Weeping Willows

Chapter 2

Home Sweet Home

     Driving into her new town Elizabeth glanced around taking it all in. The homes were magnificent pieces of new architecture, with citrus trees in nearly every yard. She had seen several similar houses for sale when she had been looking. While stunning in their own way, they just weren’t for her. The house she had settled on was older, built sometime in the late 1800’s. It had been remodeled in the 1940’s, but nothing major had been done to it since. It was a rather large home, bigger than necessary, but a place with a story of its own that needed some TLC. She could relate. Feeling it was a match made in heaven she started the paperwork rolling. Elizabeth didn’t know if a house could be someone’s soul mate. If it was possible though she had found hers.

     Bought and paid for the property was all hers. She went from a quaint, quirky studio apartment to owning a 5-bedroom, 3 full baths house in Crystal Springs. She wasn’t even sure she had enough things to fill the place. The first thing she would do when she got there was unpack. Next, she would make a list of everything she would need that she didn’t before. Treating this move as more of an adventure, she found over the last week that it took to drive down, she was excitedly anticipating it. As she drove through the little town, she noted all the little locally owned shops on both sides of the main street. Crystal Springs had none of the big town supermarkets and department stores of her last residence, she was looking forward to rambling about. She could only imagine the trove of small hidden treasures each shop held as she watched them pass by her window. She made a mental note to make some time to come back into town and poke about the place.

     Coming to the end of town she turned onto the road that headed out towards the reservoir where she would find her new abode. As she turned off the A/C and rolled down her window she noted the faint smell of sulfur in the air. When she had investigated the place on the web, she found the town was built near a natural spring. It caused the slight sulfuric odor but found it didn’t overpower the smells of nature that was around her. The paved road turned to more of a wide dirt path the closer to her house she drove. Seeing the turn off for her drive her anticipation, as well as her anxiety peaked. She had conjured images of what her house would be like. And even though the website did provide a picture tour of the interior, she somehow found it lacking in detail. So, her imagination took over creating scene after scene of sunlit grandeur about the place. Pulling up to the house she experienced a pang of disappointment at the unkempt outer appearance. Shaking off her misgivings she told herself it just needed a little sprucing up to be the home she had pictured. With a renewed purpose she mounted up the steps to the beautiful stain glass door. Placing her key into the lock and taking a deep breath she finally opened the place up.

     A large crest fallen breath gusted out of her mouth stirring up the dust in the air. She figured when the agent said it hadn’t been lived in in a while that it would need some sprucing up, but this just looked abandoned. Glancing about she took in the dirty windows, the wallpaper bubbling and peeling from the walls, chipped paint, scuffed wood, and a thick layer of dust that covered the floor. The only thing in the place that looked usable were her meager stack of boxes sitting among her sparse furniture pieces in the grand Living-room. Looking at the floor she could clearly see the exact path the movers had taken to bring all her things in. Disheartened she moved among her things looking for the box of cleaning supplies. The first thing on her to do list was apparently going to be a good scrubbing that would no doubt take a month for her to complete alone.

     Armed with her supplies Elizabeth decided to work on the ground floor first. When she had walked about the place, she found a working kitchen, a large bedroom with an en-suite bathroom all on the first floor. She could make that all livable first and work her way up to the other floors later. After all it was just her that was living here and while she was sure the girls might find need to visit her it probably wouldn’t be soon. With a sense of purpose now that she had a plan, she grabbed her box of cleaning supplies and marched into the kitchen. Flipping the light switch she was pleased to find the electric had been turned on. Next, she tried the faucet and much to her delight water streamed out with an acceptable amount of pressure. This wasn’t going to be so bad and perhaps some mindless manual labor would allow her to just drift away from all unpleasant thoughts.

     Retrieving her bucket, cleaner, and a sponge she headed back to the sink to begin her work. Hefting the heavy bucket up onto the counter she heaved herself up beside it. She figured cleaning from top to bottom would be the smart way to go about it. Gripping the handle to the upper cabinets she flung them open with a flare only to come face to face with a massive spider hanging on a web. Screeching out in alarm Elizabeth jerked backwards forgetting she had been kneeling on the counter top in her haste to get away. Losing her balance her arms started to circle frantically as she tried to regain purchase. She could have reached out to grab a shelf but unwilling to re-encounter the creepy critter that had skittered deeper into the cabinet’s confines when she startled it, she instead toppled to the floor. In her graceless plummet off the counter she knocked into the bucket beside her pitching it to the floor as well. She lay there among the suds in a tangled heap as she slowly blinked up at the offending cupboard. A small head peaked out blinking its beady little eyes at her and twitching its whiskers. With an ear piercing scream she propelled herself backwards across the now muddy floor. Bringing herself up to stand she raced out of the house grabbing her keys and phone on her way out of the house.

     Those were the events that lead her to the local hardware store standing in the entrance completely soaked and covered in muck. The inhabitants inside blinked at her much the same way the mouse had before she left her home. She made quite the sight standing there disheveled and shell shocked not entirely sure how she got there. The clerk at the counter gave Elizabeth a curious once over before approaching her as if she was a startled animal that would bolt at the first sign of movement. In truth it was probably an apt comparison.

     “Hi hon, can I help you find anything?” Elizabeth turned her gaze to meet the eyes of the man who had addressed her. Swallowing back her panic she retold her harrowing tale of meeting the unwanted tenants that were inhabiting her home.

