Appliances Included(2)
“Areyou the new people in the loony bin?” Sadie asked.“Ibeg your pardon?”Sadiepointed across the street. “Do you live there?”“Yes.”Sadie'sforehead wrinkled and her face took on an expression of concern,“What did they tell you about the place?”“Theytold us it was built in the 1800s, then gutted and turned into a homeabout a decade ago.”“Didn'tthey tell you it used to be a sanitarium?” Sadie studied Mary’sface and wagged her head. “I didn’t think so. Why would they?Your house has quite a history, not all of it appetizing. Do you wantto hear it?"Maryglanced down to check her watch and then looked at the posters in herhand. When she looked up, Sadie’s eyes were focused on the posterstoo. “I can help you put those up,” Sadie offered. “We can talkalong the way.” Themotor of Sadie’s scooter whined as she kept pace with Mary. Sadiedidn’t actually hang any posters, offering advice instead aboutwhich posters could be covered. “I’ve lived here my whole life,”she said pointing to a row of buildings behind her. “Your placebecame a sanitarium during the depression. I think it was a laundrybefore that. The laundry went belly up and the building stood vacantfor about five years. The Ricci brothers bought it cheap and opened asanitarium. At first, people got up in arms about having a crazyhouse in the neighborhood, but it was quiet and there was never alick of trouble until the police shut it down in the fifties. “Itseems the Riccis were collecting social security checks for morepatients than the place would hold. Whenever someone died, theywouldn’t report the death and just kept collecting checks. And, ofcourse, a death opened up a bed for someone new. But they got greedy.The Inquirer got wind of someone about to reach their 108thbirthday and sent a reporter out to do an <I>Oldest Living Person inPhiladelphia</I> human interest story. That blew the lid offeverything.
Sadiestopped at a lamp post and wagged her finger. “You can cover the‘Classic VW Bug for sale’ poster. It didn’t run and the copstowed it last month.” As they started up the block, Sadie resumedher story. “The strange part was, after the investigation, the copsnever found a single body. Where did they all go? The policequestioned the Ricci brothers and they claimed the missing patientsdidn't die, they just disappeared. The Riccis said they didn’t knowwhat happened to them. Of course no one believed them, including thejury.“Afterthat, the building sat vacant for forty years. Kids would break in,mostly teenagers doing what teenagers do. Every now and again one ortwo of them would go missing. Then in ninety-five, or maybe it wasninety-six, a nice gay couple bought the building for a song andstarted renovations. After they moved in, they began hearing noisesduring the night - voices. Geoff, one of the boys – listen to me,<I>boys</I>, they were in their fifties at the time.“Anyway,Geoff liked to talk to me because he said I reminded him of his deadmother.” Sadie took a drag from her cigarette and flicked off theash. “They say gays are supposed to be so damn sensitive, but Ididn’t see it. His dead mother for Christ sake, who wants to becompared to that? Oh well. Geoff said the voices came from thelaundry room. One night, his roommate - is that the right term, wentdownstairs to check on it and just disappeared. The police never didfind him.“Geoffwas despondent and scared. He moved away, New York I think, and letthe bank foreclose. Since then, no one has managed to live there morethan a year. New couples come and go. Only not all of them go.Usually someone winds up missing. Sometimes only a pet. The only onesmaking out on the place are the damned realtors every time it sells.Commish, commish, commish.”Maryrealized she had stopped walking and was frozen in place. She lookeddown at the posters in her hand. They didn’t seem importantanymore. Sadie’s eyes were locked on her and from Sadie’sexpression, Mary knew her anxiety must be apparent on her face. Sadiefrowned. “I’ve said too much, haven’t I?”
