When you want to catch someone in the act of doing something, remember they don’t want to be caught.  So, you may want to pay close attention to them.  They may be watching you.  Enjoy Part 7 of The Perfect Community.  Thanks.

PART 7

JAY HAD KNELT DOWN under the window of the house.  It was dark out.  Light from inside the house was coming through the window.  It lit the side of the house enough for anyone to see him if they looked out the window and straight down.  Jay pushed himself flush against the stucco.  He could hear Carla talking inside her neighbor’s house.  A group of people was inside the house.  Carla had walked close to the window where he was hiding.

Carla was talking to her neighbors in her neighborhood.  She was saying how Edith and Guyford Beckworth had died in the most humane way that they knew how.  The rumors that were spreading about the two were just rumors.  She told them her sources said that the deaths were of a suicide nature.  She could not speculate any further than that.  Even that had gone too far.

Jay thought the reason Carla knew so much about her neighbors’ deaths was not from rumors.  She probably did it.  Or, she had a hand in it.  Why else would she lie to the police about her whereabouts the night of their deaths?

Jay got on his hands and knees and listened.  He crawled alongside the house to under the next window.  Carla was moving around as she spoke.  Jay did not know what was on the ground next to the house.  Were their motion detectors to turn on the lights?  Was there an alarm system that alerted the homeowners to let them know that someone was too close to their house?

Jay stayed down under the window and questioned if following Carla was a good idea.  He had not planned it.  It came about because he could not sleep.  He had lain in bed for an hour, looking up at the ceiling.  When he heard movement downstairs he got up.  He looked over the railing into the downstairs area.  Carla walked in from the family room.  She was dressed in black—pants, shirt, coat, and shoes.  It was eleven p.m.  She was going out.

That was when the idea struck Jay.  Carla was up to something.  He did not know what it was.  But, it was something that she wanted to keep a secret.  Maybe wherever she was going tonight she would reveal it.  She appeared to be almost ready to leave.  She had a purse, an umbrella, and a tote bag.  She must not have been going far.

Jay eased out of bed without waking Crystal.  He grabbed his clothes from the chair and took them into the bathroom.  He hurried to dress and tiptoed out of the room.  He looked downstairs.  Carla was headed for the door.  He waited until she left and closed the door.  He then waited another minute before going downstairs.

Somewhat sure Carla was not coming back inside, Jay rushed to the back door.  Carla and Frank did not set the alarm system most nights.  He hoped this was one of those nights.  He eased the door open.  The alarm did not go off.  He ran out the door and onto the grass to hide the noise of his footsteps.

Several times while following Carla Jay had to hide between some trees.  Carla was a bit hardcore.  It was dark out.  Too dark in some places to see one hundred feet ahead of them.  Carla would stop walking.  Stick her nose in the air and smell.  Then she resumed walking.  She acted like a dog, Jay thought.

Under the window where Jay was hiding, he could hear Carla better than ever.  Her voice was clear.  Carla talked about their community.  How what they were doing could catch on across the country and possibly the world.

Jay wondered what the hell she was talking about.  It sounded like a cult reunion to him.

Carla told them their deceased neighbors had agreed to leave the Community Fund over three million dollars in investments.  The couple’s home had not been appraised yet.  That could be an additional eight hundred thousand to one million dollars.  People in the room clapped.

Carla went on and said that the Community Fund would be there for medical expenses, transportation costs if needed, and anything the residents would need.  The people inside the room clapped again.

“Now, to a touchy subject,” Carla said.  “But, it has been accepted and appreciated.”  She paused.  More clapping came.  “The TPC program.  The Temporary Companionship Program has worked exceptionally well.  Having someone stay with a grieving widow or a lonely spouse with an ill partner is always helpful.  But, sometimes people need more than a sympathetic ear or shoulder to cry on.  Some of us will need to be touched and held.  And, at times, a traumatic event may cause us to be intimate with the person who is comforting us.  We may need this person until we can stand on our own two feet and find a new love.”

Carla praised the spouses of the people who were willing to participate in the Temporary Companionship Program.  That was a true sacrifice.  She knew it could not be easy for a spouse to offer their spouse to another person to comfort them.  She told the group that proved that they were compassionate and good friends and stewards of their community.  It proved that nothing was too high of a price to pay or give to help the neighborhood.  She then thanked them for putting their trust in her to oversee the community fund.  She laughed and told them they had the best neighborhood and best-kept secret in the world.  “We will do whatever is necessary to protect you,” Carla said.  “You are our neighbors and friends.”

Jay’s mind raced.  What the hell kind of neighborhood was this?  Did Carla just insinuate they would murder people?  Did they murder that couple from last night?  Were these people swapping spouses?  Was this one big communal marriage?  Did everyone donate their assets and money to the Community Fund?  If they did, it would be a reason to kill people.  Kill them once they had outlived their usefulness.  And, who better to fill that position than Carla.

