Ghost of a Chance

Ghost of a Chance - By Kirkendoll, Kara

Chapter 1 The Wheel of Fortune

As she sat staring out over the aged and water stained balcony, sipping on her third cup of java for the morning, and nursing an incredible hangover, Drew wondered what she was going to do now that she had been evicted from her second floor French Quarter apartment. She flicked a cigarette with one hand and absent mindedly rolled a lone ivy leaf that had made its way over the top of the banister in the other.

It wasn’t her fault the stupid old ladies had been out walking in the middle of the night when she and her friend Liza had decided to moon the sleeping neighborhood.

Didn’t old people have curfews or something? She thought.

It was the French Quarter. People showed body parts all of the time, but it just so happened that she knocked her shot glass off of the balcony, and knocked one of them in the head. She wasn’t quite sure what caused her to do the things that she did sometimes. Last night’s mishap had been brought on by the dozens of margaritas that she and Liza had devoured, one right after the other, or it could have been the countless shots of tequila. Either way, it was New Orleans. It was the place for partying right? Wasn’t that what you were supposed to do?

It wasn’t like she was a complete loser that did nothing but get drunk and into trouble all of the time. She had a good job working at the local art gallery, and if she would ever get her head out of her ass and try to sell some of her own work she might be able to make some extra money for a down payment on her own home. She didn’t think that she would be able to get another apartment this time. After all of the bad references she had had in the past she had barely gotten this one.

She played with the hot pink strand of hair that hung unruly in front of her eyes. There was no way she was calling her mother. She hadn’t talked to her since last Christmas when she showed up at the “family” dinner completely inebriated. She didn’t know what the big deal was; she was having a good time after all.

Drew was an only child, and for many reasons she preferred it that way. She would have hated to have had someone else to look after growing up. She could barely look after herself and Lord knows her mother hadn’t done a very good job of it. Any brothers or sisters that she would have been blessed with would have ended up being her responsibility.

She didn’t know how long it had been since she had been able to sleep in and not because she wasn’t allowed to. This particular morning was no different. She had watched the sun rise just as she had many mornings before, whether it had been from staying up all night or just tired of tossing and turning trying to get a few minutes of sleep. She didn’t need to look inside over her kitchen counter to know that it was now creeping up on the eight o’clock hour and she was in no way near ready to get off her butt and start the day.

A large bang came from what sounded like the living room area. Liza must have decided to join the living by falling off of the couch. Poor Liza, she had been Drew’s best friend since Drew beat up that girl for her back in Junior high. She couldn’t remember her real name, but she and Liza had called her Kelly, because she looked and acted like she was a perfect young Kelly Barbie doll. The bitch.

Liza had been kind of a geek in school and after that day in gym class when Drew had had just about enough of those preppies picking on anyone that didn’t look and act just the way they did, Liza had followed her around like a shadow. It kind of annoyed Drew at first because at the time she was happy being a loner. After a couple of weeks though, the two were inseparable.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Drew yelled in through the sliding doors that she had left wide open. It was the middle of August and hot as hell in New Orleans. Her air conditioner was running full blast but she didn’t really care since it was in the lease that the owners paid the utilities. She planned on letting the water run for a while that afternoon as well.

“What?” Liza yelled back.

Drew snorted. She and Liza had been on a three day drunk. She lived way too close to Bourbon Street anyway, she had decided. It was too damn tempting.

Going back to work the next day was going to be a bitch. She loved her job and it was probably the only thing that she did right in her life. , the lights were way too bright some days in that gallery.

“Where the hell are my pants?” Liza asked as she stepped out on the patio. Drew noticed that Liza’s pixy haircut was flat on one side while the other stood up on end. She looked like she had slept upside down on the couch with one side of her head lying flat against it.

“Who gives a shit?” Drew asked. “I can’t get evicted twice in the same day can I?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact I did once.” Liza said seriously.

