Hello and happy holidays to all. I have a week off from work and school so I am going to attempt to get a new story out. Please R&R.
House Sitting Made Easy.
Ch 1. Getting the Feel of it.
"Come on, come on damn it!" The turtle in blue demanded angrily as he attempted to coax his small blue Volkswagen beetle car further down the street toward the driveway of a large grey house in a cul-de-sac of a newly growing neighborhood. The small car sputtered and coughed as it attempted to make it the last few feet. It came to a stop with a loud bang and a violent jolt a few inches into the driveway. The annoyed turtle let out an angry huff and put the car in neutral. With an angry groan he stepped out then looked down at the car with a disappointed look.
"Damn it," He muttered as he kicked the car's door shut, "When this assignment is over I'm trading you in for a Chevy."
He walked around to the back and pushed the car further up the driveway stopping just a few feet from the end where the pavement met the newly mowed grass. He straightened and looked around thoughtfully for a few seconds before walking back to the driver side door and forced it open. He got back in to put the car into park. After stepping out, he looked around the neighborhood in wonderment. It was a fairly large neighborhood with about a half a dozen homes lining the street. He was just about to walk toward the door of the house when a tapping noise sounded behind him.
"There is no one home." A voice told him.
He whirled around and startled at the sight of a large grey rat dressed in a red kimono walking toward him. The sound of his cane tapping lightly on the pavement of the driveway as he made his way toward him was the noise he had heard.
"Oh, um…I…I know." The turtle told him rather hesitantly. He walked over to the rat with his hand extended. "My name is Leonardo," He told him as they shook hands. "I'm watching the house for the owner while he's gone."
"My name is Splinter," The rat told him with a bow, "I live in that house," He pointed to his left at a two story brown house four houses away, "And I am also the head of the neighborhood watch."
Leo looked at the homes that were in the neighborhood, "Is there much crime here?" He questioned.
"No," Splinter told him as he turned to leave, "But one can never be too careful," He started back down the drive way, "Welcome to the neighborhood, if you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."
"I'm only here for the weekend." Leo called after him. But Splinter continued to walk away without saying another word. Leo shrugged and walked to the trunk of his car, he opened it up and winced upon hearing the hinges creak and groan in protest at being move. "Sorry old girl," he muttered to the car, "But you really have to go." He took out a small bag and forced the trunk down. With a sigh he started toward the front door.
He walked up the steps to the porch and reached out to try and turn the knob. 'Of course it's locked,' he told himself as he rolled his eyes and placed his bag on the porch. He pulled out his phone and brought up a text. 'Key is under the third stepping stone.' He put his phone away and looked over the porch to a small garden where, hidden among the flowers, were five stepping stones. He made his way to the third stone and turned it over, smiling as a key was revealed.
As he once again started toward the door with the key in hand, another noise behind him caused him to stop and turn. He was expecting to see the large grey rat but instead was surprised when two turtles, both slightly shorter then he with one wearing a purple suit and tie and another wearing jeans with an orange t-shirt walked up to him.
"Welcome to the hood fellow turtle." The orange clad turtle said as he waved happily. "I'm Michelangelo." Leo smiled and walked over to them with his hand held out.
"And I'm Donatello," The purple clad turtle said as they shook hands. "Do you live here?"
Leo shook his head, "I'm Leonardo and no I don't live here," he said, "I'm just watching the house for the owner for the weekend."
Do you know the owner?" Michelangelo questioned as he looked at the house in wonderment.
"Um, no I don't," Leo told him, "He called the agency I work for."
"Agency?" Donatello looked at him perplexed.
Leonardo pulled out his wallet and handed the turtle a business card. "My agency does everything from fixing houses to babysitting, pet sitting or just plain house sitting." He explained.
Mikey and Donnie looked down at the card then handed it back to him as they nodded in understanding, "Well," Donatello pulled on the other turtle's arm, "Nice to meet you Leonardo, if you need anything let us know."
"Bye Leo," Michelangelo said, "Can I call you Leo, Leonardo?" He asked as Donatello started to walk away, "You can call me Mikey and he's Donnie."
"Yeah, sure Mikey," Leo told him with a smile and a nod, "Leo's fine with me." He watched the two turtles walk across the street toward a two story blue house directly across from the one he would be staying in.
Leo turned and walked up the steps; he placed the key in the door and, after a few moments of struggling with the knob, got the door open. He picked up his bag and stepped into the foyer, after placing his bag down, he removed his shoes and decided to take a quick tour of the home. To his left was a rather large room with white walls and a large dining table situated in the middle of the room. Eight chairs surrounded the table and an oriental rug was laid underneath. Leo noted the walls were bare and aside from the table and chairs, there was no other furniture in the room.
