Revenge of Cornelius (5 page)

"She's six and a half," Mira
answered.

"Why haven't you gone back in six and
a half years? How long does it take you to bounce back in the game
after a little falling out?"

"Pardon me?" Mira knew exactly what he
meant.

"Why haven't you gone back to
college?"

"I'm working on that, sir." She was
smiling.

"Why are you smiling? Did I say
something… funny?"

"No sir, not at all," Mira quickly
returned. "You just remind me of my father, that's all. He had
pretty much the same line of questioning for me
yesterday."

"Wise man. Listen here, young lady. If
you don't already know, I'm a state senator. I graduated from
Trunket University with honors. I said that to say this… If I could
have gotten to and through university with all the odds that were
against me as a young, black man, you certainly can surpass
whatever challenges you face and finish your education."

"Yes, sir," Mira replied humbly. She
knew he was right—just as she knew her father was.

Just then, Andrea and the kids
re-entered the room. The trace of red punch encircled Rosie and
Alex's lips.

"I didn't want them to bring the punch
in here, so I let them drink it in the dining room." Andrea said as
she took a seat next to her husband again.

"Mama, can I show Rosie my toys
upstairs?" Alex asked.

Andrea was obviously unsure and looked
Mira's way for approval.

Mira turned to Rosie. "If the
Benjamins don't mind, you can go."

"Why, of course we don't mind!" Andrea
stated. The children started taking off toward the long, winding
staircase. "You kids just be careful going up the stairs," Andrea
warned.

"You all have done a beautiful job
with this house," Mira noted, looking at the staircase that she
vividly recalled barely getting to the top of years earlier, but
sprinting down like lightning after spotting Karlen in the master
closet.

The Benjamins had clearly done an
overhaul to the staircase and replaced the rusty, tattered rail
with a shiny, black, decorative one.

"Thank you," Theo replied. "The
renovations, as you probably can imagine, were massively expensive
considering the fact that the house was already very old and
uninhabited for many years."

"Might I presume by your compliment
that you were here before—inside I mean?" Andrea posed.

Mira looked away for a second to
retrieve the correct response, then her eyes met Andrea's again.
"Yes. My brother and I explored this property when we were
kids."

"Really?" Theo's eyes widened. "You
weren't scared?"

"Pardon me?" Mira was feeling like she
was being thrown a curve ball.

"Didn't you hear the rumors about this
place?" Theo returned.

"Um…at one point we did, but it wasn't
until after we had already stopped by."

Mira noticed a seemingly hopeful beam
in Andrea's eyes just then. She wasn't sure why, but the woman's
entire facial expression suddenly relaxed.

Theo was laughing. "Folks around these
parts make mountains out of molehills. They stretch the truth and
concoct urban legends and folk tales that are nowhere near
reality." He shifted a bit in his seat and glanced at his wife. "I
can't tell you the number of folks who thought we were absolutely
out of our minds for even thinking of purchasing this place. Every
one of them tried to talk us out of it, but…" he looked around
proudly at the place, "…the price was right and the house had
potential. There was no way I was going to allow some hocus pocus
made-up tale of this being a haunted house cause me to pass up on
that offer."

Andrea was silent, but Mira could tell
by her demeanor that something wasn't right.

"Am I right, honey?" Theo asked
Andrea.

"Yes, dear," was her stoic
reply.

Mira then glanced at her watch. "Oh,
we must be going now. My parents are taking Rosie to the theme park
today."

That's so nice," Andrea remarked. "How
long are you and your daughter here for?"

"Two weeks," Mira replied.

"Okay. Well, hopefully, we'll see you
and Rosie again before you leave," Theo said.

"I'm sure you will. Thanks so much for
the hospitality."

"No, no… you're the hospitable one.
Like I said earlier, you and your daughter are the first to even
bother coming around. It was indeed a pleasure meeting you both."
Theo smiled.

They all stood up and Mira walked over
to the foot of the staircase and called out to Rosie. She came down
moments later.

"Mom, can I stay for a while longer?"
she asked with that pleading look again. Alex was standing next to
her—also hopeful.

"Rosie, you know you're going out with
Pops and Nana today."

"Just a little while longer, Mom? Alex
and I were having so much fun. He lets me play with all his
toys!"

"You can always bring her back another
time, Mira," Andrea interjected. "I'm here practically all day,
every day and I'll be happy to have little Rosie come by at any
time. I know we don't know each other, but I can assure you that
she'll be in good hands."

Mira looked at Rosie again whose plea
she found difficult to resist. "Would you like to come by tomorrow
if that's okay with Mrs. Benjamin?" she asked.

"Tomorrow will be fine with me,"
Andrea responded.

"Yes, Mom. I would love to," Rosie
replied.

"Yay!" Alex beamed from ear to
ear.

"Well then…it's settled," Theo chimed
in.

The Benjamins walked Mira and Rosie to
the door.

"It was really a pleasure meeting you
all," Mira said on the front porch.

The Benjamins were standing almost in
the exact, same spots as they were when the door first
opened.

As Mira turned to leave, Rosie's eyes
were diverted directly behind where Andrea stood. Theo glanced back
to the area of her gaze, then looked back at Rosie. "We'll see you
later, Rosie. You and your mom take care now." He shut the
door.

"I was having so much fun with Alex,
Mom!" Rosie exclaimed as they headed down the long driveway. "He's
a great kid and he has the coolest toys."

"That's really nice to know." Mira
smiled.

