So this is supposed to be for all of the work I'm doing on this thesis and what I'm thinking about, but there's already been a distraction and I guess since it's been going through my head technically I've been thinking about it, and because it's disrupting my info gathering technically it's a part of the paper. Whatever. I'm going to talk about it. Because it's bugging me.
Mr. Talbrie hired me back in mid-June to watch this place while he, his wife and his kid went for an extended vacation to the beach. I found out about the "job" from a posting on Craigslist asking for a housesitter and I thought it would be the perfect way to make money while still getting a jump start on my thesis and dealing with summer courses. We did most of our correspondence via e-mail. I only talked to him once on the phone, and the only time I saw him he was standing out front waiting to hand off the housekey. I remember thinking he did not look at all excited for someone about to spend all summer at the shore, but figured maybe he was anxious because his family was waiting for him elsewhere and he wanted to get started on the drive. At least, that's what my brain decided when he handed it over to me, advised he would check in once in a while, and then jumped in his car and drove off by himself.
He's been emailing me to ask if everything is okay with the house and if I'm okay. He even checked once to see if the automatic deposits he set up were making it in to my account. But for the most part he's been incredibly hands-off.
He called me a few days ago saying he was checking up on things, but the whole phone call was just weird. Nothing in particular. When I asked how everybody was liking the beach, he said his wife and kids were enjoying the sand, and something about watching them play.
Then I heard a truck go by. Thought for a second maybe he went to a payphone up near the road to make the call, but in checking the number it's the cell phone number he gave me.
I guess it's not a big deal, what the hell did hearing a truck matter?
But then things got a little weird. Somehow we got around to housecleaning, and I told him it was getting very dusty, so I'd run around to every room and dusted, and I'd picked a bunch of stuff up to try and organize.
Let me see if I can transcribe what he said here...
T:"Did you go in the blue room?"
Me:"Yeah but only very briefly, just long enough to get the dust off of things, then I was right back out."
Then there's probably 5 seconds of dead silence.
T:"I asked you not to go in there. I specifically asked you not to go in there."
Me:"I'm really sorry, it's just the house is so dry, and I've been getting nosebleeds so I thought I would clean up really fast. I only dusted, I didn't touch anything else in there."
Then there's another 5 seconds of silence. And he sounds really tense after that.
T:"Please don't go in there again."
Me:"I won't. I promise. I'm sorry."
T:"And you picked up? Cleaned up and organized the things laying around?"
At this point I figured he's really angry, so I'm trying to downplay it.
Me:"Just small things, like putting books away, and picking things up off the floor. I put them on shelves nearby, so you'll be able to find them. I put the clock on the booksh..."
T:"Don't touch the clock. Don't...worry about the clock. Just leave it."
Me:"I'm really sorry Mr. Talbrie, I'm just trying to take care of this place since you're paying me to make sure it's okay."
T:"You decided to engage the environment."
Now..... the rest of this might be hazy in my memory, but I remember the way he worded that crystal clear. You decided to engage the environment. Because who says stuff like that??
Me:"Yeah, I guess I did."
Then I heard a very long, very drawn out sign on the other end. I'm wondering how OCD Mr. Talbrie really is and if I've caused him to go back on medication because I vacuumed.
T:"You don't need to do that. In fact, don't do that anymore. Leave everything as it is, it'll be for the best that way."
And I just agree at that point because I think I'm giving him a silent meltdown on the other side end of the phone. You're going to pay me to NOT clean your house? Sure, I can do that. No problem.
Then to try and get the call back in to positive territory, I ask him how he's enjoying everything. He tells me he's feeling more clearheaded than he has in a long time. And I made some smalltalk about how that was good for his mental health, and he actually chuckled at that so I think we were all good by the time we hung up.
But for some reason the call was sticking with me, and I realized what it was. He said wife and KIDS. Plural.
There is only one child's room. It is almost bare, and unless they've got both kids sleeping on that one narrow bed, that makes no sense. It's also the cleanest room I've ever seen for having 2 kids in it.
The other thing? I remembered when he met me in hindsight that he never specifically said anything about his family as well. He mentioned he had a toddler. No mention of a second child. And he only said his wife's name once. Helen. He has never referred to her again until today.
Maybe I'm reading in to this too much. Maybe he was distracted and it was a slip of the tongue. Maybe he's just a REALLY private, REALLY OCD guy.
I've spent too much time thinking about this already, so maybe I can let go of it and get back to work. I'm out of here in 2 more weeks so it doesn't really matter anyway.
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