House Guest
It began innocently enough. It all started because of a war. Like all wars, useless, terrible wars, that always have unintended consequences. When Russia attacked Ukraine, it didn’t appear to have any direct effect upon my family. I was soon to discover, that it would turn us upside down within a matter of weeks.
Our neighborhood is diverse. As in wealth. We’re at the top end of the scale. Have a lakefront home, and while most of the neighboring homes are upscale. Some are not, and that’s where this begins. Across, and up the street from us were a Ukrainian couple. They are in their early 40’s. They are private, quiet, and pleasant, absolutely no problem. That was, until the war started, and Dimitri, the father, decided he must go to his homeland. Not so much to fight, but to return with some family members, or at the very least, help get them out of Ukraine and safely into Poland.
He left behind their only son. Rowan, whom recently turned 19. Skinny, nearly six feet tall, with wavey dark hair that hung to his neck, somewhat hiding his face, unkept, socially awkward, few, if any friends, and far from popular. Dimitri asked me to keep an eye on Rowan while he was away, and that’s when it all started.
It wouldn’t have been a problem if Dimitri wasn’t divorced, but his wife wants little to do with her only son. She lives on the opposite coast, and hasn’t seen Rowan in roughly 4 years. Besides, he is old enough to be on his own, at least in biological years, but he appears to have little common sense nor ambition. Not a good combination. I befriended Dimitri, Rowan’s father some 7 years ago, when I had some updating done around the house. A neighbor recommended him, Dimitri’s prices were fair, the work professional, within code, and done quickly. He asked that I keep an eye on Rowan until his return, and I quickly agreed. I mean, what could possibly go wrong. The ‘kid’ is nineteen, what kind of trouble could he get into.
I’m in mergers and acquisitions. I’ve closed many huge deals, and a single deal can pay the bills for a year or more, and I close at least 6 or more every year. My wife and I have three children. Regarding my daughters, the first, Kendal, 22, is a junior in college, the other, Madison, 18, lives at home, is a senior in high school, and will be attending USC this fall. Our eldest son, William, 27, is working for a lumber company in Oregon. Married, with one child and another on the way. My wife is knocking on the big ‘5’ ‘0’ later this year, but doesn’t look the part. I turned 62 this year, golf, hiking, and camping are my thing.
When I mentioned my conversation with Dimitri to my wife, Karen, she suggested we have Rowan over during Madison’s upcoming pool party. As for that pool party, that’s where this humble tale begins. All of which, came about by an untimely accident. While skinny, unkept and socially awkward, Rowan is also a fucking klutz. He fell near the pool, landed on his back, and head, promptly knocking himself out. So badly, that we had to take him to the hospital.
Rowan’s ultimate injury wasn’t anything I had ever heard of before, but the consequences were much worse for my family than for him. That’s an odd thing to say, but it’s true. His stay in the hospital was 4 days. His ‘problem’, or persistent injury, was unusual. He could get to sleep just fine, but waking up, or having to wake him up, took some doing, either shaking him, or forcing him upright, and jarring him awake. His sleep disorder was noticed on the very first night of his hospital stay. They initially thought he had slipped into a coma, but that wasn’t it at all. The kid would fall to sleep, and never move, and if left by himself, he would simply keep sleeping.
So, with his father away, and no other family within thousands of miles. It fell to my family to look after him. After all, he did injure himself on my property, and I did tell his father we would look out for him when he was away. To be safe, we decided to keep Rowan at our home, sleeping in down the hall, in a spare bedroom upstairs.
It was no problem, we have plenty of room, and to be safe, I set up a camera facing his bed, so I could keep an eye on him, and to ensure that one of us would wake him in the morning. We discovered, that no sound, vibration, almost nothing would raise him from his slumber, that is of course, unless he was shaken awake.
Damndest thing I’ve ever seen. After he awoke, and abled downstairs, my wife would feed him and send him home, and each night, he would return to our place, and go into our spare bedroom. It took less than a few minutes after lying down, that he was out like a light. I wish I could package and sell that shit; I was envious of his deep, extremely restful sleep. Believe me, when you get to my age, a sound, all night sleep is a luxury, and out of the norm.
