673 West 10th
I sit rooted to the same spot I’ve been in for over 100 years. Rain is sliding down the top of me collecting in the gutters. I like it when it rains because I can feel the moss begin to grow again. I begin to reminisce on my time here on 10th and Jefferson. The man who lived inside before this family, the man who built me, was a strange man. He was a doctor I suppose, but it was a simpler time then. He had an office and took in quite a few patients, he delivered many babies throughout the years. He had a skeleton that he used for research purposes, and when it was time for him to move out he buried it in the backyard. Once he moved out, I sat vacant for many years. My paint began to chip, the cherry tree that sagged onto my roof began to rot it. Families coming and going around me, the occasional drug addict or stranger camped out in the back leaving behind their needles, spoons, and even sometimes their pants. But no one moved in, I was kept locked up until they bought me, the new family. John next door has been there a while and seemed to have grown close with this new family. Al and his dog Dixi would occasionally visit keeping things in order, and Weed Whacker Dave always came by to brutally hack at the plants out front.
My walls creak and whine as doors open and close and footsteps travel throughout me. Inside I know the family sits comfortably, the father in his recliner with his favorite yellow coffee cup watching football, the mother in the kitchen glancing between her beloved bird book and out the window into the yard, hoping to spot a bird she’s never seen before. And the girl talking with her dog who’s always by her side, keeping the strangers off the porch. Ever since the new family has moved in I feel taken care of, loved, and protected so I protect them back. They’ve put on a new roof, my walls are freshly painted, and everything’s been wiped clean. The trail of ants the used to crawl through the crack in under the kitchen window is now gone. What used to be the doctor’s office is now transformed into an office of different terms, books from wall to wall about a wide range of topics from recipes, to how to build a treehouse. The memories this family has created will never be forgotten, the time they brought their puppy home for the first time and he peed just seconds after crossing my threshold. Once when the turkeys were on the power line, creating a noticeable sag in the wire, gazing in through the window as the family prepared their thanksgiving meal. And when the hooded man ran onto the front porch at 2 am trying to get into the house and couldn’t so he ran around back and tried to get in.
The same 360 view has changed so much since the doctor built me, it seems to change a little everyday. Watching all the seasons from fall, when all the leave float away, to winter with that heavy snow one year so they cross country skied down the road. To spring when the first flowers begin to pop, up and summer when the trampoline and pool get put up and the sound of yelling and giggling comes from the back yard.
They stayed a while, almost 10 years, but then it was time for them to go. They packed and packed until I was empty, and of off they went into the next house. They still come by sometimes to see how the new family treats me. And sometimes they come and talk to John. Al and Dixi moved years ago and weed whacker Dave has passed away.
