The New Arrival

The house had been emptied for so many years, and the silence of the emptiness was deafening. It was a sad sight to look at this once lively place that held as many memories as a scrapbook filled with old pictures and memorabilia.

I tried to close my eyes tightly and see what exactly I could remember when I let my own thoughts roam freely. I tried to catch a blurred glimpse of what had been and imagine I was still there in the past partaking of those moments that you hope will last forever. This would now be haunting memories as I could not make mind revisit there here and was saddened even more by what I was failed to remember.

I looked around the outside first hoping to pick up on something familiar or something that would start the avalanche of past moments back rapidly, yet this was not meant to be, It would take more than the waving of a magic wand or the calling up past ghost to conjure what I accidently decided to forget. It sent tears rushing into my eyes and this was not something I cared to have taken place at this very moment. I rushed around and around from the front to the back, from the back to the middle and then from the middle to the front. It was all gone or possibly hidden in plain sight. I then was on a new mission to look for a tool to remove the overgrown weeds and brush that had changed the landscape into a barren yard with broken dead branches and debris that was left to die slowly.

I felt my way towards the once tall garage in search of such a tool for cutting away grass, finding a broken rake that had seen better days, to say the least. I was hoping for much better, but this would have to do and I was determined to accomplish what I had set my mind out to do. This was new harsh chore and a chore it became. The ground below the debris had not seen the light of day since 1982, going on around 15 or so years of neglect and anyone's unwillingness to take care of this lace before it fell into complete irreversible disrepair. I knew my own family had been lazier as the years rushed by with no one giving a care in the world to find a way to take over after grammy and pappy passed on. Even though they had saved the lives of the many who had passed through the front and back doors, none were too keen on making any effort to help out, which was fine by me.

I was filled with sweat from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet, and all areas in between, and I had yet to begin the chore of clearing or cleaning or anything remotely considered as work. I started in the front yard and as quickly to discover that most of the yard was nothing but mud and dirt, no grass to speak of. I then moved to the side of the house facing the right side. There was left over wooden boards that used to the fence that marked off the property line, but this was less evident as they had become more like the remains of burnt firewood. It was beginning to take shape to become once more recognizable as the house it once was. The remaining neighbors begin to take notice of my battling the roots, debris and other unknown crap that were eyesores but less so as I cleaned and piled up each into a rather tall, looming pile.

I assume that most observers were either curious about all the noise and racket taking place, as I was clearing and cleaning up, otherwise some of the observers were rolling their eyes at the idea that this place would once more be seen as an actual residence instead of the local dumping area closest to the landfill. I began to surprise myself more as I was heading from the right side of the house, moving onto the backyard, which as I was cleaning, then stopping, some memories were becoming vivid and as clear as they were only yesterday that they had taken place. The memories were of a grilling/barbeque pit, a small but adequate pool area, several sheds, a garage behind the main garage, and a small tree with a swing on it for relaxing. Of course, there was several picnic tables that could seat up to around 20 people comfortably.

The happy memories blurred into something less happy and more frightening. It was around the time that Pappy was showing us how to ride our bicycles, how to shoot basketball and how to tie a knot on our homemade fishing lures that we had created. It was also around the time that Pappy had been shot twice in the back and what almost cause him to permanently remain in a wheelchair. It was miracle and being surrounded by family and friends that saved him from that, and that's when his own changed and our less carefree. Pappy was a man who had been in two World Wars, had done several tours of duty and had seen death close-up firsthand.

The changes came first slowly, then picked up speed, until they hit the back and front of his mind like being thrust forward in a sudden car collision. He didn't speak happily like before and he had the flashbacks. IT was then that Grammy changed with Pappy changing and they both fell into deep depression and long moments of silence. The house was never the same again. The place happiness and joy begin to creak and moan from a sudden shift in the way it was settling. The very heart and soul were ripped out at the roots and then the house took on a life of its own. Disturbing and creepy, or frightening.

Then the next spot I went to the left side, and this is where I saw something that made me shudder. As I started to clear out and cleanup the area farthest from the house, 5 headstones came into view. I saw the names on the tallest ones, one for Grammy and the other for Pappy. The two in front of those were for the twins who died at childbirth Sammy and Tammy. The one in the center of the 4 headstones had the name scratched off and unreadable. As I was cleaning more of the headstones clear of debris and dirt, I noticed this one had my name on it and the date was 100 years before I was born, much less existed or was thought of.