Morning all. The pollen is high. The temperatures are rising but the weather man promised rain is on the way so these sniffles too will end. For now, let’s jump into the morning prompt. Fifteen minutes on the timer and off we go.
I think there is going to be something he finds in his brother’s things that leads him on a bit of an adventure.
Wednesday, May 20th: “All done?”
“All done?” Timmons asked.
Jacob nodded and wiped the sweat from his face. “The house is now officially cleared,” he told the landlord.
The landlord nodded and simply held out his hand for the keys. Jacob handed them over. The landlord, Mr. Timmons by name, walked over to the front door. “I’ll need to check for damages.”
Jacob held his tongue while Timmons entered the house. The house was spotless. He not only stripped out all of his brother’s belongings but scrubbed down any surface. He did it because he knew Michael would have wanted him to get back every cent of the deposit. Timmons had been a nightmare for his brother to deal with and the number of conversations they had about him could not be counted.
Jacob was certain he talked to his brother about the landlord more than he talked about anything else. He wasn’t sure what to make of that as he thought about it and waited for Timmon’s final pronouncement. He and Michael weren’t close. Fifteen years separated them and by the time Jacob was just getting on his feet and learning to walk instead of crawl, Michael was out of the hose and starting his own life.
After their parents died, they made more of an effort to try and talk. They just didn’t have much in common. Michael’s penny-pinching and obsessive landlord who insisted on routine visits to make certain that Michael, as a single man was not hosting wild house destroying parties made up many conversations. When the parties did not materialize, Michael being more of a quiet sort, Timmons became certain that Michael was letting loose women stay with him and delighted in popping up on Friday and Saturday nights to check.
Jacob smiled sadly as he recalled telling Michael to have all his loose women over on a Tuesday just to throw Timmons off. Michael claimed he arranged for Thursdays that way he could feel the rush of just having squeaked by before inspection.
They kept up the pretense, but Jacob knew Michael had no one over, loose or not, male or female. Michael generally kept to himself. His wife Tracy had been the social one. When she died in the car wreck Michael seemed to let go of almost all social threads. He didn’t date, he didn’t really spend time with friends. He read, he worked and occasionally he would watch old game shows on television. He seemed to like the old Price is Right reruns. While he teased Michael about liking the old Seventies color schemes he was certain that Michael, an economist, was comparing the prices of things as they were to what they would cost now.
Jacob had been the one social connection he kept up. ‘Although he was one of the few of mine, so I can’t really say much,’ Jacob thought. He inherited the same desire for a quiet life with only a few trusted people around. He had more people than Michael did, but he realized with Michael gone, his social circle was drastically reduced.
Jacob shook off his thoughts as Timmons exited the house. “Looks okay,” he admitted grudgingly.
Ten til Midnight 