Fifty-Two
Nel and Mike sit in a room at the doctors office waiting for their doctor to come in and visit with them and answer some questions they have about this pregnancy.
After her meeting with Angela, the nurse from the ER, Nel feels uneasy and everything concerning her pregnancy and needs answers.
"Are we having another tough day?" Dr.Betty says as she walks in the room.
"No, we're fine. Just eager to get the results." Nel says.
"Of course. You must be very anxious." Dr.Betty says.
"You know, we want to make sure everything's okay with the baby. You didn't see anything unusual? Hooves or anything?" Nel laughs nervously.
"What?" Mike asks laughing.
"Not at all. And, Dr.Grassi, that's not a ridiculous fear. Every pregnant woman worries they've got a little devil in them." Dr.Betty explains.
She continues to examine the test results and ultrasounds and discovers something that was previously overlooked.
"I don't want you to get all worked up, Nel. You're having twins." Dr.Betty says.
Nel looks at Mike and then back at Dr.Betty in shock.
"What?"
"Twins?"
Dr.Betty nods.
"And they're both perfectly healthy. Congratulations." She says with a large smile on her face.
Mike and Nel look at each other with nervous looks on their faces.
**
"The house is a classic LA Victorian. These are really Tiffany fixtures. Everything was meticulously restored by a couple of the previous homos. Owners. Homeowners." Josh says walking a potential client through the house.
"Fags have such a great eye for detail, don't they?" The man says.
"A queer eye. Let me show you the kitchen. Please help yourself to nibbles." Josh says walking into the kitchen.
Angelica sets out a plate of snacks and wine for people coming to look at the house.
"Well, I don't see you on the brochure. You come with the house?" The man says to a young Angelica.
"Uh, she does, actually. This is Angelica. She's worked for consecutive owners of the house. Uh, Nel Grassi." Nel says entering the kitchen.
She shakes the mans hand and gives him a small smile.
"Mr.Escandarian was in the neighborhood to look at that gaudy Mediterranean two blocks up." Josh explains.
"It's about two-thirds the size of this place, and they want almost twice as much. Of course, the Mediterranean has a swimming pool." Mr.Escandarian explains.
"There's room for a pool here." Josh says quickly.
Mr.Escandarian goes to look out the window at the backyard and sees the gazebo Mike built.
"I'll have to tear out that gazebo." He says.
"I think that's a fine idea. A swimming pool would be just the thing. How deep would you make it?" A young Angelica asks.
"Very deep." He says with a smirk on his face.
"Good. I like it deep."
Nel and Josh look at each other uncomfortably as they two talk in front of them.
Mr.Escandarian looks at the young Angelica fondly as she looks back out the window at the yard.
"You'd have to dig up the entire yard." Angelica says.
Josh clears his throat as Nel speaks up finally.
"Uh, Mr.Escandarian? Would you like to see the rest of the house?" Nel asks.
"Actually, I just have one question. What's wrong with this place? The land alone is worth as much as you're asking." He says.
"Mrs.Grassi is a motivated seller."
"Um, and I would also like to be candid with you that this house has a history that I find troubling." Nel says.
Josh looks at Nel with wide eyes as he can't believe that she's about to spill the houses history out on the table for him to see.
"The people who lived here before died here, violently, and apparently they weren't the only ones. So I just want to be very straightforward with you about that, if you are in fact interested." Nel explains.
He looks back and forth between Josh and Nel keeping them on their toes.
"I am interested. If it looks like you're going to get a serious offer before you hear from me, let me know." He says.
Mr.Escandarian slips Nel his card and find his way to the front door to leave.
"I'll see you to the front door. If you decide soon, you might have your pool by summer." Angelica says walking Mr.Escandarian to the front door.
Josh waits for the front door to close before following Nel to the dining room to talk to her about what she said to the new client.
"Are you trying to crush my commission?" Josh asks.
"I'm trying to be honest, unlike you." Nel says.
"Why don't we just include a ticket for the Murder Tour along with the goddamn flyer?" Josh says fiercely.
"That's a really good idea. Because you know what? I think it would be really good for us to know exactly what happened in this house." Nel spats back.
Suddenly, they hear the backdoor slam.
Nel rushes into the kitchen to investigate and finds Rick standing in the kitchen.
"Excuse me." Nel says.
"Ah. Is this where the open house is?" Rick asks.
"Yes."
"Ah, what a lovely spread." Rick says taking a handful of snacks and stuffing them in his house.
"The open house is over." Josh says.
"Says from 2pm to 6pm. It's only four o'clock now." Rick says looking at his watch.
"It's by appointment only." Josh says staring Rick down knowing exactly who he is.
Rick stares back fiercely as Nel looks at him with wide eyes as he took half the tray of snacks in his hand.
"Oh. I see. It's because of my affliction, isn't it? Sometimes I wonder, if I knew how much I was going to be shunned, if I would have run back onto that burning school bus to save those children. Now this crrudite is making my mouth dry. I'm gonna have a little glass of this Chardonnay, and then you show me the house." Rick demands.
Josh then pulls out a gun from the inside of his jacket.
"Put down the stemware." He says pointing the gun at Rick.
"What are you doing?" Nel says putting her hands up.
"A man in my line can't be too careful. There are a lot of minority men in this city who would like nothing more than to ravage me on this counter top. Get out." Josh says.
Rick puts the glass down and stares Josh down.
"Put the gun down, Josh. I don't like guns. Put the gun down." Nel says with her hands still up.
"Yes, Josh. I hope you're permitted for that, as I will be mentioning it in my lawsuit. What you're doing is in direct violation of The American with Disabilities Act." Rick says.
Josh put his hands up and the gun back inside his jacket and let's Nel show Rick the house.
"And this is the library."
"Oh. Oh! That's...That's quite a fireplace. I'm very interested in that fireplace. Does it work?" Rick asks.
"Yes, it's gas." Nel says.
"May I see?"
"Yeah. I'll turn it on for you." Nel says struggling to bend over.
Rick lights a match and puts it in the fireplace and looks at it in amazement.
"Wonderful."
He looks deep into the flames as the grow stronger in the fireplace.
Nel and Josh watch nervously as Rick just stares at the fire for minutes on end.
Finally, he looks up at Nel and smiles.
"Yes. I'm very interested in this house. Although I'm not sure about the wallpaper." Rick says.
"I find that rice paper very cheap." Josh says.
"You know what would look great in here? A mural." Rick says.
Josh looks over at Nel with his mouth open looking to see what she has to say about that.
"Yeah."
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