The House Ch 01 1

She bought the house on a whim. Minerva Hughes was driving through Tennessee on a much needed vacation when she spotted the house. It sat far back from the road looking as if it was begging for someone to stop and look at it. She looked at her watch and she was making good time; she would be in Memphis two hours early and decided that she had time for a quick look. Minerva drove down the gravel driveway taking note of the grounds which were surprisingly well kept. As a matter of fact, the house itself was in excellent shape. She stopped the car, got out and stretched as she looked around; it was a beautiful setting with the fruit trees and wild flowers adorning the grounds. Minerva loved the south, especially Tennessee and thought that she might retire there someday. She was already in her mid-forties and retirement was no closer than it was when she was twenty. By the time she could move here, she'd be too old to enjoy it if she continued with her goals. She had planned to have made her first million by the time she was thirty by selling real estate. It had started off well enough but then the economy went to hell and she couldn't sell a house if her life depended on it. She still hadn't given up and moved the age goal for her first million to fifty-five but it didn't look like it was going to happen then either.

Minerva walked around to the back of the house and hoped that she wasn't trespassing although she hadn't seen any signs saying that it was private property but then, that didn't necessarily mean anything. The back yard was beautifully landscaped with apple trees in bloom and various types of wildflowers. Minerva closed her eyes and envisioned herself sitting in the yard in the evenings with a glass of wine of iced tea. She could almost feel the warm evening breeze blowing across her face. She sighed and came back to reality; it was a nice daydream she thought.

She walked up to the back door and tried the handle and was surprised to find it open. "You're not in New York" she murmured to herself as she walked into the kitchen. It was every cook's dream, large with all of the modern appliances that looked like they had never been used. The house was for the most part fully furnished which made her nervous, maybe someone lived here but then she remembered the for sale sign laying on the ground in the front. She went through the house falling more in love with it with each passing moment.

After seeing the master bedroom and bath, she was in love with the house and had to have it. She began to calculate what it would cost to move here but the big factor was going to be how much the owners were asking for the house. After taking one last look around, Minerva walked around the outside again. She stood in front of the house and imagined a couple of those rocking chairs from "cracker barrel" on the front porch. This house belonged to her she decided.

She looked at her watch surprised that she had been here for almost ninety minutes but it didn't feel like she had been there for that long. Just as she was getting back into her car a car pulled up blocking her in.

A man dressed in a suit got out and greeted her.

"Hello! I heard that there was somebody looking around the place, my name's Dwight Jackson, I'm the real estate agent handling the property." he said extending his hand.

"Hi, I'm Minerva Hughes. I was just passing through when I saw the house and decided to stop for a look. It's beautiful but it doesn't look like it's been lived in." she said.

"That's because it hasn't been at least not for long, some people from Connecticut bought it, had it all fixed up, bought all new furniture and everything and moved out after only being here for a weekend." He said, "Now they just want to be rid of it because they're paying for the upkeep and all of that."

"What happened?" she asked.

"They said that they heard things but I told them that this was an old house but they wanted out, went back to Connecticut I think.

Minerva looked around again, she wanted this house and she agreed with Dwight. Older houses did have sounds that could be unnerving to the unsuspecting but she wondered if there wasn't more to it.

"How much are they willing to sell it for?" she asked purposely not telling him that she used to sell real estate. She wanted to see if he would be honest with her although he didn't have to tell her why the real reason why the other people left.

"Well, they said that they would take forty-thousand and that includes everything that's in the house."

"Forty-thousand?" Minerva asked shocked, the house was easily worth double if not triple but she was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"How much down?" she asked already running calculations in her head. She had enough for a good down payment and had enough money to live on for a year if she was careful.

"Ten percent and they'll pay for any inspections and the closing costs." Dwight replied.

"And the furniture stays?" she asked.

"Everything stays." Dwight confirmed.

"I'll take it!" she said excitedly the rest of her vacation forgotten, Graceland would have to wait.

Dwight was taken aback by her sudden decision but quickly recovered.

"Really? Don't you need to check with your husband?" he asked.

"There is no husband and even if there were I would buy the house." Minerva replied.

There had never been a husband but she had come damned close as in the wedding was two days away close when she decided that she just couldn't do it. She didn't love him and couldn't see herself spending her life with someone that she didn't love. That had been twenty years ago and she never got that close again. She had plenty of lovers but as soon as they started talking commitment she ended it. She wanted to live her life on her terms and she supposed that if the right man turned her head she would rethink the commitment issue but so far it hadn't happened.

Minerva walked away to give Dwight some privacy while he talked to the owners. She walked around to the back again and saw a smaller house further in the back, she didn't know how she couldn't have seen it except that it was hidden behind some trees. She walked back toward it taking note of the pear and apple trees that were scattered throughout and imagined homemade apple and pear pies baking in the oven.

