Every Boy Should Face His Demons, Charlie Boone! - 2. Chapter 2

The road wound through a wooded countryside bright with reds and yellows. A fair amount of stubborn green lingered among the trees - those growths which had either resisted the call of the coming winter thus far, or for which green was a yearlong color. This part of the state leaned heavily towards deciduous trees, but the conifers were also well-represented. The result was beautiful, any way you looked at it.

"Wow," Kippy said quietly, watching as the early morning sunshine played light games among the trees to the east. "It's certainly pretty here."

Adrian, up front next to Ricky, turned and smiled at him over the back of the seat. "It looks just like home, Kip."

Kippy looked surprised at that, and Charlie gave him a gentle squeeze with his arm. "He's right. It's just as pretty back where we live."

"It is?" Kip frowned, and then sighed. "Remind me to look more closely when we get back."

Charlie looked out the window, and nodded to himself. Much of the state had once been covered with the same old growth forest, and it was all glorious at this time of the year. "I don't think we're more than about forty miles from home," he told his boyfriend.

"I know. I was just..." Kip turned to gaze at Charlie. "I just feel...kind of...away from everything this holiday. I was wondering what everyone was doing. Max, and Frit and Pip. Pacha, Mike, Bobby, and Kontus."

"Ragal and Casper," Adrian added, with a sigh. "And Billy and Will."

Ricky grunted, and his eyes briefly met theirs in the rear view mirror. "Don't forget Murcha, Onglet, and Ilia."

Kippy shook his head. "Oh, I couldn't."

"And Nicholaas, Ronja, and Auggie," Charlie added. He sighed, and gave his boyfriend a squeeze. "What's up, Kip? Why the nostalgic moment?"

Kippy smiled at him. "I'm just remembering all our friends. It's a holiday, Charlie. Or, it will be soon. I always think about our friends at holiday times. I mean, I think about them a little extra, you know? And how lucky we are to have so many good ones."

"We are lucky," Adrian agreed. He smiled. "Lucky to have each other, too."

"That's got my vote," Ricky agreed, his grin plain in his voice. "I'd get lost without you guys." He turned to smile at his boyfriend. "Especially you."

Adrian positively glowed in response, and Kippy smiled happily, sighed, and pushed up even closer to Charlie. "I love love."

Charlie nodded, gave his boyfriend a kiss, and let his eyes resume contemplating the fall beauty around them. "It's a great place to be in love, isn't it?" he asked softly.

Kippy just nodded, closed his eyes, and gave a big, happy sigh.

Adrian looked at his watch, and then at his boyfriend. "I'll give you a big hug and a kiss when we get to your cousin's house. You said an hour to get there?"

Kippy's eyelids immediately bounced upwards again, and he laughed. "Yeah. Are we there yet?"

Ricky snorted, but gave Adrian a sweet smile before looking more closely at the road ahead. A large field had appeared to one side, and then a house accompanied by farm outbuildings. "We should be getting to the town before much longer. I've only been down this way a few times, but I remember that big barn there. Maybe five more minutes."

The woods along the country route continued to draw back from the shoulder as more fields came into view, and individual houses began to appear, set well back from the road. The driveways continued getting shorter as they drove along, until the houses were much closer to the road; and then they entered a small valley, and a town laid itself out ahead of them.

"Wow," Kippy said, laughing. He reached forward and patted Ricky's shoulder. "That's what I call service!"

Charlie surveyed the view, smiling. Wow was right. The entire valley was visible as they approached, and what he could see of it looked enchanting. This place had the look of a genuine rural town, surrounded mostly by undeveloped nature, and had a feel to it already noticeably different from the suburbs they lived in. Even though there were probably thousands of people living in Norwich, he could close one eye and imagine that they all knew each other, and looked out for each other. Small towns seemed to have a magical quality to them, a sense of community that was sometimes no longer apparent in the greater world today.

Charlie knew that some of that thinking was wishful, and that people everywhere had the same joys and the same problems, mostly. And small towns often were short on opportunity for those looking to be more than the life they had been given seemed to allow. The same atmosphere that made a small town comfortable and intimate could be suffocating under other circumstances. But it was a nice thought to imagine that some places might defy the rules, just a little, and be much more wonderful to call home.

Another town, much smaller than this one, came to mind then, causing Charlie's smile to broaden.

"What are you grinning about?" Kippy asked then, pushing against him. "I want some of that!"

Charlie laughed. "You got me feeling nostalgic, too. I was thinking of Twombly, and wondering how our friends there are doing."

Kippy's interest notched up another level. "Ooh. I'd love to see them all again." A look of determination came into his eyes. "We need to visit Twombly again before Christmas, Charlie."

"I'd be up for that," Ricky said. "What about you, Ad?"

"Oh, I'd love to see Kiley and Kiri again." Adrian's eyes widened, and he smiled. "Hey, maybe your uncle would like to go, too."