"Mom, who was that man standing behind
Alex's parents just now before we left?"

"A man? I didn't see anyone,
sweetheart. Are you sure you saw someone?"

"I guess. He was really tall and
looked like Santa Claus."

"Maybe it's a guest of theirs we
didn't meet or someone who works for them."

"Perhaps. It's a shame he didn't
introduce himself. Isn’t it, Mom?"

"Yes. When we go back tomorrow, we'll
probably get to meet him," Mira replied.

* * *

You two have finally found your way
back," Sara said as the pair entered through the kitchen door. She
was making tea. "So, how did it go? What type of people are they?
Are they friendly?" she riddled off.

Mira sat at the counter while Rosie
rushed to the back of the house.

"Rosie, dear, your bath water is
waiting. We have to leave soon!" Sara cried behind her
granddaughter.

"Yes, Nana!"

"The Benjamins seem like really nice
people," Mira said as her mother listened intently. They invited us
inside and we had a good conversation while Rosie and their son
played upstairs for a while."

"Really?"

"You know, I found out that no one
other than Rosie and I had ever bothered to welcome them to the
neighborhood. I wonder why that is, Mom."

Sara's face was contorted to a slight
grimace. "Do you think we avoided them because of…? You can't
possibly think…"

"You tell me, Mom. I don't even know
how anyone around here could conceive that they're not friendly
people if no one has ever met them."

"Mira, the reason no one has bothered
to meet them, dear, is because no one wants to go anywhere near
that house. You know the place was haunted," Sara
replied.

"Was, Mom. It
was
haunted. You and I
both know that it's not anymore. So even you had no excuse for not
being neighborly."

Sara sighed and placed both hands on
the counter. "Sweet pea, even though Karlen Key found her way out
of that place, it was no telling if anything remained. That's how I
always saw it and that's why your father and I never had any reason
to re-visit it under any circumstances. You know people in this
town are quite superstitious and anything that carried any type of
paranormal energy is something they avoid like a plague. I'm pretty
sure that no one was avoiding the Benjamins for any other reason
than that and you of all people and your brother know that your
father and I are not racists."

"I know, Mom. I guess that explains it
then. But yeah… they seem like very nice people and come to think
of it, they might understand why they haven't had any neighbors
show up to the house. Mister Benjamin did mention that everyone
thought they were crazy for living there."

"You see?"

"Yeah. By the way, Rosie wants to go
over and play with the little boy again, so Mrs. Benjamin agreed
that she can come back tomorrow for a while."

Sara was surprised. The expression on
her face did not conceal that fact.

"Without you?"

"Yes, without me."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Sara
pressed.

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. I just don't like that
house." She shook her head. "It's probably my superstitious mind
taking over again." She picked up her tea. "Well, we have to get
going soon, so I'll go and check on Rosie and we should be out of
here in less than an hour."

"Hey…why don't you let me deal with
Rosie and you can just finish getting ready?"

"No, that's okay. I've got everything
covered." She smiled and walked off.

5

_________________

Mira stood at the kitchen door watching as her dad reversed the car
down the driveway. Rosie was waving goodbye to her from the back
seat in between both grandparents. Mira waved back, amazed at how
her little girl absolutely refused that she join them on their
soon-to-be fabulous outing. The unspoken rules were clear: A visit
to Mizpah meant 'Pops, Nana and Rosie time' and that was basically
the sum of it.

Mira locked the screen door behind
her, then went over and flopped onto the couch—something her mother
detested seeing them do to the furniture when she and Wade were
younger. It was a trait that followed her as an adult and seemingly
no amount of verbal chastisement from her mother or frowns that
accompanied them swayed her to do any better.

She switched on the old, box
television that sat faithfully in that space for nearly a decade.
Although the house was now in its golden years, Mira admired how
her mother still kept it in tip-top condition, spic and span—just
as she always did when they were children.

As she watched the comedian on TV
running from his wife who was after him with a large skillet, Mira
felt a warm, inviting sleep coming on, and before she knew it, she
had quietly drifted off into dreamland.

What felt like hours later, she
pitched up from sleep as she heard someone knocking at the kitchen
door.

Who the hell is
that?
She wondered, sluggishly making her
way over to the door. "All right, I'm coming!"

When she observed through the screen
that it was Bobby Newton, she almost sucked her teeth out loud.
With sheer hesitance, she twisted the lock and opened
up.

"Hi, Bobby." Her voice was coldly
monotonous.

"Hey, Mira. I…I heard you were in
town, so I thought I'd stop by and give you a hail."

She was simply looking at him. His
gray eyes appeared so innocent, yet entrancing enough that she
could not possibly deny that the baby-faced stud standing before
her with the tight abs, muscular physique, short, spiky brown hair
and perfectly-chiseled face would be almost any girl's dream. Yet,
by the same token, she knew that he wasn't hers.

"Um…"

"You wanna sit for a while out back?"
she interrupted.

"Uh…sure."

With hands shoved deeply inside the
pockets of his shorts, Bobby followed Mira around to the side of
the house where the plum tree and lawn chairs were.

She wasted no time sitting down and
stretching back while Bobby took the seat next to her.

"So where's Rosie?" he
asked.

"She's out with my
parents."

Suddenly, she released a heavy sigh
and with eyes fixated straight ahead, she said, "Let's cut the
crap, Bobby. You knew exactly where Rosie was before you asked that
question. Mom called you before she left, didn't she?"