Larry and Thomas

CHAPTER ONE

THE MIRAGE

To the Smarts misfortune this Saturday of the August was the hottest day of the season. There was no sign of the wind. A big white car was approaching the Lake Street. At this time of the day there were very few cars and anyone would notice the car of the new comers – the Smarts. The car stopped at the door of the house N87. The door of the car opened and four sweaty people came out of it. Frank Smart, a tall bright man, despite his unshaven face  he looked very handsome. He had wide chest and light hair, always combed to the right. Ellen Smart, a charming lady with long brown hair, big brown eyes and rose-like lips, was pleseantly-plump and was wearing a beautiful white dress with purple flowers knitted on it; she was looking extremely pretty, even in this type of weather. Belinda Smart was the Smart’s eldest child, she was 14 years old. Belinda was as pretty as her mother, almost like a mini Ellen. And, finally, Larry Smart was the youngest and the most playful member of the family, he was nearly 7. Larry was rather tiny and skinny compared to other 7 year old boys. His blond hair was straight  and long enough to cover his head and jaw, till his neck, his eyes were light green, and shining just like an emerald.

All of them, except for Mr.Smart, examined the new house. The house was like a common 2 storey house with main entrance door, balcony, windows, garden, and garage. Mrs. Smart took longer time examining the garden, it was obvious that she was planning what flowers to plant. Belinda run to the balcony and was looking around the street. Mr.Smart was busy with lifting out the bags from the car and asked breathing heavy “Can anyone see the van?”

“No, there is no van.” said Mrs.Smart.

“Well, I’m calling them, then” said Mr.Smart. He started mattering about somethings on the phone with van drivers while the rest of the family went into the house to examine it from inside. The first door on the right was of a dining room and a kitchen, the second door led to the bathroom, on the left side there was a wardrobe and to the opposite of the entrance there were stairs.

The stairs led to the first floor, where there were 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.

The house was empty. Nothing was in there: except for the dust.

Mrs.Smart, Belinda and Larry were still examining the house thoroughly when Mr.Smart came in and said with enthusiasm “How do you like our new house?”.

“It is brilliant, dear” said Mrs.Smart approaching him and leaned on his shoulders softly. After a while Belinda came  down and asked “Mommy, can I have a big mirror in my room? The previous one is not that big, you see, I’ve grown up!”. Mr. and Mrs.Smart exchanged the looks of amazement and Mrs.Smart answered with a smile “yes, honey, you may use mine, you daddy will buy a new one for me” and winked. Mr.Smart was double amazed and said “oh, yes, you have a millionaire father!” with sarcasm.

Belinda run back to her room and after a while Larry came down with his requirements “I want two beds in my room: one for me, and one for my friend; when my friend comes to my house to play with me I want him to stay that’s why we need another bed, also, when none of my friends is here I will use the mattress to jump down from the first floor, also I want a puppy, and I’ll call it Prince, and I don’t want it to be a girl puppy, because I don’t want to name it Princess, and also I want to have the Vampire costume for the Halloween, and the long teeth…” Larry illuminated the vampire teeth with his two bent pointer fingers, he continued “…and mommy vampires don’t have tails!”

“I know, Larry” said Mrs.Smart smiling.

“And I don’t want…” was continuing Larry when Mr.Smart said “Don’t you reckon that you want too many things at once?”.

“hmm… Then, can I tell you the rest in the evening?” said Larry with a new hope in his blinking eyes. Mr.Smart sighed with the smile on his face and heard the voice of two men speaking to each other. Finally the van has arrived.

“Come on, everyone!” called Mr. Smart his family for the help to lift the boxes. Of course, “Larry the Lazy” didn’t show up downstairs to help his family. However, few people from neighborhood started showing up to help the new family.

The people of the Lake Street were very friendly, indeed. This street was like a little country with its own manner of culture and beliefs, markets and parks, cinemas and theatres… even landscapes in the streets were very unusual and beautiful. None of the people were arrogant or mean: they always lived happily, as though they had never faced any trouble. Each house looked friendly and warm, except for one house…

So, couple of neighbors came to help: Mr. and Mrs. Baker, Mr. Cook, and Mr. and Mrs. Decker. First, they greeted the Smarts and immediately started carrying the luggage into the house. Larry still was in his new room. There was one window through which Larry could see the Lake Street and his family lifting the boxes, and a girl, a pretty little girl standing and staring at the Smarts. When Larry came closer to the window, to better see the girl, she noticed him and immediately directed her glare at Larry. Her eyes were shining brightly, like two stars glimmering. Larry was amazed and wanted to see her trough an open window, and he tried to open it. But something was stuck and he couldn’t open the window, he had to take his eyes off the girl, but he couldn’t do that. What if he loses her glance? No, he didn’t stop looking at her until her sister came in and called “are you coming, Larry? You could get your own stuff up to your room, please!”

