Читать книгу: «Terrible»

Part 1

CHAPTER 1

“Are you sure we are on the right road?” Emma asked holding a road map in her hands.

“Of course, I am sure,” exclaimed Charlie. “We took this road only two weeks ago and if you have memory problems, it doesn’t mean that I also have them!”

“ Charlie,” Emma spoke still looking for the right road on the map. “I don’t remember passing that village, especially these churches.” She raised her eyes to the windshield.

“Cause, I suppose, somebody was sleeping at that time,” Charlie grinned and turned quickly the wheel to avoid a deep hole in the road.

“Awful road,” Emma reacted annoyingly.

At the same time two children, who were sitting in the back seat, screamed from the car swerving.

“It’s ok, dear. Very soon this patch of bad road will end and you’ll be fine,” Charlie said and swerved again to avoid another pothole.

At the back seat, were the children of Charlie and Emma. The older child was their daughter, Christina, who was 11 years old and the younger was a little boy, Danny, who was only 7. Next fall, he was going to start school.

Charlie was a man of middle height, blond, with a beard. The fact that they were on the move now was connected with his occupation. He was a doctor and the government program supported him in buying a village house on condition that he would relocate from the city to the village.

It was a difficult but well-thought out decision which he had taken together with his wife and their children. Actually, very few people agreed to do that.

The deal about buying a new house had already been made. After discussing their relocation, Charlie and his wife had already driven to that village to look at the place. The city government had already paid for their house and, therefore, Charlie and Emma had no other option.

According to the new government’s program for young families, Charlie was obliged to work at the village hospital for 5 years, otherwise, they would have to move out of the house and return the money to the government.

Charlie was a surgeon and, of course, specialists like him were needed in rural areas.

In addition, he wanted to kill both birds with one stone as, first of all, he had always wanted to live in his own house in a peaceful location and second, he also believed that his children would feel better growing in a village far away from the city. He told himself that, in case they get bored in the village, they could easily visit the city for a weekend or holidays since it was only about 70 km away.

His wife was thinking in a similar way. She had also always wanted to have a house with a garden. In the village, life is calmer and quieter than in the city. Emma worked as a kindergarten teacher but, after their relocation, she wanted to take some time off and just be a housewife and devote herself to house chores and taking care of the children.

“You know, I think I also don’t remember those churches,” muttered Charlie.

“Maybe somewhere we took a wrong turn,” Emma said, deep in her thoughts.

“No, no,” replied Charlie. “I am sure very soon there will be another turn and after that there will be another village with a big cemetery beside the road.”

“Who could have come up with an idea to make a cemetery near the road?” Emma asked, her face distorted with disgust.

“Yeah, you are right,” Charlie agreed with a slight smile on his face. “By the way, here it is,” he said pointing to the cemetery.

On the side of the road, there was an old cemetery. It was so close that Emma was afraid to turn her head and face ghosts flying above the graves.

At that moment, Christina and Danny also looked at the cemetery. There were a lot of graves surrounded with short old wooden fences and lined with high trees and bushes. Some of the graves had old broken crosses and fallen monuments.

“Wooow” the kids exclaimed.

“It is so exciting and scary at the same time,” Christina said.

“I don’t think so,” Charlie looked at the daughter and smiled.

“Hold the wheel and keep your eyes on the road,” Emma frowned still avoiding looking at the cemetery.

“It means that we’ve taken the right road,” Charlie declared. “I could never forget this place.”

At last, they approached the last road turn.

“Thank God that bad road has finished and now we have only 10 km of good road to cover. Soon we’ll see our new big house,” Charlie announced and carefully turned the wheel to the right.

CHAPTER 2

“Heeeey,” Charlie shouted and opened the back door of the car. Get out and open the gate.”

Obediently, the kids ran to the gate and tried to open it.

“It is locked,” Christina told her Dad.

“Oh, yeah?” Charlie exclaimed with surprise and scratched his head with his right hand. “Oh, right, the key is in my bag,” he recalled.

Charlie turned around and went back to his Kia. He opened the driver’s door. After several attempts to find the bag, he suddenly remembered that, before the trip, he had thrown it into the trunk together with the other things for their relocation.

“Charlie,” Emma called out looking at Charlie. “What is taking you for so long? Have you found the key?”

“Sh*t,” Charlie cursed getting out of the car and hitting his head on the car ceiling.

“What is going on?” Emma asked.

“Nothing,” he said and began to rub his head on that place where it had just got hit. “Where is my bag?”

