Day Four - Grub
Mrs Thompson is helping me refresh each of the bedrooms this morning. We change the sheets and fluff the pillows, sometimes we do the occasional dusting too.
“My grandchildren have had such grubby little paws lately,” Mrs Thompson sighs as she fluffs a pillow, “They’re always so busy in the garden digging holes and whatnot.”
Mrs Thompson has been the longest staying guest at Whispering Woods. She first arrived back when my aunt was running the place before me. Mrs Thompson lived in town and passed away peacefully one Spring afternoon. It appears that she wasn’t done with her time here though, and has chosen to stick around to watch over her grandchildren as they grow up.
I’ve asked her before why she doesn’t stay in their house permanently if all she wants to do is watch over her family. She laughed loudly and said that as much as she loves them, she couldn’t stand to be around them constantly. And it would be rude of her to haunt their house.
“Do you ever join them?” I ask as I strip the pillowcase off the bed.
“Oh, heavens no, can you imagine how frightened they’d be if they saw a shovel waving around?” she chuckles to herself. “Though maybe I could do something to inspire them to wash the dirt off…”
“Just don’t scare them too badly, you want to encourage them, not cause them to never be clean again.”
She hums to herself and helps me finish up in the room. We have six guest bedrooms at the Whispering Wood, and at the moment all but one are occupied. My bedroom is the seventh in the house, but that isn’t available to rent.
We move onto the next room, Mary’s room, and I knock lightly on the door. She doesn’t reply, and while for most guests that would mean it’s okay to enter, Mrs Thompson and I know that Mary is different. Since the start of her stay, she’s rarely left her room.
“Mary, darling,” Mrs Thomspon says to the door, “If you need anything you’ll let us know, won’t you?”
There is no response.
“Evie and I will be going on a walk through the garden later, as we do. You’re welcome to join!”
Again, there is no response and we leave it at that.
Next is Calvin’s room. We change the bedsheets, do a light dusting, and I straighten the books he has stacked on his armoire. I’ll need to make another trip to the library soon to get him some more.
William isn’t in this afternoon so we quickly give his room a refresh as well.
The last room to tidy is Teddy’s. He’s off at work today and gave us permission to enter his room. Though he said he would keep things tidy.
And he has. His bed is freshly made and his personal belongings are neatly placed around the room. For someone who’s appearance is not what I’d call tidy, he keeps a very neat room.
We are finishing up in the room when Mrs Thompson stops to hover closely at a picture frame on Teddy’s beside table.
“Is that our new guest?” Mrs Thompson asks.
I don’t want to look at the frame to give Teddy privacy, but I have no choice when Mrs Thompson brings it right up to my face.
In the photo, Teddy and William are standing with their arms slung around each other. Both have the same tidy haircuts and are clean shaven. They’re grinning from ear to ear and Teddy’s van is in the background.
“Do you think they’re brothers?” Mrs Thompson asks.
I am very sure they are, but I don’t feel like it’s my place to share that information. So I gently grab the frame from her being and place it back on the bedside table.
“Let’s not meddle with their lives.” I say to her and gather up the used bedsheets in my arms. “We’ve got more important things to do like wash all these sheets now.”
Mrs Thompson pouts, “I live for the gossip though!”
“You are more than welcome to ask Teddy yourself.” I say to her and make my way out of the room.
“What’s the fun in that?” I hear Mrs Thompson exclaim from behind me, and I smile to myself as I walk down the stairs towards the laundry room.