Hearts and Houses for Sale: Ooooohhh

"So, let me get this straight. No matter how much they put down on the house, you'll offer a loan at 4% for the balance of the loan. No strings attached."

I'm picking at my pad thai, getting it onto the chop sticks just right so it doesn't fall into my lap. Aaaah, got it. So good. "Is there anything else I need to know about this?"

"Just tell me something that will make me happy," Hopi says. "Like, how they'll rebuild the tree house and plant daffodils out front that will bloom in the early spring." 

I can't help but laugh. "Corny, but okay. When they rebuild the tree house, I'll suggest they put in a second level."

"I want more than that. I'm serious. If those boys are going to sleep up there at night, then they should have proper reading light, not flashlights. I don't want to be responsible for their bad eyesight later in life." 

We're at a table for two in a back corner. Thick blinds cover the windows so it is dark in here even though it is not outside. A little tea light burns in a plastic lily pad that floats in a bowl of water. Lots of atmosphere, for a late lunch.

"Well, I don't think they'll have any problem with that, especially the terms, but what if, for some reason they decide to put a viewing area on the roof instead of rebuilding the treehouse?" I'm fascinated by his generosity and warmth.  This is another side of a man who seems to have many sides, or reinvents himself more often than Madonna. 

He offers me some of his rice. It's perfectly clumped on the chopsticks. "As long as they're playing up there and not falling off. A space ship to the stars could be launched from that rooftop, it is so flat." He flattens his hand and flies it off the table and into the air.

"Why are you doing this? I have to know." He's really funny! Who knew? My head ache is gone. I'm his real estate agent, and now I'm making the sale for the Broom family also.  All in a week's time, seemingly out of thin air. "What's really going on here?" I ask. It isn't what it seems. I just know somehow. 

"I want that family to be happy in my house," he says. "I want to be able to drive by and see it from the street. For my mother, too, she never got to see her grandchildren play."

"That's very nice," I answer. "But, you listed the house under your corporation, then blurted out the truth when we were naked and now you're giving them the house as though they were long lost family.

Hopi sat back in his chair and toyed with his napkin. "I haven't been truthful with you, Selene. Yes, I've been divorced, but I'm married. My wife lives in  Sao Paulo, as do I most of the time. I have two teenagers, an Australian Sheepdog, and I'm here from time to time developing a new surgical robot."

Funny, but I wasn't angry. At least not at the moment. I was speechless, however. A bowling ball hit the floor in the bowling alley next door then rolled and crashed into the pins, probably all of them by the sounds of things.

"Oh," I said. And I could imagine the look on my face--two little eyes wide open, and one mouth round and emitting the sound, 'oooooh'-- pretty much matching the 3-hole openings in that bowling ball.   

And that's the truth. To some extent.

to be continued

Hearts and Houses for Sale: On a short hiatus

Selene, super real estate agent and her intrepid lover, Hopi--Henry Olden Powell, III will return on Wednesday. Meantime, Selene is visiting family out of town.

Her sister, Tina, is recovering from a bad cold, but fortunately, her new husband is home to nurse her back to health. 

Selene's boss has gone to New Orleans for Valentine's weekend. No one is supposed to know. His wife thinks he is working...

Oh, and Louise and Lieutenant Broom and the boys are with grandpa, Aodham McPhearson, on a cruise to Mexico -- thanks to grandpa generosity. Hopefully, when they return a loan will be available for them to go ahead with the purchase of the now notorious 'house on the hill' with the falling down tree house.

And that's the truth on this day after Valentine's Day.  To some extent.

continued on Wednesday  

Hearts and Houses for Sale: The Mask

"What you see, isn't always what you get," Selene said to her sister, Tina, as she snapped on the bedside lamp.  "All I said, was that he should practice."

"Do you like him?" Tina asked. "Is he weird or not?"

"I don't know what to think of him," she said, sitting up in bed and removing the warm cloth from her forehead. "He's fun, he's smart. Did I tell you that already?"

"You said he brought you a semi-precious gemstone snake bracelet. You thought you owed him."

Selene got out of bed and opened the French doors to her small bricked patio. She stuck her finger into the soil of a droopy Azalea. It was dry. "The bracelet is beautifiul, that he couldn't do it, well, it wasn't a problem for me, I really didn't care. Things don't always work out, especially after a lot of drinking. He just took it the wrong way." No stars, but a huge perfect moon. Her nipples ached in the chilly air. 

"He didn't take it any-way, from what you're saying," Tina added. She took a drag on a smoke.

"You're smoking," Selene said. "What are you smoking?" She stood still and listened intently. "Just go back to cigarettes. I'm not seeing a psychiatrist, he's a surgeon. Let's howl at the moon together and see how we feel."

"I took a Valium, I'm already relaxed," her sister said. "Don't make me tense. He's a surgeon. So, I can understand how that could cut both ways."

"I like him enough," Selene said as she slipped into sweat pants and a shirt. "He's got these piercing dark eyes especially in the moonlight, but I just can't get the thought of him hacking up a family out of my mind."

"So, with that in mind, you tell him to go practice when he can't do it," her sister replied. "If you're lucky, you won't be seeing him for awhile. Not until he practices enough to get it to work again. Or comes back to stab you. That didn't come out right. I mean, well, it scares me."

"I never thought of it like that," Selene slid her feet into Uggs.  "Do you think he thought I meant he couldn't do it, and he needed to practice with someone else?"

"Yeah, with somebody else. You know, practice and learn," Tina said. "Pretty insulting, huh."

Selene poured tomato juice in a bucket glass and stuck in a straw. Then she saw it. His surgical mask was on the kitchen counter. It must be his. Who else could it belong to? "Tina, this is really weird, but..."

And that's the truth. To some extent.

to be continued...