Ch 4
PE was in full swing when the next gift made its appearance. She was practicing her martial arts in an empty part of the field when the courier came up. It was an alien, disguised as a human. "Mrs. Tennyson?" he asked hesitantly. She looked around before replying as she came out of her current stance, "Yeah?"
"Delivery, from the Mister." He smiled.
"Thank you…" she squinted at the nametag he wore, "David. You didn't hurt a human to get the uniform, right?"
"Oh no, no. I am Mr. Levin's assistant, my homeworld self destructed; me and my parents are the only survivors of my people. He has helped my family immensely and has taken me under his wing for I want to be a Plumber and he wants a semi-normal human life. This body is just a hologram." He looked to his watch, "One that will time out soon so I must be getting back to base. Good day, Ma'am."
"See ya later David."
He left her.
She opened the note.
"Hello Beautiful.
I often hear women expounding on the need of a little black dress so I have gotten you one. Made from the finest silk in the universe, the silk gathered from the Suthray-raht spider of Delta twenty-nine of the Sagittarius constellation. It only produces the silk once every one hundred years, it is hand gathered by only the purest virgins of the Tiger people, then soaked in mineral water before being combed through with emerald combs then it is sown into clothes only for the royal clan. It's so damn expensive because a single spider only makes centimeters worth of the silk. This one garment is made of the silk of six million specimens. No one's sure how the stuff will react with Earth's atmosphere. Enjoy!"
The box was labeled 'Handle with Care; Delicate merchandise.'
She knelt, setting the box on the ground before her before slowly untying the off white string and opening the generic cardboard flaps. It was encased in some sort of styro-foam stuff and then wrapped in a soft sort of velvet like pelt. She unwrapped it carefully, gasping as the material flowed through her fingers. It felt like cool fluid as it seemingly shimmered in the speckled sunlight that got through the leaves of the tree she sat under. It was a classic evening gown design, with a silt running down the left side that started at her hip. The sleeves were three quarter length. The dress itself would hug her curves in all the right places. The final bell rang, signaling that the generation of desensitized punks and hoodlums were to be let loose upon a city that was buckling down for them. Wrapping the dress up and packing it away she headed for the changing room and then her car.
She found a flyer under the driver's side windshield-wiper;
"GO TO GRANDPA MAX"
Shaking her head, she removed it before heading to the RV Park.
Grandpa Max welcomed her with a bear-hug, as always. He had been gardening but dropped what he was doing to grab a pitcher of lemonade and invite her to sit down and talk.
"So, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"Well, first of all Ben has directed me to you for the next note and/or package…"
He produced a note and a package, "Here ya go."
"Thanks," she opened the note, "It says;
Dearest One,
Here are the earrings and bracelet to go with your necklace."
She opened the box and there was the aforementioned jewelry. She sighed.
"Is there a problem?" Max asked concerned.
"Tell me how to set your grandson straight," she paused to collect her thoughts and word them properly, "He's overcompensating; the wooings are nice occasionally, but come-on; in one day he has sprung on me a rose and a pet dove, a necklace made of some mega rare crystals, the matching earrings and necklace, a dress made from the silk of six million alien spiders, a vacation to wherever I want and tickets and backstage passes to the circus. He doesn't have to do this."
Max began laughing, "You sound identical to Verdona! Oh my god!" he calmed down, "Tell him what you just told me…but I have a second package from Ben…"
He uncovered a large box, which had been cloaked. It came with a letter;
"One thing I love about you is that you're always willing to help, but putting you in the middle of a battle has always scared me. So I have gotten you a long range weapon, a longbow and 50 different kinds of trick arrows; like what Green Arrow uses. Experiment with them, tell me what you like and we'll get you some more. So now you can help and you'll be safer than you were in the middle of the fight."
There were electric arrows, arrows that threw out netting to capture the target, arrows that shorted powers for a few seconds on impact, arrows that left trackers on the target and many, many more.
"Okay, he's gonna drive me insane!"
"Look," Max spoke apologetically, "I have one last thing for you."
It was another envelope. She opened it to find a MapQuest map, a key and a note;
"Julie.
This one's important to follow the instructions to the letter. At five pm, no sooner no later, you need to be pulling up to 7689 Albert Ave. This key will let you into the house. In the second story Master suite you'll find an antique writing desk. There will be a key and a jewelry box on it. The key will unlock the box. You'll find a note from me. The house's owners won't be in for another week and I'm sure they won't mind us using it.
Ben."
An eyebrow rose in interest, this sounded slightly illegal.
----
Five PM
She pulled up and put the van into parking mode against the curb. The house looked brand new and vacant. Nothing screamed that someone actually lived there. She went to the door, took a deep breath, and let herself in. The inside did show that someone with very good taste in home décor lived there. There was a 108" flat screen plasma TV, right now it showed a calm sea loop. The couch could seat six and at one end someone could recline. It was cream colored. The floors were wooden, but in the living room area they had placed a scarlet rug with unusual orange patterns. The bookcases, there were two, one on each side of the TV, held not novels but a fantastic collection of Blue-ray movies. There was a blue-ray player tucked under the TV.
But she didn't notice these details as she followed the instructions. The house had four bedrooms, two baths, two dens and a commercial grade kitchen, plus garage and an underground cave system.
She found the Master suite and opened the box to find a deed and the letter;
"Dear Julie,
Like the house? Well, this'll surprise you. The owners I mentioned. They're us. It's all paid off, mortgage and everything all paid.
Enjoy.
Ben.
PS. Be at the park at 8."
Her eyes widened and she stumbled back, into the four poster bed. It was mahogany wood made, lacquered to a deep chocolate brown almost black shade and the bedding and velvety curtains were deep emerald. Its' height, from floor to mattress, was a little over four feet. The bedding was silky smooth and oh so snuggly warm.
But she didn't note these details as she was scrutinizing the deed looking for some clue as to if this were a very peculiar joke. Ben's, sense of humor was very abnormal. No doubt made that way by his very atypical hobby-turned-vocation. Finally admitting it was a legitimate government document (or else a very, very, very convincing forgery) she smiled. She knew what he was up to with this. He wanted her to be taken care of should he be called away for long-term "business trips". To not worry about rental bills. A map fell from the letter's folded part.
The house had its own separate generators, built by Cooper no doubt, so electric bills were a thing of the past. Water too, they had found an underground river in the cave system.
"Overprotective worrier." She continued to wander throughout the house, now taking in the details. The kitchen was stocked and there on the refrigerator was door was a note that revealed that groceries would automatically be delivered every three weeks. China, with green halos on white pottery, filled the cabinets above the dishwasher. Non-perishable foods filled another third of the possible cabinet space, leaving the rest open for future wares.
The study-why the hell would they need a study?-was the basic nondescript variety. Except the clock, something was off about the clock.
Duh, comic book tricks 101! She shook her head and stepped up to it, turning the hands to represent the 10 o'clock hour. It slid to the side revealing a cave entrance, a note pinned to the side with a much smaller map.
"Julie, if you've found this then you've found my new state-of-the art Plumbers' lair. Beneath your very feet is a system of caves which, borrowing from the comic-books, I've turned into an underground lair/ emergency fallout shelter. You can advance no further until I give you the necessary codes without risking the booby-traps and intruder deterrents.
Sorry. Love,
Ben"
"Paranoid, overprotective worrier." she amended her earlier statement. She left the clock to slide back into place, and glancing at a real working clock found it to be 7:45 pm. In less than five minutes she was in her new dress, earrings, and necklace and headed towards the park.