"Uncle Bob?" Ricky nodded. "I'll bet he would." Ricky's eyes met Charlie's in the rear view mirror. "Hey, maybe we would do another magic show for the town?"

Kippy took a deep breath at the suggestion, and then let it gush out enthusiastically. "That would be so cool!" He pushed excitedly against Charlie. "Wouldn't it?"

"It would," Charlie agreed. In fact, another holiday visit to Twombly sounded like a great idea. "Maybe we could invite Max and the kids to come along. I'll bet even Nicholaas and Ronja would enjoy it, if we could manage to pry them all away from Christmas preparations."

"Max can just finagle time a little," Ricky suggested. "Or Nicholaas could do it. Then they wouldn't get behind at the work shop at all."

"We could invite Ragal and Casper," Kippy said then. "They've never seen Christmas before. They'd love it!"

"And I'll bet Pacha and Kontus have never had a Christmas before, either," Ricky added. "And Mike and Bobby would have fun, too!"

Everyone started talking at once, and soon Charlie waved a hand for attention, and when that was ignored, he put two fingers into his mouth and blew out a fierce whistle.

"You don't have to be so loud, Charlie," Kip immediately admonished. "It's not like we couldn't hear you."

Charlie just laughed at that. "Okay, we have the germ of a good idea here. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have to do Halloween first, so I suggest we put Christmas away for now and concentrate on where we're going, before we miss our turn or something."

"Party pooper," Kip returned, but with a smile. "You won't forget, will you?" He tried to eye Charlie suspiciously, but it could scarcely hide behind the good cheer he was obviously feeling.

Charlie hooted out a laugh. "With you around to remind me? Never!"

His boyfriend smiled, and patted his arm. "You're learning, Charlie." He waved a hand at Ricky. "Onward, Richard!"

Ricky grinned and nodded, and both he and Adrian returned their full attention to the road ahead. Kippy sighed happily again, and rubbed his shoulder against Charlie. "You're so much fun."

Charlie laid his head back against the headrest and smiled, just happy to be right where he was at this particular moment in time.

They soon passed a large pond on their left, and then - of all things - a small airport; and then Route 12 meandered on into the central part of town, and sort of became the main drag. According to the GPS in the dash of the SUV, they had to make a right turn at a traffic light near the center of town, and as they neared, Ricky slowed down to watch for it. The traffic was light, anyway, and it was easy for him to take his time.

He suddenly made a decisive sound, and nodded. "That's it ahead. We want to go right at that light coming up, and head to the western side."

Kippy scratched an ear, and looked out the window in that direction. "Won't that just take us back into the woods?"

"Almost," Ricky agreed. "My mom said the house is on a pretty, winding street with a few other houses. But the properties are pretty big, and the houses aren't close together. My cousin has a little over nine acres around her place, mostly wooded."

"Wow." Kippy looked impressed. "That does not sound like a cheap dump to me."

Ricky laughed. "No, it wasn't. My dad didn't tell me what she paid for it, but I could tell from the way he acted it was a nice chunk of change."

Kippy rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I can't wait to see it."

"You'll be surprised," Ricky told him.

Charlie looked into the rear view mirror, and could see Ricky smiling. "I thought you never saw the place, Rick?"

The other boy laughed. "I haven't been there in person. But I've heard all about it, and seen a few pictures of the inside. My mom loved it when she saw it."

Kippy made a disappointed sound. "Your mom loved it? Well...so much for a cult having lived in the place."

Everyone laughed.

Ricky shook his head. "No cults, and no murders, Kip. But you'll like the house, anyway."

They reached the light and turned, and very quickly it did indeed look as if they were heading back out of town. But Ricky was watching the left side of the road, and soon a side road presented itself. They slowed, and Ricky turned into it.

A narrow blacktop lane lay before them, winding away into the woods. It was just wide enough for two cars to pass, and Ricky drove along slowly, slowing down even more as they reached the many blind curves, and then speeding up slightly again on the straightaways. Forest towered all around them, sparkling red and gold in the morning sun. The road began to climb, though the grade was a gentle one.

Suddenly, the woods to one side swept back from the road, and a house could be seen sitting at the end of a long driveway. Charlie squinted at the place, immediately enchanted by the old-fashioned design, which was in the Queen Anne family, he was pretty certain. A great turret to one side of the home towered three stories above a covered wraparound porch, which continued across the front of the house and then down the other side. A steep, front-facing gabled roof held a line of cathedral-style windows, while dormers on the side opposite the turret ran in a line to the back of the house. The sense of age was immediate, but so was the sense that the house had for a long time been lovingly cared for. It was painted in tans and light greens, and looked both neat and charming.

"What a pretty place!" Kippy said in surprise. "Is this the house?"

"Uh uh," Ricky said, laughing. "But it's a beauty, isn't it?"

"Wow," Adrian said, shaking his head as they drove past. "If your cousin's place is anything like that house, I think this is going to be a great four days!"

"I'm not telling," Ricky returned, laughing. "It's going to be a surprise."

