The house was just as enticing in the early morning light as it had been in the pitched black night. She was curled into a window seat in the front room. It was a turret, and the glass was curved, and the sashes were curved and the trim and molding curved as well. Outside the fog was thick and she couldn’t see as far as the numbered street or lettered street she knew the house sat on the corner of and she contented herself with the image of the house as an island ringed with a moat of mist.
She sipped the hot coffee out of an exquisite porcelain teacup. It was all she could find. The kitchen had not been renovated, just like the house in its entirety, and she had stood amazed at the time travel aspect of it but was determined to make a pot of coffee. Her aunt had used a similar percolator when she was a child and taught her how to make a good pot of coffee so that she and her mother could drink cup after cup with a box of handpicked donuts. They would pour her a cup of half-and-half and a dollop of coffee to sip.
There was a glass bottle of sweet cream in the aqua blue Norge and that was a treat but perhaps not a surprise. Everything about the house and about him was proving to be an adventure.
She had been neither loud nor quiet when she slipped out of bed and opened the bedroom door. Simply awake and slightly discombobulated in the basement room. If anything, she was pleased that some interior timepiece had woken her without the grey dawn. The room was entirely without light and once her eyes were open, she had to fight with herself a bit to not press herself against the warm body beside her and descend again into a dreamless sleep.
By touch, she had fished her phone out of the pile of her discarded dress and shoes and bag on the floor of his bedroom, remembered the silk robe on the back of the bathroom door and shrugged into that on her way up the basement stairs. Out of the seemingly endless dark and into the growing light.
Tapping the phone awake, she had no reception and couldn’t seem to find his wi-fi. She wanted to text her girls, check in, find out where everyone had nested for the night. Had they all caught a Lyft together back to the Art Palace, or perhaps Daisy had slipped away with the goat boy that had been braying at her at the bar. She needed Snaps and spilt tea and check ins but the phone was useless. She peered harder outside and wondered if she wandered the substantially sized yard, maybe let herself out the ornate iron gate at the edge of the sidewalk and into the street, if she could find a hot spot.
You made coffee, he said with a wonderment in his voice. She looked over her shoulder, and he was standing in the opening of the double sliding pocket doors, a pair of black silk pajama bottoms slung low on his hips. Now she could see the blackwork tattoos clearly. A kind of flesh tome, arcane spell work.
She toasted him with the last of the coffee in her teacup. As you see, she smiled.
But you couldn’t find the mugs. He tsked tsked. Then smiled broadly. Good morning, morning girl. You’re shining like a spring dawn over there. Burning all my fog off, too.
She stood and stretched, her hands high above her head, an informal fifth position. How do I log onto your wifi?
He laughed. What’s that? I’m going to help myself to a cup of joe and judging your barista skills while I drink it. He disappeared into the adjoining kitchen.
She followed him. He motioned with the percolator, and she held out the teacup, and he steadied her wrist with a hand and poured. He topped it off with the cream and doctored his own.
Moment of truth, he said and pulled deeply at his cup. His eyes closed and he mimed ecstasy, and she laughed. You can stay, he announced. What magic will you perform with a rasher of bacon and a bakers of eggs?
Coffee may be the limit of my domestic arts.
Lucky for both of us, then that I know the way to the diner. Back to the window seat?
She nodded and followed him. They sat facing one another, their backs against the window moldings. He leaned his head against the glass and sipped his coffee and stared at her through half masted eyes.
You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever beheld. What made you finally relent?
Hyacinth.
A flower made you agree to come home with me last night? How long have I been begging you?
Hyacinth is a friend.
The tall one with the braids?
Yes.
He waited.
She read Tarot for me yesterday evening, before we went out and met up with all of you at the Zebra. She said it was opportune, and I could act if I chose to. She said it was safe.
Ah! I’m many things, but safe? What cards, if I may be so bold, were pulled?
She held her finger up to her lips and shook her head.
Fine, fine. Will you stay the weekend?
She shrugged. I have nothing to wear.
That robe suits. Perfectly.
Hmmm. Seriously, though, how do I log onto the internet.
He narrowed his eyes. Seriously, though, there’s no internet here.
What do you mean? I know there’s no cell reception.
Isn’t that weird? Maybe it’s the metal roof. At least that’s what others have said. No matter. I don’t have one of those phones.
You don’t have a cell?
He counted off on his fingers. No cell, no computer, no tv.
I don’t understand.
It’s too early for me to rant about it. And an empty stomach. But I do have a rant, and I will hold forth. Especially if you’re going to become a regular. Right now, I can still feel those last two Old Fashioneds in my skullbone. Let’s walk to breakfast.
A regular?
He grimaced. That didn’t come out right. Bad joke. There are no regulars, my darling girl. I’m a hermit.
More like a Luddite.
That, too. A long dry spell broken only be the occasional moon baths. You must believe me. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. How long have you and I been circling one another anyway? Downtown, in the dark, in crowds, in corner bars, and parties, and the one-off raves? Be honest!
Nearly half a year? Spring and summer.
Have you seen anyone on my arm? Have you? You haven’t. Let’s shake out last night’s garments and put them back on. I’ll walk you home after we dine and you can pack an overnight bag with everything you own and stay and stay and stay and stay.
That sounds like a long time. With no internet.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Time will become yours again. Those false gods will fade away. The old gods are all waiting for you.
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