Pandemic: Starting Over

by Halira


Chapter 33: Tour of Wabash part 2

Almost the entire first floor of the west wing was one huge room, fully illuminated by a string of windows on either side of the room. There was a half bathroom and a door at the far end with yellow tape blocking it off, but otherwise, it was the most oversized living room I'd ever seen. 

"This is the main living and hosting area," Malcomb explained. "The first floor of the east wing is the ballroom, but it is being used for storage, and I advise keeping your foals and guests out of it. The furniture here is contemporary, all stuff from the last occupants before ETS, and you don't need to worry about damaging anything. It should be clean; I just removed all the dust covers yesterday and did a full sweep and mop of it."

The room seemed to be divided up into areas. In the far left corner of the room, near the taped-off door, looked like a gaming area. It had a ping-pong table, a pinball machine, a driving arcade game, and an old Street Fighter machine—with none of the electronic devices plugged in. The corner to our immediate left had a few small overly cushioned chairs, a couch, and a loveseat, along with a vacant computer desk —perhaps a study area? Most of the right side of the room and center was clear, except for some throw rugs. The center of the room to the right was a large wrap-around couch that made a perfect half-circle facing a large older television that looked like it was from the eighties or early nineties. There were tall standing lamps in each of the corners and next to each of the areas, and the walls were done in the same wood paneling as every room but the kitchen.

Malcomb gestured around the room. "The arcade games all work, as far as I know. Although I doubt anyone here will be using them since they are all too big for ponies. The television works, but it won't connect to any modern satellite or cable boxes without an adapter. We do have cell phone coverage, but no internet in the house otherwise. I suppose you could try getting it off the cable lines, but they’d really need to run new lines—the ones here are ancient. All electrical outlets have been tested and are working."

"And the taped off door?" I asked. 

He looked down at it. "That leads onto the walkway leading to the west gazebo, and that isn't safe right now. Miss Growth assured me she'd have carpenters here either tomorrow or later in the week to start repairing it, along with all the other things that need repair." 

I shook my head in disbelief. "How did the outside get so bad, and why does the contemporary stuff still look thirty or forty years old if there was a family here not even ten years ago?"

"Word from one of the older neighbors is this place was in worse shape when the last family moved in," Malcomb explained. "It had been sitting abandoned for over thirty years at that point. They started work on the house itself to get it livable, but it was a lot of work." He paused and looked around. "As for why everything from them is still older, I was told the owners were paranoid about computers and other electronic devices made after the turn of the millennia—believed the government was spying on them. If that's true, I can imagine that if they got ETS, they'd have been some of those more ardent pony separatists a few years back when that was a thing."

"Lovely," I replied absently. "That's the base of the tower I saw outside, right? I'm guessing it isn't just a stairwell going up."

He shook his head. "No, the third-floor has a small standard room in it; the second-floor part of the tower is effectively just a maintenance closet that contains the water heater and the AC unit for this side of the house. The other wing is pretty symmetrical with this one, with minimal differences. Pretty sure those second-floor rooms were used for something else when this place was built, since they didn't have water heaters or ACs back then, but probably were just more storage."

I nodded and did one last look around the room. "I think this room is covered. How about-"

SLAM!

We all jumped. The older colts each took refuge behind Lántiān and me and started whimpering. Qīng Yǔ, who was on her mother's back, was now crying and wailing. Mèng, who had previously looked ready for bed, now was fully awake, head lowered aggressively, his fur fluffed like an angry cat, and his wings spread wide, all while glaring in the direction we had come. He was even growling.

Malcomb took a deep breath. "Damn stupid doors. They're going to be the death of me. We should have either shut it or propped it open. No harm was done, just a scare."

I gave myself a shake. "Everyone, let's make it a point not to leave any doors hanging open, so we don't have that constantly happening." I looked down at Shǔguāng, who had ducked behind me. "It's alright. Nothing is going to hurt you or anyone else."

He lifted his head high, even though his ears were still flat against his head and his tail tucked between his legs. "I wasn't scared. I was just protecting you."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I didn't want to make him feel I didn't take him seriously, even if I didn't. I had no idea how strong or fragile his ego was.  "I understand and appreciate your effort, but you can see that none of us are in danger. You can relax. Can you do me a favor? I need you to be a good big brother and try to calm your angry baby brother down."

"I was scared," Líng admitted as he came out from behind his sister, still looking nervous. Qīng Yǔ just continued to cry and wail while Lántiān tried to soothe her. Shǔguāng hurried over to Mèng and started saying quiet words in Mandarin. 

Since Lántiān was occupied with her daughter, and Shǔguāng was now dealing with his fluffed night pony brother, it fell to me to comfort Líng so he wouldn't feel neglected. 

I reached a leg out and gestured for him to come to me. He immediately rushed over, and I pulled him into a hug. "There there. It's okay to be a little scared. New places can be very scary, and you've been a real trooper with how well you've held up going from new place to new place this week. Once we get settled in, you'll get comfortable, and in no time at all, you'll feel like home here."

