Will I ever make it home....: For Sale by Owner

Will I ever make it home....

Monday, August 21, 2006

For Sale by Owner

My latest entry for the S project. Link in "The Ones I Adore" section. Criticism welcome....Except for the bad kind...lol....

When they had planned on moving, they hadn't expected to fall for a house so out of repair and broken that it was looked at as a waste of money and time from their close friends. But the house had a magnetic force that drew them in. It was a rainy day in October when they drove by an old country road. Vast expanses of fields surounded the little house and the trees in the yard were over a 100 years old.

They drove in to the drive way in order to turn around when she looked towards the abandoned house with a gleam in her eyes. It looked like a haunted house out of a cheap movie, but something drew her in. She whispered to her husband to wait, as she immediately stepped out of the car. She slowly walked up the withered path to the front porch. The rain seemed to dance around her figure, and her husband watched perplexed from the car. After hesitating for what seemed like hours, he stepped out of the car into the light drizzle and stood aback in the sheer ugliness of the house. He could have sworn he felt a whisper near his ear, so he rapidly caught up to his wife. They stood in sheer amazement in the disrepair of the wilted porch.

The quaintness and monstrosity of the house sucked them in. In one of the dusty windows was a sagging "For Sale by Owner" sign. It was faded and dirty, but she jumped in delight when her eyes fell on the omninous sign. He looked at her and rolled his eyes. As he quickly reminded her that there were still two houses their realtor wanted them to see just up the road, he realized she wasn't budging until she saw every nook and crany in the house. Mold was winning the war on the wood, trash was littered about the roof, and an old shack sat askew from the house.

But he didn't see that, for a flashing moment he saw the house in a different time. The gleaming fresh white paint on the house, the navy blue borders, the beautiful wood porch with a rocking chair, the young sapling growing in the midst of the softest green grass, the forget-me-nots, roses and morning glories rocking gently in the breeze. He smelled the fresh cut wood, the aromatic scent of the small garden and the disticnt tinge of fresh apple pie floating from the open and immaculately clean window sill. He thought he heard giggling inside of the kitchen. All this happened in a second. He blinked and it was back to the old rundown house. She had started to walk towards the porch, and rose upon each step gingerly. Her hand reached out for the doorhandle, when he finally spoke.

"Are you crazy?! What are you doing? This isn't our house, you can't just waltz in!" He shouted from the overgrown walkway.

She jumped startled at the sound of his booming voice, and her weight crushed the decayed porch to the ground. She shrieked and he ran towards her. Disturbed ants and beetles crawled out from around the hole. And they both crashed agaisn't the open door into the foyer. Even though the outside of the house had a haunted appeal, the inside was almost new looking. Rich mahogany wood panels stretched up halfway up the walls. The walls were a mint green, so pale and innocent appearing, that it reminded them both of Easter. The colors contrasted drastically but made such a wonderful impact on their eyes that she started giggling and he couldn't help but smile. As he rose to his feet and dusted off the ancient dirt, he noticed she had already began treking troughout the house. She found herself in the kitchen. It was evident that it hadn't been used since the early 40s, as the vintage kitchen was cluttered with empty boxes. All the appliances were severly outdated. The cabinets and counters were reminiscent of a dinner.

She stood behind the island in the kitchen, and struck a pose. "Could you imagine us living here? Wouldn't it be great?!", She giggled. He could almost see an apron on her small waist, a Rita Hayworth hairstyle, pearls on her neck, and vampy red lips. His smug grin turned into a wide smile. She was walking towards him.

He stood there looking around the kitchen and dinning room. The floor was the same rich mahogany wood as the entrance, and it had been perserved well under the dust. Spider webs hung low from the bright corners, and you could see a lost bettle strutting accross the floor.

"It's a lot of work, but I think it would be great. Almost as if we built it ourselves. And you know you wanted to build a house. Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top, dear???" She murmured as she scooted into his chest. "We could make it so beautiful. And then when we have our kids we would have all this room outside....", she continued to whisper into his chest. He looked around and shook his head gently. He wasn't convinced. But he knew she was extremely stubborn and that is why he struggled not to groan at the idea of having to fix the place up just so she would be happy. She looked up at him, questioning him with her eyes.

*******

As the years pass, and Ican't help but think of how my mom must have been at 22. Just married to a wealthy family, with a handsome husband. How beautiful, how delighted she must have been when she first saw this house. I remember her telling us about how she saved this house, just for us. Saved it! She isn't doing too well now, seems this cancer thing the docs talk about it spreading to places they can't get to nowadays. Most days she stays locked up in the master bedroom. I have heard her cry out that this wasn't done or she never got to finish this on the house. Dad passed on 10 years ago, and it's been rough. It's just me and Maryangelina to try our best. And we try to keep up with everything mom wanted to do to the house. Her greatest fear is to let it fall into the disrepair she found it in. And like the good girls we are, I promised her I would care for it, just like she did.

posted by The Devil @ 11:25 AM

1 Comments:

At 8:42 PM, Sam said…

Beautiful. Love your detaileddescription of it all.
:-)