“I suppose it’s in the car,” Emma answered with a grin.

“Yeah, that is so funny,” Charlie said angrily / annoyed and opened the trunk.

“Mummmy,” Danny shouted out cheerfully.

“What? What, sweetie?” Emma asked turning to the children.

“Look at the sky,” he said and showed something in the sky with his little finger.

Emma turned her head to the sky and saw a beautiful picture. In afar, there were a lot of clouds lit by the sparkling sun rays. The sky was of a bluish-pinkish color, very peaceful. It was an unforgettable picture which could be hardly seen in the city.

Right at this moment it occurred to Emma that she should thank God for that beautiful opportunity to see this and live here in the village in this big house with two floors and…”

“Well done,” her thoughts were interrupted by a voice. It was Charlie, happy and cheerful. He was standing by the car and holding the house key in his hand.

Charlie approached the gate and inserted the key in the key hole. After several attempts, the gate opened and they could see their new yard. It was not a very big yard but there was a little swing, a garage and a path to the front porch.

“Well,” Charlie said. “Come on in, be my guests.” He waved his hand towards the house and laughed.

Emma and the children walked through the gate and started looking around. Danny and Christina immediately ran to the swing and got into a little fight over who would be the first to swing.

“Heeeyy,” Emma exclaimed. “You’ll have enough time to swing.”

“I was first,” Christina yelled and tried to push her brother off the swing.

“I was first,” immediately shouted back Danny and a tear began to well up in his eye.

“Christina, Danny! Let’s better check out your rooms,” Emma invited the kids. “Charlie, where are you?”

“I am here,” Charlie said from behind the gate.

“What are you doing there?” Emma asked him looking surprised.

“I’ll be right with you,” the voice behind the gate replied, “I am just going to grab some bags.”

“Let’s do it later, we can’t wait to check out our new home,” Emma told him.

After a little while, Charlie joined them in the yard holding some keys in his hand and said, “Ok, come on! Let’s do it!”

Their new house was wooden, with two floors. Downstairs, there was a big kitchen, a guest bedroom, a corridor and two bedrooms. Upstairs, there was a master bedroom for the parents and two little rooms for Christina and Danny.

“Wooow,” Christina was amazed when she came into the house. “There are so many rooms.” She began running from one room to another. Danny, seeing that, followed suit.

“Be careful,” Charlie warned them but could only hear the children’s laughter which was getting louder and louder.

“Ok, Emma, let’s look around,” he said and kissed her on the cheek. Emma already knew what Charlie wanted to do and turned her head so that he could kiss her on the lips.

“Wooow,” Charlie hugged her. “We will live in our own house,” he whispered and held her even closer.

“It has always been our dream,” Emma said and a little tear appeared in the corner of her eye. “But, you know, it’s weird that the previous owners moved out leaving all their stuff behind.” She headed for the kitchen.

“But it was part of the deal,” Charlie reminded her.

“Yea, I know but….but they also left their private things, it looks like they were in a hurry or that something made them leave sooner than they expected,” Emma supposed.

“Oh, Emma, don’t be ridiculous,” Charlie replied.

“What private things?” he asked entering the kitchen.

“The mugs, brushes and plates on the floor,” Emma answered.

Charlie looked at the things and agreed that it was rather strange. “Yeah, you are right,” he said and went up to the kitchen cabinets.

Here, in every cabinet there were a lot of mugs, glasses and plates. In some of them, there were spoons and forks. There were dirty spots on the kitchen table and on the floor.

Some toys and other things were scattered on the floor.

It all looked a mess.

“Well,” Charlie said. “Look rather nasty! Tomorrow I am going to call the previous owner and talk about that! If they don’t show up and collect their things right away, I’ll burn everything in the garden.”

“Anyway, I am so happy to be here, in our own house,” Emma said to her husband and kissed him.

“Mummyyyy,” a child’s voice shouted from upstairs. It was Danny and it sounded as if he was about to cry. Then, they heard his loud crying.

Immediately, Charlie and Emma ran out of the kitchen towards the stairs leading to upstairs. They were really worried. They climbed up the stairs.

“Danny,” Charlie called out running.

At that moment, they heard Christina crying loudly.

“Where are you?” Charlie shouted when he and Emma had climbed upstairs.

“Mumyyyy,” somebody shouted in one of the rooms.

