North American Vampire Council & Past Calling (Hypernaturals 12 & 13)

Lay of the House

Ken's and Cherlynn's house is in the suburbs. It's a nice little neighborhood. Ethnically mixed. Houses from the 1970s. Most of them well maintained. The cars in the driveways are all over the place; 1960s junker muscle cars, 1960s perfectly restored muscle cars. Harleys and Honda Goldwings. A nifty looking Trike, with one front wheel off a motorcycle, and two back wheels, like from a car. Station wagons and SUVs. Honda Civics and Toyota Camry's. Being Houston, Pickup trucks are common.

My favorite cars that I have seen so far are a pristine Chevelle from the early 1970s that looked like Morgan and Jessica had restored it and a 1950s Ford stepside in mint condition, but slightly lowered and with custom wheels.

In my non-mechanical-genius opinion, there is a right way and a wrong way to lower a truck. The 'right way', to me, leaves suspension travel. Enough ground clearance so that it does not drag over speed bumps. It is taking a truck and making it more like a car, but not into a sled. The people that did the stepside did it right. It looks drivable without losing your teeth due to lack of suspension. I drive a two-door sports car, so drivability is important to me.

Morgan is more adaptable to various driving situations than I am since she has almost always had a truck for practical things and a Miata for her daily driver. When we are out at the track practicing in her sleeper Miata or my 124, she's always at 10/10's. She knows how to put a car at the edge of its performance envelope. It is how we got away from a much more powerful pickup trying to kill us. It is why after that experience when she built her monster Miata, she did not dial in pure horsepower, but kept the handling and enhanced it. She kept that new/old MX-5 in balance. Three times the horsepower would have meant nothing to her without being able to corner at over 1G as well. How Morgan services her various natures: having a practical vehicle to tow RV's and home improvement supplies and large parts of the family, and a couple of fun ones.

We dropped the RV at a nearby campground that Jessica found on the Internet last night and made a reservation for us. Morgan and Jessica set up the RV in at the campground so it would be our home away from home when we got back. We then rolled into town in Morgan's monster truck. We fit right into the Neighborhood. Pretty much anything would have driven would fit in here. Looking around, I was hard put to think exactly what kind of car would make us conspicuous. Something high end, like a Maserati Countach or a Porche would not fit. Too much money.

Ken's bungalow style house is bigger on the inside than it looks from the street. It is not the Tardis from Doctor Who: merely a deception created by the house and the lot. The lots are wide and deep, so the house can be wide and very deep and its size not really be obvious. Deceptive.

I would hate to have to mow this much grass. Front. Back. Side yards. Deep, green Saint Augustine grass, well-fed by Houston's wet climate. I hope Ken has a riding mower because this would be a project.

The house has four large bedrooms. The Master, a bedroom for Danielle, and the other two bedrooms turned into offices for each of the spouses. Three full baths. Big kitchen that opened onto the living room.

I filed away the fact that they do not share office space as interesting. No reason to, given the space in the house, but it also spoke to me of Ken not assuming that merely because Cherlynn does not work that she does not need or want her own area to retreat to now and then.

The wood paneling on various interior walls is painted. I see that often in older houses. Too much wood paneling can be dark and close in a room, but painting wood is against my religion. I like natural wood grain.

It's not my house.

The paint is recent enough I can smell residual volatiles coming off it. That made it a Cherlynn project since she quit her job to be a stay at home mom.