As for my girls, they can’t stand him. He was always leering at them, and I got an earful when I told Madison that Rowan would be at her pool party. “Not that creep! Are you serious?” I was vilified. The sick sound when his head hit the stone patio was heard by almost everyone. It left quite a lump on his skull, and left him under our care. I’m sure he didn’t mind. My wife is beautiful, and even after giving birth three times, she still holds up to the best of them. But the main attraction is Madison, my youngest, both of our daughters have never lacked for male, nor female attention. They’re both ‘lookers’, both beautiful, built, hardworking, and better yet, smart.
All was quiet, there were no problems as he adjusted. He would come to our home to sleep, have breakfast, then head home and do whatever the hell he did, until it was time for bed. My youngest, Madison simply hated him, while Kendal was away at college, so it was my wife Karen, Madison and myself at home. While I was at home, I made it my duty to awaken Rowan. Madison stayed clear of him, avoiding him at all costs, and she was right. If she entered a room with Rowan, it was all Rowan could do to avoid looking at her, and he was terrible at it. He simply couldn’t help himself.
My new routine was to shake Rowan awake, ensure he ate breakfast, send him off, then head to work, or better yet, to the links, and that was that. But as it was, I had a business deal to close, so I would be off to Chicago, and since my wife was a late riser, it left my youngest daughter, Madison, to awaken Rowan when I was away. Suffice it to say, she was very unpleased.
I watched that first morning away, and Madison did as she was told. Right on time, she shook Rowan awake, and made a hasty retreat to her room. Disgusted that she had to touch Rowan, and worse still, that his first sight of each day, was my youngest daughter, in nothing but a t-shirt, and skimpy panties. I was leaving the hotel the second morning, and remembered, rather late, to check the ‘Rowan cam’ and ensure he was awake. I became furious, for Rowan was sound asleep, and its near 10AM. On only her second day on the job, Madison forgot to wake him. I texted the wife, and watched from my phone as she went in and roused Rowan from his deep sleep.
It began innocently enough. It all started because of a war. Like all wars, useless, terrible wars, that always have unintended consequences. When Russia attacked Ukraine, it didn’t appear to have any direct effect upon my family. I was soon to discover, that it would turn us upside down within a matter of weeks.
Our neighborhood is diverse. As in wealth. We’re at the top end of the scale. Have a lakefront home, and while most of the neighboring homes are upscale. Some are not, and that’s where this begins. Across, and up the street from us were a Ukrainian couple. They are in their early 40’s. They are private, quiet, and pleasant, absolutely no problem. That was, until the war started, and Dimitri, the father, decided he must go to his homeland. Not so much to fight, but to return with some family members, or at the very least, help get them out of Ukraine and safely into Poland.
He left behind their only son. Rowan, whom recently turned 19. Skinny, nearly six feet tall, with wavey dark hair that hung to his neck, somewhat hiding his face, unkept, socially awkward, few, if any friends, and far from popular. Dimitri asked me to keep an eye on Rowan while he was away, and that’s when it all started.
It wouldn’t have been a problem if Dimitri wasn’t divorced, but his wife wants little to do with her only son. She lives on the opposite coast, and hasn’t seen Rowan in roughly 4 years. Besides, he is old enough to be on his own, at least in biological years, but he appears to have little common sense nor ambition. Not a good combination. I befriended Dimitri, Rowan’s father some 7 years ago, when I had some updating done around the house. A neighbor recommended him, Dimitri’s prices were fair, the work professional, within code, and done quickly. He asked that I keep an eye on Rowan until his return, and I quickly agreed. I mean, what could possibly go wrong. The ‘kid’ is nineteen, what kind of trouble could he get into.
I’m in mergers and acquisitions. I’ve closed many huge deals, and a single deal can pay the bills for a year or more, and I close at least 6 or more every year. My wife and I have three children. Regarding my daughters, the first, Kendal, 22, is a junior in college, the other, Madison, 18, lives at home, is a senior in high school, and will be attending USC this fall. Our eldest son, William, 27, is working for a lumber company in Oregon. Married, with one child and another on the way. My wife is knocking on the big ‘5’ ‘0’ later this year, but doesn’t look the part. I turned 62 this year, golf, hiking, and camping are my thing.
