Chapter 5
Seeing the house again, Julian felt his misgivings return. How could this be the right place for Danny? The house loomed over him and he felt like it would crush him.
"This is a big house, isn't it?" Rob was saying to Danny while Julian was lost in thought. He turned to see Danny climbing out of the car and looking around curiously.
Taking Danny's lead, Julian told him, "We're going to live here. And there are lots of places to play all around." As Julian gestured at the countryside, Danny gave him a cautious smile. Wide-open spaces didn't hold much appeal for him, not yet anyway, but he seemed ready enough to go and see the house.
They would be going inside now and Julian dreaded it. Approaching the house gave him a heavy feeling. He was glad Rob was there to lighten the mood.
"We had a pretty good road trip, didn't we?" Rob said to Danny as they went up the steps. "Julian showed you a lot of good stuff along the way."
Stopped on the doorstep of his childhood home, Julian felt as small as he did back then with the front doors towering over him. "This house belonged to my grandfather and he left it to me," Julian said as he unlocked the front doors and willed his hand not to shake.
"This is Julian's house," Rob explained in a way Danny was more likely to understand.
That made Danny look up at the place more cheerfully, that is until Julian pushed on the door handle and opened the door into near total darkness.
Out here, the sun had been shining, glinting off the fall leaves. Where they were going, the only light was coming from the open front door. Shrouded in darkness, the house was gloomy and cold. What were they doing here? This was a mistake.
Danny was already afraid. He didn't want to go inside the dark house any more than Julian did. The little boy stayed close by his side, but Rob went right in.
"I should open the shutters, right?" Rob said as he flipped on the light switch and found the foyer lighting kind of weak.
The double doors to the living room were right across the hall from the front door. After a vague nod from Julian, Rob went across the hall into the living room and pulled the shutters open one by one so that light flooded the old place. Staring straight into the living room, Julian blinked at the bright sunlight streaming in.
In all the time he had lived there, he had never seen all the shutters standing open like that. When his grandfather was in charge, that would have been unthinkable. "The sun will fade everything and ruin it," he used to say.
"That's much better," Rob proclaimed and Danny agreed.
Julian felt a small tug as his little brother pulled on his hand, wanting to go further in. Noticing that Julian was still rooted to the spot, Danny turned a questioning gaze up at him. Smiling down at him, Julian let the little boy lead him inside. Right now, he was the brave one.
"I think he wants to have a look around," Rob said.
To prove him right, Danny let go of Julian's hand and cautiously went to Rob who was standing at the double doors. With Rob by his side, Danny went into the big living room.
Holding on tightly to Rob's hand, Danny was peering all around. After getting a good look at everything, he let go of Rob's hand so he could explore on his own. Danny started stalking his way between hulking pieces of furniture like he was stalking through a jungle, not a stodgy, old living room with a gland piano on one end and a fireplace on the other.
He stopped in front of a side table with a small statue of a knight with a lance and stared at it intently. Next he discovered the porcelain busts of classical composers lined up in a row. Then Danny got nose to nose with bronze sculptures of two hunting dogs.
"There's a lot of good stuff here," Rob said and Danny nodded.
It was strange for Julian to watch Danny getting acquainted with all the things he knew so well from his own childhood. The way he looked at those things was different though.
When he looked over his shoulder at Julian and Rob, Danny didn't do it because he was waiting to get yelled at. And he wasn't just checking to make sure they were still there either. There was a puzzled expression on his face, like he wanted someone to explain to him what these things were for. Were they toys?
"This is a good one," Julian told Danny as he pointed out an elk carved out of wood. The elk stood proud and lifelike on a shelf, and Julian was warned never to touch him. But as Danny came forward, Julian handed the elk to him. Taking it from him, the little boy held it reverently then looked up at Julian.
"You can play with him," Julian told him and Danny smiled and gingerly touched the antlers.
Noticing that he was still wearing his jacket, Julian remembered they should have the heat on. Leaving Danny alone for a little bit, he went to turn it on and showed Rob the panel under the stairs.
"So far so good, right?" Rob said to him. Obviously he knew Julian needed to be reassured.
For a second, Julian considered putting on a front, pretending nothing was going on with him, but there was something about Rob that made it hard to put on an act with him. Julian nodded and didn't try to hide his troubled expression. "This isn't my favorite place in the world, but as long as Danny likes it, that's all that matters."
They went back to find, Danny looking anxiously toward the door.
"We're back," Julian announced.