Charlie and Emma rushed along the corridor looking into every room. Finally, they found the room where their children were wailing. Danny and Christina were staring at the wall in front of them and holding each other tightly with fear.

CHAPTER 3

“What happened?” Charlie asked and quickly ran into the room.

“Kill it, Daddy, please!” Christina shouted.

Charlie looked at the wall and, much to his surprise, saw a small insect which was crawling up the wall.

“Oh, sweetie,” he said relieved, “It’s just a cockroach.” He took his boot off the right foot, slowly approached the wall and suddenly hit it. “Got it,” he said cheerfully.

“Christina, Danny,” Emma said. “Please, for now, don’t walk around alone. We don’t know who exactly lived here before us and what they could have left behind,” she uttered panting after running up the stairs.

“That’s right,” Charlie confirmed. “You should always tell us where you are going.”

“Come on, my dear, let's examine the other rooms in our new house”, Emma said and stretched out her left arm to pull the children towards herself.

Every room was a little messy. There were ragged sofas, some spots on the floor, strange toys without heads, old clothes and so on.

“I can’t understand this,” Emma would say and shake her head in every room. “It is at least impolite and at most strange,” she repeated.

“Well,” Charlie replied looking around the last room. “Tomorrow I will definitely call the former owner and ask him to explain everything. We can’t just ignore this,” he said and crossed his arms on the chest.

“It may not be worth it. I will clean everything tomorrow and….”Emma began to say.

“It’s out of the question, Emma,” Charlie interrupted her. “I know that they wanted to sell the house and relocate to the city but leave it in a mess for the new owner it’s….it’s…I can’t find words to describe it,” he was getting agitated.

“Don’t worry,” Emma walked up to Charlie and smiled trying to calm him down. To distract him she suggested, “Let’s better bring in our stuff and gradually settle down.”

“You are right as usual,” he said and gave her a hug.

“Children, let’s see who will be first to get down to the car and bring your toys into the house,” Charlie said and with a laugh pretended to be chasing Christina and Danny.

Finally, they all tumbled downstairs and out into their yard.

“Charlie,” Emma’s voice followed them. “Before you call the former owner, I’d like to see my garden as well to check that there’s nothing strange there…”

“No problem, as you wish,” interrupted her Charlie. “Let’s go to the garden and I am going to park the car in the garage after carrying all our things into the house.” After that he turned around and cheerfully ran after the kids shouting “Hey, hey, kids, I’m gonna get you.”

Emma looked at him and with a funny face said to herself, “Every man is like a big child.” Having thought that, she opened the door which led to the garden and stepped inside. It was not an enormous garden, but it was just enough to plant some nice flowers and have barbeques. She slowly and carefully began to observe it planning in her head where she would have a place for her roses, where a gazebo would stand, where they could organize a children’s play zone and other things. In the distance, she could hear a happy and funny laugh of her children. Sometimes Emma could distinguish how they were fighting over who must be first to go swinging and sometimes she heard the voice of her husband calming them down.

Emma was walking in her garden among little bushes and small trees whispering to herself, “Ok, here I will plant my bushes of red roses and here I’ll reserve some space for white ones, and this will be…” Suddenly she stopped still. For a whole minute or two she was standing motionless and staring at one spot on the ground. Right where she was mentally arranging space for the gazebo, she saw a little bump or a mount rising from the ground and a little cross which was protruding from that little mount.

“A grave?” she asked herself. “Only a little one,” she tried to calm herself.

Emma slowly shook her head and started to bend to have a better look at the strange mount.

Yes, it was quite a small grave which could suit maybe for some pet.

“What is buried?” she asked herself. “A cat? A dog? And what should I do with this?” she asked herself again.

“Emma!” somebody called her from behind. Charlie was standing in the middle of the garden. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Charlie, come here! Look at this. There’s something strange here,” Emma said.

“Another surprise? What else can there be?” Charlie asked looking dissatisfied. He walked up to Emma.

“Where is it?” he asked when he was already near Emma.

Instead of answering, Emma just nodded in the direction of the little mount.

“And what the hell is this?” Charlie asked stooping to the grave. He was talking more to himself than his wife.

“Well,” he began. “I’m already starting to hate this place! Tomorrow I will find out everything about who lived here and what the hell they did here,” he finished angrily.

“Calm down, Charlie,” Emma said. “Don’t worry! Everything will be okay,” she added and leaned close to him stroking his chest.

“Have you already put the car to the garage,” she decided to change the subject.

