Taming the Beast

“You see that, right?”

“Of course I do.”

“Just checking,” James said.

“Who are you?” Matilda asked the clock.

“I am Clockworth,” the cuckoo clock said. “And I am the guardian of this estate.”

“How is this possible?” James demanded.

“Long ago, a gifted mage lived in this mansion. He enchanted many of the objects here. After he was killed, no one was left who knew about us. Over the years, we’ve tried to communicate. We were created to be helpers to man. We wanted to help you, but we saw that it only bothers you, just like everyone else who has lived here over the years.”

“This place was a steal, fully furnished and everything,” James said.

“They always said this place was haunted when I was a kid, and now I understand why.”

“Maybe it is haunted, in a manner of speaking,” Clockworth said. “But all we want is to help and to have a good conversation.”

“Can you teach me about magic?” Matilda said with awe in her voice. She looked up at James with stars in her eyes.

“Of course.”

“I could happily study these objects for the rest of my life, James. I always wanted to be an archaeologist.”

It filled James’s heart with gladness to hear those words.

“Does that mean you don’t want to go to college anymore?”

“I no longer see the point.”

“We can help with a great many things,” Clockworth said. “Not just instructions on magic.”

“There’s a lot to do around here,” Matilda said, tapping her lip. “My beast is a bit of a slob.”

She giggled and kissed James’s cheek.

“Of course!” Clockworth said. “We can clean the house for you.”

“You can do that?” James asked.

“Yes, it’s easy.”

“Fantastic. You can start on the downstairs bathroom,” Matilda said with joy in her voice.

At that, several objects jumped down from the shelves and off the walls and hurried out of the bedroom. James could hear clattering all throughout the house as they began to clean the downstairs bathroom.

“Can you believe it?!” Matilda said, gripping James’s arm in excitement.

“I can’t.”

“All this time, you had all the help you needed to clean the house.”

“This is good news,” he said taking her in his arms. “I have much bigger plans for you.”

James kissed Matilda deeply as she giggled and wiggled in his arms. The feeling of her curves under his hands made him rigid with desire. As he climbed over her on the couch and rested between her warm thighs, he knew the best things in life were yet to come.

Part IV