MurderVerse

I slowly moved out of my mom's place and in with Gina.

One suit at a time, one pair of shoes at a time

Did it on the DL so mom wouldn't get upset

Old folks don't like change

And my Mother is a creature of habit

Always has been

I moved back in after my divorce from Zoe

And she's used to me being here.

I kept my desk and writing supplies in my old room

Yeah the one I grew up in

I had hiding places for my laptop, pads and pens

Secret cubby holes in walls and little trap doors in floors

Everything could be hidden away in seconds

I wasn't sure how Gina would react to my poetry

Better to keep things quiet until I know how she feels

***

Gina rules the roost

Which was hard to get used to

But she waits on me hand and foot.

As soon as I walk in the door she leaps into action

She takes off my shoes and socks and rubs my feet

Sometimes she has a foot bath waiting with hot water

Dinner is always ready and if it isn't something is on the

Way

Uber Eats, Pizza, Chinese

BTW Friday is pizza night

We get a large pepperoni pie and watch Sopranos reruns

And I'm not allowed to help out in the kitchen either

Gina insists that men don't do kitchen work

Those drifting in and out of Max's house never had to lift a

Finger

Max taught, control the kitchen control the house

Gina took her mother's advice

But extended her control to all areas of the house

Living room, bathrooms, bedrooms, closets

I didn't have to worry about paying bills, what

We were having for dinner, house repairs

None of it.

***

Since It was taking so much time to move my stuff

Gina took it upon herself to buy me a new wardrobe

She liked expensive threads from luxury shops

Ralph Lauren

Robert Graham

Loro Piana

Rhoback

Except for Ralph Lauren, these brands were a mystery

Gina had superior taste and an eye for size

Everything she bought fit perfectly

Actually, I'm not sure how she could afford this stuff

But I didn't ask any questions

I accepted the outfits she left in the closet

One or two every other week wrapped in dry-cleaning

Plastic.

I wanted to pay her back

I wanted to surprise her

She spent a fortune on clothes, cosmetics, entertainment

Like two big flat-screen television sets

But not so much on furnishings

The sofa still had wine stains on the cushions

The kitchen set looked like it came from Goodwill

And her queen-size bed was a mattress on top of a box

Spring that had been thrown on the floor

An Upgrade was in order

The girl deserved better.

I ordered A queen-size bed from a Crate and Barrel catalog

I found on an end table

I thought safe choice

The bed was delivered and set up

It fit the room perfectly.

I wanted to find another project that might surprise her

That's when I noticed the cellar door in the kitchen.

I felt my way down the wooden stairs into the darkness

I fumbled around for a light switch

When I flipped the switch the entire room lit up

Rows of cool white fluorescent lights lined the ceiling

Not a shadow anywhere.

The space was cluttered with all manner of junk

Electronics, old pieces of furniture, broken bicycles

Hanging in the back corner were racks of men's clothes

I started going through the racks and discovered that these

Clothes and the clothes Gina was giving me had the same

Brand names