My Brother: Cupid

My Brother: Cupid Ch. 7

A few minutes later I arrived at a large house looming over a large threatening yard. It was quite frighting house. I ring the doorbell which sounds like a short song you'd hear in a horror movie.

He finally arrives, he opens the door and glares at me. "May I help you?" he asks.

"Hey, Dewey," I say. "I'm a little annoyed with Chase, can I stay here for a few days?"

"Of course," he says. He opens the door more so I can get in. Then he turns to yell down the stairs.

"Victoria! I don't hear anything!" That's when I hear a few simplistic notes on his piano.

"Thanks," I say.

"Don't be a nuisance," he says, leaving to go downstairs.

Absent minded I follow him. He sits behind a small girl playing the piano who looks terrified out of her wits. She quickly finishes the song she's playing jumping every time she makes a mistake. She can't be older then eight, her hair is put up in a pony tail with a small flower on top of it, and she wears a yellow dress. She looks very out of place in this haunted house.

"Very good, Veronica. I think I'm going to have you practice that one a little bit more this week," he says making a few marks in a folder.

I turn to Victoria. I lean in and say, "I'm Todd." I hold out my hand for her to shake.

She jumps and screams. She wasn't expecting me to talk to her. Dewey laughs a little. "Sorry, I'm Veronica. Do you have a piano lesson after me?" she asks still catching her breath.

"No, Dewey's a family friend of ours. I'm going to stay here for a few days," I say.

Her eyes grow wide as she looks around. I can tell that she's thinking how awful it would be to stay in this house for more then an hour, which is probably the length of her piano lesson. "I'm so sorry," she says.

"I'm not," I say. "Want to know a secret?"

She nods leaning in.

"Dewey's not really as scary as you think he is," I whisper loud enough that he can hear me.

"Darn it, Todd, you've ruined my image," he says laughing. "Didn't I say not to be nuisance?"

"Sorry," I say also laughing.

Then the doorbell rings again. Dewey gets up to go it. A few minutes pass and he yells, "Victoria, your mother is here."

She grabs her stuff and practically trips herself trying to get out of the house.

Dewey joins me once again. "You're not really mad, are you?" I ask.

"Of course not, the way I loose most of my customers is because they're terrified of me. Sometimes, I just can't help myself though," he says.

"So I don't blame you for being annoyed with Chase. But why are you exactly?" Dewey asks.

"He shot me with an arrow," I say.

"Right," Dewey says, "I knew that. You told the entire Holiday Council." Dewey also is on the holiday council. He represents the holiday of Halloween as Dracula.

I nod. "So yeah, that's basically it."

"It must be more then that, or you would have come here soon-"

He was cut off by his doorbell. He rose to go get it. I waited on the couch, he soon came down with two identical twin boys. They looked at me confused.

"I'm Todd," I say.

The boys don't respond. Instead one sits as far away as he can from me on the couch and the other sits on the piano bench.

"Todd," Dewey says taking a seat in his chair. "You can use the guest room, second floor third door to the right. Why don't you go make yourself at home."

"Thanks," I say. I make my way upstairs to the guest room and open the door. The room has the same eerie feeling the rest of the house has. There's a phone next to the bed. I realize I should call my mom and tell her where I am.

After a few rings, she picks up the phone. "Hello?" she says.

"Hi Mom," I say.

"Oh, Todd. How are you? Where are you? My cellphone didn't recognize the number."

"That's actually what I called about," I say, "Is it okay if I stay at Chase's friend Dewey's house for a few days? It okay with him."

"Well . . . I don't know. I don't know Dewey. Can he be trusted?" she said with hesitation in her voice.

"Yeah, he's Chase's friend. And he teaches piano. And he loves kids."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Well, he's actually teaching piano right now. But I'll have him call you back later, kay mom?" I say bringing my ear away from the phone for a few second.

She sighs. "Okay."

"Love you, mom."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

A few minutes later when I heard the eerie ringing of the doorbell, I jumped up and went downstairs. A lady was picking up the twins I had seen earlier. The boys slipped on their shoes and walked downstairs.

Dewey yelled after them saying, "Good-bye boys, don't forget to practice."

I heard the ladies voice say, "Say good-bye boys."

They didn't of course and Dewey shut the door. I made my way down the rest of the steps. "So adults trust you, don't they?" I said casually as possible.

"Depends on the adult. Most adults trust me as a professional. Others trust me as far as they can throw me. And the ones in denial trust me completely," he said. "Why?"

"I just called my mom and told her that I was staying here. She wants you to call her back to see if you're trustworthy."

"How sweet. You thought about your mom. Mary would love you. Of course she loves kids anyway, but still," he said walking over to the phone. Mary is Mother Day's name.

I nodded. He picked up the phone and I said, "340-5891."

He dialed the numbers and waited for a few seconds. Then I hear him say, "Hello. This is Dewey. I'm the man who is taking responsibility for your son for the few days. I assure you, he's in good hands.

"Yes, I know Chase. Us two are very close. We practically see each other every day.

"Yes, of course, I'll make sure Todd makes it to school.

"Yes.

"Yes.

"Yes.

"Okay, thank you. Hopefully I'll meet you soon. Okay, bye."

He hangs up the phone and smiles at me. "It is done," he says. "Are you going to call Chase?"

"He doesn't need to know where I am," I said.

"Gotch'ya. Well, your free to stay here until Chase sues me for kidnapping you," he says jokingly.

"Thanks," I said.