“Not yet… The garage is also a little messy… some sacks, old dirty clothes and… well I’ll deal with everything tomorrow ‘cause today we’ve already done a lot. We’ve come all the way here,” Charlie decided. “Let’s better clean the kitchen and make our first dinner in our own house,” he said with a smile and hugged Emma.

CHAPTER 4

“Never eat a meal with your hands!” Charlie said to Danny.

“Why not, Daddy?” Danny inquired.

“Because you are already a grown-up and very soon you will go to school,” Charlie answered and put the piece of chicken which was on his fork into his mouth.

At last, the whole family, that had driven a long way today to their new house, sat down to have their first dinner in the new home.

“Thank you very much, Emma, for this gorgeous dinner,” Charlie said and coaxed another piece of chicken onto the fork and then into his mouth.

“This is not rocket science to cook fried chicken with potatoes,” Emma answered with a satisfactory smile on her face. “Pass me the bread, will you?” she added.

“Mum,” Christina began to say. “I want to know which room on upstairs will be mine and which one will be Danny’s.”

“Well,” Charlie spoke. “I think that for the time being you should share a room with Danny”.

“No, I won’t,” Christina objected.

“Me neither,” Danny said calmly and began to stuff his mouth with a big piece of potatoes.

“Danny,” Emma said. “Hasn’t Daddy just told you about table etiquette?”

“Christina,” Charlie said. “I know how you and Danny love each other, and I know that each of you want to have a private room. But you’ll have to put up with the fact that you will share a room at least for tonight because we don’t even have time to clean every room and…”

“But we will try to do it later,” Emma promised.

“So, Charlie, let’s better discuss your plans for tomorrow,” Emma said cutting the chicken with the knife in her right hand.

“So tomorrow, first of all, I am going to drive to my new office to clarify when I should begin work, after that I am going to phone Spencer, the representative of the city government, and tell him that we are here. I’ll also ask him about the house deal. Then, I want to phone the former owner to ask about that mess and why they did that,” Charlie explained.

“Maybe the last one is not necessary?” Emma asked him.

“I don’t want to talk about it now,” Charlie said.

“You know better,” Emma agreed.

“So, what about you?” Charlie asked.

“First, I am going to get enough sleep and after that I am going to begin cleaning all this mess in the house. I think I’ll start from upstairs,” Emma said and took a sip of fruit drink.

“Yeah, thank you for reminding me that tomorrow I also have to tidy up my garage. I am a little worried about parking the car on the street. I still don’t know our neighbors. I think we should meet them as soon as possible,” Charlie said.

“And you, kids, should have a good rest and save enough energy for school,” Emma said and everyone burst out laughing.

CHAPTER 5

A new day began.

“How do I look?” Charlie asked and turned to Emma.

“I think this tie doesn’t match your shirt,” Emma answered thoughtfully.

“Where are my other ties?” Charlie asked discontentedly starting to untie the red tie.

“I think that without a tie it will be better,” Emma said and began to help Charlie to untie his tie. “This is better,” she said when Charlie finally managed to take off the tie. “You are worried, aren’t you? Why?” she asked him.

“’Cause I am starting a new job,” he answered and looked at himself in the mirror which decorated the hallway on downstairs.

“Yes, I know, but you are not going to work today, only sign some documents and ask about when you should begin work, right?” Emma inquired calmly and stroked his chest once again.

“Well, good looks win half the battle, don’t they? I wanna dress to impress,” he said and combed his hair once with his hand.

“Ok, I am ready,” he said at last. “Wish me luck,” he added turning to Emma.

“Break a leg!” she said and smiled. “Be careful.”

“With God’s blessing,” at last Charlie said and turned to the front door.

He exited the house and walking through the yard reached his car.

“Today is an important day for me,” he said to himself and opened the car door.

“Ok,” he said getting inside and starting the engine. “First of all, I’m going to go straight to the hospital, sign the employment contract and get acquainted with my new colleagues,” he thought. “Then, I want to phone Spencer King from the city government and find out the details of the house purchase agreement and also talk about the findings of the previous night with the former owner! Yeah, that’s right! That’s a good plan!” he thought and began backing slowly out of the driveway.

• • • • • •

When Charlie walked out of the house, Emma locked the front door.

“Well, it is too early now to begin tidying up the house. The children are still sleeping and I don’t want to wake them up,” she thought and went into the guest bedroom to have a look through the window how her husband was leaving for work.