The little house was just as well kept as the big house and she began to wonder if at one time this wasn't a small plantation. She would ask Dwight after he was done with his phone call. Just like the big house, the door to the smaller house was unlocked. Minerva went in and looked around; it was tastefully done and would be great for company. She then had another thought; she was living with her sister and her family in New York and really didn't have much by way of furniture. There was no real reason for her to go all the way back there since the house was furnished. Any other business could be done by phone including her job. Minerva worked as an insurance claims adjuster and usually worked from home anyway and only went in for the mandatory meetings. Since it was a major company, they had to have field offices here somewhere; it was another thing to ask Dwight about.

Minerva started making a mental checklist of what she needed to do and wished that she had a sheet of paper. She could pay her niece Cynthia to pack up her things and to send them to her. That her sister would be shocked was an understatement since she had been living with her and her family for the past two years to help out with expenses and so that she Minerva could save some money, it was a very symbiotic relationship and had worked out quite well. Cynthia could help out with expenses that now since she graduated from college and managed to land a good job at a cosmetics firm and had no immediate plans to move away from home leaving Minerva free to move on. Calling her sister Diana was at the top of the list and it wasn't a call that she was looking forward to. What she was looking forward to was a house of her own and privacy.

Aaron Richards watched with interest as the woman got out of the car, another one looking to buy his house he thought grimly. The last ones had lasted only a weekend of actually living in the house, by Monday morning they were gone taking only their clothes and their brats with them. It was quite amusing watching them running out of the house as fast as they could dragging their despicable brats with them now here was another one.

Aaron followed her around the house as she went from room to room twice and knew that she was going to buy the house as soon as she saw the bathroom. The curious thing was that he wasn't objecting. There was something about her that he liked. Maybe it was because she was older, closer to his age of forty-seven, the age when he had died from a bullet wound that had become infected.

Aaron followed her around assessing her and found her attractive with her big ass and big breasts. The truth of it was that he had always found women of color attractive but it was unacceptable to admit to that during the time when he was alive and he wasn't sure about the present day. His suspicion was that things had to have changed to some degree judging from the way the white man greeted her, he watched in amazement as the white man actually shook hands with the black woman. That never would have occurred in his day at least not openly.

Aaron moved to the front of Minerva, he wanted to see her face and he wasn't disappointed. He liked the dark tone of her skin and the way her hair was fixed into all of those tiny little braids that fell just to her shoulders. She struck him as a woman who knew what she wanted and needed and wasn't afraid to try for it. Yes, this was a completely different era. In retrospect, he thought that he should have let the family with the brats stay a while longer so that he could learn something about the present day but the constant ringing of what they called cell phones drove him crazy and the sounds that they called music was horrible. The biggest shock was seeing how the woman was dressed and her husband allowed it! What man would allow his woman to go out dressed the way she was?

The thing was he found it arousing as well as disturbing. It would be fine if she weren't going out and she dressed like that for the pleasure of her husband but she went out in public dressed like that! The tight jeans and top that barely covered her stomach made his jaw drop open and his ghostly cock jerk. In his day, there was a word for a woman like that and it wasn't complimentary.

He took stock of what Minerva was wearing; it was dress that covered most of her with the exception of her arms and legs. It was a golden yellow sundress that made her skin look delicious and he wanted to touch her to see how soft her skin was. He followed her outside and around the grounds taking in every inch of her. She was by no means small but that was of no consequence, he liked his women with some meat on them. Aaron found himself hoping that she bought the house; it would be nice to have someone else here even if she couldn't see him.

Dwight just happened to have the papers in the car with him. He would arrange for the inspections as soon as possible but Minerva was welcome to stay at the house if she wished. She seriously thought about it but her room in Memphis was already paid for and she didn't want to waste the money.

"I was on my way to Memphis for two to three days, do you think that the inspections can be done by then?" she asked.

"I don't see why not." Dwight replied, "Let's exchange phone numbers and keep in touch."

They exchanged phone numbers and went their separate ways. Aaron watched her drive off and wondered when she would be back.

Minerva sang happily with the song on the radio, she owned a home. The low asking price had her a little concerned and she wondered if there had been a murder in the home but she was fairly certain that Dwight would have said something. She popped in her blue tooth and called her sister to break the news, better to get it over with but if she was lucky, Cynthia would answer the phone. Cynthia was the polar opposite to her mother, she was calm, cool and collected whereas Diana was jittery and everything was a catastrophe. Luck was with her, Cynthia answered the phone.

"Cynthia, its me Aunt Minnie." she said, personally Minerva hated the nick name almost as much as she hated her middle name which was Alice, "I'm fine, how are things there? Good. Where's your mom? Ok I'll call her later but I wanted to talk to you first. I bought a house." she said.

There was a dead silence as Cynthia thought about what Minerva said and then a squeal of delight.

"Really? Where is it? When can we come to visit?" she asked.

"Whenever you want." she replied, "I found it in Tennessee about a two hours south of Memphis, it was a steal!" Minerva told her about the house and then what she needed to happen.

"I'm on my way out but I can have everything packed by the weekend is that soon enough?" Cynthia asked.

"That's fine." Minerva replied, "The house has a washer and dryer and I have more than enough toiletries to get by with so take your time. Oh and don't say anything to your mom, I'll tell her myself but I wanted to give you the heads up and let me know how much it's going to cost you to send my things."

