Chapter 11: Your Guide to the Unknown
Lee couldn't read the list that Philip picked up because it was written in Romanian. He dropped the list off at the Agency Friday evening to have it analyzed. There weren't as many people gawking at him that day as there had been the previous day, but there also weren't as many people there in general. He noted that a few of them seemed to be watching his hands in case he was sporting a ring. He wasn't.
On Saturday morning, he went to Amanda's house and found her putting together the traditional neighborhood welcome basket with her mother.
"After all the work you did helping them to get moved in," Dotty said, "I don't think you need to go overboard with welcoming gifts, but you've always been generous. Are you sure you're feeling better?"
"Oh, yes, Mother. I'm just fine," Amanda said.
"I could take the basket over for you."
Lee knew that she was mainly offering to satisfy her own curiosity about the new neighbors.
"That's alright, I'll do it," Amanda said. "I think it would do me good to get out for awhile."
Dotty couldn't deny that. "I could come with you," she offered.
"Maybe you'd better stay here with Lee and the boys," Amanda said. "The might need your help."
Dotty tried the direct method. "Amanda, is there some reason why you don't want me to meet the new neighbors?'
"No, of course not! I just thought maybe Lee and the boys can use your help."
"Do you really need me to stay, Lee?"
Lee realized that he was getting a taste of what it was going to be like, living with both Amanda and her mother. He was going to be in the middle, the arbiter between them whenever there was a decision to be made. His natural impulse was to side with Amanda, keeping Dotty away from the Petrescus and therefore Agency business. But, living so close, Dotty would meet them sooner or later.
"If you want to just run over and say hello, I think the boys and I will be fine for a little while."
Dotty smiled. "I'll get my purse!"
Amanda looked at Lee quizzically.
"If she goes with you, you can help the Petrescus explain their cover story to her and get it over with," Lee explained quickly. "It might be better than if she goes over without you someday next week and peppers them with questions."
"Good point," Amanda murmured. "But, we may be awhile. She's going to pepper them with questions anyway."
"All ready to go!" Dotty said cheerfully, her purse swinging on her arm.
"Are you sure you'll be okay with the kids?" Amanda asked.
"Sure!" Lee said. "We're going to be fine."
He was a little annoyed at Amanda's concern. He'd already met Philip and Jamie's friends. He'd handled KGB agents, raw Agency recruits, and Mr. Smyth before. Next to them, the kids were going to be-
"It wasn't my fault!"
"You were the one at the top of the ladder!"
"It was an accident! Lay off me, Wormbrain!"
"Philip!" both Lee and Amanda snapped at the same time.
Philip, Jamie, and Tom came into the kitchen. Philip and Jamie were angry. Tom seemed calm but exasperated.
"He's yelling at me for breaking his bulb!" Philip said accusingly.
"You did break the bulb," Tom pointed out.
"He put it in a bad place!"
"You hit it with a hammer," Jamie said, accusing him right back.
"I was putting up the wall hooks where they need to go! You should have waited until the curtains were up to put up those lights!"
Lee put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.
When they were quiet, he said, "You guys were supposed to wait until I was out there before either of you did anything. Philip, get a dustpan and clean up that glass before someone gets a shard in his foot. Jamie, make sure the electricity's off so no one gets electrocuted when we remove that broken bulb."
"But Philip just-" Jamie complained.
"Jamie is just-" Philip interrupted, pointing at his brother.
"MOVE!" Lee thundered.
The two boys stared at him for a heartbeat. He saw their eyes go to their mother.
"Do it," Amanda said, quietly but firmly.
They did. Not without a few backwards glances at their mom and Lee, but they did what they were told.
"We'll be fine," Lee said to Amanda confidently.
Tom was still standing there, looking at Lee with interest. "Jamie says that you're a film director. Is that true, Mr. Stetson?"
"Yes," Lee said with a quickly glance at Amanda.
"That's really awesome! I want to be a film director! Or maybe a theater director. I can't decide. But I have some great ideas . . ."
"Have fun," Amanda said, patting him on the shoulder as she and Dotty left.
Lee did have fun with the kids, although it was a lot of work, too. After the broken bulb was cleaned up, Lee did declare that they should finish hanging up the curtains for the walls before any more lights were place. Jamie said that the light had only been a test one anyway.
"I was going to take it down before the walls went up, but Philip didn't wait for me to do it," Jamie explained.
Philip threw him a dirty look.
"Come on," Lee said. "We have a lot to do today, and we'd better get moving. I want your mom to be impressed with how much we've done by the time she gets home."
Tom tried to ask Lee questions about being a director, but Lee put him off by saying that they could talk about it later, after the haunted house was together.