She saw Charlie get into the car. He looked lost in thought. At one moment, Emma waved him goodbye,” but, deep in his thoughts, Charlie didn’t notice that.

When Charlie’s car was already on the main road, Emma moved away from the window pondering about what she should do right now. The breakfast was ready and she didn’t want to go back to sleep or just wait until the kids get up. And suddenly Emma remembered about her new garden and the strange little grave with a cross.

Having remembered that, she went up to the front door, unlocked it and dared to come out into the garden. Emma began wading through a sea of tall grass and low bushes growing in abundance in the garden. At last, she approached that strange place.

“Who is buried here?” she wondered. “Well,” she added. “I don’t like it and I won’t have any cemeteries around my house,” she said and tied her hair in a knot ready to dig as deep as it would take.

Full of determination, Emma looked around to get some kind of a shovel or but could see nothing suitable.

“Well, and how should I dig it?” she asked herself. Then, the cross which was sticking out of the ground caught her eye and she decided to pull it out and dig with the grave with it.

Gradually, Emma was getting deeper and deeper into the ground. She was expecting to dig out a rotten cat or a dog. But Emma was wrong. When she was about two feet into the ground, the cross hit something hard and she heard a sound of metal.

“What is this?” she asked. Immediately, Emma threw back the cross, knelt down and continued digging with her hands.

“What can it be?” she asked again when she saw a metal box which was buried in the ground. At last, Emma managed to pull it out and take a better look at it. In her hands, there was a little metal box. On top of it she could read an inscription: “Damn you to hell”.

“Oh, Jesus!” she screamed and dropped the box.

“What the hell is that?” she asked herself.

Emma dared to look closer and she noticed that the box was locked.

“It is so strange,” she thought. “But at the same time intriguing.”

Holding her find, Emma started walking towards the house from the garden. When she approached the door leading out of the garden, Emma heard some knocking inside the box.

Emma stared at the box, frowned and said, “Oh, it must be my imagination.” She suddenly heard somebody’s voice, “Let me out, please.”

CHAPTER 6

“Good morning,” Charlie said and entered the room.

“Oh, you must be Charlie?” asked Thomas Wilson and rose from the chair.

Thomas Wilson was the chief physician at the village hospital and he was expecting to meet Charlie.

“Yes, sure,” confirmed Charlie and shook Thomas’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Charlie! Tea? Coffee?” asked Thomas.

“Coffee, please,” Charlie said.

“Julia,” Thomas said loudly. At that moment, the door opened and a young lady came inside.

“Julia! Please, make two cups of cappuccino,” asked her Thomas.

“With sugar or not?” asked Julia.

“With sugar, please,” answered Charlie turning to her.

“And…” started Julia.

“And no sugar for me,” Thomas interrupted her.

When Julia left the room, Thomas looked at Charlie and asked, “So, how’s moving going? How’s is your new house?”

“We arrived only yesterday and I just didn’t have time to feel how different our life is going to be,” Charlie said with a smile on his face.

“I’m sure you’ll love this place,” said Thomas.

“I hope so,” confirmed Charlie.

“So, Charlie, this is your employment contract,” said Thomas and shifted some documents from one corner of the desk to another.”

Charlie read the contract and Thomas added, “According to the government program, you are hired for a period of five years so this contract complies with the requirement.”

At that moment, Julia entered the room with two cups of coffee. She handed one cup to Charlie with the words “This is for you” and the other to Thomas with the same words.

“Thanks, Julia,” said Thomas.

Charlie looked through the papers once again and asked, “Could you give me a pen?”

“Yes, sure, here you are,” replied Thomas and handed him a blue pen.

Charlie took the pen from Thomas’s hand and signed the documents.

“Well, welcome on board!” Thomas greeted him cheerfully.

“Thank you,” reacted Charlie. “So, when do I start?” he asked.

“Already tomorrow,” said Thomas.

“Wow, it is very kind of you but could I have a couple of days to settle down? I moved here only yesterday and didn’t have time yet to unpack and …” Charlie started to say.

“I hear you, Charlie,” said Thomas with compassion. “But we have long been waiting for a person with your qualifications.” “We really need a good surgeon as soon as possible,” he added. “By the way, where do you live? What street?” Thomas Charlie asked.

“Green street,” replied Charlie.

“I know that street. It’s in my neighborhood,” said Thomas. “But don’t tell me that your house is number 15,” he added.

“Well, yes, it is. Why?” Charlie said quite surprised. “How did you guess?” he asked Thomas.

