The Old House

The old house sits at the end of a long road. There is nowhere to go past the house. It has sat there for almost 50 years. The last 10 years no one has ventured up the road. But the old house does not look run down. There are no broken windows and the doors are still tight and locked. There is a sign on the front door that says “Posted, Keep Out”. On the porch is a swing and a rocker. The swing will sometimes move in the wind. Every now and then, when the air is still, the swing will swing and the rocker will rock slightly. The old man used to sit in the rocker and read the paper while the old woman would sit on the swing with her sewing. They would talk about old man and woman things. The old woman would go in the kitchen and make dinner and call the old man in.
The refrigator is empty now. It was cleaned out 10 years ago. If you open it, there would be no smell. It was cleaned very well by the old woman. There is canned foods in the cubboards. Soon the cans will be thrown away. Even canned food does not last 10 years.
The old woman used to turn the bed covers down every night before they went to bed, the way it is turned down now. If you look close you can still see the indentions of where they lay. And when they lay down, the old bed would squeek, the way it squeeked just now. There is a dresser at the foot of the bed. The reflective surface is peeling away along the edges, but the parts that are still there are just as clear as they ever were. In the bathroom are toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste. Even though it is 10 years old, it is still fresh. The old woman was always very sure to put the lid back on the tube very tight. She didn’t want it to dry out. The old man was always leaving it off. But she would put it back on and never fuss at him. There are cloths still in the dresser. They are still in good shape, waiting to be worn again. Soon they will be carted to the dump, and their waiting will be over.
The old man passed away ten years ago of a heart attack. The old woman died the same night of a broken heart and loneliness. No one came to thier funaral. There was only one wreath, sent by their son who lives in California. He has not visited the old house in ten years and when he does, it will be to despose of what little there is of value. The furniture will be saved. It is solid wood. It will be worth saving. The pictures on the walls will be trashed. There is one of the old man and old woman when they were young. many, many years ago. The love they new when they were young was still just as strong when they died. In fact, it is still in the house. You can see it in every room.
The old man and woman were buried side by side in a place set aside just for that purpose. The headstones are small, and no one stops by to put flowers on it. The grass grows up around the graves sometimes, but the grounds keeper keeps it cut.
There is an old shed behind the house. In it is stored the reminders of a long life. There is a baby bed and stroller. There is a trunk that holds a weding dress. There is a family album with pictures that no one will look at again. Soon it will be molding in the dump. The son now has a life of his own and doesn’t want to be bothered with the old place. He put it up for sale almost ten years ago. No one has looked at it. It is too far away from everthing. The house too, is dying after all these years. Soon it will be as if the man and woman and the house never existed. But life goes on.

The Old House

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