Story Jots # 11 (b) – Red Door, Blue Cadillac, And A Murder

Here’s where this story began…CLICK HERE!

Friday was gone. Saturday was coming up with the sun, and Ryan had still not been asleep. His acute insomnia was expected after he travelled. Triggered by past traumas. Any variance in his life could bring on his curse of no bedtime, sometimes it’s a week before he feels any sign of tiredness. It’s three days into his house swap, one of those life variances that was suggested by his sister, Laura. She has been telling him forever how it would be a good idea for her brother to get away for an extended period of time. To see and to get to experience another part of the country. A difference in atmosphere could be exactly what Ryan needed. An opportunity to leave that place behind for a bit. It’s been long enough with those bad memories. It’s time to heal.

All of Laura’s efforts eventually paid off. Because he was now standing in her kitchen, at 5:30 in the morning. Some thousand miles away, melatonin-deprived, but otherwise optimistic. It did suck that his sister was not there with him, she’s been his biggest supporter through all of what happened. That was the double edge in the mutual agreement. Laura’s squatting at his place was no better example of taking one for the team than you could come up with. Or, one for the family in this case. Her job went fully remote, and all she said she needed was a WiFi connection. A few times during her late-night Facetime pitches, she followed that up with how she has always wanted a chance to return to the town where she grew up. Ryan knew that was a lie before she had enough saliva in her mouth to say it. The one and only lie she tried to tell since their whole conversation about doing the swap began. He knew how she despised the place they were both born and raised. Things changed for Laura after she started the high school years of her schooling. After the first bell of the tenth grade, she couldn’t wait for the chance to leave. Ryan couldn’t blame her. She was bullied until the day she graduated. The second she did, she was gone and never looked back. Until now since he finally committed to her idea that “change is good.” He knew the sacrifices his only sibling was making. But seeing her so happy for him, made him feel a whole lot better about the decision. Laura is the best sister anyone could ever have.

Breaking Ryan’s concentration from his moment of gratitude for his sister, were the continuous beeping noises coming from his coffee machine. Or Laura’s coffee machine which surprisingly also had the option for tea. A good one at that. It even added the sugar and milk on its own. You just had to tell it too. Shaking his head at technology, Ryan takes his first sip. He recalls the only two things, the only two rules his sister mentioned about the place. She gave him all he could know about his new surroundings, the simple this and that’s. But she kept repeating to Ryan two things she stressed were very important. That she made sure he understood. Where she lived was very quiet and very clean. Abide by that and you’re golden, she said. No one will bother you. No one will say hello and you don’t have to either. But…be a pig, and draw attention to yourself, you’ll become a red flag. She even wrote those very same words on a Post-it note in red letters, with a red flag drawn below it, and pinned it in the middle of the refrigerator door with a novelty magnet. It was a magnet with Laura’s mad face on it. It was a 3-D hologram of her mouthing “quiet and clean” as you turned it slightly back and forth. Ryan smiled and chuckled into another sip of his delicious tea. He then heard a crashing noise. Guaranteed, those crows were back in the front yard. Squawking and cawing. Alerting the whole neighbourhood of his newness to the street. With the remnants of his sister’s two rules fading from his vision, he refocused to watch a bunch of crows descend onto the street poles and picket fences surrounding his almost two-day-old garbage. He remembered seeing them yesterday morning when his fatigueless state started. Back for more surveying for weak spots in his double-bagged bags.

Shoo, go away stupid, crows. You’re going to break my sister’s rules. Go away, …get!!! 

Ryan wraps on a tiny panel of the kitchen window using his ring to pierce and irritate the birds enough so they’ll go away. His technique worked. The birds dispersed right away annoyed by the sharp sound. Ryan watched as the murder flew off in scattered directions. He followed the last lingering crow to make sure it flew away like the rest of them. It did, only it flew lower to the road leveling off at the mailboxes. As he watched the last potential nuisance complaint retreat, something else caught his attention in that same eyeline. It looked like another neighbour was trying to avoid a nuisance complaint. A big blue car pulled up in a driveway across the cul-de-sac, the engine cut just as the car hit the row of houses on that side. He pulled to a stop in front of the red door.

Oh, wow, a blue Cadillac. Now, that’s a nice car. Oh, and what’s this? Oh, wow, and that’s a very nice girl.

Wait, is she even conscious…

To be continued!