They continued on the road, which was still moving upwards, and passed another house, totally different from the first. Charlie decided this one was some kind of Gothic revival. It was also sitting well back from the road, and looked very well maintained. Charlie frowned, and then shook his head.

"These are old houses, but they're in really great shape. And they're big. Unless I'm totally wrong, these places would probably sell for close to a million bucks apiece today, Rick. And that's probably conservative. Your cousin didn't spend all her money on this house of hers, did she?"

Ricky laughed. "No. My dad said she got a hell of a deal on it. It sat for almost two years on the market with no buyers."

Kippy perked up at that. "Something wrong with it?"

Ricky sighed. "No, Kip. No one was murdered there, if that's what you're thinking. There aren't any local legends about the place being haunted, either. My dad said it was probably a mixture of design and location that kept it from selling for so long. But he also said the place is beautiful, and my mom just thought it was the nicest house she'd ever seen."

Charlie gave Kip another squeeze. "Besides, if it was just haunted, we already know about stuff like that, with Billy and Will. It would probably mean just a new friend or two, right?"

Kippy smiled at that. "I wouldn't mind!"

Ricky examined the GPS more closely, and slowed down. In a moment another driveway appeared, but this one was just in a slit among the trees. There was no lawn, and there was no sign of the house. But a new mailbox was there by the drive, with the number '1509' visible on the side in white letters.

"This is it," Ricky said, turning in.

Everyone sat forward expectantly as the SUV cruised up the narrow, leaf-covered drive. Here was another gentle grade, and Charlie was willing to bet that it was just enough of a hill to make the climb tough in the snow in anything but an SUV. That, and the setback from the road, indicated that the house was probably located more towards the center of its lot than the front. That probably meant the house was totally surrounded by trees, and would feel pretty isolated back here in the woods.

But then the driveway took a sudden turn to the left, and then a lawn did present itself, wide and strewn with colorful leaves, and stretching up a gentle incline to the house, which apparently sat atop the hill itself. Virgin forest surrounded the sides and rear of the place, but a totally unexpected gap in the trees in front of the house gave a stunning view out over the treetops below of the entire valley, and the town of Norwich, shining like a jewel in the late morning sun.

Stunning as the view was, it was the house itself which took Charlie's breath away. Large, three stories in height, with a cupola squarely atop the center, and a wide covered porch - a veranda - surrounding the first floor below, the house was painted white with dark red trim, and dominated the open space among the trees. A narrower balcony above the veranda, supported on columns from below, circled the place at the second floor, a smaller, slanted roof shielding it from the elements. There was a lot to see, even at first glance, and Charlie's eyes darted everywhere, trying to take it all in.

"It's...it's an octagon house!" he said after a few moments, shaking his head slowly in wonder.

"Wow," Kippy breathed, his eyes trying to move everywhere at once, just as Charlie's had done. "This place is amazing!"

The driveway turned and gave them a side view of the house. Wide, multi-paned double doors gave egress onto the veranda and the upper porch from several of the sides they could see. The windows were tall and broad, with ornate molding about them, and the roof lines were adorned with what looked like carved trim.

But the most magnificent feature was the cupola atop the house, with windows all the way around, and a marvelously ornate copper finial projecting upwards from the peak of its domed roof.

Ricky pulled the SUV to a stop in the drive so that they could all get a good look, and gave an appreciative whistle. "Man! Even having heard about it, I wasn't ready for this!"

Adrian gave a small laugh. "Awesome! This is going to be such a fun four days!"

Kippy turned to Charlie. "An octagon house, you called it? What do you know about it?"

Ricky immediately turned in his seat and grinned at Charlie. "Yeah! Why am I not surprised you know what this is, Britannica Brain?"

Charlie made a face at his friend, but then gazed anew at the wonderful house. "Um...well, as I remember, the design was popular in the mid eighteen-hundreds. With all the windows and doors its an extremely open and airy design, and makes maximum use of interior space. An octagon can enclose twenty-percent more space than a square of the same perimeter, so the living area is greater than a normal house." He frowned. "There was a guy named Fowler, I think, who really pushed the design around the time of the civil war, but it never really took off the way he'd hoped it would." Charlie nodded. "These types of houses are fairly rare today. I have to say I'm amazed to see this one. It was about the last thing I expected to find here!"

Ricky returned his gaze to the house, and smiled as if he owned it himself. "It is utterly cool, I have to admit. How about we drive on up and get a better look?"

They continued up the drive, which soon split in two, with one drive curving off to the front of the house, and another heading around to the back. They could see then that there was a wing extending off the rear of the house, one floor only, that included a trio of garage doors among the other doors and windows there. Ricky paused, shaking his head. "This place is pretty big."

Charlie nodded. "Seriously. My dad's house is about 2700 square feet. This place is easily four times the size of that."

Rick's jaw dropped. "It's almost a mansion, isn't it?"

"Well...it'll do until one comes along."

