Excerpt: Promise Land

Jackson was well on his way of doing inventory of all the items in all of the rooms that belonged to his uncle Benjamin. He was sure that he would likely miss something, but while he waited for this locksmith to come - who was at least 2 hours later than the housekeeper had been told, jackson had nothing better to do with his time.

Jackson cleared out the first three rooms on the bottom floor and was in the middle of the fourth room when there was what sounded like a doorbell ring. He had heard about such things in history of arcitecture class. Jackson was sure this house didn't have motion sensors and couldn't alert him by computerized voice who was at the door. He would have to get up and go open the door himself. What a pain in the ass this house was becoming. He gathered himself up off the floor and away from the pile of things that he was sorting. He was sure that he needed to get all this done by the time he went to sleep and given the amount of items that Benjamin had in his house, he was sure that he could not go back to school in New York for a few more weeks.

As he walked out into the foyer to greet whoever it was at the door, Jackson thought about how ridiculous it was that he was going to have to be here in Kansas for longer than he thought. He sighed and opened the door to a man with similiar clothing to his own. The man was talking on a NG 5.7 and that comforted Jackson to no end. The whole day since he had arrived at this house, he felt like he had been taken back in time by fifty years. Everything was ordinary and manual. There was nothing that could help him sort all of this crap any faster. And with the glimpse of one tiny piece of technology attached to this man's ear, Jackson was relieved.

When Jackson opened the door, the man put the phone away and smiled, "I hear you are in need of a locksmith?" He looked around the house and had the same reaction that Jackson had the first time he came in. "Can I assume that you don't have voice activated locks? This house looks really old." He looked astonished, almost as if he didn't believe what he had stepped into.

"You are not alone, Mister. I felt the same way. Name's Jackson." He extended his hand to the locksmith and after they had shaken hands he motioned the man to follow him into the house. "I don't know how the locks are still in working order, but I have a master key. It just doesn't go to the one door upstairs. If you will follow me I will take you up there."

The locksmith raised his eyebrow at Jackson and looked around him like a man surveying a beautiful woman. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head and for a moment, Jackson got the distinct feeling that this man could come back and try to rob him if he wasn't careful. "There will be an estate sale later in the month, if you would like to come back. Whatever is not sold, will be donated to the local Baby Factory." Jackson commented as the ascended the stairs.

The two men made their way down the hall to the ominous door that was locked. Jackson once again put the key in the lock and tried to turn it, without much success. He looked to the locksmith with bewilderment. He shrugged his shoulders as the man stepped up and looked like this was a task he was not familiar with.

The locksmith pulled out his phone again and started dialing a number, "I am sorry, Mister Sterling. I am new at this, but I have not been trained in locks so old. I only know how to deactivate the voice recognition system to reset it for you. I have never had to deal with those keys that you are using. I will need to get my boss on the phone." He stepped away from the door and down the hall turning his back on Jackson.

Well, this was just great, even a locksmith can't get into this door. What was so important behind this door that Jackson couldn't get in it? That Benajamin decided it needed to be locked up all secret and whatever. Jackson began to pace and started to get very frustrated when the man didn't come back for more than twenty minutes. He narrowed his eyes at the locked door and shook his head, it was doing nothing but causing him grief. He couldn't believe that this ONE door was going to take up all of his time and energy.

When the locksmith came back to the door he gave Jackson an apologetic look and shook his head, "We will have to wait for my superior to get here. She should be by momentarily. She said that there are not many doors like this left, so they leave it out of the training."

Jackson grunted at the locksmith and said, "Well, maybe just for good measure, they should perhaps give a crash course. I don't even know how to begin opening this door without bashing it in."

"Well, to tell you the truth, it would probably cost you less. Apparently, with the rarity and complexity of the proceedure, your price will triple on this. Are you sure that you don't want to use an ulterior method? Perhaps ... "

Jackson gawked at him for a moment and then shook his head, "I don't really think that would be a good idea. Do you see the type of wood that is? This house is an antique and in pretty good condition. If I plan on selling it, I can't go around bashing in doors." He did sigh and look longingly at the door as the prospect of taking a laser to it to cut a hole in the frame. "It would be more hassle to replace than its worth. There's probably junk in there anyway."