Lee made sure that they hung the curtains so that they covered over the work table at the back of the garage because it couldn't be moved. The stairway to the loft also had to be concealed because they didn't want anyone going up there except Jamie. While Lee helped Philip, Mark, and Andy hang the curtains, Jamie helped Tom and Alice put the props they'd assembled so far for the haunted house in the loft with Jamie's lights and special effects equipment. The three of them took stock of the props they had and what else they would need.
Philip grumped a bit about them not really helping while everyone else put up the walls, but Lee stopped him, saying that they were doing fine and they didn't really need more help with the walls anyway. There was only one ladder, and with Philip and Lee taking turns hammering and the other boys putting hooks in the curtains and handing them up, there wasn't any need for the others to help. Instead, Tom started helping Jamie to turn the cardboard boxes and old Christmas lights into a computer for the mad scientist. Alice got started on making the monster head prop.
Dotty and Amanda still hadn't returned by lunch time. Lee called the Petrescu house and found out that they were having lunch over there. Doina had been starved for company, and Dotty in particular was more than eager to supply it, wanting to know everything about them from their life in Romania to what it was like living in California.
"Is everything okay there?" Amanda asked on the phone. "The kids aren't giving you any problems, are they?"
"No, things are just fine."
Lee watched as the kids made sandwiches for themselves in the kitchen. The only one who didn't seem interested in eating was Philip. He was sitting by himself on the couch in the front room, apparently sulking.
When Lee got off the phone, he asked Jamie, "What's wrong with your brother?"
"You didn't let him be bossy today, that's what's wrong," Jamie said, rolling his eyes. "You told him what to do, and he didn't get to tell the rest of us what to do."
Alice nodded in agreement. Mark and Andy looked at each other and then quickly looked away.
Tom was busy spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread, but he added, "Besides, Kelly turned him down when he invited her to join the haunted house. She said that it sounded childish."
"I see," Lee said. "How do you all feel about it? Do you like the project?"
"Sure!" Tom said enthusiastically. "This is fun! It's like the theater."
"Yeah," Mark said. "As long as Philip doesn't make me try to be the Wailing Woman. I'll do a werewolf, but I'm not wearing a dress!"
"You're still going to help me with the headless man costume, right?" Andy asked hopefully.
"Of course," Lee said. "Alice?"
She grinned. "I'll stick with it even if I don't get around to making the fake blood. I want a chance to show off my costume." She gave an evil little cackle.
Lee looked at Jamie.
"If Philip hadn't come up with this idea," Jamie said, "I'd probably be fiddling with lights in garage by myself. It would just be nice if he wasn't so moody."
Alice said softly, "Philip doesn't have to be moody. He's doing it because he wants to be."
It was the first time Lee had seen Alice look sorry for Philip. She was pretty good at being the tough girl tomboy, but for the first time, it occurred to Lee that it might be partly an act. Alice was a pretty good actress.
Mark said, "I kind of wish Kelly would join the project. Philip would be happier if she did."
Andy said, "I kind of wish Linda hadn't left. That's really why he's not happy."
Tom shrugged and said, "You can't help that. Neither can Philip. He's got other things to do, if he wants to do them." He put the top piece onto his sandwich, but instead of biting into it, he immediately started making another. He was a growing boy with a big appetite. And, possibly, eyes that were too big for his stomach.
"I'll talk to him," Lee said. "The rest of you, get your lunch."
He went into the front room to talk to Philip.
"Hey," he said. "How's it going?"
"It's okay," Philip said, shrugging.
"We've got the walls pretty much up, that's good isn't it?"
Philip shrugged.
Lee decided to try the direct approach. "What's wrong, Philip?"
"The haunted house is lame!" Philip said. "I don't even know if I want to do it anymore."
"What do you mean, 'it's lame'?" Lee said. "You're not even done making it yet."
"I'm not making it, everyone else is," Philip muttered.
"What do you mean? You helped put up the walls earlier."
"The way Tommy wants them," Philip grumbled, deliberately using Tom's kid name.
"You helped get all the supplies together."
"All the stuff Wormbrain wanted for his dumb special effects."
Lee almost corrected Philip about the insult, but just in time, Lee realized that was meant as a distraction.
"This haunted house was your idea in the beginning," Lee said.
"I'm glad you remembered," Philip said.
"So, why don't you like it now?" Lee didn't want to pry too much into Philip's feelings for Kelly and his disappointment in her rejection. If Philip wanted to discuss her, Lee would let him talk about her himself.
"It's not my idea anymore!"
"Because the other kids are helping?"
"Because they're doing everything! I drew the map, and then Tom steps in and changes the shape of the rooms!"
