Ghost House Read online

  “We can do that.” Her husband smiled.

  They drove for the remainder of the day, only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks and coffee. They had the cookies their friends had been nice enough to pack for them and they had a few boxes of protein bars, the kind with the nuts, raisins, yogurt and chocolate. Riley liked eating healthy and Suzanne thought they were candy bars. Jim and Sarah had a cooler in the van with bottled water and orange juice so they never felt the need to stop for a bigger meal.

  Both girls were quite. Riley was looking out the window as they drove and Suzanne was playing with Freddie and Mr. Pickles. Sarah read and Jim sang. So far there had only been one squabble, that one when Riley yelled at her sister to quit being so annoying and kicking her legs. But for the most part, they were content to just be left to their own private thoughts.

  Suzanne was sleeping when her dad pulled into the hotel. He carried her in and woke her up, asking her if she wanted to go swimming. Suzanne did not know how to swim, but she was not going to say no to a splash in the water. She looked around at the big room and was in awe when she walked to the pool with her mom and dad and Riley. “Daddy, I love our new house!” She excitedly yelled.

  “You goofball” Riley told her “This isn’t our new house, it’s a hotel!”

  Suzanne was still happy, she didn’t know what a hotel was, but she knew a pool when she saw one. Sarah took her into the shallow end and Suzanne had a ball working off all of that pent up energy. Riley decided it was too much work to keep pouting and acting annoyed. She and her dad splashed each other and tossed a beach ball back and forth that had been by the pool. Jim then got into the hot tub to work the kinks out of his back and legs from the long drive.

  They went back to their room and ordered pizza from a local delivery pizza parlor and settled in for the night. They were all sound asleep by eight p.m.

  Chapter 3

  It was dusk when the Gaunter family pulled up to what was to be their new home, at least for the next year. The house sat far back on a corner lot and had an enormous back yard, a very small, detached garage, and a pretty bay window.

  Sarah looked around and was glad to see that the other homes on the block were of different styles. She did not particularly like the cookie-cutter type home neighborhoods you sometimes saw. She noticed doors opening and curtains moving to the side. The usual curiosity of whose came before, getting a peek of their new neighbors. No one actually came out to meet or greet the newly arriving family and for that Sarah was glad. It had been a long trip and all of them were tired.

  The management company which handled the rental agreement had sent them a set of keys a week back, so they all entered by the side door which led them to the kitchen. Their furniture was there, but not placed in any particular grouping. The living room was also filed with boxes and one of their mattresses was leaning up against a wall in the hallway.

  “Well, Sarah, what do you think?” Her husband asked her. “It’s cute, small, but I am glad they left some lights on.” She walked over to the refrigerator which was the owner of the house’s property along with the stove. “There is ice made and the inside of the refrigerator is clean. The stove is clean and looks in relatively good shape. It was summer and the house was hot inside. “Jim, turn on the air conditioner, its hot as blazes in here.”

  Jim took a quick look around and came back into the living room. “Looks like there is no central air, just a couple of window units.” He said. Riley and Suzanne had sat down at the dining room table when they first came into the house and they were still there. “Riley, help your father unpack the car. Jim, remember to spill out the water in the cooler.” Sarah instructed. She was very happy to see that there was no carpeting. The floors were hard wood and looked original to the house. She pushed the couches into the spots she wanted them to be and then picked up the box that was labeled “Bathroom.”

  She then set about putting up the shower curtain and put the toilet paper in place and shampoo and shower gel into the bathtub shampoo holder. She just left the rest of the stuff in the box and shoved it onto the floor of the hall closet outside the bathroom door.

  Jim and Riley came in with the rest of the suitcases and items from the car by then and they all stood there looking at their new home.

  “How are we ever going to get all of this stuff put away?” Riley asked. “It makes me tired just looking at it.”

  “Little by little it will all come together.” Sarah said. “Before we get too much more tired I think we should go to the grocery store and get some supplies.”

