Chapter 3: A Dark Place to Sleep
It was at this moment just as the queer stranger had made his intended request to muriel, that eustace blasted through the door.
"Muriel, where's my socket wrench?!. I left it under the porch, and now its gone! I told you not to let that stupid dog touch my stuff!"
Muriel, who had turned towards the doorway of the kitchen with a furrowed brow. "Ustace courage is a dog, what would he have to do with your socket wrench?!" she said smartly back.
"Oehhhh" Ustace Growled glaring at courage and shaking from head to foot. "There aint nobody else to take a socket around here so who else could it be?" He paused for a moment as he noctice Sir Frodrick siting besides Muriel at the table. Sir Froderick stared at him with the same glassy stare that he had been giving Muriel. Pulling up his long arm, covered in bandages to the dark patch of area that supposedly contained his mouth he took a breif noisy sip from his tea.
"Hello Sire" He stated morosely, never taking his eyes from eustaces.
"Eh? Muriel, Who is this?!".
"This is the stranger that was standing outside but just a moment ago. Honestly eustace, wheres your manners, you saw him come in!" She said, still with temper in her voice. "His name is Sir Froderick" She said, gesturing to the cloaked stranger "He's a thespian,.. or so he says. Isnt that right Sir Frodersck?"
"Yes Madame, that is truestly met"
Eustace stared at the stranger coldly behind thick eyeglasses, before huffing and walking over to the kitchen sink.
"Oh, well tell him not to mess with my T.V., and make sure he dosnt eat my pudding in the fridge.". fumbling around in the kitchen drawers he eventually brought out what looked to be a set of metal grilling tongs and a can back towards the front of the house he glared at courage and fixed the stranger with one last stare before he left the room...mumbling something about courage being a "dumb useless dog".
"That's my husband. Eustace. Dont mind him He's always like that, the grumpy man. But err ahh, please continue Froderick Dear... What was it that you were asking?"
The man seemed like he hadnt been phased at all by the rude behaviors of eustace," he looked back at muriel with the same calm stare.
"I was asking to whether or not you would bequeeeth to me a certain place of slumber" he said, in his deep creepy voice. Eyes leering through the shadow of his hat.
Muriel put a hand to her chin and looked like she was in thought for a half a second. "You know, the guest room that we had installed in the barn is not really clean enough for people to sleep in at the moment. The dirty thing, there is a mess in there that has been there since the last time it was used... but thats another story..." She squinted her eyes in concentration "or maybe the computer room upstairs would be good. It does get bright in there during the mornings but at night it is pretty nice."
The vampire who had during this monologue of muriels laid one very shadowy trench-coated arm on the table, and with gloved hand started rolling his fingertips on the table top wood of the dining room dinner table. thrum-dududu-dum. thrum-dududu-dum thrum-dududu-dum. With his eyes he peered at Muriel unflinching, waiting for her to finish her inventory of her different rooms and living spaces.
"And it gets very dusty in there, when the wind starts to blow. Ustace says its something to do with the barn houses walls being draftee. And I've asked him to fix it, if he knows what the problem is, but he doesn't listen to a word i say. Oh my. And finally theres the basement. We don't use that old thing for anything, and there is plenty of space in there. There sure is. And its dark as well. And no dust!".
The strangers eyes jumped as she mentioned the word "Dark".
"A basement thou sayeth,.." The stranger said
"yes a basement" Muriel said, going on as if she had not noticed the man sudden hyped demeanor.
The vampires eyes widened and then slimed, and some sort of smile flashed some very aged and yellow looking teeth.
"Oh Thoust do maketh me happy Lady Muriel! Your words sound like sweet water to thine ears. Verily, i knew surely that you would have some sorts pf dwellings for me here. I knew from the moment i spotted you in the wide sunny distances before"
"Oh Frod, dear. Theres no need to say something sweet like that. If you need a place to stay, it would only be right to put you up somewhere. It's the least that me and Eustace could do for a weary travler such as yourself"
"Oh no, madame lady Muriel. but there is, there is. For thine have strucketh a note in thy own heart. Of a kindly soul willing to lend thine hand to a poor hapless sun drenched wretch such as myself." The vampire bounded his eyes again underneath his hat. "Why, your words to me just now have given me much more warmth than that sun could have ever have done in a hundred fold years"
"Warmer than the sun?" Muriel laughed. "Oh sir Frod. your too kind. too kind."
could thouest showeth this location to me... ah.. err.. soon?" the vampire looked at the window outside, seeming to glare at the light coming through the window. "I have dire need to rest thine eyes, and be out of this accursed sun"
Then Muriel escorted the vampire out of the kitchen into the living room, and into the living room, courage following them both from the behind. The vampire followed muriel casually, but closely, on the heels of muriels black rubber garden boots. His eyes, bulging disks that darted from right to left, up down adjacent and all around, apparently keen on inspecting every possible detail of the house he could. And as Sir Froderick observed the contents of the house, courage observed this tall shadowy stranger that has come to nowhere.
