2
Lyle awoke hot and sweaty. He could hear the air conditioner in the window running like a bandit, yet the room felt like a steam bath. Damn thing was only a month old. Couldn't be going south already.
He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Someone had pulled up the blinds and opened all his bedroom windows.
Lyle rolled out of bed. What was going on here? Had Charlie done this?
He had no intention of cooling the rest of Astoria so he slammed his windows shut and stalked down the hall to the rear bedroom. He barged in and found Charlie sprawled on his sheets, both windows wide open, and his AC going full blast.
"Damn it, Charlie, what are you up to?"
Charlie lifted his head and blinked at him. "Whassup, bro?"
"The windows, for one thing! What's with opening the windows? It's gonna be ninety today."
"Didn't open no windows."
"Yeah? Well then who did? Ice-T?"
He slammed them closed, then stepped back into the hall. He was headed for his room when he felt a warm breeze flowing up the stairwell. He ran downstairs and found all the waiting room windows and the front door wide open.
"Charlie!" he shouted. "Charlie get down here!"
When Charlie stumbled in he gaped at the open windows and door. "Dawg, what you doing?"
"Me? I locked that door last night myself, chain lock and all. I didn't get up and open it. And since there's only two people in this house, that leaves you."
He shut and relocked the door as he was speaking.
"Don't look at me, yo," Charlie said, closing the windows. "I been racked out."
Lyle stared at his brother. Charlie used to be a def joker who could spin out a line like no one else. But ever since he'd been born again, he told the truth-about everything, even if it hurt.
"Then who...? Shit! Someone got in!"
Lyle raced to the channeling room. If they'd wrecked the equipment...
But no, the room looked fine. No obvious damage. A quick survey by Charlie and him revealed it to be just as they'd left it. Except for the windows. During the remodeling he'd painted the panes black and draped them with heavy curtains to block the tiniest ray of light. Now the drapes were pulled back and the windows thrown open, allowing sunlight to flood the room. It changed the look entirely, making all his carefully arranged mystical touches look... tacky.
Relieved that nothing had been damaged, Lyle closed the windows, pulled the drapes, and headed back toward the kitchen.