Taylor
Did you get my text earlier?
Suzanne
I did! What would my mornings be without your love quotes?
Suzanne
“Time’s winged chariot hurrying near. . .” Lovely.
Taylor
“Desserts of vast eternity. . .” Marvell knew his coy mistress well, as do I. ☺
Suzanne
When am I going to see you?
Taylor
Not sure. Why? Do you have something planned?
Suzanne
Just want to have the house ready for you.
Taylor
What have you been doing all this week while I’ve been away?
Suzanne
Had the repairmen out for the leaky roof. Again. That’s what happens, I guess, with your 200-year-old house.
Taylor
Five generations worth of a Victorian monster: a shaky roof, but a wealth of history.
Suzanne
AND almost no phone reception. I’ve learned to text like a champ, though.
Taylor
“There is no exquisite beauty, without some strangeness in the proportion.”
Suzanne
Should have guessed. So, what time are you coming home?
Taylor
I’ll text you when I’m sure.
Taylor
All else going well? How are you sleeping?
Suzanne
Not great. I don’t really notice the noises in the house except when the lights are out. It’s driving me a little crazy.
Taylor
You could invite a friend to stay. You have so many friends. Surely one of them can spend the night.
Suzanne
It’s a long way to drive from town.
Taylor
I would have driven to the ends of the earth to be with you. If only you had asked.
Suzanne
I know that my sweet angel.
Taylor
Actually, I spoke to Dandridge today. He said he thought he saw a car at the house a few evenings. A black BMW?
Suzanne
Must have been Marta.
Suzanne
Yes, you remember her. You said talking to her was like watching paint dry, or something.
Taylor
Funny, don’t remember meeting her at all.
Suzanne
She did come for dinner a few times this week when I got nervous. And lonely for you!
Taylor
“We loved with a love that was more than love.”
Taylor
Right! So what kind of noises are you hearing?
Suzanne
Last night, I started hearing sounds coming from outside, like a cat in distress.
Taylor
I thought cats always sounded like they’re in distress. Maybe one of the neighbor’s pets.
Suzanne
Maybe--it had a strange sound to it. But “there are stranger things in heaven and earth”, right, Romeo?
Taylor
Clever girl. See, you can read.
Suzanne
Last night, the sounds were so loud that I got out of bed and went into the back yard.
Suzanne
It sounded like it was coming from the old garden.
Taylor
The one with the well?
Suzanne
Yes. But I didn’t want to go wandering too close to it and accidently fall in. We need to get Dandridge to secure the cover.
Taylor
Maybe something fell in. Still alive, swimming around, trying to get out.
Suzanne
That’s a horrible thought.
Taylor
“Reformation has its victims. . .can’t expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal’s return.”
Suzanne
That definitely sounds like Poe.
Taylor
Actually, it’s Saki.
Suzanne
Do you really think something’s alive in the well?
Taylor
There’s only one way to find out.
Suzanne
Can’t Dandridge do it?
Taylor
He’s in town today doing things for me.
Taylor
Well, it doesn’t matter. Anything that’s fallen in last night has probably given up the ghost by now.
Suzanne
What if it is a cat?
Taylor
“From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.”
Suzanne
I’ll go take a look. But stay close to the phone, okay?
Suzanne
The old garden needs tending. Badly.
Taylor
Be careful of the brambles. They have been known to bite.
Suzanne
Ha! Ha! I’m at the well. There’s basically no cover left. It’s completely rotted away. The only thing left is the crank and the bucket.
Suzanne
Sounds like faint splashing. A frog maybe?
Taylor
How close can you get the edge? Be careful though.
Suzanne
It’s pretty dark down there.
Taylor
“If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Suzanne
Would you stop with the Poe.
Taylor
That’s Friedrich Nietzsche, my darling.
Taylor
He also said that a woman may form a friendship with a man, but it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy.
Suzanne
What are you talking about?
Taylor
Dandridge told me your nocturnal visitor was a man.
Suzanne
That’s so unfair. I’m really hurt right now, Taylor, that you wouldn’t believe me.
Taylor
Of course I believe you! Have you ever given me any reason to doubt you?
Suzanne
I told you it was Marta who came to dinner.
Taylor
Dandridge must be getting old. His eyesight is surely not what it used to be. But then again, none of us are what we were.
Suzanne
OMG. I’m hearing the sounds again!!
Suzanne
No, it sounds like it’s coming from WTF the bucket!
Suzanne
But it’s filled with rainwater. Maybe a squirrel?
Taylor
Maybe it’s a BABY squirrel. LOL.
Suzanne
It definitely sounds like an animal. I don’t see anything though.
Taylor
Look closer. Stick your hand in.
Suzanne
R U Crazy! I’m not sticking my hand in.
Taylor
Well put a stick in.
Suzanne
OK. Got a stick. Stay near the phone. Checking now.
Taylor
Did you find anything in the bucket, my angel?
Taylor
Something that has served our family for 200 years, perhaps?
Taylor
With very large teeth and a stinging tail?
Taylor
There ARE stranger things in heaven and earth. And it’s HORATIO you stupid, cheating twat. Or I should say ex-twat. RIP.