Ricky frowned at that. "Something doesn't seem right. I don't see how my cousin could have gotten a place like this, even if she spent all of her inheritance."

Charlie smiled. "I won't be the one to ask her."

"We're guests," Kippy immediately spoke up. "It would be rude to ask, no matter how much we're dying to know!"

Everyone laughed at that, and Ricky just gave a short sigh. "I'm sure she wonders why we're just sitting here. Let's go on up."

He chose the left hand drive, and soon pulled up before the wide wooden staircase leading up to the veranda. Mulched flowerbeds ran to either side of the staircase, below large double doors that served as the main entryway. Even as they were getting out of the SUV, the right hand door opened and a dog came charging out to stop at the head of the stairs. She gave two loud barks, wagged her tail fiercely, and gazed down at them with an amusing mixture of suspicion and pure delight.

And then Ricky bent down and whistled, and the dog spotted him and bounded down the steps, making joyful sounds as she almost leaped into Ricky's arms.

"Hi, sweetie!" Ricky cooed, squatting and circling an arm around the dog, while rubbing her vigorously with his other hand. "Hi, honey! How's that doggie doing?"

For her part, the dog tried to apply her tongue to hand and face at the same time, and Charlie grinned as she managed to get good licks in on both while Ricky squeezed his eyes closed and laughed.

Adrian sighed, and smiled broadly at Kippy. "Been there, done that."

Kippy grinned at Charlie, and just nodded.

A woman came out of the house then, and immediately broke into a smile at the sight below. "Be careful, Rick. She was just licking her butt a few minutes ago."

Ricky gave out a groan and rose to his feet, one hand still on the happy dog's head. "Oh, god, tell me you're kidding."

"Not really." The woman, who was in her late twenties, with long, dark hair and the pleasant features that seemed a given in Ricky's family, laughed and then came down the steps, her smile now fixed upon the boys. "Hi. I'm Anne Beecher, Rick's cousin. Call me Annie."

Introductions were made all around, while the Golden Retriever circulated among the boys, making friends.

"This is Moped," Annie continued, as the dog stopped at Kippy, and decided he was the most interesting thing she had ever seen, at least in the last five minutes.

Kippy bent and petted the dog, who immediately rubbed up against him and looked happy.

Annie looked amused. "Wow. She likes you."

Ricky laughed at that. "She likes everyone, doesn't she?"

"Mostly." Charlie could see the humor in the woman's eyes, and immediately liked her himself. Not that he would have expected much else from a member of Ricky's family.

"Why don't you guys come on in?"

She turned and started back up the steps. Moped, not to be beaten inside, gave a little happy yelp and raced past her, and then turned and waited in the doorway, her face set in a grin and her tail wagging furiously.

Welcome to my house!

"What about our bags?" Adrian asked. They'd each brought along a gym bag with a couple of changes of clothing inside.

Ricky waved a hand at the SUV. "We'll come back and get 'em later."

They followed Annie inside, into a sort of vestibule with two arched doorways leading to each side of the house, and Charlie let his eyes do a quick inspection. The ceilings of the rooms were lofty, a foot or more higher up than in modern homes, which gave the rooms a much greater sense of space. The floors were a light hardwood with a fierce shine, and the sun made the floor of the room to their left positively glow with life. Charlie shook his head at the quality of everything he saw, still amazed that someone could get a house like this at anything like a reasonable price.

"You place is beautiful," he said, smiling at Annie. "And so intriguing. There aren't many octagon houses left in these parts anymore."

A new interest shone now in Annie's eyes. "Oh, I know. I was floored when the real estate agent brought me up here. I could never have imagined owning a place like this."

Ricky turned and grinned toothily at her. "We were trying to guess what it cost when we saw it."

They followed Annie into the large right hand room, which was beautifully furnished as a living room. The furniture looked new, and expensive, though was not quite enough to fill the room. The large windows gave a stunning view of the lawn and the valley beyond, where Norwich sprawled in the sun, the sunlight winking here and there off the windows of a hundred homes and businesses.

"The view is incredible," Kippy said, turning to examine the room. "Oh! Look at that!"

Charlie and the others turned, and through another archway they saw a circular grand staircase, broad enough for four people to walk abreast, which occupied the exact center of the house, and which rose within a framework of ornate columns. Kippy tossed Charlie an enchanted look, and then went through the archway to the staircase and craned his neck to look upwards. "Oh, Charlie! You can see all the way up to the dome at the top!"

Charlie had to go and see for himself, and gasped at the sunlight streaming into the windows of the cupola, four floors above."Man, that is just stunning."

Rick and Adrian looked, too, and shook their heads at the golden spill of sunshine far above them.

"Wow," Ricky said to Annie, as they came back into the living room. "You got a hell of a place here, cousin." He licked his lips, flashed a smile at Charlie, and then leaned conspiratorially toward Annie. "I promised my mom I wouldn't ask you about the money...but...how the heck could you get a place like this?"