They both laughed at that. Liza was always on the straight and narrow until she got around Drew. Liza getting evicted twice in one day when she was in college was pretty much Drew’s fault though. Drew had come to visit Liza for the weekend and stayed in her dorm after hours even though she wasn’t allowed (but that is another story). When Drew decided to use the dorm showers the next morning and walked back to the room naked with nothing but a towel on her head and a pair of black thongs, the two girls were escorted out of the dorms immediately. Liza had to even wait a couple of days before they would let her come back and get her things. At the time though, her most valued possession was her bong. The jerks had confiscated that though while she was on her little “vacation” away from the dorm. The second eviction for the dayhad been from Drew’s apartment. Of course Liza couldn’t tell her parents that she was evicted so she stayed at Drew’s. It wasn’t their fault the floor was rotted out and when they tried to do the Lavern and Shirley walk down Drew’s hallway, they both fell through the floor into the downstairs tenant’s bedroom. Thank God they landed on the bed and no one was seriously injured.

“Did you really get evicted?” Liza asked.

“Yep! A great big red notice on the front door this morning, plus a written lecture on how I need to respect my elders.”

“You went out your front door this morning?”

Drew thought about that for a minute and laughed. “Yea, I guess I did.”

They both sat in silence for a moment. Liza lay on her back in nothing but boy shorts and a tank top. Drew sat in her lawn chair already dressed in jean shorts and a tight pink TShirt that read “Yes, they are real”. She was still contemplating where she was going to go. The owners had only given her a five day notice.

“Why?” Liza said.

“Why, what?”

“Why did you go out your front door this morning?” Liza asked in awe.

“To check the mail.”

“It’s Sunday.”

“Oh.” Drew said. “That’s probably why I didn’t have any.”

“What the hell are you going to do?” Liza said.

“Check it tomorrow after work I guess.” Drew said absently.

“I’m not talking about the mail, dork! I meant what are you going to do about the apartment?”

“Well, I am not really sure yet. I could always move in with you and Tim and your little army of sunshine.” Drew batted her eyes at her friend.

“No, really, what are you going to do?” Liza laughed she hated that Drew’s angel like face made her feel like glitter should be falling from the sky when her lashes fluttered that way.

Though she loved Drew to death, she wasn’t into the partying scene like Drew was. This weekend had been the first drinking craze that she had been on in a long time. She was actually happily married with three kids. Her family just happened to be on vacation without her to Tim’s parent’s house for the weekend. There was no way that she would still be married in a week if Drew moved into her house.

Liza admired and pitied Drew at the same time. She loved her free spirit and how nothing could bring her friend down. She also loved that she was very honest, sometimes brutally,and that if she had something to say she wasn’t afraid to let it out. She felt sorry for her though because she knew deep down that Drew was struggling with a past that she probably hadn’t even told God about.

Drew would never talk about her personal life even to her though, her closest friend. She didn’t have to be a psychiatrist to tell that something was wrong. Even she knew that Drew wasn’t fooling anyone with the tough girl rebel routine. She was hiding something that Liza knew she desperately needed to get out. Besides, the girl was 25 years old. It was time to grow up. Maybe finding out that life doesn’t always just pick itself back up when you knock it down was what her friend needed.

“I love this apartment. It looks out over all of the nosey people in the city.” Drew whined. “I can walk to work. Depending on which way the wind is blowing I can smell the garbage from Bourbon Street or the bakeries at Jackson Square. Who could ask for a better place to live?” She stood over the balcony looking out at the buildings that surrounded her. She had never roamed far from the city. It was where she felt that she belonged. She had no intentions of leaving.

“Well, I for one have only stayed with you three nights and am already sick of the smells down here. I love you, Drew, but I am ready to go home to my little suburb across the Ponchatrain. It is quiet there and I don’t have to worry about how close I carry my purse or if someone is going to puke on my shoes.”

Drew snorted at that. “It isn’t that bad here, if you aren’t a tourist that is.”

“No, it is great really, just not every day for me.”

“I guess I could always go back to tending bar at Boudreaux’s. He nearly fell to the ground weeping when I took the job at the gallery. If hewasn’t gay I would swear he was in love with me.” Drew cooed, batting those eyes again making Liza roll her own.

