The House

It was a beautiful morning as Mary and her husband drove along Front Rd towards LaSalle. They were on their way to check out some garage sales in that vicinity. It was busy on this day as there was a Strawberry Festival in town and crowds of people were being detoured down side streets away from a parade route.
As a result of the Festival many people knowing that there would be lots of crowds in town had yard sales. Mary had already found an awesome winter coat for $5 that was reversible. She couldn’t wait for winter to wear it.
As Mary thought of how great it would be to wear her new purchase this coming winter walking the dogs she almost missed another sign looming up at her right. Without hesitation Mary put her turning signal on, slowed the car down, and turned down a lovely woodsy treed street. Mind you most of the streets in this lovely town were fraught with trees. The foliage was so green and earthy that the skies were blocked from view.
There were rich big homes that lined this particular avenue, many with interesting brick and wood finishes. This house that they stopped at however was understated - on the outside anyways. It was what was inside that made the viewers gape with open mouths.
Taupe and white were the colours throughout the house with black as the accent colour showing up on awesome bar stools at an all white kitchen area sectioned off from the living area with a huge bar area. The pictures and furniture were beiges and browns with tall black reeds filling even taller clay pots. Everywhere was an exquisite richness.
There were four landings and each more beautifully presented then the last. However, the beauty resided in an eerie silence and coldness that Mary couldn’t quite describe; that is until Mary talked to the woman who seemed to be in charge. Mary thought she was the owner and asked her about the detail work in the house. “Oh”, the woman said, “this isn’t my house. It is my friends. She died.” With those words the woman looked uncomfortably away and up as if to cry. Mary said nothing but continued her meandering more and more aware of the feeling of death that resided there.
Mary left the house feeling vaguely unsettled. She didn’t buy anything but came away empty handed. She hadn’t realized until she got outside Robin hadn’t followed her in. He had stopped, he said, when he got to the door and felt the air and its coldness. Mary realized it had been more than chilly. It reminded her of a funeral home that is deathly quiet despite the presence of the mourners. This house was just like that. It had no laughter or joy. It held just one lone soul standing guard over another dead man’s possession.
Mary and Robin drove away from the house with little said between them. They followed some other cars out back on to a main street. It felt to Mary as if they were in some funeral procession only no one was going anywhere and as in life everyone went alone on their own separate way.