Annie smiled as Moped rubbed up against her, and looked down at the dog a moment before patting her affectionately. "Moped knows, don't ya, honey?" She smiled at Ricky then. "I just got lucky, somehow."

Ricky strained not to say anything more, and it showed. Annie laughed, and reached out and patted his shoulder. "How about coming into the kitchen and having some cocoa? We can sit at the table and I'll tell you the story." She looked up at a clock on the wall, and nodded to herself. "I don't need to get going for a couple of hours yet, so there's time. Come on."

When Moped saw they were heading for the kitchen, she started leaping and bounding excitedly, and Annie looked back at them. "She knows that this is where the food is kept."

They went through the vast center of the house, with its wonderful staircase, and into another room. The first thing that caught Charlie's eye was an ornate grand piano standing in the center of the room, followed by a huge wall of bookcases that occupied the outer wall to either side of a fireplace large enough to walk into. Most of the bookcases were empty, as was the rest of the room. Annie had apparently not had time to furnish it yet. Charlie, always short on space to store his own books, loved the room immediately, and said so.

"Oh, I know," Annie said, nodding. "I can buy books for the rest of my life, and probably not fill up these shelves."

"I didn't know you played," Ricky said, indicating the piano.

"I don't. It came with the house."

"Wow," Kippy said, walking over to the instrument and depressing a couple of the keys. A pair of pure, clean notes drifted throughout the room. "I like this place more and more with each step!"

They went through the room and into a hallway, and Charlie realized that they were entering the wing at the back of the house they had seen from outside. They passed through a dining room with large windows to either side, and into the nicest kitchen Charlie thought he had ever seen.

Adrian gasped. "You could cook for an army here!"

Annie just nodded."It looks great, doesn't it? But it's actually a pain in the butt, because everything is so far apart. Fixing meals is my chief exercise each day." She smiled to let them know she was kidding, but Charlie could see where a person could get a workout if they had to prepare a large meal for a lot of people.

There was a nice oak table before a wide window to one side, with eight chairs around it, and Annie told them to sit while she put on the hot water for the cocoa. "I have tea and coffee, if anyone would rather have that."

But cocoa sounded good to the boys, the perfect accompaniment to a chill autumn day. Annie nodded, and took a seat at the table with them while the water heated. "So, about the house--"

Ricky quickly held up a hand. "You don't have to tell us. I was being rude, and I'm sorry."

The woman smiled. "You're just like your dad. But I really am not bashful about this. I just had some nice things happen to me. I don't mind talking about them."

Ricky looked nervous, and looked at the others a moment before nodding. "Uh...just as long as you never mention to my mom that I asked."

Annie's eyes danced with silent laughter. "I promise." She looked around at the kitchen then, and sighed. "Well, you know about my grandparents leaving me the money, right?"

"Just that they did," Ricky said, trying not to smile.

"Oh. Well, after all the taxes and legal fees were paid, it came to just under a million dollars."

Ricky whistled in appreciation, and Annie nodded. "I know. I thought I was going to pass out when the lawyers told me. I was living in that small apartment in the city, and had absolutely no idea what to do with that kind of cash. I like my job at the bakery, and my friends, and I just didn't want to give up the life I had."

Kippy looked around the vast kitchen. "And yet, here you are."

"Yep." Annie smiled. "After it sank in that I actually had money, I wondered what to do with it. I gave some to the animal shelter where I got Moped, and some more to the children's hospital in town. But that didn't even put a tiny dent in it, really. So I got to thinking about it, and finally realized that the one thing I was sort of unhappy with in my life was my tiny apartment. I began to think about how nice it would be to have a house."

Charlie smiled at her. "I'd say you fixed that problem, huh?"

"Yeah. It was...it's a strange story."

"We have time," Kippy said, sweetly.

Annie glanced over at the teapot, and nodded. "Well, I set a limit on distance. I didn't want to be more than a half-hour from the bakery, because I have to drive that every day. Living in my apartment, it took me about that long each day, because of the traffic, and that was pretty much the limit of my patience. So I figured if I looked for a house in the other direction from the bakery, out in the country, I might find something I'd like, and even get a nicer drive out of it."

"It took us about an hour to get here," Ricky acknowledged.

"I know. It takes me about twenty-five minutes to get to work from here." She laughed. "But I haven't been here for a winter yet, either."

"The driveway looks like it might be a problem in the snow," Charlie agreed.

Annie shrugged. "I have an SUV, like most people around here. I guess we'll see."

Kippy looked around the sunny kitchen, and smiled. "I love the way this place feels."

Adrian, seated across from him, laughed. "I was just about to say that very thing."

Charlie smiled. He'd been feeling much the same. The house had a comfortable presence to it, as if many happy people had lived here over the years. And if he really looked, he could see that the place was old, but had been nicely updated over the years, and extremely well-kept. The kinds of hardwood floors he'd seen, the milled crown mouldings in the rooms, wainscoting on the walls, plaster ceilings - these were the hallmarks of a bygone era in home building. You didn't see this sort of craftsmanship in most modern houses.