“I’m coming.” Said Larry, and looked back at the girl, but there was no one. Where was she? She was gone, she wasn’t there where she stood, and there was no sign of her and her shining eyes. Larry looked to the left and the right through the closed window, but couldn’t have the better view. He tried to open the window again, but it wouldn’t open. He run down to the ground floor and run outside, he searched for the girl, she was not there. He run to the left of the street. Mr. Smart yelled “Larry, where are you going? Come back here, and help us!”. But Larry wouldn’t care, he looked at every corner of the street, she wasn’t there. He run as fast as he could to the opposite direction, but he saw no sign of her. Then he stood for a while and thought to himself “how could she run so fast, I had taken my glance just for a little while. Maybe father knows where she went”, as he thought he run back to his father and asked “have you seen a girl: she was standing right there?” he pointed to the place where he saw her.

“A girl?” asked Mr. Smart thoughtfully, “no I haven’t” he answered.

“But she was right there-e-e! I saw her there just a few minutes ago, da-a-ad!” said Larry insistently.

Mr. Smart looked at Larry bluntly and asked “who are you talking about, Larry?”

“Oh, dad, I’ve been telling you, a girl, she was standing there, and she is not there now, where is she?” mattered Larry.

“Oh, a girl, is she pretty? Are you in love, son?” joked Mr. Smart. Larry went red, didn’t know what to answer, he kept silence for a moment, then cried “oh, that’s my box of toys”, he grabbed the box and run into the house.

Larry was in his room allocating his things, clothes and toys. When he opened the toys’ box he found his favorite toys, a monster and soldiers: he had his own scenario of game, the monster comes to the city and destroys everything and 5 soldiers appear to fight against the monster. Leaving the half of things on the floor he started playing. With his left hand he was controlling the monster, and with a harsh-monstrous voice he said: “Aah! I will destroy your city! And you all will finally obey m, you a-a-all! ” In his right hand he had the captain Trevor, and said with clear, loud voice “You haven’t seen all of us yet, you will be destroyed before you step onto the city! Fi-i-i-ght!” Larry one by one grabbed four soldiers and put the, closer to the captain. And suddenly he was interrupted by his thoughts “she was really there, but who is she?”…

It was midnight when all the neighbors left, earlier they had had supper made for four families by Mrs. Cook and her daughter.  When Mr. and Mrs. Smart were left alone in the kitchen, Mr. Smart spoke: “People are kind here, aren’t they? I wouldn’t expect more from neighbors, especially when you are meeting them for the first time.”

“Yes, we wouldn’t have done this much in one day, and the dished Mr. Cook cooked were really delicious. I think I should get the recipe of them” said Mrs. Smart.

“Oh, yes… Where are the kids? Are they in bed?”

“Belinda went to sleep about two hours ago, I’m not sure about Larry though… ” Mrs. Smart paused for a little while and dared to ask “Are you sure that this is a good place for kids?”

“I don’t know, but they told me so. Did Larry tell you anything about a girl?”

“What girl?”

“I don’t know, he said he had seen a girl and he was looking for her in the street, he asked from me, I said I hadn’t seen any. But I really didn’t see anyone except for the Bakers, the Cooks, and the Deckers.”

“Do you think that they already know?” asked Mrs. Smart anxiously.

“Know what?” asked Mr. Smart bluntly.

“That we have moved here!” murmured Mrs. Smart in her lowest voice.

“How could they? No, I don’t think so… No, no… it can’t be. It’s only us who know this. I don’t think that anyone from members would ever tell this to somebody.” said Mr. Smart trying to calm himself.

“I hope so.” said Mrs. Smart with worried tone.

“Alright, let’s go and have some sleep. It was a tiring for all of us!”

“OK, I’ll check Larry first.” said Mrs. Smart and rose up to his room. Larry was sleeping on the floor among his toys with monster in his hand. Mrs. Smart lift him up and lay him on his bed. “Sleep, sweet baby, sleep tonight, none of us does know what’s awaiting us tomorrow” having covered him with blanket Mrs. Smart kissed Larry in his cheeks and left.

It was dark in the Lake Street, the city was like dead, no sound was there, except for random screams of cats and…