Thomas stared at Charlie as if not knowing what to say and at last uttered, “Never mind.”

“Is something wrong there?” Charlie asked.

Thomas looked up at Charlie again and after a pause said, “Yes, something wrong happened to the family that lived there before you.”

“You are scaring me now just a little,” Charlie said.

“We all still can’t understand what happened to them,” said Thomas broodingly and took a sip of coffee.

CHAPTER 7

“Let me out, please,” repeated the voice. “Mum, where are you?”

At that moment Emma realized that the voice which she had heard belonged to her son who was inside the house and that he must have been speaking from behind the door.

Emma couldn’t understand why her son was behind the front door and didn’t want to come out.

“Where are you, mum?” said her son worried.

“I am here, sweetie,” at last Emma said and put the metal box, which was approximately 80 inches long and 30 inches wide, on the porch.

“I am here, sweetie,” she repeated and ran to the front door, which appeared to be locked. Emma grabbed the handle but couldn’t open it. It was certainly locked.

“Danny,” she said. “Why did you lock that door?”

“I didn’t do it,” he said from behind the door.

“Well,” Emma sounded worried, “Let me try to open the door once again.”

After several attempts, she managed to open the door.

“You are up so early. What happened?” It was the first question that Emma asked her son when she at last saw him.

“Christina woke me up. She stretched across the whole bed and pushed me off. I woke up when I fell onto the floor,” he complained and wiped his nose.

“Oh, my poor baby,” Emma said and clasped Danny in her arms. “Today we will tidy up the house and already tonight you will sleep in your own room, I promise.”

“Hooray,” exclaimed Danny and raised his hands up.

Emma put him down to the floor and suggested cheerfully, “Let’s go to the kitchen to have a good and healthy breakfast”.

Emma took Danny’s hand and brought him to the kitchen. “10 a.m.,” she said looking at the clock, which was hanging on the wall.

“Danny,” she said. “We have sandwiches.”

Emma came up to the fridge, opened it and took out a plate with sandwiches.

Then she turned around and put the plate into the microwave.

“Let’s go brush your teeth first,” she told Danny.

She looked at him and suddenly noticed some bruises on his right hand. The sight of the bruises scared her a little.

“Danny,” she held up his hand. “Where did you get this? Does it hurt?” she asked him worried.

Danny just shrugged his shoulders and also looked at his big bruises.

“No,” he answered. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“Where did you get them?” asked him Emma.

“I don’t know,” the child replied.

“Did Christina offend you?” asked Emma “Please, tell me the truth,” she added.

“No! No!” Danny said. “Maybe I got them when I fell off the bed,” he supposed.

“Oh, Danny,” Emma said and hugged him. “I promise you, today you will sleep in your room.”

They heard the microwave beeping. Emma went up to it and took out the sandwiches.

Suddenly Emma and Danny heard some sounds coming from upstairs.

“Christina must have also woken up,” Emma thought.

“Christina,” Emma called out loudly. “Come down to the kitchen!”

Then Emma put the plate with the sandwiches on the table and called again, “Christina! Come here!”

But nobody answered her.

“Did she also fall off the bed?” thought Emma.

“Christina! Where are you?” she asked again and decided to go upstairs to see what had happened.

Emma climbed up the stairs and came up to the room where her daughter should have been sleeping.

Emma touched the handle and cautiously opened the door.

“Christina! Wakey! Wakey!” Emma said joyfully and entered the room.

Much to her surprise, the room was empty and totally silent.

“Christina!” Emma cried out frightened.

CHAPTER 8

Charlie was driving again, quite bewildered by Thomas’s words.

He was keeping his eyes on the road throwing occasional glances into the rearview mirror.

“The story is unbelievable,” he said and continued driving.

At one point Charlie pulled out his mobile phone from the pocket and dialed Spencer’s number.

After a series of beeps, Charlie heard a voice, “Hello!” At that moment, he turned on the speakerphone and said, “Hello, Mr. King. It is Charlie.”

“Hello, Charlie! How are you?” said the voice. “How is your moving going?”

“I am fine!” replied Charlie. “Everything is okay,” he added.

“I am so happy!” said Spencer. “How is your new home?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,” Charlie said. “If I remember correctly, the deal was that the seller leaves the furniture in the house.”

“Yes, that’s right,” interrupted him Spencer. “Did they not?” he asked.

“No, no,” Charlie said “They left it but, apart from the furniture, they left everything else – all their stuff actually.”