“Do you think he would give you your old loft back, the one that you didn’t ever sleep in because you lived right over the bar and partied every morning until 6 or 7?” Liza asked.

“Good point. I couldn’t live there and still work at the gallery. I’d never make it to work.” She said chewing on her nail, contemplating another cigarette. “I still need to find a part time job though. I really need to buy my own place. My credit isn’t the greatest in the world though.”

“You are rambling. Why don’t you go back to fortune telling? You are great at reading tarots and palms.” Liza suggested.

“Because the last few times I tried to read other people’s tarots I kept coming up with the same cards. I seriously doubt that girl Cookie from “the corner”, a computer geek, and a bakery chef are going to all end up with the same fortune. Then I tried to read them for myself and guess what? The same exactcards!” Drew said as she got up and walked towards the balcony rail again.

“Did you remember to shuffle them?” Liza laughed. Drew just glared at her, making her friend take her a little more seriously.

“Well, what were the cards?” Liza was always very interested in Drew’s other worldly ventures though she never could tell if Drew was taking it seriously herself or not. Coming from her Nana’s “witchy” world she knew all about tell-tale signs of the future and sometimes how the past opened doors for the future. Drew may not have believed in what she practiced, but Liza did.

“Ten of the Major Arcana, which is really strange; The Wheel of Fortune, The Fool, Hermit, The Moon, Chains, The Lovers, Death, Judgment, Justice, and The Sun. The meanings aren’t exactly what they sound like.” Drew said when she saw the horror on Liza’s face. “At least, they aren’t supposed to be.”

As she watched a couple walk by holding hands and noticed that the poor boy had been suckered into buying one of the crazy ladies roses down the street, she thought to herself that there was one card that bothered her more than any of the others, even the Death card, and that was the Sixth card, “The Lovers”.

Drew was trapped in her own secret world, a world where no men were allowed. Shedidn’t mind putting the act on when she was bartending. Of course she knew the more you flirted and the more you let peek out around the edges the more tips you got, but that was as close to men as she would ever get. She had had many phone numbers slipped her way and many propositions that most women would die for, but not Drew.

She could blame that one on her first step-father. She had been a very beautiful blonde headed, blue-eyed little girl. Everyone would tell her that she looked like an angel. Somehow, she never let it go to her head. Her step-father had been obsessed with her and he had taken that obsession just a little too far. Drew still had her virginity, but she had been about a half of a second away from losing it at twelve years old. She hated him from the first moment that she met him and yet her mother had refused to listen to her when she would tell her just how uncomfortable he would make her feel.

One night, her mother found out for herself when she walked in on her step-father about to ruin the rest of all of their lives. Drew was glad for her mother’s sake that it didn’t happen. As far as Drew was concerned, it may as well have happened and it was never going to happen again.

“Drew, you know you can talk to me about anything.” Liza said sitting up now on the balcony floor. She noticed that Drew had gone off into one of her dream lands again. The Ivy leaf that Drew had been rolling around between her fingers now looked like a ball of mush and Drew’s finger and thumb had turned green.

“Oh, I’m fine… really.” She said to Liza as she looked skeptical. “I’m just really tired and very hung over.”

“Ditto. I think it is more than that though, and I wish that for once you would just tell me what is on your mind. You have known all of my life long secrets since we were fourteen. Don’t you think that it is time that you let me in even just a little bit?” Liza held up her thumb and pointer as if to indicate that she really did mean it could be the tiniest bit of information.

“Liza, you sound like a jealous husband.” Drew said rolling her eyes then turning back to the city.

“Well, Drew, sometimes I feel like I am a worried parent with you, and we have been together longer than most couples stay together anymore so why not? Just talk to me.”

Drew stared at what she could see of the top of the St. Louis Cathedral. She loved Jackson Square. She loved New Orleans. She had been born and raised in Hammond, about an hour north of New Orleans. Her mother would bring her to the market at Jackson Square though every chance she got when she was a child. Drew had made friends with the local artists. The painters, singers, piano players, even the mimes would wink silently at her as she walked by, she loved them all.

