I opened the small cabinet in the bathroom and found an entire set of brand new towels! That Mrs. Maddox was a gem. I grabbed a towel and headed to the tub for a soak. As I undressed and lowered myself into the steamy bath, the stress of the last few days began to leave me. All of the muscles in my body began to relax and I started to get very sleepy.
I woke up as my nose hit the water and realized I must have slept in the tub for a while, the water was cold. Rousing myself from the tub, I dried off and thought about lying down on the settee in the living room but decided against it. I would just go to bed for a while. I set my alarm clock for five so I wouldn’t be late for dinner with Mrs. Maddox. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.
I awoke to the alarm clock at six. As I reached over to turn it off, I found a book lying on the night table. I was sure it hadn’t been there when I had lain down. It was a book on the rules of playing different card games. I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with the thought that Mrs. Maddox had come in while I was asleep. I know it’s her house and she probably meant no harm, but it left me feeling anxious and unsettled. I thumbed through the book and found the section on playing gin was marked by a note slipped in between the pages. The note read: Jesse,
I found this book and thought you might enjoy learning to play gin. I used to play for a penny a point with my grandson before he left. I knocked but you didn’t answer so I came in to make sure you were alright. You were sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you.
Mrs. Maddox.
Had she truly knocked? Had I really been that tired? I was usually a light sleeper and the slightest noise would rouse me. If she had knocked I was sure I would have woken up. I decided to just put it out of my mind. It had been a very long couple of days and Mrs. Maddox had been so kind to me I didn’t want to think anything was amiss. She was just a sweet lonely old lady that wanted some company….wasn’t she?
I started to get dressed. I slipped into my comfort clothes, an faded worn pair of jeans and an old t-shirt from a Mötley Crüe concert. I almost changed when I realized the concert tour was called “Shout at the Devil” but figured Mrs. Maddox probably wouldn’t even notice. It was just a t-shirt after all.
She had mentioned a grandson in her note. I wondered how old he was, or how old she was for that matter. And what was up with that book in her desk? I began to think there might just be more to Mrs. Maddox than I thought. We had only just met that morning so I couldn’t possibly have learned much about her, but she had mentioned that her family was gone. Had she had a falling out with them or were they gone as in dead? If I wanted to find any of this out, I had to be tactful and not blurt out a bunch of questions like a police interrogation. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
I ran a hairbrush through my hair and quickly put it in a ponytail to keep it out of my way. Washing my face in the basin, I realized that I hadn’t seen a phone jack in the apartment. Not that it really mattered, there wasn’t anyone I really wanted to talk to, but just the same, I found it odd. I would put that on my list of questions for Mrs. Maddox. I began to run through the questions I had for her in my mind and made a mental list….
1. Why no phone jack in the apartment2. Where was her family
3. Ask about the apartment key
4. Ask about the book
I figured I would get the answers to all of my questions, even if it wasn’t all in one night. I didn’t want to appear too nosy.
Since I still had a few minutes before I needed to go downstairs, I thumbed through the book Mrs. Maddox had left on my night table. This book was obviously well used. There were notes in the margins and certain pages were dog-eared and worn. It was as if certain games were played often but someone still needed to look up the rules. Canasta seemed to be a very well loved game, but the margins were full of notes. Things that really didn’t have anything to do with the rules of the game were written all over the pages. Things like:
Charlie shouldn’t play with Patricia, he gets angry with her
Sadie and Tex will try and go out all at once
Squeaky and Bobby cheat when the play together.
NEVER play for money against Charlie; he has GOD on his side!
These notes vaguely reminded me of something but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. Why did these names seem so familiar? What was I missing? I turned to the page on Gin and started to read through it quickly.
After scanning the pages and getting the general idea of the game I noticed the time and decided to head downstairs.