Cliffhanger by Ulysses Grant Dietz

Author:Ulysses Grant Dietz [Dietz, Ulysses Grant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2020-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

As the old Mercedes motored down Route 9 in the soft afternoon sunlight, Alex and Xander talked over the high points of their overnight at Cliffhanger. After dinner with the Bannisters, feeling strangely supported and, even more, understood, they had returned to the house and spent an hour in the darkened mansion exploring the rest of the bedrooms on the second floor. Although they turned lights on and off as they went, a surprising amount of ambient light came into the central hall through the huge pyramidal canopy of glass overhead, making it navigable—if spooky—as they moved from room to room along the second floor balcony.

Only their room—the Bencliffes’ bedroom—had been aired out and uncovered for occupancy; the other four bedrooms and bathrooms were all cloth-draped and disused. Toby had reported that every few months a cleaning crew came to the house to vacuum the carpets and dust-mop the floors. That explained the general air of being kept up. The utilities were all functional. For a place that had been abandoned for half a century, it didn’t feel neglected.

Their night in Mr. and Mrs. Bencliffe’s bedroom had passed with eerie calm. No ghosts. No weird dreams. Not even any disturbing noises. The house was almost oppressively silent, the only night noises audible through the two big windows that Alex had opened slightly to let in the fresh night air.

The sheets had been soft, the mattress, though old, was firm and comfortable. The pillows were relatively new, reminding them that Homer stayed in the house when he visited the place every few years. Alex was mildly scandalized that Homer had simply assumed that he and Xander would sleep together. And touched. Definitely touched. Obviously, Homer felt something about them as a couple.

As if sharing his thoughts, Xander had turned his attention Alex’s way as he lay by his side reading his Kindle.

“Do you think Homer has some idea you and I—that we’re part of the solution to the puzzle?”

Alex looked over at him with a small smile. “I was just thinking that. Yeah. He does, I bet. But I don’t think he really understands any of it. In fact, I don’t think he’d really thought about any of this until you called him out of the blue.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think Homer sees us as the answer to his hopes and dreams. He’s been so alone for so long—no cousins left in his generation—it had all come down to him and his brother, and then grandfather took Ann away.”

“Finding us, or us finding him, is a big deal?”

“The fact that he watched us become a couple, sort of before his eyes, seems to have charged him up. Whatever lovers or boyfriends he had in the past are long gone. Now we’re here, and even better than that, we’re family.”

“Given him hope?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

At that point they’d moved into each other’s arms and had lost themselves in a gentle exploration of one another’s bodies. They had not had much opportunity for this since they lived with their parents.

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