"He made a suggestion about moving one wall, and that wasn't difficult. He had a point about-"
"He brings in his sister, Al the Pest, and they come in with all kinds of fancy props from their aunt-"
"They're just on loan because their aunt wants to help-"
"Andy didn't want to be the monster-"
"Well, he agreed after-"
"And Wormbrain thinks that he can call the shots because of his special effects, and he won't even play a part in the haunted house!"
"Philip don't-" Lee started to say, and then he paused. "How long have you been calling Jamie 'Wormbrain?'"
Philip blinked at Lee. "I don't know."
"How many times has your mother asked you to stop?"
"I don't know. A lot, I guess."
"Well, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. If you use it even one more time, for any reason, you'll be grounded on Halloween, and you'll have to stay in your room while everyone else runs the haunted house."
Philip gaped at him.
"I mean it," Lee said. "And I think you know that your mother will agree with me."
"Sorry. Gees," Philip grumbled.
"Hey!" Lee said. "Don't go feeling sorry for yourself. I know that you're in kind of a funk because things aren't going the way you planned, and you're still missing Linda. But, taking it out on your brother and your friends isn't going to help anything. Whether you believe it or not, they're trying to help you."
Philip just frowned silently at Lee.
"Whose idea was this project?"
"Mine."
"And your friends know you've been brooding about Linda since she left. Did it ever occur to you that part of the reason they're so gung-ho about this is because they want it to be a success and to cheer you up?"
"They're just here to have fun," Philip said, shrugging.
"They're here to have fun with their friend Philip who could use a little fun," Lee corrected.
Philip frowned a little less.
"And they haven't taken over everything. You gave them the idea. You set the tone for the haunted house. Remember? You told them that you wanted it to be scary but not so scary it would frighten too many people away. You said that you wanted it to be a little different from other haunted houses, with different kinds of monsters."
"Yeah," Philip said slowly.
"They've really just been trying to give you the kind of haunted house you asked for. Tom only brought Alice in to play a part that you wanted to be filled."
"I guess."
"That's basically what a leader does, Philip. He gives his people their mission, sets the task that they need to accomplish. He makes sure that they have the skills and tools they need to do it. Then, he stands back and lets them do their job until they need his help and guidance. That's kind of the role you've been playing. But, you're not just a boss type, are you, Philip? I mean, I don't think you'd be happy just standing back and telling other people what to do. You're not just an idea man but a man of action, and you want to be in there working alongside the others, don't you?" Lee wasn't quite sure he was talking just about Philip anymore.
Philip was just staring at him quietly. For once, Lee couldn't tell what he was thinking.
Lee went on, "You could say that the best leaders are the ultimate team players, doing whatever their people require to help them succeed. And, I think you're a team player at heart."
"Yeah, I guess so." Philip was looking intrigued.
"So, you've got to respect your teammates," Lee explained. "Respect them for the good work that they're doing. Jamie is doing special effects because that's what he's good at. He's a better electrician than he would be a good monster, so let him do what he does best. Tom and Alice have theatrical skills, so let them use them. And, it wouldn't hurt to let them know that you appreciate them, too. No more calling anybody 'Wormbrain' or 'Pest.' You're too old for that kind of stuff anyway."
"Okay." Philip did look a little ashamed.
"By the way," Lee said, "why did you call Alice a pest? She hasn't seemed like a pest to me."
Philip shrugged. "She always used to be. Whenever we'd hang out with Tommy, she was always hanging around, following after us. She always wanted in on whatever we were doing, but she'd mess it up somehow. Sometimes, it seemed like she did it on purpose. She'd spy on us and sing stupid songs that we hated and basically act crazy until we told her to go away. She really hasn't done it for a couple years now, but she used to harass me a lot more than the others."
Lee thought about what Alice said in the kitchen and her oddly sympathetic expression and gave Philip a sly grin. "This may sound like a really crazy theory, but did it ever occur to you that she only ever did that stuff because she liked you and wanted to get your attention?"
"Liked me?" Philip gave Lee a horrified look. "You mean like 'like' kind of like me?"
"Stranger things have happened." Lee spoke with grave seriousness, although part of him wanted to laugh. It had been a long time since he'd reacted that way to the idea that anyone of the female persuasion might like him . . . or had it?
"But, she's just a kid! She's a year younger than Jamie!" Philip said, glancing around to make sure that no one was near enough to hear them. "Besides . . . she's my friend's sister! That's just too weird."
"This will also come as a shock to you, but lots of girls are somebody's sister. Didn't Linda Montez also have a brother?"
"Yeah," Philip said. "But, how did you know?"
Lee forgot he wasn't supposed to know that. Or was he? This double life had gotten so complicated. "I think your mom mentioned it once."
