The Hathaway

Eating Out

I looked at my watch. “Shit! How did it get so late?” I grabbed my jacket and raced out the door, leaving Ben to follow as best as he could.

When he finally caught up with me I was in the rec room heading toward the kitchen. He leaned close to my ear and whispered, “That’s what you get for feeding me so much cum I fall asleep with my face in your balls.” He shot me a shit eating grin as he passed me and greeted the kids.

Kevin was particularly quiet at breakfast. He made no mention of hearing or not hearing us have sex in the night, which was unusual, and he kind of kept his head down, only speaking when he had to. All the kids were a bit subdued since it was the first day of school and everyone was facing the unpleasant reality of being the new kid in the class. I just figured Kevin was feeling it a bit more intensely than the others because, having spent so much time on the street, he had been held back a year to catch up. I tried to offer him some encouragement, but he remained distant and inaccessible. Sylvia arrived early and helped gather the kids up and herd them to the front gate to wait for the bus. She discouraged us from seeing them off, suggesting that we do our best to keep things low key until they had had a chance to settle in and make friends.

Ben told me he had a meeting with Andi this morning and would walk me to work on the way. As we passed the front gate and began to stroll down the road, he started, “So...Sabina.”

He had my attention. “Yeah, what’s with all the mystery?”

“I think you’re going to enlighten me,” he said with a grin.

“What?” I asked. “You’re the one who talked to her. What did she think about your discovery of the shadow figure?”

“She told me to be careful, that he was evil and could hurt any of us if we let him.”

I looked at him and questioned, “Then why are you planning on taking her in harm’s way?”

He laughed. “She also told me that we had nothing to worry about, that the congregation is stronger than he is and they are watching out for us.”

“You mean the singing ghosts in the ruins?”

“Yeah, she calls them the ‘Congregation of Believers’. She took me to meet them last night.”

“What?! You’ve already met them once and they hypnotized you.” I wondered if he might be under their influence again, but his method of waking me up this morning seemed to indicate that he was fully himself.

“Not to worry.” He seemed a bit too nonchalant, but I listened. “When they hypnotized Helmut and me they were...I don’t know, dormant, kind of sleeping. They had wrapped themselves in their songs and were not actively doing anything. Sabina thinks we just accidentally got pulled in. I have never sensed any hostility from them, have you?”

“No,” I had to admit, “Not from them, but the shadow figure…”

“Yes, he’s another story. We didn’t get into all the details last night, but we did contact them directly. Sabina dragged me to the ruins and we sat just outside the trees. She told me that the congregation was responsible for reversing the fire and it was the fire that woke them up.”

“The fire? It wasn’t even near the remains of their structure, why would it…?”

“I’m not sure, Sabina seemed to know more about it than she was letting on. Anyways, when I started asking her about their history and who they were, she just smiled and said it would be better to show us than tell us. She said they had already tried reaching out, but had not wanted to push too hard in case it might scare you.”

“Me?” I realized where this was going. “So the dream about the fire was a first attempt at showing me their history. Ok.”

“Exactly. She asked how I thought you would react to seeing things through their eyes and I told her that you had done that before with Sylas and it hadn’t been a problem.”

“Right.” I encouraged him to continue.

“She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them she said that the leader of the congregation was heading to the house to let you know who they were.” He paused for a moment to let me process this, then asked, “So...Who were they?”

“They were…” I struggled to translate the visions I had had during the night into words. “Believers is the right name, that’s what they called themselves. I think they were a break away group from an already marginalized sect of Puritans, although I could be wrong. They lived a communal lifestyle that kept the men and women separated but valued love above all else.” I searched through the images that had passed through my head and came up with, “Union. They didn’t really call it love, they called it union. But it meant the same thing.”

“Union,” Ben pondered the word and speculated, “I wonder if that’s why the house beside Evelyn’s is called ‘union house’?”

“Must be,” I agreed, “Though that house dates from after the period I witnessed, but probably still in living memory. Perhaps someone who knew these people built the house and named it in their honor.”

“I asked her why the leader wanted to show you and not me, since he seems to have spoken through me recently, and she said he felt a kinship with you, like you understood their struggle. She seemed a bit mystified by this so I didn’t pursue it. Well, that’s it. We went back into the house after that and I went to get you for supper but you were already asleep, and hard as a rock.” He sighed wistfully, “But that’s alright, I got what I wanted this morning.”

We had reached the museum and he kissed me goodbye before turning toward the boarding house. This opened a whole new line of inquiry in researching the ruins. I tried to think of how to do historical research from a period when there were no civic records or newspapers. When heather arrived I immediately put the problem before her, sharing what insights I could from the dreams.