Maryforced a smile and extended her arm to shake hands. “No, no, it wasso nice to meet you, Sadie, but I have errands to get to. Maybe wecan talk again, soon.” Mary walked home and resisted the urge torun. Why was she so upset? The old woman was clearly wrong, puttingher own spin on every odd little thing that had happened over theyears. Insidethe house, Mary dropped the posters on the entry table and peered outthe window. Sadie was nowhere to be seen. She considered calling Louand thought better of it. No need to disturb him at work over an oldladies crazy stories.Hanksaw the posters on the entry table when Mary brought him home frompreschool. Her son snuffled and began to wail for his lost cat again.“Seethis?” Mary said, holding up a poster. Hank gazed at Taffy’spicture and nodded. “We’re offering people money to help findTaffy. It won’t take long now.” That seemed to satisfy him. Hespotted a bucket of Legos Mary had unpacked. He plopped on the floorand started building. “Anyluck,” Lou asked when he returned from work.Marywagged her head. “I did meet an interesting lady who seemed to knowa lot about our house.” Mary gave a summary of what Sadie said andLou looked skeptical. “Whoknows how much of what she said is true,” Lou said. “There’sprobably a kernel of truth there, but maybe a smidge of elaboration,and a dash of delusion too. I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s justold lady talk.”Thegerbil in Mary’s head hit full stride while she did the dinnerdishes, and popped a little crystal meth later as she tried to settlein for sleep. Its wheel squeaked with every revolution pounding out amonotonous mazurka like rhythm as thoughts turned over and over inher mind. She stared at the dark ceiling and tried meditation;however, the racing rodent at the wheel wasn't a practitioner.
Shecouldn’t help but dwell on her conversation with Sadie McFadden.Maybe Lou was right and it was all crazy lady talk, but Sadie seemedperfectly lucid and plugged in. The conversation with Sadie replayedinside Mary’s head. It probably meant nothing, but what if Sadiereally knew something? Herhusband snored away beside her, at peace. He’d assessed the Taffysituation, made alternate plans – a new kitten in case Taffycouldn’t be found, and had moved on. By his reckoning, Sadie was akook, Taffy was lost, and the two occurrences unrelated. He’ddismissed everything Sadie had said. Mary looked at him a littleenvious. It must be nice to have such a well trained gerbil. Hankawoke to his father’s snoring, but that wasn’t what urged himfrom his sleep. He scrambled out of bed and shuffled down the hall tothe bathroom, with barely enough time to unzip his one-piece-footyPJs and tugged them below his knees. As he stood before the toilet,he heard a cat mewing. The sound drew him down the hall past his roomand through the laundry room doorway. He stood in front of the dryer.The circular door swung open and revealed Taffy perched at the backof the drum cleaning her paws. Hankheld out his arms for the cat but she didn't come like she usuallydid. He reached for her and stepped closer. Taffy moved deeper intothe dryer. Hank leaned in and stretched and the cat edged away justbeyond his reach. Hank crawled in after her. The back of the drumshimmered and fell away leaving a dark hole. The void started toswirl and draw air inside. The power of the vortex sucked Hank towardthe dryer. Taffy smiled and disappeared through the opening. Handsreached out from the blackness, grabbed Hank by the arms, and pulledhim in. The dryer door slammed shut.Thesmell of brewing coffee filled the kitchen as Mary worked over thesink trimming the rind from a cantaloupe and cutting the flesh intocubes. Lou walked in scanning the headlines in the morning paper. Heleaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Smellsgreat. What are we having?”“Toast,fruit, and coffee. Is Hank up yet? He’s going to be late forpreschool.”Lousat and dropped the paper on the table. “I haven’t seen him.”Marypoked her head out of the kitchen and yelled down the hall, “HankGivens, get a move on. You’re going to be late.”Sheset a plate of buttered toast and a bowl of cantaloupe in front ofLou and poured him some coffee. “What’s keeping him?” sheasked. The question was rhetorical and Lou didn’t bother to lookup. Mary’s temper began to rise. She charged out of the kitchen anddown the hall with her lips pursed. Hank’sbedroom door stood open. Inside, his bed was unmade. “Hank! Whereare you? You’re making me very angry, little man.” She listened.There was no reply. Mary went room to room checking for him. By thetime she reached the laundry room, the warm flush of anger had meltedinto a queasy flutter in her stomach. Maybe he was hiding. Maybe theexplanation was innocent. Despite trying to remain positive, shecouldn’t push back her growing sense of dread. In the living roomshe stared at the child gate at the base of the stairs. It wasclosed.“Ican’t find Hank,” she told her husband. Lou looked up and set thepaper down.“Do you think he could get past the gate?” she asked. “Maybe,”he said. “I’ll check upstairs. You recheck the downstairsincluding the closets in case he’s hiding.”WhileMary searched, she listened for sounds from upstairs that Hank hadbeen found. Hope slipped away when Lou came down the stairs and shookhis head. “No sign of him,” he said.Shewanted to vomit. “I’m calling the cops,” she said.Lounodded. “I’ll call work to tell them I’m not coming in.”