She remembered being about six years old and standing in front of a very old building and listening to someone play the piano, it was the most beautiful music she had ever heard and it had been coming from one of the windows above. (Later, she heard the same tune being played in a movie and had to blink the tears back as she refused to cry.) She watched an old man draw a painting of the building in front of her at the same time. It was almost like magic. The man’s brush strokes seemed to match the beat of the music. He drew her into the picture and then handed it to her. Her mother tried to hand the man some money but he wouldn’t accept it.

Drew thought about that now. Knowing that was probably the man’s only income and he wouldn’t accept her payment for the drawing. He had said with a toothless smile that it was for the little angel who had given him the inspiration that was sure to last him for the rest of the day.

“Do you ever wonder why at twenty -five years old, I am still a virgin?” Drew said still staring out at the buildings. Drew’s shoulders shot up then as if she were expecting a blow. She was usually very careful about what she said when it was about her, this time it just fell out of her mouth.

If Liza had been standing up she was sure that she would have fallen right back down. Never in the eleven years that they had known each other had the subject been brought up. Sure, every now and then they would joke about making out with guys or how Drew had never been in a serious relationship. Liza had just assumed that what Drew did behind closed doors was something that she kept to herself. How could she be her best friend and never know that she had never had sex with anyone?

“Drew, I am as plain Jane as they get and I have a husband and three kids at twenty-five. How can you still be a virgin when you have the body of an underwear model and the face and hair of an angel?”

Drew laughed and turned to sit down in front of her closest friend and the only person that she had ever talked to about what was getting ready to be said in her life.

“First, and most importantly, you are not plain Jane. You are very beautiful and you know it. Do you remember that day that I beat the crap out of Kelly in the 7th grade?”

“Of course I do. I think that you have gotten me in enough trouble since then that we should be pretty much even by now though.” Liza laughed, but the laugh didn’t quite make it to her ocean colored eyes.

“Did you even know who I was before that day?” Drew asked.

“Drew, you were the strange girl who always sat in the corner by yourself at lunch and who would rather go to ISS then read a report or answer a question aloud in class. If anyone spoke to you, you would turn your head and pretend not to hear them. I remember following you around like a lost puppy until you finally broke after the “Kelly” day.” Liza sighed and took a moment to calculate her words. “You have been a different person since then though. You are fun and outgoing and everyone that knows you loves you. Though, sometimes I think that you make people a little uncomfortable when you aren’t in your element.”

“Why do you think I stay around here? Everyone is weird around here. I fit right in!” Drew smiled.

“You aren’t weird, Drew. You are definitely different, but you aren’t weird by any means. Now, are you going to tell me why it is that you are still a virgin or are you going to make me follow you around for the next two weeks to get you to open up again?”

Drew laughed starting to relax a little. “Yes, I was getting there. The reason that I was such a loner before that day was because just two years before I was almost raped by my stepfather.”

Liza gasped. “Drew! Oh my God! What happened?”

“Well, I was twelve years old and my mother had been remarried for about 3 months. I tried and tried to tell her that the guy was a creep. He just gave me a really bad feeling, you know?” Drew paused to light a cigarette and to take a moment. She had never spoken about this to anyone and she knew that it was time to get it all out. As uncomfortable as it made her, there was a huge change coming and she thought that if she talked about her past, maybe it would help her ease into the future. “He was constantly trying to get me to sit on his lap and he even would beg to brush my hair after my bath at night. Mom kept saying that he was just trying to be a dad, but at twelve years old that was just a little too much.”

“That is something that you do with a six year old, Drew, not a twelve year old.” Liza said still in awe.

“Yes, I know. I knew it then to. Anyway, one night my mom called and said that she was going to be working late at the diner because of some big meeting that they were supposed to have. I took my nightly bath and put on my robe and headed for the bedroom. Jack,” Drew shuttered at his name. It was the first time she had said it in many years, and just to prove that she could, she said it again. “Jack, my step- father at the time, was sitting on my bed whenever I got out of the bathroom. He said that he thought it would be nice if he could tuck me in since my mom wasn’t there. My mom stopped tucking me in when I was five.” Drew’s eyes started tearing up now.