  “All of us?” Riley whined. “No, you can stay here and start unpacking if you want to.” Her father answered. “I’ll go.” Riley said, sounding unhappy.

  Jim looked over at Suzanne who was sitting there and had yet to venture an opinion of the new house. “What do you think about this place, pumpkin?”

  “I like the hotel house better.” She said.

  The house had two bedrooms on the main floor and one upstairs. There was also a full unfinished basement. Sarah was disappointed to see such a small porch in the front, and no porch off of the side door. No deck and no pool.

  Jim dropped Sarah and Riley off at the grocery store while he and Suzanne went to clean out the car and get gas. They had decided to sell Jim’s older model car that he drove to work before they moved. It wouldn’t have been worth filling two gas tanks on the long trip, nor did Jim want Sarah to have to drive one of the vehicles by herself or with the kids that far by herself. It just made more sense to come in the newer vehicle of the two and purchase one for Jim to get back and forth to work in after they got here.

  Sarah had intended to only purchase what she felt they would need for the night and perhaps the next day, but she got her second wind and she and Riley were able to do a full two shopping baskets full by the time Jim and Suzanne came back.

  Everything that needed to be in the freezer and refrigerator was put there, most everything else was left in the shopping bags for the night. Sarah found the box marked “Kitchen” and unloaded their coffee pot, toaster, blender, plates, bowls, silverware, pots and pans. She left the microwave in the box to worry about another day.

  The movers had not placed their beds where Sarah would want them, but at the moment she did not care. She put a sheet on the mattress in the larger of the two bedrooms and carried towels into the bathroom told Riley to take a shower and go to sleep. She was giving Suzanne a pass on bathing tonight. At five years old Suzanne was very bright and could bathe by herself, but tonight Sarah did not want to have to supervise, or to clean up water splashed onto the floor. Neither Riley, nor Suzanne complained. Both were worn out.

  Sarah and Jim worked throughout most of the night. Sarah washed out the cabinets and put shelf paper down before stocking them with their can foods. Jim carried the microwave and set it up in the kitchen and helped her hang up their clothes put their cleaning supplies and towels in the linen closet. They did not finish everything they would have liked to have gotten done, but by the time Riley and Suzanne woke up the next morning, the house looked considerably more like home. All of the windows had shades or blinds and the kitchen and dining room windows had lace curtains already up, so they didn’t have to fool with hanging sheets over the windows last night for privacy.

  Riley said that she wanted the bedroom that was upstairs, but her parents told her with no central air conditioner, they doubt it would be livable up there in this summer heat. Southgate, Michigan was not as hot as Hendersonville Tennessee, but it was still hot.

  Riley didn’t like how close the two main floor bedrooms were and she did not want to share a bedroom with Suzanne. She had grown up having her own room and she did not want to give that up. “Can I make a room in the basement for me? It would be cooler down there and I wouldn’t have to sleep with Suzanne.”

  “Riley, let’s just wait on that. We are not even fully unpacked yet and the mattresses are still on the floor. I haven’t even looked in the basement yet, bu
t I know it’s not finished.”

  “What does that mean?” Riley asked her mother, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “It means knock it off.” Jim told her. “We will get things figured out, just not all on the first day we are here.”

  Sarah gave the girls milk, toast, cereal and a banana for breakfast and then took out her list of things to do. “Let’s see what needs to be done.” She said, taking out two pens and handing Jim a piece of blank paper. “What is this for?” He asked. “That is for your jobs.” She then went down the list of things that needed to be accomplished.

  “Call to set up cable and internet service– I can do that. Find a car for Jim – you can do that, Jim. Grocery shopping – done, School enrollment – that can wait – Oh, Jim, did you go downstairs to see if the washer and dryer made it O.K. and if they plugged them in?” “Not yet.” He notice her looking at him and he added “But I am putting it on my list!” He smiled.