The mans cloak was a particular interest to courage and seemed to be made of darkness itself. Being immensely dark, and absorbing light from its surroundings,
As Muriel opened up the door to lead the stranger out to the cellar, the sunlight beamed onto them both with bright sun light.
And so Muriel escorted the vampire out of the kitchen and through the living room to the front door. The Vampire followed casually, but also closely on the heels of muriels black garden boots. "I dont know if you will like it" Muriel said as they made their way out of the
His eyes darting quickly from left to right, up down, adjecent and all around.
Courage wondered how any material could be so dark. Even in the middle of the day, it appeared like a cloth of complete and utter darkness. And the coat was light and thin as far as courage could tell, but still held and aura of thickness. Maybe that had something to do with how dark it was, courage thought to himself.
"The basement is outside on the southern side of the house, you should be quite comfy in there, if it is the darkness that you dont mind."
She opened the porch door and held it out for the gentleman in the dark dark trenchcoat... he followed her lead and stepped out onto the porch.
Courage followed close and sniffed the edge of the cloak hoping to get some more clues about where the man had been and who the man was. He took a few brief wiffs of the hem of the travelers cloak to see if it was made of something weird, but he couldnt smell anything.
But then Muriel and the traveler got to the door of the cellar basement, allowing for courage to get a good wiff up close of the hem of the travelers cloak. And what he smelled made him gag and choke. "Ptewie" courage snorted and wiped his paw at his snout. Underneath the travelers cloak, there was a scent that smelled of something very old and very rotten. Courage had not had smelled it at first, but as he had gotten closer, the smell was undeniable. This guy smelled funny. Almost as funny as he looked. Courage watched the stranger closely as Muriel opened the door to the cellar.
"Like i said before, the last people to stay in here did not treat us very nicely, so we shut the door and locked it. You Sir Froderick are welcome to stay as long as you like" she said before turning to him and added "As long as you make sure not to have any midnight rituals of waking the dead or anything like that. Oh and clean up after yourself".
She led the shadowy man down the stairs to the cellar "Watch your step, it gets very dark down here"
The vampire followed in his smooth gliding steps, descending with Muriel into the basement cellar, noticing with wide eyes every detail of the room they were entering "Oh oh, it is quite dark down here" He commented. Mureil and the dark stranger walked into the cellar, getting to about halfway into the room before stopping. Courage himself stopped at the stairs, ready to make a run for it at the first sign of trouble. "Well this is it" Muriel said, waving her arms around in a presenting fashion.
The light shining from the sunny outside shown brilliantly through the doors of the cellar. But still the cellar stayed very dark. Looking around the room courage could only faintly distinguish the contents of the room.
"Oh Oh, sweet lady Muriel, this wilt do thineself most perfectly. Verily! it doeseth look a sight like me!"
*Uh-huh* courage thought from behind, *it should. This guy looks like he is made of darkness! Sheesh! So creepy*
"Yes yes. This place looketh like it will suit thine just fine. You are sure that you are willing to lend such a beautiful hand out to a stranger such as me?" The stranger said to muriel, raising an eye provocatively.
"Oh yes." Mureil said, waving a hand dismissively. "Me and Eustace hardly use this place at all. You can see that it's gotten to be so dusty down here. It must have been ages since the last time we've used it."
The Strangers eyes widened, and seemed to sparkle with a happy light. "Oh oh, lady Muriel, your most gracious. most gracious indeed. I promise that i will not disturb this place while i rest here. Thine will find not a dust hair out of place with thouest have left this place."
"Oh my, that would be clean. Well i thank you for that sir Frod. Your very kind." And then she looked around back to the entrance of the cellar where courage stood waiting. "But if you do't need anything else dear, i think i am going to go back upstairs and finish watering the plants in the garden. The sun was so bright today that im sure that they needed the water."
"Verily,.. Then thou must be behest to do that which thou doth think is best. As for myself,.." The Stranger said looking around the room again. "I think that i may find my slumber in a dusty pocket somewhere here among the floor. I am most weary. Most weary indeed."
Muriel nodded, and then headed back towards the stairs calling back as she went., "Just make sure to let me know if you need anything, Sir Frod dear. I will be happy to help, just as long as you ask." And then reaching down to give courage a pat on the head "Cmon courage, we still have to water the cabbages and the carrots before the sun goes down, we have plenty of work to do".
Courage took one last look at the stranger before following Muriel up the stairs. The stranger stood there in the middle of the room, almost completely camouflaged within the dark shadows of the room. The only thing that courage could see clearly were the strangers large orbular eyes, that were staring back at him from across the room.
courage gave a shiver and a shudder, and proceeded to climb up and out of the cellar, huffing as he went. *I've never seen a person as creepy as that guy come here before. And ive seen alot of creepy people in my day* He thought to himself.
After leaving the stranger to his room in the cellar, Muriel and corage returned to the garden to finish their duty of watering the plants. For the rest of that evening and even into night, they saw nothing of the dark dark stranger that had come to the nowhere cottage.