House Rules

   It was totally empty. The guest room that was in the three-story home of the Slices. The ad said nothing about it being empty. Leaf Cole was a traveling photographer from New York. He ended up in the town of Lone Oak. MA by way of an assignment given him by the editor of his paper. Mr. Sam Sawn called Leaf to his office. “Hey, son I got an assignment for you in Lone Oak, MA.” “I need you to go and take photos of the town. This isn’t a big town, but I’m told it would be a perfect place for a movie.” A movie Leaf thought. Sam could see the look on Leaf’s face, he could tell Leaf was surprised by this. Mr. Sawn told him this assignment was kind of off the record. This assignment was for a movie that Sawn’s friend wanted to shoot and was looking for a location. The friend needed photos of the town. The photos would help him decide to film there or not. “What kind of movie is it?” Leaf asked. Sawn, told Leaf it was a ghost story of such. “Leaf, I will be paying for everything so don’t worry.” “I need you to get online and find yourself a place to stay, just let me know", Sawn instructed Leaf. He told Leaf to be prepared to be there for at least two weeks. Leaf had about a week to make his plans. He had it all done within three days. He decided to drive down, and even that was taken care of. He was provided a car but he chose to drive his own. A gas card was provided with no limit. Leaf thought, this must be important.

    Leaf found the ad online about the Slices guest room that was available. The ad said nothing about it being empty, not one word. This was his assumption because the ad never mentioned any amenities. Leaf thought nothing of it because at the same time, though it said nothing about being empty, it said nothing about what was in it. This had to be a misprint he thought. Leaf took the room because of the price. Why he was concern with the price was beyond him. He did not have to pay for it, and he knew it. He had already made an agreement that he would take it and time was of the essence, so he took it. The agreement was for two weeks with the option to extend if need be. Leaf arrived at the Slice house around 2pm on that Sunday. The address was 4217 Oak Tree Rd. The house was easy to find, of course the GPS made it easy. As Leaf was driving through the town, which was very quaint. It was nothing to write home about and I guess this was what Mr. Sawn’s friend was looking for, Leaf thought. He pulled up to the three-story house. It was white with black shutters around the windows that were across the fronts and sides The front door was black as well. What was odd, not so much the house but that the surrounding houses were almost identical. They were various colors, colors he himself had never seen on houses. But Leaf thought he was from New York which had mostly brick homes. So, this too Leaf put aside and gave it little thought. Leaf imagined that someone would come out to greet him, especially with his loud 2001 Red Mustang car. It had loud exhaust pipes that could be heard down the street, but no one came to the door, no one looked out the windows, nothing. Leaf took his black duffel bag from the trunk. And when he lowered the trunk there stood Mr. Slice in front of his car. It literally scared Leaf to the point he let out a squeal and dropped his bag. He shook his head and thought, “where in the heck did, he come from?!” He was not there when he pulled up. “Hello, my name is Bryan Slice, welcome to my home.” Mr. Slices held out his hand to shake Leaf’s. Leaf shook his hand and graciously accepted Bryan’s invite to his home. Bryan led Leaf inside and showed him the room he would be staying in. “Thanks for allowing me to stay in your home.” “I hope to be gone within two weeks and won’t have to extend my visit.” Leaf said. Bryan said nothing as he showed Leaf upstairs. Leaf thought that was strange, the man said not one word. The bedroom was upstairs and in the far corner of the second floor. The door the lead into the room was black. A piece of wood with the words guest sleeps here on it hung on the door. "Whoever carved those words into the wood did a very good job", Leaf thought he would vocalize this to Bryan in hopes to break the ice. Bryan again said nothing. He reached in his pocket retrieved the the key to the door. He proceeded to open it and the door swung open and Bryan allowed Leaf to go in first. Leaf did not know what to expect but knew he had better be prepared. However, much to his surprise there was a well decorated bed with two big pillows. The bed looked to be a queen size with four posts. It was made of wood, but he did not know what type of wood it was. The comforter was black, the curtains were black. Leaf did not notice the black curtains when he first pulled up. But none the less, Leaf was pleasantly surprised. He had a black recliner chair, a small desk with a lamp on it. There was a door that led to a small bathroom. It had a tub, shower sink mirror, just like back at home. He had a dresser and on it was what looked like a 32-inch flat screen TV. Bryan simply stood there saying nothing as Leaf took everything in and looked around. He finally spoke and again startled Leaf. “Mr. Cole.” Leaf interrupted him, “You don’t have to call me Mr. Cole.” “You can call me Leaf.” “I am not inclined to call you by your first name Mr. Cole. We don’t have that type of relationship.” Mr. Slices replied. “So, if you don’t mind, I will continue to call you Mr. Cole.” Leaf could do nothing but to respect Mr. Slices’ request. Mr. Slices without saying it, Leaf knew he wanted him to call him Mr. Slices. Leaf had no problem with that. Mr. Slices asked if he needed anything before, he left. Leaf was shown the closet with bed linen and with towels, all black. When asked if there was anyone else living in the house he was told, yes. Mr. Bryan Slices had three kids and a wife. They lived on the first floor. Mr. Slices handed Leaf a list of house rules for Leaf to read. Bryan, though he did not have much to say, he did however, quite sternly and somewhat insistently all but demand he read the house rules.