  “This is a big lot, Jim. We are going to need a lawn mower and things like that we didn’t ship here. And we should get a snow shovel, much as I hate thinking about it, especially in June. I put in a change of address, but I will check the mailbox here and also take a trip to the post office just to make sure, oh, and we have to change the addresses on our driver’s license.” “We might have to take a test to get a valid Michigan license.” Her husband added. “We also will need Michigan license plates.”

  “See now why I suggested taking more time to get things settled here before you go back to work?” “There is certainly a lot more to do than one would imagine.”

  “What can I do, mommy?” Suzanne asked. “You and Riley can go unpack your suitcases and put your clean clothes in your dresser drawers. Then, Riley, you can start taking apart the empty boxes so they lay flat.”

  “Why?”

  “Easier to throw out that way. Oh that is another thing, I have to check to see what day garbage pickup is and if it’s the same as the day they pick up grass cuttings and such. I saw two large bins outside, but we still need to get a garbage pail for the kitchen. Jim, this is not high on the list, but I would like you to measure all of the windows so I can eventually go and pick out window curtains. Can anyone think of anything I left out?”

  All three of her family members looked at her and said at the same time “NO.”

  “Good, Jim, maybe you should get the beds put together first so we won’t have to sleep on the mattresses on the floor again tonight. Then I can make up the beds properly.” Sarah looked around the living room as if she were looking for something. ‘That is odd. When we first pulled up I could have sworn I saw a puff of smoke coming out of the chimney and I remember thinking how nice that the house has a fireplace.”

  “No fireplace.” Jim said, “There wouldn’t be a fire lit in it anyway, not in June.” “Of course you are right. I was exhausted tired when we finally got here. I must have just imagined it.”

  Jim took Suzanne with him to purchase a car and take care of the other things Sarah had on the list for him to do. This way it would give Sarah more time to work without her youngest daughter underfoot.

  By the time the family sat down for dinner, they were eighty percent done with their list of things to do, and one hundred percent exhausted. Except for Suzanne, who kept asking if she could go outside and run around? Being that the lot was on the corner and that they had not met any of their neighbors or noticed if there were any large dogs around, both mom and dad told her no for today. That didn’t sit to well with Suzanne and she made it known.

  “Sarah, this chicken and rice dish is wonderful, where did you find the time to do everything you did today, plus make such a great meal?” Jim complimented his wife. “No problem, just threw everything into the crock pot this morning and let it cook on slow all day. I love that crock pot, such a time saver.”

  “Can we talk about the basement for my bedroom now, please?” Riley asked. Sarah cleared the table and said “Let’s check out what is down there. Jim, bring the suitcases down with you, we can store them there.” Sarah said, picking up a shopping bag full of laundry soaps and dryer sheets to take down with them.

  The basement looked larger than you would have imagined it to look from the outside of the house. It was not finished, just one big basement with cement floors. Jim was happy to see that the washer and dryer had arrived and had been set up without any scratches on them. The only thing there besides the furnace and hot water heater was some furniture which looked pretty nice, and a door against one of the basement walls.

  Sarah walked over and opened it. There was a narrow, long room with nothing in it. “I wonder why this is here.” Sarah said.

  Suzanne pushed her way around her mom and dad and looked into the room.

  “It’s a jail for bad little sisters.” Riley said. Suzanne grabbed her father’s leg and held on tight. “It is not, is it daddy?” She asked.

  “It’s an old fashion coal room.” “What is that?” Riley asked.

  “When this house was first built it ran on coal. The coal would be fed into a furnace that was built to accommodate it and that is how they would keep the house heated. See that window?” Jim said pointing to a window inside of the enclosed room. “That is where the truck would put a slide or sort of chute and they would just dump the coal into this room. The house has a modern furnace in it now so I guess they use it just for storage now.

  “Can I make this my bedroom, dad?” Riley asked again. “Well, it is cooler down here than it is upstairs. You will have to wait until I change the locks and make sure there are bolt locks on that side door first.”

