Looking up, he could see Autumn looking down over the edge. He handed her the items he had found.
“If you want to put those in the kitchen, I’m going to get us some bottles of water and hopefully wine or something stronger down here.”
“Okay,” she told him.
He could hear her footsteps click away from the hole and then return, waiting to see if he wanted to hand anything else up. He retrieved a pack of bottled water and a large bottle of wine, the economy gallon size you could buy in most small-town groceries. It was cheap, but not all that bad if he remembered correctly. His Aunt Joyce, Henry’s wife, had obviously packed her husband up nicely for his getaways, though he wouldn’t have told her the location.
“Score!” he said, handing up the wine and then climbing halfway up the ladder to sit the water on the edge of the rug outside the opening. He climbed out and picked it up, carrying it to the kitchen area before returning to put everything back into place in the living room.
“That’s crazy!” she laughed.
“What is?”
“Having some secret basement below the house.”
“It’s not meant to be so covert. It was just a matter of space. It’s easier to just build a roughed-out cellar than to build a formal basement with stairs and all that. My dad, Uncle Henry, and their father built this place by themselves back when being a shifter was a lot more dangerous than it is now. It was their father’s little hideaway for them and my mother during some rough times and because it was so small, he dug the cellar beneath it for storage.”
“Sounds like an interesting story,” she observed.
“It is. I’ll tell you one day when I’m less tired. For now, what do you say we get this food going, get a shower, and just veg out on the sofa? Maybe one of those movies up on the wall is decent enough to watch.”
“Sounds good. Um, where is the shower, by the way?”
“Oh, right. It’s that door that looks like the backdoor.”
“So, there is no backdoor?”
“Yes, but you have to go through the bathroom,” he laughed.
“That’s weird,” she said.
“Well, when the cabin was built, there were no indoor bathrooms, so Dad built one using the covered back porch. I know it’s strange, but keep in mind this was just a little hideaway for him and my uncle, so they were more concerned about it being easy than about it being presentable to others.”
“Makes sense then. Okay. I’m going to go make use of the back porch, and I’ll be right back to help with dinner.”
Malcolm laughed and nodded, heading over to the kitchen to defrost the lasagna in the microwave a bit while the oven warmed up. He went ahead and put the green beans, which had already been mostly cooked and seasoned by his Aunt Joyce, in a pan from beneath the cabinets and lay the French bread out on a tray to put in the oven with the lasagna. It would be thawed well enough to toss in during the last few minutes of the other being done.
“Okay. What can I help you with?” Autumn asked when she returned.
“Nothing, actually. It’s all pretty much prepped to cook. I’m going to put the lasagna in the oven once it comes out of the microwave and let the beans cook while it bakes. Oh, maybe you can look for some wine glasses and pour us some wine?”
“If I can lift the bottle,” she laughed, reaching for a paper towel from a nearby roll and wiping down the dusty sides of the bottle.
Malcolm busied himself pulling out the lasagna and putting it on a tray in the oven as she fetched two small tumblers from a nearby cabinet.
“Looks like this is our choice,” she told him.
“It’ll do. I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long day, and I could use a glass or two to wind down.”
“Me too,” she replied.
Malcolm removed the water bottles from their plastic sleeve and rinsed them off in the sink before putting them in the fridge to get cold.
“Tomorrow, we’ll go into town and do some shopping rather than eating the entire contents of Uncle Henry’s freezer. So, if you need anything, that would be the time to get it.”
“Alright,” she told him, lifting the giant bottle of wine and clumsily pouring one glass of wine before he saved her and poured the other one with a chuckle.
They retired to the living room and sat on the sofa, looking at the blank TV screen for a while before finally venturing over to find a movie to watch while they ate their dinner. Malcolm felt an odd sense of relief and dread that he couldn’t quite sort out in his head, but maybe things would make more sense tomorrow, after he’d had some rest.