Coffin Hop Day 4

Day 4:
Time to grab a cuppa. Welcome back to day 4 of Coffin Hop. Thank you for the lovely comments. Now on with your tale.


Alice and I grabbed each other and looked around nothing. We just sat there for a while looking around.

“Mom are you here?” I asked.

“Margret are you with us?” Alice asked.

Nothing but quiet. We sat there for an hour to nothing.

“Alice I am going home. Can you call me if this happens again please?” 

“I will call. This is weird. So what time will your family be at the shop?” 

“Nine, they are driving in. I think I a going to take a cab home.” I was shocked.

“No, I will have my son drive you. The cabs are expensive and well smell bad,” she said.

“Thank you, I think that would be nice,” I said.

When I got home it was quiet but the house was a mess. I was not a messy person maybe I was robbed. I turned on all the lights and looked around. Nothing was missing, the house was just tossed. I spent an hour putting everything back to normal. I set the boxes of books from the shop in my office. The spices I put away in the kitchen and made a cup of tea for myself.

I sat there tired and just wanted to cry. I had cleaned up too many messes today and had no answers. I finished my tea and went to bed it was just a weird day.

I was awaken at four am to a crash in the kitchen. I ran in to see all my pots on the floor and the back door open wide. I closed the door and stacked the pots up to put away in the morning. I then noticed spice dust on the door handles of my cabinets. It was a reddish yellow dust like paprika and saffron mixed up. The same spices I had brought home last night. I sat at the kitchen table and called out Mom. Nothing but silence. 

I went back to bed to sleep, but I just slept fitfully until six AM. I got up put a kettle on and cleaned the handles up and sweep the floor up from the spice dust. I got ready to meet my family at the shop. I feared it was a mess again.

I walked quickly to the shop so I could clean up any mess. I opened the metal door then the wood one. The shop was quiet and the dust cloths were where I had put them. Not a spot of dust on the pulls or drawers. I was glad of that. I made a cup of tea and sat to wait on them. I thought heard a soft voice say ‘stand up for yourself’.

Nine AM sharp two cars drove up and parked in the front. My brothers and sister looked unhappy about being here. They never came to the shop. They only came once before Mom died. I was tired and really didn’t want to do this today. 

My sister opened the door and said loudly, "Let's get this over with, I hate coming here."

“Well, hello to you too Liza,” I said.

“Joy sorry but I have a busy life and this is inconvenient for me,” she said. 

“This is hard for me. I have spent my life here the least you could do is be nice,” I said. I was going to stick up for my self.

“Oh poor you. Fine, we sold the building and you just have to sign here.” 

My brothers where there.

“I see. Where is the price and details of the sale?” 

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Well, then I wont sign it. I do worry about it and I am not a stupid kid I am the one who got the shop valued with the real-estate agent,” I said.

“So, that makes you an expert now. Just sign this they are taking everything here so we don’t have to sell this junk,” she said.

I had gotten estaminets on the value of everything. I wanted to see the final price. I was not going to get cheated by them. I keep hearing Mr. Wong say your Mom says stand up to them.

“Well, I don’t have that paper work here. Just sign it and I will mail it to you later,” she said.

“No” I said.

“What did you say?” My older brother Sam asked. He was mad.

“I said no. Have you lost your hearing?” I asked. It sounded like Mom, my voice sounded just like her.

“What has gotten in to you?” My Lisa asked.

“Nothing has gotten in to me. I have a right to know, this shop is part mine. You all have decided to sell it and you decided everything when it came to Mom's things. Well, no more. I have rights too. Should I get a lawyer to take care of my interest?” I asked.

I stood there with my arms crossed. I was tired and sick of nonsense from whoever was making messes and them. They stood there staring at me like I had grown horns. I could see that my sister was mad and my two brothers where annoyed mostly. They didn’t care but my sister she took what she wanted and damn the rest of us.

“You wouldn’t dare. Now sign this or else,” Liza said.

“No. I am going to lunch at the Wongs. When I return you have the paper work and I will read it and see if its acceptable to me,” I said. 

The three of them walked out the door with me. I locked up the shop. I had the only keys and I knew it. The keys had been changed six months ago because my one brother had lost them. I left the metal door open and walked away.

“Joy get back here now and sign this,” she was screaming. 

“Get the paper work.” 

I waved and kept walking.

I got to the restaurant before it was open but Alice was there and opened it up for me then locked it again.

“I am sorry I am here so early. They want me to sign papers but without the details of the sale.” 

“What, they are crazy. I will call my brother, he can go over the paper work with you here. If they get it.” 

“Alice thank you. I got so little sleep last night.” 

I told her what had happened last night and the whole screaming match with my sister. She understood and called her brother and told him. He was on his way over. 

“Where is your Dad?” I asked.

“Dad went to Tai Chi. He is acting like nothing is going on,” she said.

We could see the shop from the restaurant and watched as my sister screamed on her cell phone. My brothers tried to open the door and couldn’t. They sat in the car as my sister paced back and forth.

Then I heard a boom.