“Oh, we’re back to this again,” she chuckled. “I wonder if any of the major historical journals consider an interview with a ghost as a primary document?” Then in a more serious tone she added, “Not a problem, really, at that time this area was considered part of the next town, so I can check their archives, and there’s always the county archives, they’re only a twenty minute drive from here. Now that we have a narrower time frame and a specific group to look for it should be a bit easier.” She seemed to be exploring something in her head and continued, “I wonder…There is no Native American community in this area anymore, but there might be some information or oral traditions within tribal archives. I’m not sure where to go for that, but I can do a little digging, I might find something.”

I thanked her for her willingness to help with this, and left her to pursue the lines of inquiry she had already identified. The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, until Ben showed up for lunch.

“No picnic today,” he apologized. “I’m just getting back from the boarding house. How about we hit the diner?”

I agreed and we walked toward the waterfront. With school starting the population had shifted. Many of the summer people had left, but they had been replaced by college students so the downtown was still as busy as ever. We chose a pub on one of the wharves and asked for an outside table so we could watch the ocean. “So what did Andi have to say?”

“She mostly listened,” he reported. “Everything I told her elicited at least ten minutes worth of questions and answers. She wanted to know everything, every little detail. Of course I couldn’t give her details about your dreams, but I offered what I could. She’s going to come and pick you up from work so she can pick your brain on the walk back to the Hathaway, just a heads up.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I chuckled. “I don’t think I can fit everything in, it’s not a long walk, but I’ll give it some thought and try to prioritize what I think was important.” I wondered aloud, “You’ve been there for over three hours, that must have been one intense conversation.”

“It was, but Andi wasn’t the only one there. I chatted with her for about an hour and a half, then Mr. Phipps stopped me and wanted an update on the kids. How were they doing? Were they looking forward to school this morning? How had they calmed down since the fire? That was at least another hour right there.”

I laughed, “Of course it was. How is Phil?”

“He’s fine, focused on getting the new tenants settled in. Both of them had classes today, so I still haven’t met them yet. Oh, and by the way, he wants to know if we would come to dinner some night soon, just to visit and have a chance to get to know the newbies a little better.” He looked at me and grinned. “He also said that there would be no danger of anymore autograph hounds this time. Are you doing that almost famous thing again?”

“I guess, one of them was a fan of my book so I offered to sign it, no biggie.”

“How magnanimous of you.” He dripped with mock condescension.

After the waiter took our order I asked, “What about him, he has a nice tight little ass?”

Ben didn’t quite get where I was heading and shot me a questioning look, “Who?”

“The waiter, silly, didn’t you notice him?”

“Not really,” he stammered. “I mean, yeah, he’s cute and all, but I wasn’t...”

“Well he was checking you out.”

“Really?” Ben asked in disbelief, turning his head to search for slender young man.

“Big time,” I confirmed. “From the way he was looking at you I think he wants to take more than just your order.”

“Stop it!” Ben actually blushed.

When the waiter returned with our drinks Ben paid more attention but still seemed befuddled by the whole thing. I took the initiative and asked, “What time do you get off?” Ben looked at me, horrified. “Asking for a friend,” I added, gesturing to Ben with my eyes. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to climb under the table and disappear, but the waiter took it in stride and smiled.

“That depends,” he replied with a knowing smile. “But I get out of work at three.” He gave Ben a quick wink and moved to another table to see what they wanted.

Once he was out of earshot Ben glared at me and growled, “I’m gonna kill you! That was so embarrassing.”

“Why?” I laughed. “We’re all adults here. He’s clearly interested and you want to satisfy that curiosity. Why be coy?”

“I just…” He looked at me in confusion, unable to identify why he was so insecure around other men.

“You do realize how sexy you are, right?”

“I’ve never really thought about it,” he muttered. “I’m too fat to be sexy, and I don’t have a six pack…”

“Oh my god!” I sighed. “Are you serious? You’re not fat, you’re beefy, muscular. I think you are the sexiest man on the planet. Don’t you see how other guys look at you? Helmut couldn’t get enough of you the other night, I had to pull him off of you.”

“Well, Helmut is a sex fiend.” he speculated.

“That’s true,” I admitted. “But still, that waiter was ogling you like crazy, and he did…”

“Oh! I saw Helmut today too, he said he wanted to talk to us about the boys. He knows they’ve been masturbating together and he said he had a feeling there was more going on than just simple jerking off. He didn’t seemed too worried, but he did want to chat at some point.”

“Ok, we’ll do that, but don’t change the subject.” I brought him back to the task at hand. “That waiter just told you when and where you could meet up with him. It’s up to you of course, but there’s no need to be shy. Come back here at three and hang around outside, make yourself visible, come in and buy a soda just before his shift ends, something. Then see if there’s any kind of chemistry. After all, You’re not looking for anything lasting, just a quick fuck under the pier or in the woods.”

He looked at our waiter, who was delivering food to another table, and mused, “His ass is cute.” He turned to me quickly and added, “But not as cute as yours.”

I reached over and stroked his cheek. “I know you love me. I’m not worried., just play safe. You have my permission,”

He looked at the waiter and then back at me and smiled.

“Go ahead,” I encouraged him, “Scratch that itch.”