Houses

All rights reserved-Alex Leidig

Most people think of houses as inanimate objects to buy and sell, for a profit if possible. What many people don’t realize is that every house forms a bond. The longer the occupants reside in the house, the stronger the bond.

This house had acquired a bond over five decades old. Its first memory was that of a man, woman, and baby enjoying the comforts it afforded. Soon the baby was walking and modifications were made to limit the little one’s activities. Another baby was soon added to the family and before long a third baby. Changes continued to abound when a puppy was added to the mix.

It wasn’t long before the house became a mecca for more little people. This domicile remembers children jumping on beds with towels flapping over their backs making believe they were a super hero from the latest movie in theaters. Those children would also line up in anticipation for the rush they would get sliding down the stairs using whatever was available for a sled before the parents put a stop to the deeds. For the next several years, the house was abuzz with activity but as those children grew older, those happenings began to dwindle.

Over the years, the house had acquired flaws. With the installations of a deck to the rear of the house and another to the front, the house was happy to overlook the other faults.

When the unmentionable happened, the house visited its many memories, and the little inconsistencies which the house wished would have been fixed were now utilized to help warn the family of impending doom. The creaking shutter, the slamming walk-in door for the garage, a tree branch rapping on a window were all by design. Between the dog’s howling and jumping on top of beds, and the many warnings the house was able to express, the family got rousted delivering them from the fiery inferno.

The family will never know the role the house played in the unfortunate events that night. And now, years later, after the family had abandoned this dwelling, it waits. It thought perhaps, the people painting its walls would become the new dwellers when they started spraying, but after a few lines, they ran away.