Jay noticed it was quiet.  He lifted his head to peer through the window.  Carla was hugging and kissing people goodbye.  He crawled away from the house on his hands and knees.  Once he got twenty meters away from the house, he stood up.  The house’s door opened.  Carla was definitely leaving.

“Carla,” Lilly Ed said.  She was one of the elderly neighbors.  “I’ll give you a ride home.  You shouldn’t be walking in this dark.”  Carla told her she did not have to.  “I’m doing it anyway.”

Jay ran.  He would beat Carla home, he thought.  She was not that fast of a walker.  He ran until he got back to his in-laws’ house.  He was winded and not as fast as he thought.  Carla could not be that far behind him.  He prayed the back door would be open.  He turned the doorknob and pushed on the door.  It opened.  Now, he hoped no one saw him coming back inside.

He eased the door open and snuck inside and closed it.  He tiptoed across the floor until he reached the upstairs.  He ran up the stairs to their bedroom.  He opened the door slowly and walked softly inside the room.  He took off his clothes and eased back into bed.

Carla stood in the dark at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the bedroom that Jay had just gone into.

Does Carla have eyes in the back of her head?  Or, is Jay simply no match for her?

I hope you enjoyed Part 7.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Have a fantastic week.

Thanks,

Stephen Wallace

Be careful of those who make things go bump in the night.  It is not the night you have to fear.  It is them.  Enjoy Part 2 of The Perfect Community.  Thanks.

PART 2

JAY GREEN SAT AT the table in the dark with a cup of tea in front of him.  He was still wound tight from the ten-hour drive.  It had been ten-hours of mostly heavy rain from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Calaco, North Carolina.  His back and eyes hurt.  He had driven the entire trip.

Crystal, his wife, had worked a double shift in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at the hospital.  She was the Head Nurse in the ICU.  It was a management position.  But she made an emergency decision to work with patients that month.  They were short-staffed.  Half of the nurses had called out sick.  The flu had run rampant there.  That left her and a few others to fill the voids that seem to come up every few days.

When Crystal and Jay were ready to leave for her parents she was exhausted.  It was clear from her glassy eyes that she was in no condition to drive.

When they arrived at Crystal’s parents, Jay unloaded the suitcases and took a shower.  He thought it would wake him up and make him feel better.  It did for a few hours.  Then he fell asleep on the couch while talking with her and her parents.

Jay woke up to Crystal telling him to come to bed.  He did not remember getting into bed.  He woke up again and reached over and touched Crystal.  She was sleeping hard.  The clock read eleven pm.  He laid there until he fell back to sleep.

Jay woke up again at one thirty am.  He laid there and hoped he would fall back to sleep.  After twenty minutes he knew there was no chance of going back to sleep.  It was just like it was at his house.  Once awake his mind went to thoughts about his business.  How much money did they need to expand the plant?  Could they afford it?  Could they hire more employees?  Would he have to take out a second mortgage on their house?  Should he sell the business?

Jay got up and went downstairs.  Crystal’s parents had shown them where everything was.  The coffee was on the top shelf.  The tea was on the shelf next to the coffee.  An exotic blend of teas was next to the basic teas.

Jay had not asked what made up or classified a tea as exotic.  He did not want to hear the explanation.  Crystal, however, took the bait as usual and asked.  Jay wondered why and looked at her.  Crystal raised her eyebrows and shrugged.  It was her way of pretending that she did not know her mother was going to answer her.

Her mother’s answer took thirty minutes.  It contained the mental and sexual benefits of exotic tea and everything in between.

Crystal parents acted like semi-reformed hippies.  Their answers to basic questions could make a person wonder if they were reformed.  In reality they both were semi-retired CPAs.

Jay sipped from the teacup.  He jumped when he heard what sounded like someone trying to get in the front door.  He could see out the big kitchen window.  There was no one outside in the yard.  He stood and walked softly into the family room.  No one was in there.  He turned the front door’s doorknob.  The door was locked.

Jay stood by the door and listened.  He did not hear anything.  His mind was playing tricks on him.  His ears were too.  He was just tired.  He could hear Crystal in his ear.  “You don’t get enough sleep.  Lack of sleep, lack of thought.”

He went and sat back down at the table.  Business thoughts resumed their place in his mind.  The fear came with them on what to do with the business.

“Waiting for me in the dark,” a woman’s voice whispered behind Jay.  He jumped and bumped the table.  “Shhh.”

“Damn it, Carla!” Jay said.

“You’re going to wake everyone,” Carla whispered.  “You’re not good at this sneaking around thing.  To be honest, you suck at it.  You’re pathetic.”

“Why would you do that?” Jay asked, angry, trying to whisper.  He could not catch his breath.  “Was that you at the door?”

“You’re such a ninny,” she said.

Jay does not appear to be having a good time with his in-laws.  I guess it is difficult to have a good time when a pressing event is on your mind.  The question for Jay is which event is on his mind?

Thank you for visiting me.  See you tomorrow.

Thanks,

Stephen Wallace