We plan to leave this house in 7 months or so. We've been here going on 9 years; this is the longest I've lived anywhere since I was a kid. This little, grey house on the corner, built in 1938, is not without it's charm...hardwoods, nooks, built-in shelves, scalloped wood detailing, and trees outside that grow lush for summertime. When it's windy and warm, the song of their sway goes deep into your lungs and breaths for you, if you let it. In the Fall, you have all pecans you need for Thanksgiving, all the time giving. The front door faces north, so when a cold front rolls through, the wind pushes our old door in, and the windchime, typically lazy, becomes frantic and loud. This is how I know to reach for a warmer jacket. What she lacks are washer/dryer connections, and I'm officially over the laundromat, truth be told. She lacks modern heat and air. The summer is dreadful, but the watermelon you cut up and eat on the front porch is all the more sweet and satisfying. The winter is bone cold! But I love the sound of the space heater at night, glowing red and purring as we sleep, covered in heavy, soft blankets, we listen as the wind and freezing rain howls and knocks at our rickety windows. If she were human, she'd be an old lady, and in what has been nearly a decade, she's watched me turn into one, myself.
each day I see this guy - on my way home from work. he's this odd young man, he wears a wife-beater, long shorts, bandana, but that's not the odd thing. . . . he dons a yellow snake with faint brownish spots around his neck. a fat snake, really long too. in his right hand, a leash, attached to a pit bull. they all seem to froth at the mouth. today he looked me right in the eye, even though I'm in my car making a right hand turn as speedy as possible. and I what I want is to get rid of that image. odd huh.
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