom tooth that is slightly crooked.”
“They’re twins and you named them Billy and Willy?” Carter asked. Brenda then shot him a look. His follow up question earned him an elbow to the ribs. “Isn’t that the same name?”
“No,” said Carl. “One is Billy and the other is Willy.”
“Yeah, but they’re both a nickname for William,” Carter said.
Brenda’s look evolved into a laser. She could not believe Carter was having this conversation, but he just wanted to know the reason they named their twins virtually the same thing.
“We don’t look at it like that,” said Wendy. “We look at it like Billy and Willy are two different names, and you’re actually the only one to challenge us on it.” She laughed a short laugh.
“Those names are adorable,” Brenda said. “Just look at them playing Patty Cake.”
Carter watched them interacting, then said, “Hi Billy and Willy!”
The clock in the room seemed to stop. Billy and Willy still had their hands connected, but they both turned to look at the man who just called out their names. Carter looked around at the others at the table, but all eyes were on Billy and Willy.
He wasn’t even getting a smile out of the twins. They appeared to be sizing Carter up. They were staring right into his eyes without as much as a blink. Carter noticed that everything about them was the same; everything, including their blue eyes and blonde hair, right down to the bowl-cut trim. Head shape: check. Eye shape: check. Body size and shape: check and check. Personality: check. Hell, even name: check.
Nothing was different. Carter was a bit taken aback, and smiled out of nervousness. Finally the tension of the room dissipated when the twins smiled back at Carter. Their wide grins were cute, but they also revealed identical smiles. Missing was the identifying bottom tooth. Carter could not find one difference between the two.
“Let me show you guys to your rooms,” said Brenda. She got up from the table and waited for the others to follow.
“That sounds perfect,” said Wendy. “We’re probably all going to sleep like babies.”
Carter got up and headed for the bedrooms. Wendy gathered up Billy and Willy and they all made their way out of the kitchen, following Carter in a single-file line as if he was the Pied Piper. He stopped at Martin’s old bedroom and stuck his nose in, pleased that the mustiness and the chemicals that followed were all aromas of the past.
“This is my room,” yelled one of the twins, and the other repeated those words and rushed in behind him. All of the adults laughed. Billy and Willy claimed the beds they would be sleeping on for perhaps years to come. One of them claimed a bed, and the other one claimed the other bed. There was never an argument, it seemed. The first one to act chose first, and the second one to act chose second. Carter and Brenda were never sure if Billy was always first, Willy was always first, or if the results were split down the middle. Either way, there was never an argument, so as long as they were both content, that’s really all that mattered.
After making up the beds, Wendy tucked the kids in and they made their way into their bedroom down the hall. Their bedroom was further down on the other side of the hallway, across from Carter and Brenda’s room. Carl and Wendy made up their beds and were sleeping in them shortly thereafter. Not a lot of time elapsed between the Blankenships hitting the pillow and the sound of Carl snoring. Wendy was eventually able to get some shuteye, and soon they both were filling the quiet house with a snoring duet.
It was only 9:00 P.M. when Carter and Brenda finally got the chance to settle onto the couch in the living room and turn on the television.
“What do you want to watch?” Carter asked.
Brenda snapped the remote out of his hand. “If you’re going to ask, then I’m going to pull up the guide and make a selection,” she replied. “Besides, I don’t know why you are the remote hog. I never get a chance to control the television shows, but I do appreciate you asking for my input on occasion.” She lau
ghed, but was still quick enough to jerk the remote away from Carter’s attempt to regain control.
“Come on,” said Carter. “I feel naked without the remote in my hand. You can watch whatever you want, but I want to have the remote.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said with a sideways glance. “Do you have control issues at all?”
Carter laughed, knowing full well that he did. “So what do you think? I think we did pretty well finding the Blankenships.” This is when the whispering began.
“Yeahhh,” said Brenda. “I think we could have done worse.”
“What’s the matter?”
“No, nothing.”
“Brenda, I know you better than that. It’s the way you dragged out your ‘yeahhh’ that tipped me off. What? You don’t like them now?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… oh, I don’t know… my insecurities. Nothing you did.”
“Insecurities about what?”
Brenda hesitated and blushed a bit. Then she whispered, “Let’s just say that we could have chosen a worse-looking mother.”
“Oh Brenda, you are insecure. She’s hardly a ten.”
“You’re so sweet.”
“Definitely not a ten,” he continued, “a nine… tops.”
That earned Carter a backhand to the ribs. God made a lot of women, but God help Carter if any of them were sexier than Brenda in his eyes. He knew how to play his cards, and he also knew how to get her goat. That comment was part of her ultimate goat.
As they continued bantering back and forth, they heard a noise out back. It was a sound like something falling off a table and onto the porch outside; maybe a raccoon or a bear knocking something over. They had a decent sized back yard, and wildlife frequented it. They had never seen a bear, but they’d seen a ton of elk and deer, coyotes, cats, even coyotes with cats in their mouths. They had a long list of smaller animals that always seem to make a point of cutting through their back yard without permission. The No Trespassing sign meant nothing at all to them.
Carter, of course, knew that it was part of his job description to check it out. Brenda stayed behind and flipped through the channels as Carter jumped up to investigate the small commotion. He flipped on the back porch light and looked out. He couldn’t see anything. He continued to look out to allow his eyes to adjust, and at the very end of the yard he could see a shadow. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things at first, but once his eyes adjusted to darkness, he saw something out there.
“Brendaaaaaaaaaa,” he called out in a desperate whisper.
“Yeah, hon?”
“Come here, and bring a flashlight with you?” He continued to look out, unsure if he was looking at an animal, a human form, or maybe the shadow of a tree or bush. He didn’t remember a tree being in that particular spot, but he wouldn’t bet the farm against it. Within a matter of seconds, Brenda appeared by his side with a heavy duty flashlight.