"Any idea how old the house is?" he asked. "Just by the way things were done, I was guessing it's at least a hundred years old."

Annie looked pleased with his estimate. "That's very close. The house was completed in 1900, actually."

"Wow." Adrian looked about the kitchen again, and shook his head, plainly amazed. "I'd have never guessed."

"The same family owned it all those years," Annie continued, looking a little amazed, herself. "The Ravishaws. Rebecca Ravishaw, the woman I bought the house from, is the granddaughter of the man who built it in the first place. She's almost ninety now."

"What happened to her?" Kippy asked.

"She moved into a retirement place in town. She refused to do that until the house was sold, so she was delighted to have me come along."

Ricky shook his head. "It must have taken every penny you had to get this house."

Annie laughed. "Since it's you, I'll tell you. I paid seven-hundred thousand for it. I still have over two hundred thousand in the bank."

Charlie had to sit on the amazement he felt at hearing that. "Wow. You got a heck of a deal."

Annie frowned at that. "Three years ago, when the house was first put on the market, the asking price was one-point-three million."

That pronouncement was greeted with total silence as all the boys digested it. Charlie could see the same disbelief in the other boy's faces as he was feeling himself. But he wanted to tread lightly here, being aware that Annie was not his family, and this was not really his business. Fortunately, Ricky was of a different mind.

"What the hell happened? Why did it eventually sell so cheaply?"

Annie looked around the kitchen herself, and then got up to go to the teakettle. "Anyone want milk in their cocoa?"

"I'll take a little," Charlie said.

"Me, too," Kippy agreed, smiling for a moment at Charlie.

Ricky sat back in his chair, looking momentarily annoyed at the interruption; but then managed a smile. "Adrian and I like milk, too."

"Me, too." Annie got five mugs from a cabinet, spooned cocoa powder into each one, added the hot water, and then got milk from the refrigerator and swirled a little into each cup. "Come and get it. Spoons in the drawer there."

The boys got up and each retrieved a steaming cup and a spoon. Charlie looked down into his mug, and smiled at the tiny marshmallows floating there. Ah, the wonders of modern food chemistry!

Annie took her mug back to the table and sat down. Ricky was right behind her. "So, anyway--"

Annie laughed, but waited until everyone had a seat again before continuing.

"When I started house hunting, Kori Campbell, at the bakery, put me in touch with a real estate person she knew. Naomi Witt. She has properties all over this area. I called her and we talked, and I gave her an idea of what I was looking for."

Charlie smiled, and looked around the kitchen again. "Certainly not this."

"No. I'd looked online at properties out this way, and realized that nothing that I liked was really going to be dirt cheap. But even so, there are some very good deals to be had for far less than I spent on this place. I kind of set my cap at five-hundred thousand, figuring that would still give me a nice nest egg for my old age." Annie gave a little shrug. "And then one Saturday, Naomi and I got together and she drove me around to some of the properties she was representing."

"I'll bet that was fun," Kippy said. He smiled a little dreamily at Charlie, as if to say, someday that will be us!

Charlie returned the smile, the idea of house hunting with Kippy someday not at all unpleasant to consider.

"It was." Annie contemplated the beamed ceiling a moment, as if remembering. "There are some really nice houses out this way."

"A few right on this road," Charlie agreed. "We saw them coming in."

Annie nodded. "Yeah. Well, that first Saturday turned into several Saturdays. I saw some great houses, but none of them just screamed buy me!"

"You wanted the right house to scream at you?" Kippy asked, trying not to smile.

Annie's eyes held the lights of laughter. "Sure. I really felt I would know when I saw the right house."

"So how did you wind up here?" Ricky asked.

"Well...In the conversations I had with Naomi as we drove around, I probably let it slip a little that I had inherited more money than my target price." Annie laughed. "No, I know I let it slip. After a month of Saturdays of her driving me around to houses I didn't buy, she was probably getting a little desperate. So one Saturday she asked me if I'd mind taking a look at a place that was above my stated budget, just because we were going right by it and she thought it might interest me. I figured it couldn't hurt, since I had already grown quite good at saying 'no' to other properties. That turned out to be this place."

"Wow," Charlie said. "That's kind of nervy of her, to bring you to a place that was selling for twice your budget."

"Hmm. Well, it might not have been as nervy as you think. On the way here she described the house, and made it sound really nice. And then she said she was the second agent to have it, that the first one had given up after a year. Naomi was more persistent, and had been trying to sell it for two years. She said that the owner had come way down in price since the house was first listed. I asked what was wrong with it, and she gave me the oddest look."

Adrian leaned forward on the table. "What was odd about it?'