Cynthia promised and set the phone down so that she could grab a pen and paper to write down the address. While she waited, Minerva tried to think if there was anything else that she might need. Her social security card and personal papers were in a safety box under the bed but she had the key. It wasn't critical that she have it now, she would have fly home sometime soon and get them and get the face to face with Diana over with.

Aaron roamed through the house. It looked so different than if did almost one hundred and fifty years ago. He looked at the appliances and wondered what they were all used for. He knew what the stove was and the refrigerator he figured out when the family was living here. The other gadgets like the blender, coffee maker and microwave were foreign to him. They sat on the counter unopened in the same places that they had been left in. He looked at the pictures on the boxes his interest piqued; maybe the woman who had bought the house would know how to use them. He was interested in seeing how they worked as well as the big pieces of equipment in the other room.

He made his way to what used to be his study. It was still a study of sorts, it had a big desk with some contraption that Frank, the man of the family called a laptop and then there were the televisions in the family room and in each bedroom. He watched with interest as men came the week before the family arrived and ran wires from the outside of the house and hooked cables to the televisions. He jumped when one of the men turned on one of the televisions and pictures appeared and then the sound. Fascinating, he thought as he watched what he heard the men say was a basketball game.

The family had been with in the house for one night when Aaron decided that they had to go. The brats played what they called music so loudly that he could hardly think and their parents allowed it. The parents weren't much better as they bickered back and forth about moving here. The woman it seemed didn't want to be here, she wanted to go back to wherever it was that they came from or move to a city like Memphis. Aaron didn't understand why the male allowed the woman to talk to him as she did. The male should have reminded the woman who was the boss but then this was a much different time.

The house didn't quiet until well after midnight when they were all in their rooms. The next morning, the ruckus started all over. When the family left for the day to go shopping for groceries and other things, Aaron began moving things around. He went into the girls room first and looked at the CD's that she had been playing the night before. He frowned, what kind of parents would allow a child to listen to such trash? He wondered as he looked at the CD case. He dropped the CD on the floor and crushed it by squeezing his hand into a tight fist. He looked around her room which she had managed to unpack, at least she was neat he thought as he tore things out of her closet and threw them on the floor. The drawers were next and then he stripped the bed and tossed everything to the floor.

The boy's room was next and then the parent's room. In the bedside table, he found some interesting pieces of equipment. Three of them were fashioned after a man's cock each a different size; he raised his eyebrows and wondered why a woman would have such things if she had a real man with a cock unless he didn't know how to please her with it. He dumped the drawer onto the floor and saw a few more pieces of equipment that he couldn't identify and had no idea of how they would be used. The bottom drawer had more of the same things but these hadn't been opened and there was a stash of what he knew to be batteries next to them. He wondered if the woman moving in would know about these things.

Aaron spent the next hour going from room to room either moving things or ransacking it; the family came home just as he finished in what they called the living room.

The woman, Joan was the first to come in, she stood frozen as she took in the kitchen and then she screamed. Frank, her husband ran into the kitchen.

"What in the hell is the matter now?" he demanded and then he looked around the kitchen and swore softly.

Aaron watched with amusement as the brats, Frankie and Amber came in next.

"Everyone outside! They might still be here." Frank yelled as he took out his cell phone and called the police.

It seemed to take forever until someone showed up. Frank told the officer about the break in and then waited while he went inside.

"Whoever did this is gone, you can come in and see what's missin but they sure left you a mess."

The kids each went to their rooms and reported nothing missing but that all of their CD's were broken and their rooms were trashed. Frank and Joan reported nothing missing from their room but like the kid's room their room was trashed but nothing was missing. Even Joan's expensive jewelry was all there but was scattered across the room. More embarrassing however, was some of her toys were tossed on the bed and on the floor. Joan's face turned beet red when she realized that the deputy had to have seen them.

"Anything missing?" he asked from behind her.

Joan didn't miss the knowing look in his eyes as he asked the question.

"No, nothing." she replied.

"Maybe it was some kids looking for somethin to do, if you see anything call me back." He handed Frank a card after having him sign the report.

The house was silent as the family went about cleaning up the mess. Aaron had thought that they would just pack up and go but Frank the husband refused.

"We're staying!" he said, "we've put a lot of money into this and we agreed..."

"I didn't agree to anything!" Joan said as she threw her toys back into the drawer, "you made the decision without asking any of us what we thought."

Frank rolled his eyes and walked away. He wasn't in the mood to argue with her tonight, he was tired, hungry and thirsty and the kitchen was a disaster area. He started to clean up the mess figuring that Joan needed some time alone and cleaning up the kitchen might make her happy.

Aaron watched Frank clean up the mess and laughed to himself, the man was pussy whipped. What he needed to do was go back upstairs and throw his woman on the bed and fuck her into submission, that's what he would do, what he had done when he was alive and had a wife. She was mouthy just like this one and that was alright to a point but then she forgot who was the man and who the woman was expressing views that a woman shouldn't be discussing in public.