“What is it?” she asked, looking past him and out into the yard.
Carter kept his eyes trained on the object as he fumbled for the flashlight. He quietly opened the door, and they quietly stepped out onto the deck. He turned the flashlight on and flashed it onto the shadow.
“Oh my God!” Brenda said with a gasp.
“Hello!” Carter yelled out. They continued to look at the shadow, which appeared to be upright in front of the burial site of Martin’s wife, Shirley. There was no answer, but when the shadow began moving slowly toward them, they slowly backed up toward the house. “Get inside,” Carter demanded. Brenda went inside like a shot, and then viewed this eerie scene from a window inside the house.
As the shadow continued to close in on Carter, he continued to step back to the safety of the house. His knees became a little wobbly from fear. He wanted to look back at the door and reach for the handle, but he was afraid to take his eyes off his fear. He kept fumbling for the door handle with his eyes patrolling the yard, and the shadow seemed to be getting closer at a faster speed. The flashlight finally landed on the target, and he was finally able to identify the small shadow as one of the twin boys. The light continued to shine on the boy’s face as he was closing in on the house further. “What on earth are you doing out here in the dark?” Carter finally called out to him.
The little boy seemed to be in a trance and did not reply to Carter. He continued to approach the porch, and then walked past Carter and into the house, where Brenda put her arms around him for comfort. “You can’t be out there at night,” Brenda warned. “Which one… are you?”
“Willy,” said the boy. He then walked down the hall and into his room. Brenda followed him into the room, and in doing so, noticed that the window leading to the back yard was wide open. She shut the window and locked it at the middle, then walked over to the boy and began stroking his hair back. “Sweet dreams,” she said, and then left the room. The day needed to end now for all of them, so Carter and Brenda called it a day too.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The first light of the new day pierced an opening in the blinds and zinged Carter’s eye when he awoke. He closed the gap and turned his head away, where his sleeping beauty remained unconscious. That all changed when Carter attempted to get up to go to the bathroom.
“What time is it?” Brenda asked mid-stretch, turning her head away from the same laser beam that had zinged Carter’s eyes.
“Ahhhhh… not sure. The clock’s right there,” said Carter, pointing to the end table next to her.
“It’s only 9:15?”
“Yeah… we don’t normally get up this early on Sunday morning, but I thought I heard some rumblings.”
“Are they up already?”
“Not sure. I just got up myself.”
They heard clanking, which sounded like pans in the kitchen.
“Let’s see if they’re up,” Brenda said. “Do you think now is the time to tell them about what Willy did last night?”
“I think we have to tell them. That was dangerous as hell. But let’s not tell them in front of the kids. We’ll tell them when the time is right.”
They moved out of their bedroom, past the two other bedrooms and into the kitchen. The Blankenships had already been out to the store and were making breakfast. Carl was sitting up to the kitchen table with the twins, and Wendy was whipping up a big batch of scrambled eggs and toast. The aroma of coffee was mixing it up with the eggs, making Carter and Brenda hungry and craving caffeine.
“Smells wonderful in here,” said Brenda as she and Carter made their way past the stove.
“Oh, hi there,” said Wendy. “We wanted to get an early start so we could get things situated since Carl is back to work tomorrow. I made extra eggs for you guys if you care to join us.”
“Sounds great,” said Carter. “I love scrambled eggs, and they love me.”
Wendy and Carl gave him a courtesy chuckle, but Billy and Willy only managed a smirk, probably as a reaction to their parent’s laughter rather than the joke itself.
“Thanks for picking up the breakfast,” said Carter. “Like I said yesterday, mi casa… tu casa, or something like that. So many years of Spanish and so few memories. Really though… you’re welcome to the whole house, except our bedroom, of course. That’s off limits. We’ll buy our food and you’ll buy yours, and we’ll even share some… that is… if you’d like.”
“Absolutely,” said Brenda, “and we usually eat later, so you can feel free to cook first, especially with the kids. I think this will work out well. If it doesn’t, then one of us will have to go.” Brenda then burst out in laughter, and after a slight pause from initial shock, Carl and Wendy followed suit. It wouldn’t take long before everyone’s sense of
humor would be in sync.
After breakfast, the four adults began straightening up the kitchen as the kids moved into the TV room. This was Carter’s chance to pull Carl aside to let him in on the little secret.
“Carl,” he began, “we had a little bit of a disturbing situation last night that I need to talk to you about.”
Carl stopped what he was doing and looked at Carter, wondering what the hell he was about to say. Carter wanted to just blurt it out, because he could tell that Carl was instantly disturbed by what he had heard, and somewhat embarrassed, as if he or the kids had already done something to offend the landlords. “What is it, Carter?”
“Last night we heard a noise outside, and in the deepest part of the yard, I saw a shadow. I shined a flashlight and saw that it was Willy… out in the dark yard, just standing there.”
“Oh my God,” said Carl.
“That’s what we said.”
“Wendy, can you come here for a minute?” Carl asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” she asked, approaching the sink with a pile of breakfast dishes.
“Carter just told me that Willy was outside in the backyard just standing in the dark after we had gone to sleep last night.”
“You’re kidding me!” she said. “How the hell did he even get out? Did he go out the window?” She was visibly distraught.
“In fact he did,” said Carter. “When Brenda got him back to bed, she had to shut and lock the window.”
Carl put his hands over his face and exhaled hard. “Those damn kids! Thank you, Carter. They’re starting to become a handful. The manual never said that it was going to be this hard.”
“It’s fine,” said Brenda. “Maybe he was sleep-walking or something, because he looked like he was… I don’t know… in a trance, but we just wanted to let you guys know.”
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