The House

Silence surrounded the tiny shack in the early morning spring sunshine. The house stood on naked prairie, unnatural, unwelcome, unwanted. You felt the rawness, the heaviness, the incongruity of two worlds clashing as you step out of the car. You are aware that you enter at your own peril.

Eyes stare, where the windows used to be, curtains long gone. Shadows formed by trusses from the roofless house move across the forlorn contents of the structure with the passing of the clouds. Pale buttercup patterned wallpaper on shards of dry wall, pieces of yellow linoleum, all made of asbestos, remain in what used to be the kitchen. Bottles of decongestant, paint thinner, nail polish remover and empty gas cans gather around a large plastic jug. The smell of chemicals waft through the air. A heavy cast iron pot sits on an old weber grill missing its legs. Rings of black, bubbled up linoleum surround the grill. Silver needles glint in the sunlight. A toilet stands lonely, left sitting amid the rubble.

A sky blue wall, still intact, has a thin cross nailed to it and a child’s drawing in red crayon- a stick figure holds the hand of a smaller stick figure with tears in its eyes. There is an a worn out shoe in the corner. Stuffed animals lay is disarray in what must have been a hall, partially protected from the fierce elements of the northern plains weather. Old photographs litter the floor ruined by snow, wind and rain. Bits of colored cloth lay scattered by rodents. Bird nests settle in the rafters, white and black droppings sprinkle the chaos below.

Two by fours, like bones, stand fighting the never ending, always successful pull of gravity. A stubborn, wild rosebush stands by what once was the front door, now only a gaping hole. Its thorns sparkle in the morning dew, the little pink roses have not yet budded out. From within the silence of the misbegotten house, the wind whispers, “Leave us alone, leave us alone, to find a way through this pain, that will never subside. Leave us alone, leave us alone, do not bring your pity, your suggestions, your continuing arrogance, your absolute blindness. Leave us alone, leave us alone, to find a way through to the other side, to find a place of belonging, to find a place of peace.”

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