'Avon calling!' Peg chirruped brightly as she pressed the doorbell. Tapping the foot of one neat, Mary-Jane style shoe, she waited for a few minutes. Another no answer – her fifth this morning! Honestly, people could be so rude. They could at least answer the door to say they weren't interested in affordable, quality makeup.
There was one last place on her list – she had never called there before, but today after so many no-shows, Peg was determined to make a sale. This last place was up a small hill, through some rusty old gates, and looked somewhat like a castle. It was probably under renovations, as PEG couldn't imagine someone wanting to live there if the inside was as in bad shape as the outside.
Pursing her lips slightly in irritation, then fixing on her mega-bright smile as she had been trained to, Peg headed up the hill slowly. The box of Avon products wasn't too heavy but it was a cumbersome shape and if it got tipped the wrong way, all the lipsticks and pencils could get damaged.
Pulling a cord that she hoped was the doorbell, Peg listened for some sound within. Pressing her ear to the door in order to hear anything from the depths of the enormous house, Peg stumbled a little and realised that the door was in fact, open.
It was not uncommon to leave doors unlocked – this was only a small town after all – but to leave them ajar like that was a little unusual.
On a whim, Peg opened the door fully and took a few steps inside. The house smelled old – musty and of old food. There was a clatter upstairs, alerting PEG that there was someone home. But there was no urge for her to leave as she was in fact, trespassing; definitely not something that Avon condoned.
'Hello?' Peg called, hoping for an answer or some acknowledgment of her presence, but there was none. Another clatter and some light, hurried footsteps came from the room above her head. What if there was an animal trapped up there? The house was clearly abandoned and if doors were left open then a stray something or other could easily have wandered in and got stuck burrowing through a pile of junk.
Hurrying up the stairs, the faster to help the poor creature, Peg cursed her cumbersome box, but couldn't bring herself to put it down in case it got dirty.
The staircase was a short climb, and on reaching the first floor of what looked like three, Peg detected movement in the corner of her eye under a desk. But it wasn't an animal. It was a young man!