Hospitality Inn

• Short story

								
Curious of the peculiarities in nature, they stopped to observe the gentle movements of a ground beetle crawling out from the grass and onto flat earth where he stopped in their shadow. Katherine and Sheli wondered about his intentions, his relationships, and his perception of this world. What did this insect want? What mission was this delicate creature on?
     Sheli set down her large soft drink, whipped off her shoe, and swatted the creature, a tiny crunch.
     They studied the resulting mess. His writhing legs, now shattered black shell and soft brown wings would soon blend with the earth around him. The girls left the responsibilities to nature.
     They continued walking, and their path took them to railroad tracks.
     “I see a train coming,” Katherine said. “Let’s wait for it to pass.”
    The train soon overwhelmed their eyes and ears in its urgency, and then their world was tender and natural again. Soon after they crossed the tracks, the path took them up a hill, around a dense grove, and into a clearing where a large stone convent stood.
     Katherine raised her eyes and said, “Well, I never...”
     A young woman’s voice called to them. “Have you lost your way?” A nun wearing a black habit groomed a white horse.
     “Oh, we were just passing through,” Katherine answered. “Does this path lead to the lake?”
     “No, you have to go around.”
     “Sorry to disturb you,” said Katherine.
     As the girls started back, the nun asked them to stay a while and invited them inside the convent. She took them on a tour that ended in the basement where she served them cookies out of a paper box. Sheli and Katherine listened quietly while she showed them her picture album and told of her tumultuous life before she chose the path of righteousness. Sheli ate most of the cookies and almost vomited when she heard the snap of a mousetrap.
     When it was time for them to leave, the nun said that it was too late to go to the lake and sent them back along their path, back over the train tracks and towards home.
     On the edge of the forest, another small creature caught their attention: a scraggly, homeless white kitten sitting under a bush. She was wet and looked malnourished. Her piteous appearance and tiny, pleading cries compelled Katherine to take interest.
     Sheli knitted her eyebrows. “What kind of diseases does that thing carry?”
Katherine pouted. “Poor thing. I want to take her home.”
     “I wouldn’t want that thing anywhere near my house.”
     “I wonder if the convent could take her.” Katherine squatted down for a closer look.
     “Is it a her?”
     “Sheli, I can’t leave this poor thing out here like this.”
     “It’s getting dark, Katherine. I have to go home.”
 
Camera 15: Nighttime, Sheli is telling the front door to open.
 
The lights came on, and Sheli walked across the drawing room and into her spacious bedroom. It was empty except for a small, disused remote-control device and a purple futon in an intricate Turkish corner into which Sheli, after changing into her nightgown, plopped down, with a sigh, in repose. Wide oak panels stretched from the dado rail to the ceiling. A trompe-l’œil of a white winter scene featuring a frozen river and pine trees was illuminated by a bright nightlight in a flower garden on the other side.
     Sheli thought for a moment then sat up and turned to the wall. She spoke to the wall. “Wall, show me some interesting people,” she said. Two panels opened to display a TV screen that played a montage of various photos and video clips. She watched for a few minutes and then said, “Wall, show me some bizarre people.” She then saw images that made her queasy. “Wall, show me some annoying people.” The next ones made Sheli sometimes snigger and sometimes groan. When she saw someone in it who looked a little like her, she told the show to stop and the panels to close. She then told the light in the garden to go out, and the room was dark.
   “That was too much for my brain,” she said as she fell to her side.
 
ELSEWHERE
 
At the end of their four years, the group of friends were ready to go on an excursion. Hannah told Ryan to reserve rooms at a local hotel for the evening of the graduation, and they would then set out on their southward journey after a day or two. Before the graduation ceremony, they came, in their academic ensembles, together in the lobby of the auditorium of the university.
     “I shouldn’t have worn heels,” said Hannah.
     “I was just thinking.” Natalie flipped the tam of her cap to another side. “We’re not going to see each other much, not after our trip.”
     “What? We’re not going to see each other much after our trip?” Mark asked.
     “No, Mark. I mean we are not going to see them much now that school is over.”
     Hannah shrugged. “I’ve been texting you on all week. What will change?”
     Natalie fiddled with her ring. “We’ll all keep in touch. What about you, Ryan? What are your plans?”
     Hannah interjected, “We’re going to graduate school.” She took Ryan’s arm. 
     “Oh, that’s right.” Natalie twisted a small part of her gown.
     “I can’t believe school is over!” Bruce pulled at his tie. “Did I tell you guys? I’m gonna have to leave you guys down there after a few days and come back up north. I’m goin’ on a mountain retreat.” 
     “Oh, really? Who with?” asked Natalie, coyly, in sideways manner.
     He took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair. “Just with some people from….” The vibration of his cellphone distracted him.
     “I can’t believe you and Ashley are finished,” said Hannah.
     “Well...” said Bruce, looking up from his cellphone. 
     “After the ceremony, I’m going to have to help my family with their luggage,” said Hannah. “You know, the inn they’re staying at is really nice.”
     “Why don’t we just stay there?” asked Natalie.
     “There’s only one vacancy. Anyway, I’m in the mood for the country, aren’t you? It may be the last time we’re here.” Hannah turned to Ryan. “Well? What did you find?”
     “A place called Hospitality Inn,” Ryan said, looking up from his cellphone. “It’s not far from the lake.”
     “Let’s go to the lake! We’ll have a blast!”
     A classmate instructed them to join the others in front of the admissions building for group photos after the ceremony.
 
Camera 3: a squirrel is climbing the fence.
 
Ivy covered most of the brick, and overgrown trees shaded the flowery, stained glass windows of Walnut Meadow, a beige, Gothic-style mansion standing at the foot of a forested mountain. The interior was largely white with a white, mechanically operated grand piano drowning in the whiteness of large white walls, walls freshly painted with a solid layer of almost pure white that disregarded the details of the original woodwork of most of the rooms, but the colored light from the stained glass, the dark, classic furniture, and the black tiles of the checkerboard floor balanced the décor. Security cameras hid all over the property.

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