When I mentioned my conversation with Dimitri to my wife, Karen, she suggested we have Rowan over during Madison’s upcoming pool party. As for that pool party, that’s where this humble tale begins. All of which, came about by an untimely accident. While skinny, unkept and socially awkward, Rowan is also a fucking klutz. He fell near the pool, landed on his back, and head, promptly knocking himself out. So badly, that we had to take him to the hospital.
Rowan’s ultimate injury wasn’t anything I had ever heard of before, but the consequences were much worse for my family than for him. That’s an odd thing to say, but it’s true. His stay in the hospital was 4 days. His ‘problem’, or persistent injury, was unusual. He could get to sleep just fine, but waking up, or having to wake him up, took some doing, either shaking him, or forcing him upright, and jarring him awake. His sleep disorder was noticed on the very first night of his hospital stay. They initially thought he had slipped into a coma, but that wasn’t it at all. The kid would fall to sleep, and never move, and if left by himself, he would simply keep sleeping.
So, with his father away, and no other family within thousands of miles. It fell to my family to look after him. After all, he did injure himself on my property, and I did tell his father we would look out for him when he was away. To be safe, we decided to keep Rowan at our home, sleeping in down the hall, in a spare bedroom upstairs.
It was no problem, we have plenty of room, and to be safe, I set up a camera facing his bed, so I could keep an eye on him, and to ensure that one of us would wake him in the morning. We discovered, that no sound, vibration, almost nothing would raise him from his slumber, that is of course, unless he was shaken awake.
Damndest thing I’ve ever seen. After he awoke, and abled downstairs, my wife would feed him and send him home, and each night, he would return to our place, and go into our spare bedroom. It took less than a few minutes after lying down, that he was out like a light. I wish I could package and sell that shit; I was envious of his deep, extremely restful sleep. Believe me, when you get to my age, a sound, all night sleep is a luxury, and out of the norm.
As for my girls, they can’t stand him. He was always leering at them, and I got an earful when I told Madison that Rowan would be at her pool party. “Not that creep! Are you serious?” I was vilified. The sick sound when his head hit the stone patio was heard by almost everyone. It left quite a lump on his skull, and left him under our care. I’m sure he didn’t mind. My wife is beautiful, and even after giving birth three times, she still holds up to the best of them. But the main attraction is Madison, my youngest, both of our daughters have never lacked for male, nor female attention. They’re both ‘lookers’, both beautiful, built, hardworking, and better yet, smart.
All was quiet, there were no problems as he adjusted. He would come to our home to sleep, have breakfast, then head home and do whatever the hell he did, until it was time for bed. My youngest, Madison simply hated him, while Kendal was away at college, so it was my wife Karen, Madison and myself at home. While I was at home, I made it my duty to awaken Rowan. Madison stayed clear of him, avoiding him at all costs, and she was right. If she entered a room with Rowan, it was all Rowan could do to avoid looking at her, and he was terrible at it. He simply couldn’t help himself.
My new routine was to shake Rowan awake, ensure he ate breakfast, send him off, then head to work, or better yet, to the links, and that was that. But as it was, I had a business deal to close, so I would be off to Chicago, and since my wife was a late riser, it left my youngest daughter, Madison, to awaken Rowan when I was away. Suffice it to say, she was very unpleased.
I watched that first morning away, and Madison did as she was told. Right on time, she shook Rowan awake, and made a hasty retreat to her room. Disgusted that she had to touch Rowan, and worse still, that his first sight of each day, was my youngest daughter, in nothing but a t-shirt, and skimpy panties. I was leaving the hotel the second morning, and remembered, rather late, to check the ‘Rowan cam’ and ensure he was awake. I became furious, for Rowan was sound asleep, and its near 10AM. On only her second day on the job, Madison forgot to wake him. I texted the wife, and watched from my phone as she went in and roused Rowan from his deep sleep.