The locksmith nodded and leaned against the wall opposite the door. "Well, I am sorry that I wasn't able to help you out on my own, I am sure that Cynthia will be more efficient than I can be. I don't even have tools that are required for this job."

"I wish someone had said that before I waited all day for you to show up."

"I don't think the woman who called for a locksmith explained the complexity of this job, Mr. Sterling. I apologize again."

"I doubt that she would have thougth it out of the ordinary. She lives here, away from normal everyday life ..." He let his words trail off and Jackson rolled his eyes, muttering to himself. "I think these people live under a rock."

When the locksmith was heard asking what he said, Jackson didn't have time to repeat it, as a bouncy blonde woman came up the stairs, "Hey there, gentlemen." She gave a little wiggle of her fingers to the man who Jackson didn't care to get his name, "Jerome." She turned her expression to Jackson and her brown eyes were flecked with gold as she greeted him, "Mr. Sterling. I hope you didn't have to wait long. We are so sorry to keep you - our locksmiths don't have the ability or the training for this sort of thing, and I would hate for your pretty door to be damaged."

She took one look at the door and her eyes narrowed, "Jerome, you didn't tell me this was an original Woorwend Door. These doors were made in like 2003, that's a long time ago." She looked up sharp at Jackson and said, "I would suggest perhaps getting this house upgraded. I noticed nothing in this house is upgraded with Smart Chips. You would save yourself a lot of headaches, you know.." She paused and gave him a cheeky smile as she bent down to examine the lock. "I don't know if you are aware, but we can do upgrading for you as well at a discounted rate, at Lowe's Smith Shoppe. I would be happy to put in a referral for you." She looked up from the lock and smiled again at him, she was a charming little woman, "If you like."

Jackson shook his head and just looked at Cynthia like she had grown an extra pair of ears on her head. She shrugged and said, "This may take a few minutes, but I can make the key and have it fitted so that you don't have to worry about it any longer." She glanced side ways at as if she wanted to make sure that was okay with him. Jackson only shrugged and began to pace again.

Jackson was annoyed at the noise, the grating sound as she made the key and fit the lock. It took more than twenty minutes for her to finish and it was nothing more than a tiny brass metal key that she tested by putting it in the lock and it automatically clicked. She turned the key back and handed it to Jackson mid stride of his pacing.

"There you are. That will be two thousand dollars, Mr. Sterling. We take the classic forms of payment." She gave him yet another cheeky smile and it suddenly made Jackson think of this woman as a devil in pretty knit clothing. She was a swindler and it was no doubt that she owned or was a relative of the owner of this Lowe's Smith Shoppe.

He didn't argue though, he had the cash, and he would be paid back when the estate was sold. He didn't have to care about money any longer, he could do things as he pleased. He lifted his left wrist where there was barcode clearly tattooed in black ink on his skin. She pulled out a scanner, it was a state of the art scanner, the Penthius 5000 and scanned his barcode. She entered some nunbers and out came a pen. She flashed the display window to Jackson and said, "I just need you to sign right here and we will be all set."

Jackson resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her, and looked at the pen to her finger and realized that she wasn't married. No wonder, Jackson was not surprised. He thought it might be quite difficult to live with this woman. She was surely quite the manipulator. She was surely the type who could talk you into anything and then make you think it was your idea. He handed the pen back to her and pocketed the key.

He started to walk them out of the hallway and down the stairs, but Cynthia turned and looked at him with eyes of brown that looked as if they glowed, the golden flecks starting to be more prominent, "Don't worry about it, Mr. Sterling. We can see ourselves out." She motioned for Jerome and he followed her quickly picking up the pace. He stood on the landing and watched the pair leave the house before he took the key out again, turning it around in his fingers.

He waited a moment and then decided it was time to see what junk was residing in this ever so secret room. The room had caused him enough headache that now he needed to know what was behind the door. He turned the key in the lock and heard the distinguished click of the metal against metal and as he turned the knob to open the door, he was greeted with a grand surprise.