There was only one picture
Taken of the house
I am about to describe to you
In the time we lived there
Over the years regretfully
The picture has been lost
And we have never
Returned to take another
The picture you see however
Is a kinda-sorta likeness of what
Was to become home to us
To get a true visual
Let me introduce you
To the word 'RUSTIC'
While the picture you see
Shows a quaint little cabin
What I first saw before me
Was far from small
And quaint . . . . .
Had left its footprints behind
To falling down
Years ago
Hey everyone has to have a
Design style now don't they
That's what they say on
Homes And Gardens TV anyway
In the year to follow
When I could not make something
Look good no matter how hard I tried
I just said to myself
Self ....
It is supposed to look rustic
You did great
(snicker)
Add a second story
To this picture you are about
To see
And multiply the entire house
By at least four times
We were to find out later
That the house was nearly
Six Thousand square feet
And that the previous tenants
Had been a college fraturnity
Give you any idea of how
I was to find the inside
Five bedrooms ...
Four and a half bathrooms
A living room ... An office area
And what sorta resembled
A screened porch
To the side you cannot see
The mud room alone
Was the size of
A large bedroom
Opening upon what was
Susposed to be a carport
'Home On The Range' anyone?
Our yesterday's behind us now
Our Tomorrow's uncertain
But awaiting their beginning
With a good hard push
Of shoulder to door
I stepped inside
And our love/hate
Relationship with
What we dubbed
'The Barn'
Found its beginning
The sunset gone now
Giving way to increasing darkness
Of course I had not thought to
Bring a flashlight so within
The shadows of twilight
Stood myself and this
Enormeous empty house
I found myself to be standing
In the middle of the living room
Staring at what was before me
In total amazement
The walls made up entirely
Of huge rolled logs
Covered with many layers of dust
And yet in places their natural luster
Shown through to reveal
Beautiful grains of years
Long past to life
The ceiling
In this part of the house
Rose to a point and we estimated
It to be at least Twenty feet high
Above my head
Where pitch met wall
Were placed what looked like trees
...Yes I said trees
Six of them
Each bridging the entire
Width of the living room
I could not help but visualize
Beautiful green plants hanging
From these logs that I could
Not have hoped
To put my arms around
To one end of this room
An open staircase that led
To an exposed loft
And the second story
At the other end
A wall of windows
Divided into shadow boxes
Five to a row ... Two foot square
And at least a foot deep
From top to bottom
Eight rows of paned windows
Six across
Looked out upon the highway
Just as I was thinking
How in the world I ever could
Get this huge wall of windows clean
Something moved catching my eye
The moon was just rising
And in the unfenced yard
Stood five White Tailed Deer
Peacefully pushing
The snow aside to find
Bits of this or that
To graze upon
I watched them for a time
Then turned my attention
To exploring the house further
Boulder sized rocks
Made up the fireplace
Running from floor to ceiling
Taking up almost another complete wall
A small wood burning stove
Placed within its mouth
Where fires
had one time burned freely
I began to envision
What was left of my furniture
Within these walls
Wow
What I could do with this place
Not realizing as yet
That poor
Was to mean REALLY poor
A door under the staircase
Led me to the kitchen
And off of the kitchen
Stood a huge dining area
From the Dining Room
You could access the side porch
That boasted screens that had
Most certainly seen better days
It seemed to go on forever
As I opened door after door
To find
Room after room
The only light in the house now
From the stars and moon
That shown just beyond
Streaked window panes
There was no need to try
To explore the second story
I would not be able to see
My hand in front of my face
By the time I climbed the stairs
Besides ...
I had begun to shiver
From the cold
Oh well a nice dream
For only this moment
Grazing deer in my front yard
Trees that would have
A beautiful canapy of green
Once Summer arrived ....
Kimberly would only have to take
A short hike to the highway
To catch her bus to school
... Oh well
The size of this house alone
Told me that it was far beyond
Anything we could
Possibly afford to pay
I would just go back to Mom's
To call the Landlord
To tell him I had seen it
And left it
As it had been found
Finding my way back
To the outside
I thought I would never
See again what lay now
Behind closed door
Oh hello Mrs. Gay
Did you get a chance
To go see the house
It was so nice
To meet you today
I would love to see
A nice family move in there
It has been empty now
For almost three years
Well I was thinking
That I would ask about
Five hundred dollars a month
To rent it to just the right family
Of what I can see
That would be you
Since it has been vacant
For so long I only want
A small security fee...
The rent and a Thousand Dollars
That is refundable when you leave
I had that much money
Just waiting
To bring my family back together
It would take almost everything
That Hersh had sent but
I had enough to do what he
Was asking of me
In California
You could not rent
A cardboard box
For the amount
He was asking for rent
One of the very reasons
We had decided to not even try
To start over again there
Even though the state
Had always been home to us
A home again of our own
Together under the same roof
A new beginning...
A new lifestyle
It seemed that prayers
Were finally being answered
If you want the place though
I need to know
There is another family
That is interested in it
I can't make it out there
Tomorrow but if you want
You could meet me at the
Diner in town
And I will bring the lease
And give you the keys
Five Hundred a month
That low of rent
Was unheard of by us ever
Before we had bought
Our dream home in California
We were paying much more
And felt we had the world
By its tail because we had gotten
Such a find
For the price we paid a month
This just had
To be a gift from God
It just had to be
Hersh of course
Had no phone at the jobshack
And back then cell phones
Was the future
He was to be in court
All of the following day
The decission was mine to make
I picked up the keys the next day
Giving the property owner all
But a few dollars held back
For turning on utilities
And a small amount of groceries
Hersh was going
To be so proud of me
And what I had found
For us to call home
Our . . . .
Was he?
To Be Continued . . . . .
Original by Lesa Gay
aka
Aspiring Angel
Feed Back Treasured
Thank you for continuing with me
as I relive memories. I hope you
will come again.
