The House of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #1

House: Chapter 10

Ten

January faded away and February passed as quickly. I met most of the neighbors in that time. Of the five houses in the cul-de-sac, only three others were occupied. One house, near the corner was owned by a young, married couple, both teachers and rarely home. A group of college-aged girls lived together in another house, but we hardly saw any of them either. The third house was owned by a divorced, older woman, Gloria Higman. She was a retired nurse, living off her divorce settlement. Her only child, Robert, had been killed in a car accident seven years ago, which had led to an unhappy end to her marriage of twenty-nine years.

I took an immediate liking to her. She was not bitter about her life, and was not affected by me. Whenever she had time away from all her numerous craft and gardening clubs, we found a few afternoons to share a pot of coffee. She was my only adult companion outside of the House. Some days, Gloria was a saving grace. Her strength gave me strength. Because after Mae moved in, the pranks started.

At first, they were subtle: one sock missing from each of my pairs; my car keys frozen overnight in a solid block of ice; the rim of my dinner glass laced with vinegar. I accepted it all with good humor and no retaliation. But then the night came when I just couldn't sit by and take it with any measure of maturity.

Ashley coerced me upstairs to help her with some Algebra homework. Later, I remembered from her class schedule that she wasn't taking Algebra. I went downstairs to bed that night frustrated. I was fairly good at math, but Ashley didn't want to listen to my methods, saying, "That's not how Mr. Lamb does it." As soon as I opened my apartment door, I became dumbstruck. My living quarters were not large, by any means, but somehow the girls - Mae and Melissa, especially - had managed to swathe the entire room in toilet paper.

A thousand giant spiders could not have woven a more complex web. It took exactly thirty-two rolls to repaper my apartment. I knew that because the empty tubes were stacked up on my bed into a pyramid. I heard muffled giggles from the other side of my closed door. I wanted to laugh until my sides split, and I wanted to snatch Mae and Melissa by their necks. It will take me all night to clean this up!

Instead, I shouted, "Go to bed! You have school tomorrow!"

Indeed, they did have school! I would have all day to strike back. I couldn't leave this prank alone. But I would have to do it in a way that won't have them scrambling to return the favor in a worse or destructive way. I didn't want to find blue dye in my shampoo.

The next morning, after the girls left for school, still infested with suppressed giggles, Mrs. Baker and I stood in the middle of my apartment, surveying the new decorations.

"They really out did themselves this time," Mrs. Baker said with her hands on her hips and a hint of a smile on her face. "And ruinin' perfectly good toilet paper, too."

"Oh, don't worry, Mrs. Baker," I replied, patting her on the shoulder, "it won't be wasted." She "harrumphed" and left me to gingerly take down the white streamers.

Four the next five hours, with the lively help of Gloria, I lovingly wove the mass of paper into two very thick, and very soft, quilts. Mrs. Baker may be stingy about a lot of things, but she was also picky about her toilet paper. She always bought the best. After Gloria and I finished the quilts, I stripped the comforters from Melissa's and Mae's beds. And I searched the house for all the extra blankets I could find, hiding every one of them in the very back of Mrs. Baker's pantry, a place few go without permission. I also put all the remaining unrolled paper in there.

When the girls arrived home from school, they had already forgotten about their prank. Until Mae and Melissa saw the beautifully wrapped presents sitting on their beds.