Mrs. Creado's Home - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 :

Mrs. Creado's Home, the board read. It was a very small wooden board. Painted brown, the words as if tastefully carved in it, in Blue and Gold. Located deep in the mountains camouflaged in the national park, the house was located at the very top of one of the mountainous routes and was well shielded by the dense forests all around it. The entrance gate was wide and old fashioned made with wrought iron but if you looked closely you could see that it had CCTV cameras positioned near it overlooking the road as well as two other cameras pointing at it covering every possible angle. The gate operated automatically so someone from the inside could operate it and hence there was no need of a security cabin. The only way you could find the house was if you knew it was there. The people living there seldom left, and the people visiting had no intention of breaching security. The residents had all possible comforts at their fingertips inside and a dedicated staff that kept the place running efficiently. They were like a lifeline to the house, keeping every necessity stocked in perfect order. And the "necessities" were neither few nor cheap or easy to get. Yet everything ran smoothly. The house was spacious and almost palatial, yet it had a cozy feel. It was three stories high had three wings which connected in the center. The front had a nice garden which could easily sit about 50 guests. There was a wide trail leading out of the  rear of the house to the mountain top. There was also a lift which could take you there directly. There was a small sit-out made there where you see down to the house and the mountains and valley. A spacious car park was situated at the rear of one of the wings. Inside was a little more homely than what you would imagine. Just as one entered the front door there was a foyer which branched off into three directions. One lead to the living room to the left, the second lead to a dining area connected to the kitchen in the right, and the third one lead to the rear of the house which then branched into three wings. There was a spacious living room which, in spite of being huge, was cozy. There was a huge TV on one wall, with a nice sound system, surrounded huge collection of DVDs which was updated regularly. You could find all types of films and TV serials on there, arranged according to genre and then alphabetically. It had been curated with great affection.  The other end of the room had a big table beside another big shelf housing all kinds of books, again sorted according the the genre and then according to the author. There was even a station that housed a couple of kindles and audio players to listen to audio books. This was the activity table as they called it. Here you could sit and just browse on the computers or read books or do whatever you wanted. The dining area was also big. It had a huge mahogany table for twenty people in the center, however with only six chairs visible around it. The kitchen was a little smaller but had all the latest equipment and was constructed with utmost finesse. The rear of the house was divided into three parts namely - classrooms, housing, and infirmary. The basement was off limits for anyone unauthorized to be there.

Today the house was abuzz with preparations, for the newest member was arriving and they needed to make sure everything was perfect. Mrs. Creado had been very meticulous in overseeing all the preps. Maurice the butler had been on his toes the last couple of days and so had Claudia and Ashley. Maurice, an African immigrant from the late 90s, of about forty, had been the butler of this house for the past seven years. He had become an integral part of the functioning of this house and took his job seriously as a lot of things depended on him. Mrs. Creado placed immense confidence in him and hiring him had been a tough choice for her as the post came with a lot of things he could never reveal to anyone. In fact anyone working here had that criteria attached to them once they were hired, and everyone remained loyal to that. Claudia or Mrs. Noran as she was called fondly had been here for the past twenty years and was skilled in some very special tasks. Her place here was of high regard. Ashley was the young apprentice hired by Mrs. Creado and Claudia to slowly get trained in what Claudia could do. She was doing a good job of it too and now Claudia could easily hand some of the tasks to Ashley without a second thought.

As for Mrs. Creado herself, she was a very kind and warm women in her early 60s. Yet, you could never guess her age if you saw her. She had aged like wine, her curves still showed at the right places and she could just carry her chubbiness like the latest fashion trend. At heart she was a marvelous woman who  could make anyone melt with her warmth. She was always jolly and that had helped the atmosphere at the Creado Home a lot. The residents always bonded with her a lot and she was a great host who would keep an eye on every small detail and thus make this house a beautiful abode.

The other side to it though was not as simple as it looked from the outside. The Creado home had a special purpose attached to it also. It was also a special correctional facility of sorts. In the past few years the government had been facing a shortage of space for more correctional facilities and jails. The number of inmates was fast growing and acquiring new lands for construction had become difficult. So, a new law had been put into motion under extreme secrecy and passed almost invisible to the public eye. It was a little skewed, but it had received backup from certain high end circles and hence it rolled forward. The law stated that if the inmate had a certain financial backing and if the guardians or persons responsible for them were in agreement then the inmate would not be sent to the normal prisons but would be sent to a "Special Correctional Facility". One was set up for males and one for females. The law was meant mostly for offenders under the age of thirty, but sometimes some exceptions were made. Like the Creado School for Girls, The Pierre Centre was set up for the "Men". The inmates / residents coming there would undergo certain medical procedures which would leave them with some kind of impairment. It could be a minor disability or a major one depending on a number of factors. They would be taken care of in the best possible way but would now learn to live and love life anew. The final aim was to give these inmates a new lease of life yet not make them forget the wrongs they did. The staff hired was made to sign certain secrecy clauses in the agreements which they adhered to. The nurses hired were trained specifically for high end care of patients with extreme needs. As it was still very new the home was equipped for only four to eight, residents at a time, but rapid progress was being made to set up bigger residential complexes which could house more people. Mrs. Creado had opted for a smaller place which would have only four inmates at a time. Such was Mrs. Creado's Home for Women.