The Maestro

Chapter 6 -- The Dinner

The way he'd said my name caused my whole body to tense up. His voice had both the qualities of sandpaper and silk; I couldn't exactly peg his emotions from the tone of his voice. It took a while before I could form words in my mouth. "I-I guess we could have a chat..." I responded, not knowing how to start a conversation with the weirdo who lives in a house that's falling apart. But I didn't need to start, for he promptly began talking.

"Where are you from?" He asked.

I was suspicious of how this talk was going to end up, but I decided to answer his questions for now. "I live in the neighborhood that's not far from here, Normal Valley," I stated, trying to hide the nervous tapping of my foot underneath the table.

His eyes drifted to the side. "Ah yes...Normal Valley. I've met quite a few people from there," he chuckled. His low chuckling made me even more nervous. It resembled a chuckle that an insane person would produce.

"What...what do you mean?" I questioned.

"A few years ago, a group of...guests from Normal Valley decided to show up on my doorstep. One of them happened to be the mayor himself," he recalled with an unsettling gleam in his eyes.

The mayor already knows about this place?! People from my neighborhood know about this place?

"Well, let's just say that these guests weren't so friendly...so I had to put on a show for them," he continued. "I scared them so badly--the mayor even jumped out the window to get away." His chuckle became more of a laugh. "Nobody ever bothered me again after that incident, and I'm sure that nobody in that neighborhood dared to mention a word about it afterwords."

I just stared at him in disbelief. What kind of gut-wrenching things could this man have done to the mayor and the citizens of Normal Valley? Just what kind of house of horrors does he run?! I didn't know whether I should be terrified or intrigued. Either way, it looked like my plan to tell the mayor to shut down this place wasn't going to work out. I was on my own.

I decided to ask some questions of my own. Maybe I could find out more about what was going on. "And where, may I ask, are you from?"

His eyes lowered as he tried to think about the proper response to my question. Of course, his answer just had to be something cryptic. "I'm from the 19th century," he replied, confident in that answer.

My brow furrowed in confusion. "What...how? You mean like the 1800s?" I tried to wrap my kind around what he was saying.

What the fuck...he's gotta be delusional.

But he nodded his head in agreeance with my words. "Yes...The 1800s. That's when I was...well-known."

What kind of  cryptic shit was he trying to say?

I gave him the weirdest look before being caught off guard by a woman who came up beside me.

"Good evening ma'am!" She greeted me cheerfully. "Just gonna set the table here, dinner is almost ready!"

"Thank you, Mary," The Maestro gave her a polite nod while I just sat there in shock. That lady almost gave me a heart attack! I watched as she began setting down elegant china plates; placing one at my spot and one at the Maestro's. She didn't bother moving all the papers and weird junk off the table, she merely placed the plates over top of it.  Then she grabbed two wine glasses and set them in their places. Following this pattern, she had soon set down forks, spoons, knives, and napkins for each of us; and lastly, she placed an old-fashioned, unlit candlestick near the center of the table. Somehow, all the dishes were sparkling clean.

As soon as she left, I felt pretty squirmish about eating at this dirty, cluttered table, in front of a seriously derranged man. I couldn't believe he was actually serious about eating dinner with me! And then...the fact that other people lived here too just creeped the living hell out of me. Was this some kind of cult or something?