Chapter 3--Henry's "home"

The taxi was gone, Henry was left alone standing in front of the impressively massive house.  He was sure it was a mistake that he was taken to this house.  He figured the best thing to do was to knock and ask whoever lived here if they could direct him to the correct addresss, but no one answered when he knocked.  He dug into his pocket and retrieved the key his father left him.  With a sigh, and hope no alarms would go off, he slipped the key into the keyhole and, turned the key.  To his shock, the door unlocked, and swung open slowly and silently.

 Henry stood there, stunned. That didn't just happen...THAT didn't just happen! He thought over and over.  After a few moments of thoughts running through his mind that the owner was going to come running, any second, to the door, shouting at him 'what the hell do you think you're doing?!', he finally convinced himself that the key didn't actually work, and that the door must have been unlocked already or opened just a jar.  He closed the door and heard a click. He removed the key from the door and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.  The door had automatically locked when it closed. Shaking his head in disbelief he re-inserted the key, and turned.  And once again, the door swung open slowly and silently.  Again, he shook his head in disbelief, looked around him, and slowly yet cautiously, took a step inside with his luggage in tow.

The house was dark, and quiet.  It was so quiet, it was almost unsettling.  Henry looked around and saw that he was in a high ceiling foyer.  It was rapidly getting darker, but no lights, not even the porch lights,  were on.  Still convinced someone, anyone, was here, he mustered up the courage to speak.

"HELLO?" he shouted into the dark house, but there was no answer. There was absolutely no sound from the house what-so-ever.  No sound of anyone possibly up on the second floor, nothing.
He sighed, pulled out his cell phone and located Mr. Tumwaters number.

"Hello?" the gruff voice said.
"This is Henry....Banks..."
"Ah, Henry! Have you opened the envelope?"
"Yes, that's why I'm calling you, I think there was a mistake."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm at the house,"
"You are! How do you like it? Impressive isn't it?  Bet you didn't think your old man could pull something like that off, now did you?" Henry could hear the excitement in Mr. Tumwater's voice.
"You mean," he was suddenly confused, "you mean you KNEW what the envelope contained?!"
"Of course!  Your father and I were close buddy's, and as his lawyer I knew very intimate details".
"Why didn't you tell me when you gave me the envelope then?!"
"Because," there was a pause, a yawn, "I was instructed by your father not to tell you."
"What?! Why?"
"That, my dear boy, I do NOT know."
Henry was even more confused.  If Mr. Tumwater knew the intimate details of his fathers life, why wouldn't he know why he was left this house?
"Okay, well, I think there was a mistake."
"A mistake?"
"The house...this cannot be the right address!"
"Not the right address? You're at the house now, right. Did the key open the door?"
"Yes, but,"
"Then it's the right address!" Mr. Tumwater said laughing. "Look, do what you want with the house.  It's yours to do what you wish.  There was no mistake.  Now if you'll forgive me, it's very late here and I would like to go home for the night."
"Mmmhhhhhmmmm.  Thanks for your help.  Good-bye." And with that, Henry ended the call.  He  still had an unsure feeling about the house, especially that part that it was "his", but talking to Mr. Tumwater had put a little reassurance in him that no one was going to come bursting in yelling at Henry that he didn't belong here, but he still had an unsettling feeling.  He decided he couldn't stay in the foyer all night and went further into the house.  He reached the foot of the stairs and looked to his left.  The hall stretched a bit and it was dark.  He could see a room at the end of the hall on the left lit by the streetlight.  The dim street light allowed him to see that that end of the hall was unfinished and he could see the drywall.  He looked to his right.

The hall on the right stretched further, but with it getting dark it was hard to see what was down there. And Henry wasn't feeling courageous enough to go venture down there...not quite yet at least.

. 

 He decided to go into the room directly in front of him, which seemed to be the living room.  There was a new, large tv and nice furniture.  The room was lit a little more than the foyer or hallway because of all the windows in this room.

