Heart and Houses for Sale: I Remember You...

'The house on the hill is in escrow, at last," Selene said. "The owners left an antique brass chandelier and it made all the difference."

"Maybe Louise figures that bright light will lure Lieutenant Broom home," Hopi said.  "Perfect. I had a surprise for you, and now it will be an occasion!"

Selene wasn't so sure about this. Ever since Hopi had made a joke about murdering the people in the decrepit tree house behind the house--the house that was her only listing, he didn't seem quite right. But then, again, give a person the benefit of the doubt, right? 

"I'm not big on surprises," she said. "I won't know how to dress." Enough for surprises from you, Mr. Henry Olden Powell, III, she thought--actually the thought ran through her head like a wire service.

"We're going to dinner with some of my friends. You know Miriam and Joav. It's in Palos Verdes, so you'll need to wear the gift I'm bringing when I pick you up, " he said. "I see you in a beautiful flowing dress, easy on and easy off. You have a dress like that, don't you?"

"I'll have to, ah, hum, just a minute," she said putting the receiver in her lap and evening out her breath. She popped on the speaker phone and put the receiver back. She loosened her lavender silk kimono, shifted around, and began rubbing body lotion on one leg. "You mean like an Ophelia flowing down the river dress?," she asked.

"I want to see you," he said.

"It would seem so, " she said. She liked talking with him when she was fresh from the shower, naked and still damp. 

"You aren't still upset about that bad joke, are you?" he asked. " Look you found out it was twenty years ago that somebody was murdered there. And the house still sold." 

Time to change the subject. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember Miriam and what's his name. You said I sold them a house?" Selene said. 

"Joav. You'll remember when you see him.  They remember you very well," he said. "You introduced them to the mind eraser. And Joav went home with your red lace panties in his pocket."

"He did not!" Selene said. "I remember. He kept saying he didn't think the proportion of Kahlua to vanilla vodka to soda water was right, and he drank us under the table." Selene let the kimono fall back and smoothed lotion across her shoulders and collarbone.

"Were you wearing red lace panties?" he asked.

"No," Selene said. "I wasn't wearing any panties."

"That's what I mean by flowing," he said. "I'll make you my version of  a mind eraser tonight."

I'll be sipping tomato juice all day tomorrow, Selene thought, if I agree to this. Is he for real or am I a sucker for this guy? 

And that's the truth. To some extent.

to be continued...