In the many years that Liza knew Drew, she had seen her cry only one other time and that was when she ran away from home at sixteen. Her mother was getting re-married. Liza understood now why Drew had been so upset. Either she had been worried about her mother, or she couldn’t bear going through another “daddy” again. Either way, she now understood, years later, what Drew must have been going through in her poor mind.

“I told him that I was too old to be tucked in and asked him to please leave the room so that I could put my pajamas on and go to bed. He got up then and said that he would help me with my pajamas. I told him that I was a big girl and to please get out. He said, “Alright then, let me just have a hug good- night.” His slimy hands undid my robe then and he pushed me down on the bed.”

Drew was shivering now. Liza reached for her hand and nodded her head in an effort to let her know that it was ok and to go on. She hated to see her friend like this and really didn’t want to hear the rest. She thought that it was probably time for Drew to get it out after so many years of holding something so terrible in and continued to listen. Her eyes which normally looked so light and easy going looked cold now. It was definitely time to get rid of what must have been weighing her down for so long.

“I remember how soft his hands were. Like a creepy soft. Do you remember “Of Mice and Men” when the man kept his one hand in a glove of Vaseline all day for his woman at night? Creepy.” She paused again then swallowed hard. “He cupped my breast with one hand and was undoing his pants with the other. I remember feeling his “man-hood” on my inner thigh. He was almost there, Liza! My mom came running in when she heard me screaming from the driveway.”

Drew laughed and tried to shake off the fit of hysteria that she felt coming on. “I had a beautiful lamp that my real father had bought me when I was only four. It was like a Cinderella doll with a gorgeous dress and it was big and heavy. My mother picked that thing up and knocked him right square in the face with it. She wrapped my robe around me then and told me to go to the bathroom, lock the door, and get dressed and not to move until she came and got me.”

“What happened to the a*shole?” Liza said through her own tears that she hadn’t realized had fallen and through teeth that were close to cracking from grinding so hard.

“He was arrested. Last I heard he was living somewhere in Michigan. He is on the child molester list or whatever. I don’t know and I don’t really care. I wish I could go back in time and cut his damn balls off though. If my father wasstill alive the man wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

Drew barely remembered her real father. He had died when she was very young, but she liked to imagine that if he and his mother had been divorced instead of him dying, he would have come and rescued her. It wasn’t that she blamed her father of course; she just wished that things could have been much different.

“So, you are afraid of men now?” Liza asked.

“No. I’m not afraid of men.” Drew put her arms around herself and shivered again. “The thought of having a man touch me like that again literally makes me want to puke though.”

“What about making out with Bobby and that one guy, what was his name, John, in high school? Remember the night at the lake and the drive through?” Liza asked.

“I never made out with those guys.” Drew said rolling her eyes as she was getting back up now and heading into the house. She looked back at Liza, “I just told you that so you wouldn’t feel bad about losing your virginity in the back of Ernie Miller’s mom’s station wagon.” She ducked in the house now as she saw Liza reach for the coffee mug that was sitting on the table next to her. About two seconds later she heard the mug shatter against the brick wall of her apartment building.

“You bitch!” Liza laughed following Drew inside. “I haven’t thought about that pimple faced creep in forever! Now I am sure I will have nightmares! Have you ever even kissed a guy?”

“You mean besides the a*sholes who try to slip one in on me when I am bartending? No. I have had no desire, Liza. Does that make me a freak?”

“I think it makes you need to go out and get laid and find out what you are missing, chick.”

They both laughed at that. Liza knew that Drew was done talking about it now as she watched her start digging out her paintbrushes. She didn’t think that there was anything in the world that she could say to Drew that would help her any more than just letting her get it out. She realized that there was just one more thing that she needed to know though.

“Drew?” She said quietly.

Drew set down her papers and looked up at Liza. She was hoping that Liza didn’t want any more details about that night. Drew hadn’t eaten anything yet and really hated getting dry heaves. She was already on the verge of throwing up.

“You aren’t like, into girls are you? You, know, like a lesbian?” She explained when Drew looked confused.