He took a few steps into the room and saw that it was a bit bigger than he thought it was from seeing it in the hall. He looked around and notice the room had 3 lights, and a fireplace.  He first went to the lamp on the end table.

He tried to switch it on, but nothing happened. He tried the other two lights, but again, no power.  He decided he would have to find the basement to see if the electrical box was sending power to the house.  If not, he would sleep on the couch with the fireplace going.

As he walked around in the dark, opening doors here and there, he realized there was no basement.

He let out a heavy sigh, he was going to have to look outside for the box.

 Twenty minutes of walking around the house proved to be just as much of a let down as realizing there was no basement, and he went back into the house through the foyer.

"where the hell is the electrical box?!" Henry asked himself, getting angry.  It was getting darker, he was hungry and tired.  He wanted to be able to see what he was doing in the house, he wanted to be able to SEE the house! Just as he was about to give up for the night, he remembered seeing three garage doors when the taxi was pulling up.

"worth a shot, I guess." He said to no one but himself.  He looked down the dark hallway to his right.  He could barely make out the shape of a door at the far end.  He was sure that door went to the inside of the garage.  His heart was pounding, and he started breathing a little harder. Oh grow up!  Just go down there you big baby! And with that, he headed toward the door at the far end of the hall.

He pushed the door opened, and was greeted with cold air.  The door didn't lead into the garages, but did lead to a side entrance next to the garage doors.


He stood between the garage doors and decided to check the double garage first.  He was sure that was where the electrical box would be, in the larger garage.  He pushed the door up and peered inside.  There was nothing inside that indicated an electrical box. In fact, this was the cleanest garage he had ever seen, not even so much as a cobweb in there.  He closed the door and went to the single garage.  If this one didn't have the electrical box, he had no choice but to call the electrical company, and ask if someone could come out and help him find this box.  Then a thought came over him, what if his father died before getting the box installed? He pondered that thought for a moment before brushing it off.  Why would there be lamps in the house then?!  He hoped he was right thinking that his father DID get the electrical box installed before putting lamps in the house. He bent down and pushed the garage door open. Eureka! There was the electrical box.

Now to find out if it worked.  He stood in front of the box, and prayed, for the first time in his life, for the box to work.  He threw on the main switch, there was a click, then a pop.

And the house lit up in a blaze of light.  Henry was almost blinded by the light in the garage, but it was a welcomed sight for him.  

"Yes!"

Now that he had power, he wanted to take a look around the house.  But that was going to have to be put on hold as his stomach disagreed with him.  I should probably get food. He closed the garage door and headed back into the house. His first instinct was to raid the kitchen.  Obviously there would be nothing in the fridge, or if there was at the time that his father was alive, it's not longer good with the power not being on for as long as it was.  He searched the cuppards, but found that there was nothing. Now what? He didn't have any transportation, and knew of nothing of the area so he couldn't even go get food. I wonder if this place has a pizza place.   Now that he could see the interior, Mr. Tumwater was right, it was impressive, especially for a project his father did. The theme his father went with, for decorating, was a little old for Henry's taste, and he decided right then and there that if he kept the house, he would update the interior over time.  He located, and picked up, his phone on his luggage still in the foyer. He was about to dial when he stopped. He didn't know any numbers here.  The hunger pain was obstructing his ability to think straight.  He finally decided to call the operator.

"City and Place?" a woman's voice said.

"Uh...Moonlight Falls, a pizza place." Henry said to her.

"What location?"

"A pizza place." Henry said.

"I need a specific business name, sir."

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I just moved here and don't know any specific places.  I just was hoping you could connect me to a local pizza place in Moonlight Falls."

"Oh, I see. Let me see what I can find."

Henry heard rapid typing from the operator as she looked for his location.

"I have one, the only one, place in Moonlight Falls.  Would you like me to connect you?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay, thank you for calling. Have a good evening, sir."

"you," but before Henry could say "too" and thank her for her help, he was disconnected from her and the other end was ringing to the pizza place she had found for him.