"It's not a new place. It's an old place, and it smells funny and has all kinds of scary noises," he protested. 

I sniffed. It did smell a little musty, but that was nothing a little air freshener or scented candle couldn't fix. "We'll get those things taken care of soon. You know, with a house this big, you'll be able to have your pick of a bedroom all your own, one you won't have to share with your brothers. It will be all yours. Doesn't that sound good?"

"But I like sleeping with Shǔguāng. I feel better when I'm not alone," he whined. 

That caught me off guard. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. When I was his age, I would have been happy to have my own room separate from my sisters. We were all very independent, even at a young age, and the idea of happily sharing anything with one another was a completely foreign concept. These foals weren't my sisters and me, though, and it would be a mistake to assume they'd be like my sisters and me. 

"Well, if your brother agrees, then you two will still share a room, but if he wants his own room, you'll need to be a big colt and learn to sleep by yourself," I said after a moment of consideration. 

"Can I sleep with you?" he asked, almost pleading. 

I sighed. "Only if you have a nightmare, and I hope you don't have many nightmares."

"What if I have a nightmare every night?" he asked. 

I frowned. "Then I'm going to have a very long talk with your mother about fixing that." I let him go as I noticed the others had calmed down. "Now, let's go see the rooms upstairs, and you and your brothers can decide what bedroom is best."

"We get the best one, not Sister or you?" he asked in wonder. 

That earned a giggle from me. "Yes, I'm not going to fight you for the best one, and your sister will just have to accept second best."

"Shǔguāng! Did you hear what Auntie Sunset said?" Líng yelled as he tackled his older brother. The two of them came down hard on the Mèng, who let off a pained squeak, then began crying. 

"Hey, be careful with your baby brother! You both weigh more than him!" I yelled, then lit my horn to lift them each off Mèng. 

"Sorry, Mèng," Líng said contritely as he reached the ground. He flinched as Shǔguāng boxed his shoulder. 

"Why do you have to do stupid things!" Shǔguāng shouted as he glared at his brother. 

Líng cowered down. "Sorry, Shǔguāng."

"Shǔguāng! What did I say about calling your brother stupid?" I demanded as I lifted the night pony in my magic and floated him over to examine. Mèng immediately went quiet once he was in my magical grip. 

Shǔguāng snorted. "But he does do stupid things!"

"Shǔguāng! Don't be disrespectful!" Lántiān shouted in outrage. 

The young unicorn relented and let his ears sag. "Okay, sorry I called you stupid. Just stop doing stuff like that," I suppose that was the best anyone was going to get. 

I concluded that Mèng wasn't hurt and levitated him onto my back. He immediately dug his wing thumbs into my mane and gripped on tight and secure. 

"Nothing like sibling squabbles," Malcomb observed. He then walked over to the door to go back into the entrance hall. "If everything is settled, just follow me, and I'll show you the rooms upstairs."

We all exited the room, and Lántiān made sure to shut the door behind us. The SPEC agents were all gone, and all our stuff was lying in a heap in the middle of the floor.

The stairs were surprisingly not creaky at all. Sure, we could hear our hoofsteps on the wood, but there wasn't a single squeak of a board as we ascended to the second floor. 

Once we were up the stairs, I could see the child safety gate blocking off the east wing, and I also saw another staircase that had been just out of sight that went up to the third floor. No doors were blocking the halls on this floor, and I could see straight down either one. Each hall looked more or less the same, with a few paintings and the sconces with the candle light bulbs made up the decoration. Each hall had several doors along it and ended in a final door at the end of each hall. There was a steady sounding of thumping as each door gently shook in its frame.

"Third floor has almost exactly the same layout as this one," Malcomb explained. "The only real difference is there's an entrance to the central tower room up there, a few hall windows that look out at the back, and there's an entrance to the attic on either wing."

I looked down the west hall. "I was told fifteen bedrooms; I count seven doors. I know one of those is the space for the water heater and air conditioner, and I'm assuming one of those is the bathroom. That leaves five doors for other rooms. If everything is symmetrical, as you say, and the upstairs has three additional bedrooms with those tower rooms, that totals twenty-three bedrooms—or am I missing something?"

"No, fifteen bedrooms is accurate," Malcomb replied. "There's a study-slash-workroom on each floor wing and a master bedroom on each section that has its own bathroom with a door. That makes three symmetrical bedrooms on each of the four hallways and the three bedrooms for each of the towers, which bring the total to fifteen. Tower bedrooms are a bit smaller, so we have three sizes of bedrooms. Counting all the rooms in this place, there's an even forty rooms inside the house."

I looked at the staircase leading upward and frowned. "I want us all to be close together, and the colts have expressed their desire to share a room—if that's what Shǔguāng wants to." I turned to the colt in question. "Do you want to share a room with your brothers?"

