The Key to Everything (5 page)

“Seeing a specialist will make my insurance company throw a hissy fit. No thanks.” You stand up and reach for your pants, folded on the chair next to you. “I think I’ll go home and hold down the couch for a little while.” You reach out to shake his hand. “Thanks a lot, Dr. Matheson. I appreciate your time.”

Shaking your hand, he stands up from the stool. “Just to be safe, Mr. Quilton, no heavy lifting for a week. And try not to overexert yourself.” He walks out of the stall and grabs a chart for his next patient. “Enjoy the rest of the weekend. And welcome to the neighborhood.”

* * *

You pull the old truck into the drive next to Emily’s new SUV and turn the engine off. The boys are running around the backyard, shouting. With both hands on the wheel, you lean your head back and close your eyes, just breathing for a minute. The windows are rolled down a bit to air out the car. The breeze feels nice on your head. It grows quiet, and you can tell the boys went back inside the house. Trees are swaying, with creaking limbs and rustling leaves.

You move your eyes in circles, watching the remnants of the bright sunlight dance around the inside of your eyelids. The wind picks up, cooling the sweat on the back of your neck. The shape of the sunlight starts to change. It starts to move. The woman from the magazine is moaning. You feel your fingers gripping the steering wheel. The man is not there with you this time. There is someone else. You know him from somewhere. She moans louder, only this time it is not a moan of passion. She is in pain. The man is laughing as blood pours out of her nose. The man looks directly at you, and his mouth moves with no sound, shaping two words. You read his lips, glad to be unable to hear his voice.

“The key.”

There is a loud knocking on the window and you jump up, hitting your head on the roof of the truck.

“Hey neighbor.” Gene is smiling down at you. “I just can’t stop sneaking up on, you can I?”

You look at your hands and pry your fingers from the hot steering wheel, knuckles still white with strain. Shaking the cobwebs from your head, you unlatch your seatbelt and try to open the door. It’s still locked. You fumble with the mechanism and finally get it open.

“Uh…Hi Gene. What’s up?” You climb out of the truck and notice he is holding a tray full of corn wrapped in foil.

Looking a bit concerned, Gene asks, “Are you alright? You don’t look so good.” He rests the tray of corn on the roof of the truck and puts his hand on your shoulder.

“I’m okay.” Your smile is a bit shaky as you nod your head. “Just been having a rough time with the move is all. I think I forgot about our barbeque though. Sorry, man. I’m usually not this flaky or creepy. Really.”

“No worries at all.” He grabs up the corn with one hand and takes your arm with the other. “Let’s get you inside. I’m sure you’ll feel better in some air conditioning. Here, let me help.”

You reach in your pocket to get your keys, but it won’t fit in the lock. Puzzled, you take a glance down and see that it’s not the house key in your hand.

“I don’t think that’s going to open the door, Auden.” Gene says. “That looks more like a key to a sunken treasure than this place.” His eyes widen as his tongue quickly darts across his lips.

“Huh. Yeah. I must have grabbed the wrong one.” Reaching back in your pocket, you find the house keys and open the door. 

Jason and Jeremy stand up on the couch, looking over, and yell in unison, “Daddy!”

“Are you Santa?” Jeremy asks.

“No.” Gene laughs gently. “I’m Gene Harmon. I live across the street. And I think I found something that belongs to you.” He bends down to look eye-to-eye with the little boy. “You’re probably going to need this, since you’re going to big boy school in a few weeks.” He puts the corn tray down, reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a Spongebob eraser.

“Wow.” Jeremy greedily grabs the eraser. “Cool!”

“What do you say when someone gives you a present?” Emily scolds as she walks out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. “You know better than that, young man.”

“Thank you for the ‘raser.” Jeremy sits down on the couch, not taking his eyes off of his new prize, turning it around and around in his hands.

Emily smiles and looks up from the boys. “Hi, I’m Emily. You must be Mr. Harmon.” She reaches out a hand.

“Please, call me Gene.” He takes her hand and kisses it. “I present a few humble corn cobs, ready for grilling, ma’am. It’s my own recipe.” 