"Moonlight Tower Pizzeria, will this be pick up or delivery?" a young man's voice said quickly.

"Delivery."

"Could I get your name and address?"

"Name is Banks, address is 29 S. Falls Avenue." There was silence on the other end. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm sorry.  I think I heard you wrong could you repeat the address again?"

"29 S. Falls Avenue" Henry said a little more slowly. There was a small gasp from the young man. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, well, it's just that....that house is abandoned.  Has been for quite a while."

"And?"

"Well, I mean come on dude!  Is this a joke?" the young man said laughing nervously.
"No.  I just want a pizza."

"No really.  Who is this?  Is this Bryan? Because if it is, I'm going to kick your ass when I see you tomorrow at school.  These pranks aren't funny anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?" Again, silence.

"Look, we're really busy, and I just don't have time for pranks.  I got food to deliver and money to make!"

"Then take my order, and I'll give you money." Henry said mellowly. 

"*sigh* alright dude, but this time, you're paying for it.  I'm not going to fall for your 'This is old man Banks' bit again.  And don't think about jumping out of the bushes again when I get there."

"kid, your tip is quickly going down.  I want a pepperoni pizza, medium." Henry hung up before he could hear the price.  What the hell was that kid on? 

Twenty minutes later and still no pizza.  Henry went to the front door and saw a young man in a pizza uniform standing at the end of the driveway.  He looked terrified as Henry watched him through the window.  Seeing that the man wasn't going to walk up the driveway anytime soon, Henry, frustrated with this kid, threw on his coat and opened the door. 

"HELLO?!" Henry shouted to the kid. The kid snapped out of whatever daze he was in when he heard Henry's voice.  Henry waved him over, and the kid, still unsure, made his way up the driveway to Henry. "How long have you been standing there, kid?!" The kid didn't say anything. Henry looked at him sideways. "Geez, I couldn't get you to shut up on the phone.  What's wrong?  Cat got your tongue?"

"Sorry, dude.  I just wasn't," he trailed off gazing at the house.

"'You just wasn't' what?"

"I wasn't expecting anyone to be here, let alone see the house lit up like it is."

Henry grunted.  He didn't really want to talk. He was too hungry to want to hold a conversation, and chatting wasn't something he liked to do. "So how much do I owe you?"

"Oh, fifteen dollars and ninety seven cents," Henry opened his wallet and pulled out a twenty.

 "look , dude, I'm sorry I busted your chops on the phone.  When you said 'Banks' and then your address, well...my friends...they liked to pull pranks on me saying they were this old geezer that used to live here.  Rumor has it he died in the house. So when I would get here with the pizza they would try to scare the shit out of me by using tricks of light to make it look like there were ghosts in the house. Bad luck on you that you share the same surname as that old ass."

Henry stopped and glared at the kid. "People have been in the house?"

"yeah," Henry didn't like hearing that.  Suddenly he became very protective of his, and his fathers house. "You mean, they broke in."

"Well, I don't know....maybe they had a key."
"How would they have a key?"

"Dude, what do you care?!"

Henry was suddenly furious with the thought that some kids were disrespecting his fathers house. "Because," he started, "old man Banks was my father.  This was his house, and now it's my house. So tell your friends," he continued as he grabbed a piece of paper out of his wallet, then snatched the kids pen as he scribbled on the paper, "they better not come around here again.  And if they have any doubt, you have them give me a call." Henry said, sternly, as he handed the kid the twenty and the piece of paper with his name and phone number on it, "you can keep the change."

"R-Really?!" the kid sounded surprised, "wow, you're much more generous than your father was."

Henry gave a nod and the kid left.  

The pizza was a bit cold, but that didn't bother Henry much.  He threw a few sliced on a plate, that he found in the cuppard, and then threw the plate into the microwave.  The remaining slices were put in the fridge.  Then, tired and extremely hungry, Henry headed back to the living room to eat and watch tv, and it was on the couch that he passed out on.