The Dinner Party

The Arrival

Thursday, October 27th

Each of the four arrived at the mansion.

Sara was the first to arrive, early of course as all good journalists must be. Gawking at the tall marble masterpiece, she got out of her car and proceeded to walk up the trail leading to the marvelous Cedarville Mansion. She waited at the front door wearing a white collared shirt with a black floppy bow tie, light brown capris and a dark brown cardigan. Her short, mousy brown hair fell delicately hovering at her shoulders. She was a rather short woman with large horn rimmed glasses. She grinned uncontrollably from the excitement of finally being able to meet the mysterious billionaire. She adjusted the strap of her canvas messenger bag containing her notepad and a small camera just in case she was able to snap a few pictures. Turning around, she noticed three other people approaching. Sara greeted them with a wave and got a response from two of the three other guests. A kindly, older gentleman in a brown pinstriped suit, motioned to her with his cane with a slight smile. The other man, slim built, in a blue dress shirt and jeans gave her a big wave. The third woman, of medium height didn't respond to her greeting. She wore a tight black sparkly dress with a split in the leg, showing off her skinny legs and red heels along with a fluffy mink coat. Yikes! she looks gorgeous Sara thought, looking down at her own clothes.

René looked around at the other guests wondering why there weren't more people. Oh of course! If he intends on exacting his revenge on me he needs a small audience in order to keep them quiet. He frowned at the thought. Hopefully, it will simply be a dinner party and they won't bring up the history. He chuckled nervously and hobbled over to the young woman at the front door.

"Hello ma'am," René said with a nod. "Hi, I'm Sara" she replied in a chipper voice. The other two guests came to the door and became acquainted with each other.

DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG

Large bells at the top of the mansion rang seven times to signal that it was seven o'clock. Promptly the massive oak doors swung out in front of the group of them. The inside was completely breathtaking. A huge corridor stretched from the door inwards and splayed out into all different directions. Many spiral staircases of different lengths led to one of the many floors of the mansion. The walls were a brilliant white marble and the floor was a dark oak. Numerous chandeliers lined the ceiling filling the corridor with a beautiful white light. Sara gasped, she had heard so much about the mansion but all the gossip and reports had not come close to accurately describing the Cedarville mansion. Portrait paintings of all the past Heaves' lined the walls, each with the names, birth and death dates on a small plaque under the picture.

"This is all fine and dandy, but where is the man of the hour? The Mr. Heaves?" Ekatrina drawled in a thick Russian accent. A lanky fellow suddenly appeared dressed in a full tuxedo with white gloves on. His thin wiry hair had been slicked back, and deep wrinkles in his face suggested that he had been the butler for quite a long time.

"Ahem. Good Afternoon guests, he croaked in a raspy voice. I am Harold Bolser, the butler of this lovely abode, and I shall be serving you today. May I take your coats and bags??" The guests took off their coats and handed them to Harold. The poor man looked like he would crumple under the weight of each coat, but he held them steady.

"Be very careful old timer, this is the finest quality mink from Russia" Ekatrina said to him as she handed him her coat. "Of course ma'am. I've dealt with many luxury coats in my time" he quipped with a slight chuckle. "Please, have a look around" he said before disappearing again to hang up the coats. Sara went around snapping pictures of everything she could find, from statues to fountains to even the toilets. René decided to stay close to the door just to be sure that he didn't accidentally piss off the Heaves'. James marveled at the pictures and tapestries strewn about the large corridor. Ekatrina poked around the in rooms looking for Victor so that she may make her grand appearance to him. After marveling for a bit James decided to strike up a conversation with Harold.

"Hey Harry!" He exclaimed. "Don't I recognize you from somewhere?" The butler looked genuinely shocked.

"How could you recognize me? The only way you would know me is if you had interacted with Mr. Heaves in the past," the butler responded.

"I did interact with him in the past. A few months back we played golf together. Do you remember?" James was now getting flustered. Had his game with Victor been so insignificant? Was he the only one who remembered?

"Oh, that must have been splendid Mr. Leto but unfortunately my old brain tends to forget things pretty easily" he said. However, that was a total lie. Harold's memory was photographic, even in in his old age he remembered everything. Why else would Victor have kept him around for all these years? The truth was that Harold had been beside himself when he noticed a wee bit of attraction to James. Certainly, the age gap would stop him from even contemplating the idea of a relationship with Harold. He wasn't even sure that James liked the "company" of other men.

"HAROLD!!!" a still British voice yelled out. Harold ran off to answer the call. "Ah, that must be Mr. Heaves," Ekatrina said with a dazzling smile. The old butler came back and asked the guests to follow him to the dining hall.