Cottage Creep Chapter 9
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Chapter 9
Tom arose early to the sounds of clatter in the kitchen
downstairs. He showered quickly and went down to join the rest of the
family in the dining room. "Good morning," he said cheerfully. "Did
everyone sleep well?" he asked.
His dad gave a cheerful grunt. His mom answered, "Yes dear,
and you?" That's what her voice said, but her eyes told a different
tell.
His brother and sister in law eyed him, almost suspiciously.
Ron grabbed his wife's hand and tugged it. He eyed her briefly in
warning. Her returned gaze could have frozen an open flame. Then she
turned back to Tom. "Who is the old lady?" she asked.
Tom looked at her totally confused. "What old lady? I hope
you don't mean Mom. She's the only other lady here, but I would never
call her an old lady personally," he replied.
"No, not Mom. Although I admit at first I thought it was her
since I thought she was the only other woman in the house, but even in
the dark I could tell she was very old. And, she was in a wheel
chair. She didn't say a word, but just stared at us like she was very
unhappy to see us, and then wheeled herself away."
Tom stared at his sister in law for a long moment, trying to
absorb and make sense of what she had just told him. "There's no one
else in the house. Just us."
"See, I told you it was just a dream," Ron scolded his wife.
"Yeah? Well, why did you dream about her too then? Explain
that." Julie retorted.
"Coincidence. Pure and simple coincidence is all," Ron
answered.
Their mom stared for a second with one eyebrow raised. "You
two both dreamed about an old woman in a wheel chair?" she finally
asked.
"No," Julie answered. "It wasn't a dream. I was awake. Ron
insists it was a dream because he doesn't think he woke up. But I was
awake and she was there. And then she rolled herself away."
Their dad had been taking all this in. "Hmmmph.. we can't all
have had the same dream," he grumbled.
"You too then?" Julie asked.
Now everyone was looking at everyone else, and then all eyes
settled on Tom.
"Well not me! I didn't dream about an old lady. I dreamed
about a beautiful young woman. In fact, I dream about her every
night… What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Tom asked
defensively.
They talked excitedly about the meaning of a common dream, and
tried to find a reason for Tom to dream differently, but after all was
said and done, all but Julie decided it was just a dream. She
insisted she was awake and that the faint dust trails of tire marks on
the floor proved it. Tom pointed out that the wheels on their suit
cases probably left the marks, and all but Julie agreed that was
probably what it was.
Still, Tom went out back to the shed where he had stored the
wheel chair and found it still there where he had left it. The faint
trail between the shed and the porch could have been left there from
when he had moved it out here weeks ago.
Tom and his brother and dad spent the rest of the day going
over the house and discussing details of what needed to be done, and
making notes in a notebook. His dad dashed a lot of his plans, but
Tom knew his dad would be right, and he reluctantly made notes about
which plans he had to abandon. He would, for example, have to run all
new gas line and not use the old existing pipes for fear of heavy rust
and eventual gas leaks. He would need to do tile work in all the
rooms where there was water service since the old place was never
built to have high humidity present. Some of the changes were
obvious, others could have produced a disaster had he gone on with his
original plans.
Ron agreed to come back next weekend and help, and perhaps
spend a week of his coming vacation helping his brother. His dad
promised to come back in two months and re-examine the place. His mom
and sister in law had tidied the place for him, and they were all
postponing leaving, dreading the long drive back.
But the time had come to go, and Tom noticed that the wheels
on the luggage fit at least 4 inches inside of the faint dusty tire
marks still on the floor.
Lesmond
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>Chapter 9
Yay!
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I got a feeling something went wrong and now I own a blind camel.