Turning to the right, Leo saw another room, also with white bare walls. On the entrance side of the room were double French glass doors and on the other side was a long beige couch against the wall and one end table to the right of the couch. Across from the couch was a coffee table sitting on top of another oriental rug and on the wall was a fifty inch flat screen HD TV.
"All the comforts of home," Leo muttered as he walked into the living room. He sat on the couch and looked around. On the end table was a lamp and next to the lamp was a folded up piece of paper. He picked it up and opened it.
Instructions for the house sitter
There is a greenhouse off the garage, water the plants twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I will be home Sunday night, until then you may help yourself to any food in the fridge and cabinets. Upstairs and to the right is a guest room with a bathroom; all other rooms, including the basement, are off limits. Enjoy the TV; there is a remote with instructions inside the drawer of the end table. I will pay your agency upon my return.
Leo placed the note back on the table and let out an annoyed huff, "Two days and all I'm here to do is water plants." He stood up and, looking around, saw a swinging door on the other side of the room. "Maybe the kitchen's in there." He walked over and stepped through.
Upon walking in, he saw another large room with white walls; a smaller, light oak table in the middle of the room with six chairs surrounded it, next to the entrance Leo stood in was another door that led to a half bath with a closet at the back of the room. Leo looked across the room and noted another door that led to the garage and next to that was a stove with a microwave over it. A cabinet was next to the stove and next to the cabinet was a dishwasher and across from them, at the side of the room was the fridge. As Leo stared at the fridge, his stomach let out a rumble. He petted his stomach and made his way over to the fridge.
It was late afternoon on Friday and Leo had not eaten since early morning. "Might as well have supper then I'll water the plants then check out my room." He told himself as he opened the fridge and checked out the contents. His eyes widen in surprise when he saw a large white square box. "Oh, pizza!" he smacked his lips and pulled the box out. "Six slices of pepperoni left," He quickly found the cabinet that held the plates and warmed up the remaining slices in the microwave. Before walking back to the living room, he walked into the bathroom off the kitchen and opened the closet to look for a towel to use. But, instead, it turned out to be a pantry with additional food and soft drinks. He pulled out a can of coke then, after grabbing his warmed up pizza, went to the living room and sat down to enjoy his dinner and TV.
After the pizza had been finished and the Jackie Chan movie he found was over, he walked back to the kitchen and cleaned his plate. He then walked out the door to the garage and toward the back where another door connected to a small glass greenhouse. He looked around the saw four tables, each with several potted plants sitting on top. In the corner he found a desk with more instructions and plant supplies.
Fill watering can to line with one teaspoon of plant food. Water till soil is moist.
Leo shrugged and proceeded to do as the note instructed. After, he went back into the house and turned off all the lights then went to the foyer to get his bag and go upstairs to the bedrooms. As the first note instructed, to the right was an open door showing a large white room with a queen size bed and one end table with a lamp next to it. A large walk-in closet was across the room with plenty of hangers but aside from that, there was once again no other piece of furniture to be found.
Leo placed his bag on the bed then walked over to bathroom. It was a large room with a simple design, white walls and white fixtures. But at the end of the room was a large Jacuzzi tub and beside the tub was a separate shower stall with double shower heads on either side. "Man," Leo let out a low whistle, "With everything this guy has, you'd think he paint the walls or at least put up some decorations or something." He reached into the shower stall and turned on the hot water. "Maybe he just moved in and hasn't had time to do much more with the place." He mused as he went back to his bag to grab his toiletry kit. He went back to the bathroom then quickly stripped himself of his clothes and stepped into the shower.
After almost half an hour of enjoying a relaxing shower, Leo readied himself for bed. He was finishing brushing his teeth when a noise from downstairs startled him. He quickly put his toothbrush in a glass that had been placed on the vanity for him then he carefully made his way over to the staircase. He looked down toward the foyer, squinting against the darkness and listening hard for any further noise. After a few seconds, he decided to go downstairs and make sure all the doors and windows were locked.
'Get yourself together Leonardo,' He told himself, 'It's a strange home, strange neighborhood,' his hand roamed over the wall as he walked down the stairs, 'that noise could've been anything.'
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and felt around for the light switch. After turning on the light, he peeked into the dining room, after seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he made his way to the windows. The shades had been drawn and the windows were locked tight. Feeling the room was secured, he made his way to living room. Same as the dining room, the French doors were locked and the shades had already been drawn.
"Now to check the kitchen," He made his way toward the swinging door and pushed it opened while quickly stepping through. As he started toward the garage door, a noise from behind startled him but before he could turn around, large arms suddenly grabbed him from behind and a large hand was placed over his mouth as a harsh voice whispered into his ear.
"Don't scream."
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So any idea of who it might be? Please RR, I'll try to get the rest of the story up before I go back to work next week. :) Peace.