Shǔguāng looked back and forth between his brothers then silently nodded to me.

"Alright, so, I think the colts would be best served with the master bedroom," I decided. "If they decide at some later point they want individual rooms, then we can worry about the third floor. Until then, I prefer that stairwell to be gated off as well—unless you were intending on moving inside, Malcomb."

He shook his head. "Thank you, but no, at least for now. I've got myself set up comfortably in my little cottage. It would be a hassle to move everything from it inside."

That brought up a point I'd been curious about. "Why didn't you stay in the house, to begin with?"

He shrugged. "It's a big place and old. If you spend a lot of time in here by yourself, it starts getting in your head. It makes you jump at shadows. It wouldn't be so bad now, with the rest of you here, but when it was just me around, this place would give me the heebie-jeebies at night. I might move in later down the line, but not right now."

"Is the master bedroom the best bedroom, Auntie Sunset?" Líng asked crossly. "You promised we'd get to pick the best bedroom."

I smiled at him. "Well, it should be the biggest, so you and your brothers can have lots of space, even with the three of you're sharing a room. It also has a tub all its own. Having a bathroom with its own tub sounds good, doesn't it?" I paused and looked at Malcomb. "It does have a tub, right?" 

He nodded and gestured dramatically with a leg down the hall. "Would you like to finish our tour and see if it is to your liking, young sir? The second door on the left."

Líng and Shǔguāng looked at one another, smiled, then raced each other down the hall, giggling all the way. I then realized something that was missing. 

"I do not hear many squeaks from the floor," I observed.

"Most the squeaks come from the walls and roof, especially if it is windy," Malcomb explained. "We occasionally get a squirrel or raccoon in one of the attics. That always makes a ruckus—running around, knocking things over. I had one raccoon knock the attic door open once and got into the main house. Catching him was an adventure I'd rather not repeat."

"Hey, the handle is all strange!" Shǔguāng shouted.

"It's round, and the door is shaking," Líng clarified, as he crouched down, almost comically, behind his older brother. 

I sighed and walked over to them. "That's a doorknob. A lot of older doors have them. Brace yourself up on your back legs and press one of your forehooves against the side of the doorknob. Use the pressure to turn the knob clockwise."

Shǔguāng used the door to brace himself and reached a hoof up, and started turning the knob. I gave him a flat look and coughed. "The other direction, Shǔguāng. Clockwise is the other direction."

"Oh, sorry," Shǔguāng said quickly, then began turning the knob the other way, all while his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth. I heard the door latch go as the door opened, and he fell forward, landing safely on all fours. 

Líng may have been behind his brother when his brother was opening the door, but the young earth pony zoomed past Shǔguāng as soon as the door opened. "Whoa! Look how big the bed is!"

I stuck my head into the room, still carrying Mèng on my back, as the two other colts went dashing into the room. The room was indeed large, but mostly empty, aside from a king-sized four-post bed and an ottoman that could be used as a step to get into the bed much too big for any pony. I finished walking in and noted that there were two doors to my left, one that was likely a closet and the other likely the entrance to the bathroom. Unlike the hallways and downstairs rooms, this room had wall to wall carpet—it was a tacky white shag. There were three windows, all octagonal in shape, and one of them was open to let in a breeze. There was no other furniture or decoration in the room.

The two colts used the ottoman to get up on the bed, and once on it, began to bounce with enthusiasm. Lántiān entered in behind me, still carrying her daughter, and gave her brothers a dirty look. "Will you two behave? You will damage something."

They brought there jumping to a halt and looked suitably chastised. "Sorry, Sister," the two said in chorus. 

"Why do they do that?" I asked. 

She turned and gave me a confused look. "Do what, ma'am? Speak together?"

I shook my head. "No—call you sister instead of by your name. It seems odd."

She shrugged. "I am much older than them and am an authority figure to them. I have done more raising of them in the last few years than our mama. They would not refer to her by her name; that would be disrespectful and presumptuous. They likewise do not refer to me by my name. Do you disapprove of this, ma'am?"

I shook my head. "If you're all comfortable with that, then it's fine. I was just curious." I turned and looked at Malcomb. "Can we find a few more doorstops? I'd prefer if all the bedroom doors for this area were kept open all the time. The foals may be able to open a door when it involves pushing it, but may struggle with pulling a door with a doorknob open. I'd really like handles put on all the doors, to tell the truth, so that I don't have to worry about any of the colts getting trapped in a room."

He grimaced. "I'm not sure replacing them is possible; these knobs are all original, just like the doors. Maybe we can work out some method to help them pull doors open. A rope tied to the knob or something. Doorstops I can do. I'll be right back."

He took off down the hall towards the east wing. While he was doing that, I turned my attention to the bathroom. "Okay, Mèng, potty-time, then bedtime. I know you're tired."

Something wet started to spill across my back, and I instantly regretted declaring it potty-time. 

I hung my head. "Actually, the two of us are going to take a bath."