Annie considered that, and then shrugged. "Even now, I can't say. After telling me what a wonderful place this was, it seemed really weird what she told me next. She said she had showed the house to over sixty people in two year's time, all of whom had stood outside and said how much they loved the property, and all of whom had said, a half-hour later after going through the house, that they were either not interested, or that they'd think about it and get back to her. And no one ever did."

Kippy turned to stare at Charlie, as if asking what he thought about that.

"That's...strange," Charlie said. He looked around the kitchen again, and frowned. "What's not to like?"

"Beats me." Annie sat back in her chair. "Anyway, when I first saw this place, I fell in love with it. But I also was sure I couldn't afford it."

Ricky pursed his lips, and looked around the kitchen again. "What were they asking then?"

"The price at that point was still one million. I just laughed when I heard that, and told Naomi it was way beyond my budget."

"But you looked the place over, anyway?" Kippy asked.

"Uh huh. I figured it certainly couldn't hurt to look. And after we'd been everywhere and seen everything, and were standing outside in the drive again, Naomi asked me what I thought of the house. I told her it was just gorgeous, and that I loved it. But also that I couldn't afford it."

Charlie nodded. "How'd she take that?"

Annie laughed. "She smiled, and looked happy. And then she drove me to another place to look at a few miles from here, and never mentioned this house again."

Kippy arched an eyebrow at Charlie, and Charlie just nodded, agreeing silently that it was a very odd story so far. "So how'd you wind up here?'

Moped came over and sat by Annie, watching her expectantly, as if she found it hard to believe that all these humans at the table were only drinking, and not eating anything. Annie smiled at the dog, and laid a hand atop her head.

"On the Thursday after Naomi brought me here, she called me at the bakery. She said that Rebecca Ravishaw, the owner of this house, wanted to meet me. She said the woman seemed certain we could arrive at some sort of deal for the house. I was stunned, because I knew how much the price had been dropped already, and I also knew I couldn't afford much more than what I had already budgeted. But Naomi was very insistent, and she said we could just do it on Saturday in between looking at a couple of other places."

Ricky grinned. "Obviously, you did it."

"Sure. I was actually a little thrilled at the idea of seeing this place again. And I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to Mrs. Ravishaw. I mean, like I already said, I know how to say 'no."

"You met her here?" Charlie asked.

"Uh huh. She was in a wheel chair when I got here, sitting on the veranda with a caretaker. Naomi and I got out of the car, and Mrs. Ravishaw stood to meet us. I got the impression then that the wheelchair was just for traveling, and that she could still get around on her own."

"Oh, what was she like?" Kippy asked, closing his eyes.

Annie smiled. "Well...I think she must have been beautiful in her youth, because she still had a lot of it with her. She had the greenest eyes I've ever seen, and they were just so sharp and alert. And she smiled a lot, and seemed to find humor in everything we talked about." Annie nodded. "I really appreciate humor. It shows a good spirit."

Kippy smiled, and opened his eyes. "I like her already."

"So did I. She took me around the house, and showed me everything." Annie laughed. "She said she was moving out the things she wanted, and her family was taking some more. But that most of the furnishings would come with the house." Annie shook her head as if in amazement still. "A lot of the furniture is antique, and probably valuable. And she was very careful to point out that the piano came with the house, too, as she had no place to put it now in her new living quarters. I don't play, but I've sure considered learning now."

"Has a nice sound," Adrian agreed.

Annie nodded. "Well, she showed me everything that Naomi had showed me, but somehow it was just a much better tour of the place. There's a lot of family history here, and I learned a lot of it during that tour. By the time we were done, I loved the house even more than I already had. And I could see how much Becca loved it, too."

Annie patted the tabletop. "We wound up sitting right here after the tour. Becca said that she knew the market value of the property, but that she cared less about that than finding an owner that would love the place and take care of it. She said she was already set for the rest of her life, and that all she really needed to get out of the house was enough to leave in the estate to pay for the college educations of her three great-grandchildren." Annie gave a little shake of her head, as if she still couldn't believe what had come next. "And then she asked me what I thought of seven hundred thousand."

Ricky whistled. "That's a hell of a drop!"

"I'll say. I probably whistled just like you did." Annie leaned forward on the table to look at them. "In that second, I realized I had suddenly gone from dreaming about a house like this into a position where I could actually afford the house and still have some savings."

Charlie sat back and looked around the kitchen again, and out the window at the property beyond. Land in this area was not very expensive. There was a lot of it, and the demand not high, as it was so rural. The acreage would be a small part of the value of a place like this, less than ten percent, he figured. But the size of the house alone --

"Do you know how many square feet this house is?" he asked then.

"Sure. It's ten thousand four-hundred square feet."

Charlie nodded. Wow. And that was habitable square feet, and didn't include places like the cellar, garage, outbuildings, and such. Charlie did a little mental math, figured out the cost per square foot, and compared it to the prices of homes back where they lived. He laughed then. "Annie, I think you stole this place."

She gave a little pout at that. "Oh, don't say that. I'd hate to think I cheated that poor old woman."

Ricky grunted. "She's the one that suggested the price."