     By the end of the story many of the middle aged and elderly men who sat at the counter were trying desperately to hold in their mirth. The woman, to her credit, gave Elizabeth a sympathetic look even if her eyes held amusement in their depths. She introduced herself as Marge Baily proprietress of the fine establishment they were standing in. She introduced the men behind her as the local hardware peanut gallery effectively cutting off the snickers coming from them. Marge led her to the counter where she called someone up on the phone and asked that they come down to the store. By the time a young man in overalls walked in and up to the counter Elizabeth found herself less shaken up and more embarrassed by her actions.

     “This here is Tyson.” Marge introduced. “His daddy runs the pest control business here in town. You just tell him what you need, and we’ll get you all straightened out.” Shaking the kids hand Elizabeth again told her tale, with less theatrics then before. Once she was done Tyson agreed to look at her place. With a wave and a thank you to Marge Elizabeth followed the young man out the door.

     Elizabeth waited anxiously on her front lawn for Tyson to emerge from her house. Feeling slightly ridiculous over her morning actions she still couldn’t bring herself to go back inside. She was afraid the spiders and mice were laying in wait ready to attack once she did. When he finally came out, she breathed a sigh of relief that he appeared to be unscathed.

     “Well we could tent the place, but you’ll have to stay somewhere else for a couple days while we do it.”

     “I don’t care what you do as long as the place is still standing and I’m the only living thing inside it.” Chuckling Tyson handed her a printout of the service they would supply and gave her directions to a local bed and breakfast she could stay at while she waited. Signing the paperwork and handing over the keys Elizabeth got in her car and headed back into town. She was thankful she hadn’t unpacked her car yet so that she would have clothes and basic amenities for the next few days.

     Later that night Elizabeth was laying on a comfortably, if not slightly worn bed, freshly showered recounting her tale once again to her friend Lauren over the phone.

     “I can’t believe you didn’t think to have that house exterminated before you headed down there.”

     “Honestly, it wasn’t what was on my mind at the time.”

     “Clearly.” She could picture her friend rolling her eyes as if she could see her plain as day even though she was states away.

     “How are you doing?” Elizabeth let out a sigh not wanting to deal with her friend trying to shrink her head.

     “I’m fine.” The words coming out harsher than she had intended. She was becoming annoyed with that question. It was all that anyone asked her back home whenever she ran into someone she knew. That was half the reason she had left. She was tired of the well-meaning questions and the not so subtle poking into her general well-being. It always brought the pain up anew and she was tired of it. Tired of deflecting, tired of fake smiling to put the other person at ease, tired of fighting the memories that haunted her. She was just tired period.

     “I talked to Nikki after you left.” Lauren’s words jerked Elizabeth’s attention back to the conversation. Nicole was a tentative subject that none of them ever really knew how to broach.

     “How is she coping?”

     “Same as she was before. Not eating enough so she’s lost weight again. Barely talking to anyone. She’s not even coming out of her house now. If I didn’t have a spare key, I’m not sure I would have been able to see her.” Cringing at the mental image her words inspired Elizabeth sighed. Nicole had been having a tough time even before she left. Every time she had gone over to her friend’s house, she felt like she was just making things worse. If they hadn’t needed to discuss what should be done with David’s half of their fathers’ inheritance she probably would have stayed away. She felt like the mere sight of Elizabeth was causing Nicole emotional distress. Her brother and her were almost the spiting image of each other and she felt like every time she showed up on Nicole’s door, she was a stark visual reminder of the one person who would never walk through it again. Tears gathered in Elizabeth’s eyes as she tried to keep her breathing under control. It wouldn’t do her any good if Lauren could hear how much the news distressed her. Maybe moving here had been a bad idea after all. She should have stayed and tried to help Nicole. That’s what family is supposed to do.

     “You better not be giving yourself a guilt trip over there. Don’t worry about Nikki, we’ve decided to bombard her with affection. She’ll be so sick of us by the time we’re done she’ll pull right out of her funk. You’ll see.” Elizabeth chuckled at the thought wiping the tears from her cheeks.

     “You guys are amazing you know it?” 

     “Oh, please any more compliments and we’ll all be walking around with over inflated egos.” Elizabeth laughed aloud at her friend’s words. Which was Lauren’s intention.

     “I’ve got to go Lizzy. I have a full day of patients tomorrow. Vermin angst aside, it was good to hear from you.”

     “Yeah, get some sleep and I’ll talk to you later.” After hanging up Elizabeth lay back on her bed. Staring at the ceiling slowly sleep overcame her.

     True to his word with in two days Elizabeth was back home in a bug free house. Not only had Tyson and his dad killed everything but they had also sprayed a barrier around her home to keep future invaders out. They set up a schedule to come back out every few months to keep up the treatment so she could live peacefully in a bug free environment. She had spent her first day home doing the cleaning she was going to do when she had been so rudely chased out. The day after she spent setting things up around the first floor making it her own. Tonight, she was preparing her stuff for her big day out. After she put everything she would need together she would call it a night. She found it didn’t take much these days to just totally wipe her out.

     Loading her box into the car and locking it up she trudged up the front steps of her house. She would take a nice long soak and then head to bed for the night. She was feeling slightly apprehensive about tomorrow and figured a little pampering would help her relax. Later as she made her way to bed, she shivered feeling a slight cold breeze. Walking over to the window she closed the curtains hoping it would keep out the chill in the night air. She hadn’t opened the window much before her bath, just a half inch maybe. Apparently, it was enough for cool night breezes in her room though. Crawling under the covers she snuggled in drifting off wondering what the next day would bring her.