Drew turned and walked to her then. She put one hand on Liza’s cheek then and the other one gently on her butt and watched as Liza’s mouth dropped to the floor. She said, “I have been waitingso long for this moment.” She leaned in then and smacked Liza hard on the open mouth.

“You are right. Maybe I do need to get laid.” She said through half closed eyelids. “But not with a girl, if I ever do change my mind though, you will definitely be my first choice.” Drew laughed then and gave her friend’s bottom a little squeeze.

“Such a….” Liza started then went to the living room to get her clothes. “I’m getting in the shower. Alone, and yes, it will probably be acold one.” She said after Drew raised her eyebrows at her.

Drew didn’t know how she had gotten through that. The countless psychiatrists that her mother had her sit with for months after that night couldn’t even get that much information out of her. Maybe it had just been time to let it all out. She just hoped that Liza wouldn’t feel uncomfortable around her now knowing her deepest, darkest secret.

Liza was feeling a bit nauseous after hearing about Drew’s horrible childhood experience. She took a longer than normal shower just thinking about everything and soaking up the heat of the water to try and get the feeling back into her chilled bones. How the hell was she was supposed to get Drew to fall in love after all that had happened to her? That would be like setting up Elton John with Ellen DeGeneres, some things just weren’t meant to be! If her Nana said it was to be though then she supposed it would all just have to fall into place somehow. With Drew’s eviction it was as good a time as any to get the ball rolling she supposed.

“Well, I have to get back soon.” Liza said as she came out of the bathroom looking like her normal, school teacher self. Tim and the kids are going to be coming home this evening and I have been very bad and need to get the house cleaned up before they get home. What do you say we go grab a bite to eat before I head out?”

“That sounds like a great idea! Believe it or not, I am starving.” Drew smiled. She was glad that they could go back to being their old selves again. Though Drew wasn’t feeling like her old self. She was feeling fresh and renewed. She felt better than she had in a very, very long time.

Though it wasn’t the fanciest place in the world, the girls both knew that they couldn’t go wrong with the Waffle House. There was nothing like sticky syrup, hot melted butter, and soggy waffles to soak up all of the liquor from the night before.

“Johnny Depp.” Drew said breaking the silence after they had made their order.

“Where!” Liza exclaimed jerking her head aro und. Drew thought that if she had moved it a centimeter more it may have actually popped off of her neck.

“Behind you!” Drew clicked her tongue, which was one of her annoying little habits that Liza had learned to ignore after so many years. Liza almost fell out of her chair trying to see in the booth behind them. “What I was going to say was, Johnny Depp is hot. Of all the men in the world, I could handle being stuck on a deserted island with him.”

“Sheesh, I thought you meant you saw him! For crying out loud Drew! You should really learn to think before you speak and then when you do actually speak, let it all out in a full sentence!”

Drew had to laugh as she watched Liza settle back down in her seat. Yes, they were going to be just fine. If there was one person in the whole world that she could count on for anything at all, including a good laugh, it was Liza.

“Harry Connick, Jr.” Drew said. Liza cocked her eyebrow up over her coffee mug. “No really, I think I just saw Harry Connick, Jr. walk in front of the Waffle House.” That’s when Liza spit her hot coffee all of Drew.

As Drew was locking up the front door that evening to head to Boudreaux’s for her first night back on the job, she noticed another paper stuck to her door. “Wow, Liza, I guess you really can get evicted twice in one day.” She said to herself. She took the paper down though and noticed that it wasn’t an eviction notice after all; it was a real-estate flyer. The paper was hot pink and she swore it was still warm, like it was hot off the press.

House and 10 acres for Sale:

$20,000

Furnished, castle-like, stone mansion with all new plumbing, wiring, and appliances. 6 bedrooms, 3 Bath, swimming pool and privacy fence.

Call (555) 555-5555

“Is this a joke?” Drew looked around to see if anyone was hiding in a corner laughing at her now.