"But I think she was a little desperate, too." Annie looked around the kitchen again. "I want to be happy here, not to think I ripped someone off."

Charlie was immediately contrite. "I'm sorry, Annie. I didn't mean that literally. I just meant you got a very good price on the place." He looked around and smiled. "I think you'll be very happy here."

"I would be," Kippy said. "I feel it."

"Me, too," Adrian agreed. "This place is just cool beyond words, Annie."

The woman smiled at that, and relaxed. "Moped loves it, too."

The dog, hearing her name, barked and gave a suggestive glance towards one of the cabinets. Annie sighed, and patted her head. "It's not time for dinner, honey." She looked over at Rick. "Let me show you where her food is, and tell you what she gets. As far as you guys go, eat whatever you want. I went to the store yesterday to stock up for four hungry guys, and then I remembered Ricky was coming, and stocked up for six."

Adrian hooted at that, and covered his mouth with a hand, and Ricky rolled his eyes and sighed. "Sure, sure. Make fun of the growing boy." Ricky looked like he had a thought then. "Oh, hey, you have candy for the trick or treaters?"

Annie laughed. "There is some in that cabinet by the fridge. But I really doubt anyone is going to walk all the way out here to trick or treat."

"The other houses on this road don't have kids?" Adrian asked.

"If they do, I haven't seen them." Annie smiled. "But I bought a few things, just in case. If they show, feel free to hand the stuff out."

Charlie and Kippy laughed, and Kippy slid his chair a little closer. "This is going to be fun!"

Charlie took in the enthusiasm in his boyfriend's eyes, and gave a little internal sigh. "Yes, it is."

They got up, and everyone got a quick lesson in what Moped ate, and when. After that, Annie waved a hand at the ceiling and smiled. "Come on upstairs, and I'll show you around. I'm just going to close the door to my bedroom, and expect you guys to respect my privacy there. All the other rooms are open. Like I said, Becca took some of the furniture out of the house. Most of it is old, but still looks great. So the bedrooms all have beds in them. I laid out some clean linens on the table in the central area by the stairs, and you guys can just choose your own rooms and make the beds up, if you don't mind.

"Yeah?" Ricky looked impressed. "How many bedrooms are there?"

"Six," Annie returned. "Two on the second floor and four on the third. Mine's on the second, so that only leaves one open there."

"I thought there might be more."

"You haven't seen them," Annie countered. "They're big!" She laughed. "And there are three or four empty rooms that could be used for bedrooms, if I suddenly needed more."

"Let's go!" Ricky said, winking at Adrian.

"And after that, I'd better get going," Annie continued. "You have my number, Rick. Just call me if any problems come up, okay?"

"Sure. But I can't imagine what might come up that we couldn't handle. Right, Charlie?"

Charlie smiled and nodded, unable to imagine any problems they couldn't handle, either. This was going to be a fun weekend!

He and Kippy joined the others as Annie led them up the circular stairs to the second floor. Besides two bedrooms, there was an office, with what looked like an ancient roll-top desk, a sitting room of some kind, and three other rooms that were empty. Ricky took immediate notice of the empty rooms and commented on them.

"I think Becca's family took that furniture out before I even toured the house," Annie explained. "I don't know what the rooms were originally used for. I can use them for anything I want, I guess. The bedrooms still have furniture in them, though one or two things were taken from each one. I was going to consolidate and see what I could come up with, but haven't gotten around to that yet. I already see I could spend a fortune just furnishing this place, and I don't want to do that. Not all at once, anyway." She laughed. "I've got years to worry about that."

"You already bought some stuff, though, right?"

"Yeah. That furniture you saw down in the living room is new. My stuff from the apartment would have gotten lost in a room that size. My own bedroom set is new, too. Everything else came with the house."

Charlie shook his head in wonder. "You may have some real antiques here."

"I know. Did you get a look at that roll-top desk? It's immaculate, and probably as old as the house." Annie smiled. "I won't be getting rid of most of what was left here, I already know."

They looked around, and Ricky said he liked the bedroom on the second floor, and asked Charlie and Kip if they would mind if he took that room for himself and Adrian. Charlie could see that his friend was in love with the exterior porch, which might be kind of romantic on a starlit night - something the third floor rooms didn't have. Charlie said they didn't mind at all, and he and Kip walked up to the next floor, and found a bedroom they liked that had a beautiful view, even if no exterior porch.

There was a different kind of perk here. In the central area they found a smaller circular staircase the wound up into the cupola, and deposited them on a balcony that circled the interior. They walked around it, taking in the stunning view through the multi-paned windows, and Kippy sighed and pulled Charlie close. "I think I'm in heaven."

Charlie kissed him, and smiled. "If you think that now, you'll really be happy tonight."

Kippy almost giggled, and gave a little sigh. "Oh, Charlie, you say the most romantic things."

Charlie pulled his boyfriend closer, and they stood silently together and gazed out at the stunning view.