Leaf found Mr. Slices a nice guy but rather snappish. He had a snap reply for just about any question or comment Leaf had. He went back outside to his car after being shown the guest room. He still needed to get his camera equipment. When he got to his car there stood John Slices the older child of the Slices. The two Slices' girls were away. Mrs. Slices still had not made an appearance, but Leaf was okay with that. John walked around Leaf’s car and without being asked he began to give him a round down about it. The motor, horsepower etc. Leaf was impressed and it was clear that John was a car enthusiast. “You like cars I see”, Leaf spoke, breaking John’s gazed from the car. “Yes Sir, I do. I like how they can get up and go. I bet this can take off. It’s a Shelby. I know they got speed.” John could not deny it, they do, and he was proud of his car. His grandfather had bought it for him, and he had spent many hours and lots of money getting it just right. It had already had some wear and tear, but Leaf saw what could be. Leaf finished up his conversation with John and headed inside while John began to make his way down the street to meet his friends, Steve and Larry who were coming up the street. “Nice meeting you Sir.” “You too John.” Before he got too far up the street, he turned back toward Leaf and yells, “Read those house rules!”

    Leaf headed inside and almost made it up the stairs to the guest room when he heard, “Hello young man.” It was the softest voice he had ever heard. It was finally Mrs. Lucy Slices, Bryan’s wife. She was dressed like any other middle-aged housewife, white caprice pants, red sleeveless blouse that button down front, her sunglasses rested on her red shoulder length hair. She wore white Keds slip on tennis shoes to finish her summertime casual attire. Leaf had to admit she was a decent looking lady. She wore just enough makeup that you knew she had it on, but at the same time, it was not melting off her face. Leaf turned and spoke, “Hello Ma’am, how are you?” “I’m doing well”. She had just come in from the back of which Leaf was yet to explore but he figured he would in time. She had two bags in her hand, “would you like help with those”, Leaf asked. “No, I have them.” She set them on the kitchen counter. Leaf preceded to tell her he had met Bryan, her husband and John, her son. “Bryan? I am certain he corrected you, Mr. Slices, right?” Leaf was invited to eat dinner with them. It was the house rules that the first night’s dinner of all guest was on the house, afterward they were on their own. “Bryan did give you a copy of the house rules, right?”, she asked. “Yes, he did”, Leaf replied. “I hope you’ve taken time to read them.” “No, not yet”, Leaf replied. Okay, Leaf thought what was it with these house rules? That was the third time he had been told to read the house rules. What on earth could be so important that he had to read them? He thought, make sure all lights are out, keep door closed, no loud music, keep room clean, what? He continued in his mind, you buy and cook your own food and clean up after yourself if you cook your own food. Leaf laughed at himself at that one. He found himself in his room. The day had been long, and he was tired. He laid back on one of the big black pillows on the bed. On the nightstand laid the piece of paper Bryan had given him earlier, the house rules. He picked it up and begin to read. In the morning he thought if asked he would be able to say, “yes I read the house rule.” There was only one rule, Never open the attic door.