Curtseying, Emily laughs. “Wow, a real gentleman.” She turns to you and winks. “Hey boys, you need to take some lessons from this one.” She takes the tray and heads back to the kitchen. “It’s nice to meet you, Gene. Can I get you something to drink? How about you, honey?”

She stops at the corner of the room and finally looks at you. Gene grabs your arm as you sway, your hand locked in your pocket around the key, arm stiff as a board. Emily runs back to you and put her hands on your waist.

“Auden? What did the doctor say?” Her face shows real concern. “What’s going on?”

“Maybe we should sit him down.” 

“Daddy? Are you sick?” Jeremy pulls the hand out of your pocket and protectively rubs your arm.

“Daddy’s just a little tired, guys.” Emily sits down on the coffee table in front of you. “Jason, why don’t you take your brother upstairs and show him your new Star Wars sticker book?” It’s more of an order than a suggestion, and Jason knows it.

Deciding not to risk getting into any trouble, he gives in quickly. “Come on, Jemy. Let’s go play.” He looks quickly at you, and then they both bound upstairs to Jason’s room.

Leaning back into the couch, you push out a deep lungful of air. It feels like you’ve been suffocating. You’re queasy. It’s difficult to focus your eyes on anything, but sitting down seems to slow the spinning. You open your eyes and see Emily and Gene both looking worried.

“I’m ok. The doctor thinks it’s just too much exertion from the move.” You rub your hands on the legs of your pants to get the feeling back into your fingers. “He said I should lay low for the next couple of days.”

“Did he prescribe anything? Do you need more fluids? Did you tell him about the…” She catches herself and glances over at Gene.

He picks up on the hint and stands up. “Maybe we should do the barbeque another time.” Looking down at you and smiling yet again, he says, “I didn’t realize you weren’t feeling well. I’ll just head on home.” He nods his head a few times. “It was nice meeting you, Emily. And if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know.” He points over his shoulder. “I’m right over there. Actually if you’d like, I can give you my number, just in case.” 

“That would be great.” Emily heads toward the chalkboard on the wall next to the phone. Underneath Jeremy’s drawing of a motorcycle, she writes down Gene’s information with a piece of green chalk. “Thank you so much for understanding.” Walking toward the door, she places her hand on Gene’s arm. “As soon as Auden’s feeling better, we would love to have you come back again. You’re welcome anytime.”

“Feel better, my friend.” Gene waves as he opens the door. Emily gives him a quick kiss on the cheek, and he winks at her. “He’ll be fine. I’m right over there if you need me.”

With a whispered thank you, she closes the door and leans back into it. Sighing heavily, she covers her face in her hands for a few seconds, looks up, and rolls her eyes as if to say, “What next?” She doesn’t know it, but you can see everything she’s doing in the mirror above the fireplace.

“Ok mister. What the fuck?” Sitting down on the couch next to you, she puts her hand on your thigh. “Did you tell the doctor about everything that happened?”

“Of course I did. I told him about the squirrel, I told him about the dizziness and the stuff and the bath and the yadayadayada.” You wave your hands in circles in the air, which is a move that definitely does not please Emily.

 “This isn’t a fucking joke, Auden. That was scary last night.” She walks around the table and looks back down at you sternly. “It wasn’t a normal yadayadayada kind of thing. You can’t just brush it off like nothing happened.”

“I know that.” You push yourself up on the couch and hold your head in your hands. “I’m not brushing it off. I told him everything that happened. They ran a bunch of tests, and the doctor said they all came back normal.” You can hear the kids wrestling in Jason’s room. “For anything more, I need to see a specialist, and you know insurance won’t cover that right now. He didn’t think a specialist would find anything different anyway.”

Emily leans down with her hands on her knees, blowing the air out of her lungs. “I need you to not get sick right now. The kids start their new school in a few weeks. You have the new McCarthy show starting on Monday, and I have to finish studying for the bar exam next month.” She looks up, clearly starting to panic. 

