Chapter 1
Some people swore that the house was haunted. The red house had been there for a very long time. Some say it was the first house built in Taylorsville. No one had lived there in at least fifty years, and no one knew who even owned the place. It was a three story Victorian, with a cellar, it was made of bricks, blood red bricks. The yard was over grown and surrounded by an iron fence six feet tall. The shutters were all closed tightly, except for the window on the widows walk, some claimed that they had seen weird lights in that window.
The town folk stayed away from the house except for the guy that the city sent over to cut the grass three or four times each summer. The only one who would go was an old man named Larry. He was nearly 80 and had lived in Taylorville all his life.
One day in October of 2008, Larry was cutting the grass for the last time before winter. When he finished, he raked up the yard and put the cuttings by the curb. Then Larry loaded up his equipment and was just about to leave when he heard a noise inside the red house. “Crap” he said. “Now I have to go inside and chase out hobos!” He quietly walked toward the back of the house; he put his hand on the knob of the back door and gently tried to turn it. To his great surprise, it turned easily and the door opened. He gingerly took a step through the door.
Larry found himself in what seemed to be a mud room and he was very surprised to find that it was clean. All the dust and grime that he had expected to find was not there. Now he was very intrigued. He opened the door of the mud room and entered the kitchen.
There was a soft light coming from the floor, all around the perimeter of the room. The room itself was beautiful. He felt as if he were in an Italian villa, polished wood cabinets and stone flooring, herbs hanging from the ceiling and a huge fireplace at the other end. There beside the fireplace was a rocking chair and in the chair was and old woman. She looked at Larry and scowled, “Who are you and why are you in my house?”
Larry was stunned and it took him several moments to find his voice, but finally he answered her. “Ma’am, I am very sorry to disturb you. I didn’t know that anyone was living here. The city sent me to mow the grass and I heard noises in here and I wanted to make sure that everything was OK.”
“Everything WAS OK, but now things are not OK at all!” shouted the mysterious woman. “And now I have an extremely difficult decision to make. You have no idea how complicated this situation is and now I shall be forced to deal with the consequences!”
Larry was beginning to feel a growing sense of alarm. “Ma’am, I can walk out that door and forget that I was ever here, you have my word!”
“Well, sir, you will never know how much I wish we could do just that, but I am afraid that it is not possible for you to do that. Now please be quiet, I have to think through the possible solutions to our mutual problem!”
Larry was now gripped with terror; he turned and stumbled into the mudroom. He grabbed the knob and turned, but nothing happened. He pulled and pulled on the door but it wouldn’t budge. He turned around to look for another way out, when suddenly the old woman was standing in front of him. “You, sir, are trying my patience! You cannot leave this building; I have already told you that! Why do you try my patience? I do not want to do you harm, but if you continue with this asinine behavior I may be forced to do something that will be distasteful to us both!” She turned abruptly and went back to her rocking chair and sat down hard.
“I have come to a decision” she declared after several tension filled minutes. “And this is what I have decided will become of you. If you agree, I will tell you who I am and what I do. After that has been done, you will have to become my assistant. There are benefits for you if you accept this position. You will no longer be subject to the aging process of Earth, and you will get to travel with me to various times and places throughout the universe. What is your decision?”
Larry thought for a few moments and then very slowly began to speak. “Ma’am, I don’t see that I have too many options in this situation. As I see it, my options are to become your assistant or lose my life here and now. Am I correct?”
“Well, I am glad to see that you can use your brain. You are partially correct. Your choices are to be my assistant or submit to a memory eraser that seems to have unpleasant side effects when used on you Earth beings. I am sorry that your choices were not made more clear earlier.” The old lady seemed genuinely remorseful over Larry’s predicament.
“Well, now that my situation is so much clearer! Why could you not tell me who and what you are, and if I don’t like it, you can try your scary memory eraser on me? That buys me some time anyway.” Larry found a chair and sat down.
“What a clever creature you are turning out to be! I love Earth sarcasm, I don’t completely understand it, but it is fascinating. Yes, I can tell you my story and then let you chose, that seems to be an agreeable solution for now. But I am quite afraid that I will become too fond of you to risk harming you, if I spend too much time in your company.”
All this time Larry’s mind had been working over time. His truck was still out there in the driveway and he was supposed to be at his granddaughter’s house at 6 for dinner. If he could stall long enough, there would be people looking for him and maybe he would be rescued from this nut case!
“Well, Ma’am I am real anxious to hear your story, but if it wouldn’t be too much trouble could I have a glass of water? I’ll get it myself, if you will just point me to the glasses.” Almost as soon as he said the words a soft glow came hovering just above his lap and a tray with a glass of water appeared. For the first time in his 80 years, Larry felt as if he might faint. This was not just some nut case he had stumbled on, but he did not even want to contemplate what the truth might be. Now he hoped that his granddaughter wouldn’t come looking for him. Please, God, just let her think that I forgot.
The old woman was truly alarmed by Larry’s sudden loss of color. “I did not mean to frighten you; I always forget how primitive things still are on this planet. What can I do for you?”
Starting to recover some from the shock, Larry grabbed the glass of water and drained it in one gulp. “Well, do you have anything stronger than water?”
The woman seemed relieved to see Larry recovering and she said, “Name your poison!”
In spite of himself, Larry had to chuckle. “You been watchin’ old westerns on TV, I wouldn’t have thought you the type. If you have any, a shot of tequila might be called for about now and maybe a beer chaser?”
The woman laughed, “I can get whatever you want, what kind of beer do you drink?”
“I’ll take a Corona with a lime wedge if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Larry said, after thinking for a moment.
The crazy glow, started above his lap again and a tray with 3 shots of tequila and a Corona with a wedge of lime appeared. Larry expertly shoved the lime into the beer bottle, covered the mouth with his thumb and quickly flipped the bottle over and back. Then he picked up one of the shots, poured it down his throat and chased it with a healthy slug of the beer.
“Thank you Ma’am. I am feeling much better now.” Larry said really meaning it.
The old woman had been truly entertained watching Larry partake of his refreshments. Now she felt he might be ready to hear the truth. She was really beginning to like this Earth man and she really hoped he would stay.
“Well, I guess I should introduce myself first. My name is Eleanor. I come from a planet several light years away. I use this house as my home when I am on this planet. I have been visiting this planet for the last 180 Earth years. The owner of the house at that time traveled with me for several decades and then returned to Earth to live out her remaining time on her home planet.”
