Week 7: World Building

The house was average size sitting at the entrance to the cul-de-sac with a smelly creek and a small wooded area to the left side and a grassy yard beside that. A long cement driveway lined the left side of the house and attached to a patio that wrapped around to the back. Just off the driveway, a jagged brick pathway lead to a small staircase that ascended to the front door.

There was nothing special about the inside of the house. A good size living room sat to the right of the entrance opposite a wall of book selves full of books that were purchased and maybe never read. The living room had an unused fireplace to one side and two couches, a coffee table and a TV on the other. In the middle of the room was an open space that housed many fashion and gymnastic shows whose only attendants where supportive parents. Through a wide doorway beyond the living room came the dinning room with its table big enough for six and its piano that was just learning to be played.

A doorway on the left lead to the kitchen while an open arch in the front of the room would take you to the computer room. A long makeshift desk took up one wall of this very thin room. Sitting on the desk where two clunky desktop computer monitors. Two chairs were left to roll around the room as they pleased and a cabinet full of junk sat at the end of the desk. In this tiny room there was a very small bathroom. This half bath, nicknamed "the fart gallery", housed the best leaf etchings in town. Its grand opening was christened with the ceremonial cutting of the toilet paper and was full of guests in no time at all.

Across from the bathroom was a door that lead outside where another small staircase would need to be descended to reach the cement patio. To the right of the back door stool a big gazebo that on occasion, would be all lit up and filled with family and adventurous foods. On the edge of the large concrete patio stood a small shabby looking shed. This shed came with the house and was mostly used for storage, but it also seemed to be a hotel for cockroaches and not a place that was occupied by people as long as the need to enter it could be avoided.

As you continue to walk along the large concrete slab you'd see a small grassy lawn that had the assorted lawn chair and a round chicken wire fence, about knee height that was used to give pet rabbits exercise. At the end of the patio and the beginning of the driveway stood a homemade bunny hutch which housed about twenty rabbits when they were not going binky around the round pen.

Back inside the house and through the kitchen was a short hallway which lead to three bedrooms and a full bathroom. The room straight at the end of the hall was a crowded room that was half doll house half bunk bed. During the night a cheap metal frame trundle bed would be rolled out from under the the bed becoming the third bunk and leaving a very slim maneuvering space around the room.

Across the hall form the bunk bed room was the small master bedroom with its big bed that took up most of the room. A glider that became the prime spot for "talking to mom time" sat to the left of the bed. On the wall across from the bed stood two miss matched wooden dressers one with a TV on top. On the wall next to the bed were two matching closets that were probably sure where often used as hiding spot during riveting games of hid and go seek.

Out the door and to the right was a boys room. It was not entered often by the girls of the house and therefore difficult to describe. It did contain a bed to one wall that had a metal frame that if carelessly bumped into would make even the toughest person cry. The shin buster was it's nickname and it defeated many a bypassing shin.

As you go back down the hall you'd see a string hanging from a white door that almost blended in with the ceiling. When pulled the white door would open reviling a steep wooden staircase that ascended into a dark musky attic. The attack stored boxes upon boxes of christmas decorations, stuff that somehow stayed packed move after move, and just plain junk. The attic was creepy and mysterious enough that it was rarely occupied, by people that is. If you listen carefully you'd hear bats squeaking against the grate on the back wall, where they could fly in and out on their leisure. This left the attic smelling strange and added to the spookiness.

Back out the front door, down the steps and across the path to the left side of the house stood a small patch of forest separated form the side yard by a thin swampy creek. This creek was just slightly too big to jump across, as was found out by an attempt gone disastrously wrong. A little wooden bridge was eventually built that would allow safe access to the forest on the other side. In a cool shady patch of trees just across the bride was a small clearing where a bench had been placed by a pervious owner. This spot seemed magical to a kid who could ignore the smell of the disgusting creek and the sound of cars rushing by just on the other side of the trees and became the setting for many make believe games. Many hours were spent in this spot day dreaming and avoiding school work. Past the enchanted clearing the trees became much thicker and harder to maneuver with out ending up with many scratches on your arms and legs, but that doesn't mean that exploration was not attempted.

This small house was not the cleanest, fanciest house. With its bats and bugs and junk it was not always the most welcoming house, but it did hold a lot of memories and stories. Memories like its front lawn being turned into a parking lot for people attending the local football game. Sold at five dollars a spot, it was probably the cheapest place in town. This house that was a homeschool for the children that lived there where many things would be learned most of which now is probably long forgotten. This house may have been nothing special, but the people and the memories made it a home. A home that was missed when moved away from. That will always lie in the memories of those who lived there as the small, underwhelming yet wonderful home it was.