House Tour Phase II

Freezing in place, Jean stayed motionless for a while, his foot a few inches away from touching the edge of the staircase. He then took a step back and looked up in the direction of the sound.

A few moments later, a familiar figure emerged from the top edge of the staircase. Noticing Jean, Natalie wore a complicated look. In her hands, she held a pair of safety boots. Its size too small to be hers.

'I hope those are mine.'

At that moment, she asked:

"Tell me you are done with the dishes."

Jean lowered his gaze and let out a frustrated sigh.

'That was the last thing that I expected to hear from you, mom…'

Jean then looked up and nodded silently.

Noticing this, Natalie almost stumbled. Blinking with bewilderment, she slowed down as she approached Jean. As she neared the edge of the staircase, Jean shifted to the side to give way.

Stopping right next to Jean, Natalie gulped and tilted her head to face him.

"That was so fast… what could have motivated you?"

Jean remained mute and unmoved, not knowing what to answer.

With a shrug, Natalie looked down in her hands, and concentrated on the safety boots.

"For our next phase, I think you would need this."

Staring at the safety boots curiously, Jean lingered.

"Where did you get them?"

With a frustrated sigh, Natalie glared at Jean.

"Of Course, I bought them for you… I only forgot to give you when I was handing you your clothes. There were just a lot in my mind at that time."

With that, she outstretched her hands to handover the safety boots to Jean. As Jean was about to take them, he paused midway. And in the next moment, his gaze shifted to something on the ground beneath Natalie's feet. He was glancing at Natalie's shoes.

"What about you, mom."

Following Jean's gaze, Natalie snorted.

"…Don't worry about me, I am quite informed when it comes to the structure of this compound. That is enough to keep me safe from unnecessary injuries. This isn't my first time being here, remember… So, are you going to take it or not?"

Jean was concerned about his mother's safety. This was because, she was putting on rubber shoes. But the act of her handing him a pair of safety boots only suggested one thing. The landscape they were about to traverse, was quite rugged and could possibly cause injuries to the traversers. And Jean understood this fact very well. That's why he was quick to show compassion to his mom.

In an instance, Jean had already taken the boots from her outstretched hands. In response, Natalie shrugged and advanced to the kitchen.

Noticing this, Jean dropped the boots to the floor a craned in Natalie's direction.

'What is she up to. So, she couldn't believe that I washed the dishes in such a small spun of time? Let her shock herself. This might take too long, because of such unnecessary activities.'

With that thought, Jean took off the plastic sandals he was wearing and started putting on the safety boots.

'I just hope that this won't be long as I suspect. I also need to calculate, how many minutes, this tour is going to take.'

With that thought, he tilted his head and glanced at the wall-clock in the living room.

By this time, the clock read: 2:03 PM

'I will have to check again before we get out.'

A few minutes later, Jean was done putting on the boots. And as he was about to advance to the kitchen to check on his mom, Natalie emerged from the kitchen door, her gaze fixed in Jean's direction.

"I have cleared my doubts and all I can say is that; that was incredible. Proud of you."

Without stopping, she headed for the exit door, prompting Jean to follow. The next and the last phase of the house tour was about to begin.

At this point, Jean was hit by a wave of excitement.

'This was what I have been waiting for. I asked her the main purpose of this strange narrow gate and she told me that the answered lie behind it. I must go with her, in order to get clarifications in case I miss something.'

Jean had the idea of confirming the time on the wall-clock, before getting out. But he was too excited at the time of their departure that he forgot to confirm this.

Stepping out of the house with a measured gait. Natalie smiled with the corners of her mouth.

"Where do you think we should start?"

Jean now standing beside her, scanned the premises.

"What if we start with the front-side?"

Natalie let out an awkward cough.

"That's a good suggestion, but I can't take it. This is because, there are little to inspect on the front-side of the house."

Jean sighed and glanced at Natalie.

