Дмитрий Леонтьев – Terrible (страница 3)

“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.”