There was no way someone was going to sell a house like that for $20,000 or for anything close to that for that matter. They would have to be desperate for drugs or something or, just downright insane, either one was a norm for New Orleans. She thought that she had $5,000 saved up in the bank already and if she turned in her life insurance that her mother had bought her when she was born she imagined that it would be worth at least $5,000 by now. So, maybe she could work something out. The place must be a real dump though. She shoved the paper in her bag and promised herself that she would at least inquire about it tomorrow.

Drew’s first night back at Boudreaux’s was absolutely crazy. It seemed the little hole in the wall had picked up business since the last time she had worked. She raked in $300 in tips and she didn’t even have to flaunt anything. It was great, but it was now 6:30 in the morning and she had to be at the gallery by 9. She calculated that this double shifting wouldn’t last more than a week.

The walk home at 6:30 in the morning wasn’t quite as peaceful as you would imagine it would be. Everyone stayed out until dawn there on the weekends and it seemed that rush hour never ended on the nearby highway. Dodging stumbling drunks and the homeless lying on the edges of the sidewalks was something that Drew had gotten use to as well.

By the time she walked home and grabbed a bite to eat and a shower she still had an hour before she had to leave again. She couldn’t decide if she was going to take a nap or make a phone call. Since she only had 2 days left her eviction from the apartment she decided that the phone call was probably her best and most important option.

It seemed the phone didn’t even get to ring before a gruff voice answered her call. “Yellow!”

A sarcastic man she thought, great! “Um, yea. I am calling about the house for sale? The one for $20,000? It was on a flyer on my door last night.” She waited for the guy to start laughing and correct her that the price was actually $200,000 or more like $2,000,000.

“Great! When do you want to sign the papers?” The guy said excitedly.

“Well, can I take a look at the place first?”

“Oh, right.” He said disappointed. “ Well, the place is really in great condition. It sets off by itself, sort of out in the country, do you have email? I can send you some pictures of it? It needs a little TLC on the outside, the inside is spectacular though. At least it was five years ago. I haven’t been in there since then. Probably needs some dusting.”

“Can’t I just meet you there? Can you tell me where it is?” Drew said a little confused.

After a long pause and then what seemed like an eternity of arguing that she wasn’t going to buy anything until she saw it, he finally decided to meet her there in 30 minutes. She would have to break out the Harley and she would have to call in late to work for the first time in 2 years but there was no way she was missing this one. She couldn’t wait to see what kind of scam this guy was trying to pull off.

The first road that she was supposed to take after exiting the highway was a washed out gravel road that she had never before in her many years of living in New Orleans noticed. As soon as she turned onto the road she spotted a fat old man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth leaning against a brand new silver Cadillac. He even looks like a con man. She thought to herself. She pulled up in front of him and he automatically held out a hand with a ring of keys.

“I will sit here for ten minutes. No more! Go take your peak and then meet me back here. If you take longer than that you can call me as soon as you get to a phone.” He started to get back into his car.

“Wait, you aren’t going to go with me?”

“Nope, I haven’t stepped foot on this land in 5 years and I ain’t goin’ do it now.”

“Alrighty then.” Drew clicked her tongue, stuck the keys to the house in her pocket and put her helmet back on.

“You got ten minutes, little lady.” He warned her again.

Drew gave him the thumbs up and then took off down the road. “Weird.” She mumbled to herself under her helmet.

About a mile up the dirt road and through some thick ass trees she noticed an old cemetery to her right. The cemetery wasn’t in the best shape she noticed. Since everything was pretty much flat or sinking in New Orleans she could pretty much see the house and everything around it once she cleared the trees.

She had to pull over and catch her breath. It was absolutely beautiful in a gothic sort of way. There were a lot of vines and weeds growing up over the iron fence that surrounded the castle, and yes, it was a castle, and it looked like a crap load of trash that had blown up around the fence and yard as well. It had definitely been a while since anyone had been up here.

She was glad that she had worn jeans and her Harley boots because it looked like it was going to be a wade through some tall grass and no telling what was living in the grass and weeds.

“Ten minutes? How the he ll am I supposed to check out this freaking mansion and be back in ten minutes?” She said out loud.