"Oh," Philip said. "But, that was different. She was my age, and I wasn't friends with her brother."
"But imagine how her brother's friends thought about her. You still liked her anyway, no matter what they thought, right?"
Philip wrinkled his nose. "That doesn't mean I want to go out with Al."
"No, you don't have to do that," Lee said. He hadn't forgotten that, even though Philip wasn't a little kid anymore, he was still too young to date. And, there was that three-year age difference. "But, you could try treating her a little nicer, huh?"
"Okay." Philip looked a little uneasy at the prospect, but it would be enough if he agreed to make the effort.
"Okay. Now, why don't you get something to eat? We still have a lot of work to do."
"Lee?" Philip asked, looking around again to make sure they were still alone.
"What?"
"Are you and mom getting married?"
Lee froze. "We've been discussing it," Lee said carefully. "What do you think about the idea?"
Philip said seriously, "I don't know about Jamie, but I'd be okay with it. I just wanted you to know."
Lee relaxed. "Thanks, sport. I really appreciate that. Go on and have lunch now."
"Lee?"
"What?" Lee was getting a little worried now.
"Those men the other day? Were they really friends of yours?"
Lee groaned inwardly. He'd hoped that Philip had forgotten about that. But, he was pretty sharp, and as they'd just been discussing, he wasn't a little kid anymore.
"No, I don't know who they were." That was still the truth.
"Why did you chase after them?"
"I thought I recognized one of them, and I wanted to talk to him. I'm still not sure why they ran off like that." That was basically true.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Philip asked.
Oh, so many things.
"No," Lee lied.
He felt bad about ending their talk on a lie, but he couldn't tell him the truth. Not yet. In this case, he still didn't really know what the truth was.
Philip nodded slowly and went to the kitchen to get himself some lunch. The others were almost done with theirs, but they all sat around, laughing and talking until Philip was ready to go back to work.
Philip was less grumpy after lunch, but also quieter and a little more thoughtful. They finished hanging the walls and started moving props into the rooms where they were supposed to go. Jamie provided some temporary lights so they could see in the rooms now that the windows were covered over. Tom pointed out that they could use the angles of the walls to hide things and people until their guests were almost upon them for an even bigger scare. Philip listened to his advice and took it, helping to move and position things himself. Then, Lee helped Jamie to install his lights while Tom and Philip discussed what they wanted illuminated and what parts should remain in shadow. Mark and Andy made x's with tape to mark points where people would stand and points where Philip would make their guests stop when he was playing tour guide, "Your Guide to the Unknown."
With the basic house together now, it was mostly a question of finishing up props and costumes. The spray-painted cardboard boxes were dry, and Alice helped Jamie and Tom to finish making the mad scientist's computer. Her monster head wasn't dry enough to paint yet. Philip discussed costumes with the others.
Lee was telling them how he could make the headless man costume for Andy when Amanda and Dotty came home. They weren't alone. They'd brought Antonia with them.
Antonia wore a skirt today, too, but this one was denim. She had a denim jacket, too, and her brown hair back in a ponytail. She smiled shyly as Dotty introduced her to the other kids.
Lee stood next to Amanda and gave her a questioning look.
"The whole time we were talking to Doina, Antonia just sat there, reading a book about Nikola Tesla," Amanda whispered to him. "Mother felt sorry for her and said that she ought to get out and make some friends. She invited her over."
"Figures," Lee said. So much for their plan to keep the boys away from her.
"Antonia has just moved to the neighborhood, and I thought it would be nice if you could include her in your project," Dotty said to the kids.
Philip seemed absolutely delighted with the idea. Lee wasn't surprised. Antonia was a pretty girl. By Halloween, Kelly what's-her-name would be distant memory.
"You know, we could use someone to play the Wailing Woman," Philip said. He explained to Antonia all about the haunted house and offered to take her on a personal tour of it himself.
"Think of me as Your Guide to the Unknown!" Philip said dramatically, donning a top hat with a silver moon on the front. Amanda told Lee that it came from an old magic set of Philip's.
"Alright," Antonia said shyly.
At that moment, Jamie came out of the house with the new plasma globe Lee had bought. Dotty made sure to introduce Jamie to Antonia.
"You have a plasma globe!" Antonia said delightedly.
"Yeah," Jamie said. "It's for the Mad Scientist's Lab in the haunted house. I kind of wish I could have done a Jacob's Ladder or a Tesla Coil or something really impressive for it, but this is cool, too."
"Did you know that Tesla invented the plasma globe?" Antonia asked happily.
"No," Jamie said.
Antonia was more than happy to tell him all about it. Lee shook his head. It seemed that Antonia had found a soul mate.
Once again, Philip did not look happy.