"Then where do you think we should start, mom?"

Natalie lingered for a while. She then scanned the surroundings and finally concentrated on the left side. With a tentative smile, she spared Jean a quick glance and pointed in the direction.

"I think, this would be a good place to start from."

With that, she moved toward the left side. Jean lingered for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. He then shook his head and followed her.

The second face of the house tour had started.

***

At the furthest edge of the compound, on the left side of the house, two figures were seen standing to a flowerbed.

"These flowers are really bushy. We need to trim them to enhance their beauty."

Touching the leaves of the flower-plant, Jean concentrated on the plant.

"Although, I may have not done this before, but I am confident that I can do a nice job."

With a mirth, Natalie blinked a couple of times.

"Sometimes you amaze me. Where did you learn how to trim flowers?"

Jean chuckled and looked at Natalie.

"You must be forgetting something here. I learnt it from my village school."

Natalie giggled.

"When was flower-trimming added to the curriculum?"

Jean gasped and frowned.

"I did not learn that in class."

Natalie's eyes widened.

"That implies only one thing. You learnt it outside class, isn't it?"

Jean let out a frustrated sigh as his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, I used to observe the school gardener when trimming the flowers in our school compound. And from what I saw, the work isn't that complicated. I can handle it."

Natalie let out a wicked smile.

"See who is confident. I like your spirit. You really believe in yourself, which is nice of you."

She paused and turned her head in the direction of the furthest end of the compound. She was focused on the right side of the house.

She then said:

"We can't waste our precious time discussing about flowers, when we have a lot in our schedule. Time to check the right side out."

At that moment, something ignited in Jean's mind.

'The duration. How comes I forgot to confirm the time on the clock when we were leaving the house? Damn it.'

With that thought, Jean gritted.

'I can use the last reading. What was it...? 2:03 PM. Yeah! I think I got it right.'

He then followed Natalie, who was now moving toward the right side of the compound on the rear side of the house.

When they arrived at the narrow gate, Jean cast a sideway glance at the gate and lingered for a moment.

'This is the main part of this phase of the tour. The rest don't hold as much weight as this one. I can't wait…'

Noticing this, stopped and turned back to face Jean.

"What are you staring at? We have a strategy of inspecting the compound. We can't just be random as that will eat on our time. The compound is big, remember."

Natalie was right about the size of the compound of the house. From the front side, the compound stretched a couple dozen meters from the wall of the house. It then stretched one hundred and seventy meters wide. The rear space was twice the front space of the compound.

With a shrug, Jean moved in Natalie's direction.

The two then headed for the right side of the house.

***

At an ancient well that stood a few meters away from the ominous tree, Natalie and Jean stood leaning on the side walls of the well. Their gazes fixed on the metallic lid of the well.

"Can this thing be opened?"

Natalie blinked and tilted her head to the side to face Jean.

"Yeah, it can be… but I don't have the keys to its padlock in my possession. I wasn't given."

With a complicated look, Jean looked around the well and scoffed.

"Then, we can try breaking it."

Natalie jolted slightly and glowered at Jean.

"Why would you want us to break it? If it is water for use, we have tap-water in the house."

Jean looked at Natalie and then at the lid of the well.

"I would like to see what is contained inside."

Natalie straightened up and let out a frustrated sigh.

"What else do you expect to be inside a well if not water."

Assuming the same posture as Natalie, Jean lingered.

"Yeah, it might be water but who knows. It might not be as mundane as the tap-water that we have in the house."

Natalie placed one of her hands on her waist and sighed heavily, a tired expression on her bleak face.

"Let's wrap-up this tour by visiting the narrow gate."

Jean's mood brightened up.

Natalie then continued:

"Your daunting questions have been too much, especially about those flower vases. Let me hope for the better as we visit the gate."

With that, the two figures moved toward the narrow gate in unison.

A few moments later the two were standing in front of the narrow, black, steel gate.

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