The place looked like it belonged in a Bram Stoker’s novel. The only thing it was missing were the gargoyles on top of the roof and the blood sucking undead of course. Though she couldn’t quite see the fine details of the architecture from where she was standing and hadn’t been inside yet. Who knew, maybe there were blood suckers living in there after all, or not living she supposed. She drove the bike around the fence as far as she could without running into more thick weeds.

It looked like there may have been a garden at one time and some very nice landscaping around the castle and then a privacy fence took up residence at the back of the house. She imagined that was where the swimming pool was. “It’s probably the home of the Swamp Thing by now.” She said to herself.

In her heart she had already made up her mind though. She didn’t care if the entire roof was falling in, she was in love, and she would get this house for whatever price she had to pay. It was going to be a lot of hard work getting it cleaned up though.

She started to turn around when she noticed a light flash in one of the upper windows. She squinted to see more but it was too bright outside. She figured maybe the crazy guy had someone up there cleaning or something but then she saw that the padlock was still locked on the outside of the gate and that there were weeds entwined around it as well. There was no way someone was in that house.

“The sun must have reflected off of a mirror or something.” She said again, shrugging to herself.

She got back on her bike wishing that she had more time to at least go inside the fence and raced down the road to try and make a deal with the guy.

He had started to back up when she came around the corner and stopped when he saw her. She pulled up beside the driver’s side window and he rolled it down with a dreadful look on his face.

“Look,” she said after taking off her helmet, “I’ve got $5,000 saved up in the bank right now and I can probably come up with another $5,000 by the end of the week…”

“Done!” He said excitedly. “I’ll take the $5,000 you got saved up today and you can use the other $5,000 you got to get the place cleaned up a little bit. Where do you bank at? I’ll meet you there this afternoon with the paperwork.”

Drew was halfway through her work day and still in awe. She had wondered how she hadn’t drooled on herself after watching the guy roll off and she still hadn’t closed her dropped jaw. She couldn’t believe that she was going to own a castle of her very own, and a cemetery she added to herself, this very afternoon for only $5,000. Maybe it was all a big scam. Maybe she would find out in a couple of days that the paperwork was fake and that she was out 5 grand but hey she was moving in tonight and getting a couple of days worth out of it anyway.

“Drew Taylor! I can’t believe that you would fall for such crap! Did you really hand over $5,000 to some fat, cigar smoking creep? Are you seriously moving into that place tonight? Have you lost your mind? Have you fallen off of your rocker? Have you…”

“LIZA! Enough!” Drew covered her eyes with her free hand willing the headache that was forming away. “Yes, I am moving into the house tonight and probably all of those other things that you said, but I just took one look at the place and had to! Will you please come down tomorrow after work and see it? I took the next couple of days off at the gallery and then I have the weekend to get organized. I would just really love for you to come and see it. You will understand then why I had to do it. Don’t say no!” She said as Liza started to protest. “And bring Tim’s weed eater and lawn mower I need to borrow it for a couple of days. I love you!” And she hung up. She didn’t think that she had ever heard so many buts come out of one person’s mouth before in such a short time.

It only took her two hours to pack up her belongings. The apartment that she had rented was fully furnished so she didn’t have to worry about much. Everything else had been in storage for the last couple of years and the storage company was happy to have everything delivered to her the next day.

She not so politely wrote on the bathroom mirror “thanks for nothing” in blood red lipstick and flushed the keys to the apartment down the toilet on her way out the door. As the front door slammed behind her she could have sworn that she heard a laugh from within the apartment. Drew smiled to herself, so maybe she didn’t like that place that much after all. Downstairs the taxi driver was already loading up her things and had already been given directions as to where to meet her with her stuff.

She was on her way to a new beginning she felt as she flew down the highway on her Harley. It was like the Wheel of Fortune was really turning for her. She couldn’t wait to be there. She couldn’t wait to see the inside of the house; her house. Halfway there she realized that she should have thought to make sure that the electricity was on. If it wasn’t, she wouldn’t be seeing much of anything tonight. She had never owned her own home before; she had a lot to learn she guessed.