  “And not until we get some curtains or something on these windows down here so no one can look in.” Sarah added.

  “But then can I?” Sarah and Jim looked at each other and shrugged. “I guess if you want to it would be O.K.” Riley started laughing and dancing around and Suzanne said “What do I get?” “You get to have your very own room again and it is right across from mom and dad’s room.” Suzanne started to laugh and dance around just like her sister did.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning Riley and Sarah were putting the broken down cardboard boxes into large garbage bags when the cable guy knocked on the front door. At first it startled them since they had yet to use that front door since the side door was so much more convenient to their cars.

  Riley kept looking at the very tall young man who was installing their cable TV and internet. She thought he was very cute.

  “Have you been a cable man for a long time?” Riley asked.

  “About ten years. Where are you folks from?”

  “Tennessee, why?”

  “I like your accent.” “I don’t have an accent, you do.” Riley smiled. “All set, Mrs. Gaunter.” He said, handing her the TV remotes and showing her how to log on and how to set up her email. “Seems like I am here a lot.” He said.

  “Here, in this house you mean, or in the neighborhood?” Sarah asked him. “No, I mean in this house. People come and go all the time. Don’t know why, it’s a decent little house, nice neighborhood. It never stays vacant for very long, but people don’t stay long either.” He asked Sarah if there was anything else he needed to explain to her about their services, gave her a list of the cable channels and remotes, smiled at Riley and took his leave.

  “One more item to check off our list!” Sarah said.

  Sarah and Riley had just finished bagging up the cardboard boxes when Sarah looked outside. “Oh look, Riley, people have begun putting their trash at the curb, so tomorrow must be trash day. I meant to call earlier to find out. It will be good to get all of these bags of boxes out of here. We certainly had enough of them.”

  They hauled all of the trash out to the curb. Sarah noticed an older woman in the window across the street. Sarah smiled and waved to her. The curtain covered the window again and the lady was gone. Maybe I shouldn’t have waved to her, this isn’t the south, and people are more reserved here.

  Sarah and Riley turned to
go back in the back door when they saw a man holding the screen door open as if he were about to walk into their house. “Excuse me!” Sarah shouted, running over to the man. Suzanne was in the house. “Sir, excuse me!” The man turned around. He was about sixty years old and had an odd look on his face. Sarah walked up to him and said “Is there something that you wanted?”

  “I’m Joe.” He said, obviously expecting her to know who he was. “Yes. Joe, why are you here?”

  “Just checking up on things. My granddaddy built this house.”

  “Oh, you are the owner then, would you like to come in and have a glass of ice tea?”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” Joe said, walking in ahead of them. “Stove and refrigerator to your liking? “ “Everything is just fine, thank you.” Sarah said, motioning to the dining room table and handing him a glass of ice tea.

  “Mom, I’m going to take some of my stuff downstairs. Can we go to the store today for the curtains?”

  “Yes, as soon as Mr. – I’m sorry, Joe, what is your last name?” “Witters, Joseph Witters. You’re not planning to make a bedroom out of the basement, are you?”

  Before either Sarah or Riley could answer, Suzanne ran into the room. “Hello, Mr. Whiskers, my name is Suzanne. Glad to meet you!” She said as she held out her hand for him to shake.

  Joe Witters looked at Riley instead of answering Suzanne. “Are you planning to make a room in the basement, young lady?”

  Sarah, feeling a stab of anger for Joe’s rude behavior towards Suzanne, said. “It’s Mr. Witters, Suzanne, go finish coloring.” Then she turned to Joe and said “Yes, Riley is going to have her room downstairs, is there any reason you would have a problem with that?” She asked him pointedly.

  “Oh no, no, no. Just that there are three bedrooms up here is all.”

  “We will be using the upstairs bedroom mostly for storage until the winter months. I imagine it gets extremely hot up there with no central air conditioning in the house.” Sarah said, wishing now she had not poured such a big glass of ice tea for Joe.