“It’s only stress from the move. I promise.” You reach out and touch her leg. “The doctor told me to rest for a little while, and that’s what I’m going to do. Most of the unpacking is done, and the shed can wait for another time.” Leaning back in the couch, you give her a crooked smile, “You’ll just have to pamper me for a few days. Doctor’s orders, right?”

* * *

You open your eyes. It’s darker. It must be getting close to dinner time. You stretch your arms up over our head and groan at the creaks and cracks coming from your sore muscles. On the chalkboard next to the phone is Emily’s neat handwriting:

Took the kids to the mall.

Be back later with dinner.

REST...

Love, E. J. & J.

In the bathroom you splash some water on your face and use a little bit of mouthwash. On the TV, a couple of hippie scientists are trying to see if everything MacGyver did could really happen. You rummage through the fridge and can’t find anything that looks satisfying for the moment, so you take a quick swig directly from the bottle of milk. Don’t need enough to waste dirtying a cup right now. 

You head back toward the couch and stop at the bottom of the stairs. You don’t want to look, but something is turning you toward that keyhole. You blink your eyes a few times, and suddenly you’re standing on the steps with the key in your hand moving it  toward the lock. The key doesn’t feel heavy anymore. You can barely feel its weight at all. As you get closer to the lock, you can hear the moans again. That woman from the magazine is moaning as if she’s begging you to put it in. Your eyes glaze over, and the stair weaves back and forth. You fight to hold your arm back. It’s wrong. It just feels wrong. But the moans pull you. It is irresistible. The key slides in silently, a knife digging into flesh. You turn the key, but there is no click. It spins around and around in endless rotations. The more you turn, the louder she moans. The louder she moans, the more you turn. The man stares at you, mouthing silent words. You turn the key you turn the key you turn the key.

You…turn…the key. 

* * *

Jason jumps onto the couch, waking you with a start. Your breathing is fast and heavy, and you’re covered in sweat. Jeremy comes in the room and plops down on the floor right in front of the television. Emily is on the phone in the kitchen, talking to her sister. You try to stand up. Still in a fog, you look over at the stairs. The dream felt so real. 

You walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Emily waves and blows you a kiss. “No. He’s okay. The doctor thinks he’s just stressed out. Uh-huh. He’ll rest for a few days, and then I’ll put him back to work.” She sticks her tongue out at you and smiles while you fill a Superman glass from the tap. You lean into the counter and swallow. 

You try to piece it all together. The strange woman with the ‘80s Aqua Net hair and makeup and the moaning. How did you get back to the couch? It had to have been a dream. Your head is so messed up right now. Maybe the doctor was right. Just relax for a few days and you’ll feel better. You kiss your wife on the cheek and head back to the couch with the kids. 

You sit down and give Jason a high five. “What are we watching, kiddo?”

“I dunno. Some show about shark attacks or something. It’s cool because all the blood ‘n stuff.” He bounces in his seat and settles in for the next attack. “Check this one out, Dad. It’s gonna be so awesome.”

A giant great white shark leaps high into the air to catch a seal and then splashes down to enjoy its lunch. They show the gruesome spectacle in super-slow motion another ten times, just in case you missed the teeth sinking into the seal’s flesh the first nine close-ups. Jason cheers, and Jeremy pretends to hide his face. Emily rolls her eyes at the boys and heads back into the kitchen. With your arm up on the back of the couch, you feel relaxed. Emily and the kids seem happy here. You look around the beautiful new home, taking it all in like a breath of fresh air. 

You see it there. It shouldn’t be there. It can’t be there.

You stand up and head to the bottom of the stairs, examining each one carefully. Something’s just not right. Resting on the seventh step, you can see the key. Slowly, you climb up  toward it. The key is laid out in the center of the step, but the lock is no longer there. You reach down to pick it up, but your fingers go right through it. You try with your other hand. It’s like a shadow of the key, but with all the detail of the real thing. You can see the rust and the worn-down metal of the teeth. You can see the wave pattern rolling across the rounded back end.