FICTION: The House, part 4: Between the weeds

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This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

Click here for the previous installment.

While Jake and Miri went into town to pick up groceries and other needed supplies for the house, Dave decided to be outside of the house so he mowed the lawns and roamed the property. Once mowed, the place looked more inviting. A tractor that had mower and bucket attachments, made the task quicker and easier, taking only about an hour and a half to complete. After putting the tractor away in the garage that was once a carriage house, he decided to walk around the grounds taking note of trees that should come down due to rotting or too close to the house if heavy winds should come about causing large limbs or the tree itself to come down onto the house.

Toward the back of the property there appeared to be a path overgrown with weeds and low brush. “Depending where this goes, we might want to clear this out,” he thought to himself. He found himself drawn to the path and decided to go through as much as the growth would allow him. After about a five minute stroll, dodging prickly brush and a few large fallen tree limbs, he came to a clearing, which was also densely grassed in. By the shape of the area it gave Dave the impression that it might have been a garden of some sort. There was something in the center of the space.

Trudging toward the object, he saw there were more articles within the confines of the tall grass. He also saw a broken down arbor. In the arbor were a couple of granite benches. To either side of the arbor there were statues. Upon closer inspection of the statuaries he found one to be of a man wearing what seemed to be safari type clothing. At the bottom of the statue was an inscription. Dave pulled some of the grass away so he could read it. Jebediah Hodges Big Game Hunter was carved into the stone. There were no dates, so Dave didn’t think the big game hunter was buried there or at least he hoped he wasn’t. He then went to the other statue and it was that of a young boy. The inscription on this was Ian Hodges My Precious Little Boy. “So you’re the one who caused us to be frightened out of our wits last night,” he said aloud to himself. He thought he heard a giggle coming just outside of the garden area but did his best to ignore it, but it still gave him the creeps. He thought, “I’ll have to make sure Jake and Miri see this.”

By the time Dave came out of the path and onto the freshly mowed lawn, Jake and Miri were driving up the driveway toward the house. “The lawn looks great!” Miri said. “It makes the place look so much cheerier.”

“You’re not going to believe what I found on the back of the property,” said Dave as he grabbed some of the packages from the SUV and helped to bring them into the house. He told them about his little excursion and discovery. After putting things away, he led them to what may have been at one time a tranquil garden for Mrs. Hodges.

“Alrighty then!” exclaimed Jake. “We’ll have to decide what we’re going to do about this but the inside of the house takes precedence.”

“I like the idea of a place to come and sit to unwind, but I don’t know about those two statues.” Miri pondered while looking at the little boy. “House first, garden later,” agreeing with Jake.

To be continued…

FICTION: The House, part 3 (chapter conclusion): Tiger, tiger, burning bright

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This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

Continued from last week.

With uncertainty in his voice Dave said, “I don’t know about you guys but it’s getting dark, which means we’ve been up here a lot longer than we should have been. How much time just passed? I think we should go back downstairs and think about what just happened.” It didn’t take much for Jake and Miri to agree. They carefully put the real and toy guns back where they belonged, closed the lid to the trunk and headed down to the main floor.

The nerve-racked threesome sat at the breakfast table trying to piece together what had happened. Miri brought iced-tea for everyone and then sat down trying to explain what she experienced. “When I picked up the toy gun I suddenly felt dizzy so I hurried to sit down. Everything in the room seemed to swirl, changing from the attic to a jungle. I heard a little boy’s voice telling me to shoot the tiger with the toy gun. It wasn’t making much sense to me but he continued urging me to do it. Once I pretended to shoot the tiger, he thanked me and said something like, ‘You are now my chuckaboo,’ whatever that means. Everything then came back to normal. How long did that last?”

While Jake was using his Smartphone to look up chuckaboo Dave said, “I just happened to look at my watch when Jake was pulling out the carved box because I was getting hungry and thought we should break for lunch. It was 1:15. I forgot about lunch when I saw how gorgeous that box was and wanted to know what was in it. All hell broke loose and it’s now 6:00. Believe it or not I’ve lost my appetite.”

Jake said, “I found chuckaboo and it’s a very old word meaning close friend. Miri, you told me a few times that you’ve had dreams about someone telling you to continue reading the diary so you’d better understand the house and that the individual was lonely. Could that individual be the one who reached out to you to shoot the tiger?”

Miri looked at him and said, “I don’t know; might have been, but does that mean this place is haunted? I sort of believed in the paranormal but now that something has happened to us, I feel a little more strongly about it. Do you think that’s why people left after living here for only a few years? If I hadn’t pretended to shoot the tiger, would it have harmed us? I’m trying to get my head around this. I’m going to go make us some sandwiches. We do need to eat something.”

The three sat in silence working through their sandwiches and trying to get over what happened. Jake broke the silence. “What are we going to do? Do we stay here and hope nothing like this happens again? We’ve invested everything we have to make this place work but can we handle any more ‘hauntings’, or yet, open a B & B where guests will witness weird events?” He put his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth.

“While I was making the sandwiches I was thinking more about the little boy that was talking to me and things he’s said in my dreams and also in the attic. Did you guys hear him in the attic or did he just talk to me?” They shook their heads in the negative. “I’ve finished reading the diaries and Ian, the little boy, was very lonely. According to his mother’s entries, he used the house as his play area going from room to room pretending to be someplace or do something with an imaginary friend. In my dreams he often said he was lonely and by reading the diaries I would understand the house. He was giggling and clapping when I ‘killed’ the tiger. Maybe it wasn’t the intent for us to be injured but playing a game with Ian.”

“Ok,” said Jake, “Let’s say for argument’s sake that the little boy, Ian, is haunting this place but doesn’t intend to do us any harm, what caused the event to happen in the first place? I was looking at the gun his father probably used to kill the tiger when the attic turned into an Indian jungle.”

“I think it happened when I picked up Ian’s toy gun. It was like a password for the game to begin,” replied Miri.

“Some game,” said Dave. “I wasn’t having fun and I’m surprised I didn’t have to change my underwear!”

“Listen,” requested Miri, “remember movies based on a couple from Connecticut that dealt with the supernatural or paranormal? This couple was real and they would collect artifacts from homes that were haunted. Once the artifacts were removed, the houses were no longer possessed. Jake, you mentioned that you wanted to give some of these antiques to the state or some other museum. If we do that then the house would lose its unearthliness.”

“I see where you’re going with this and it might work,” agreed Jake. I don’t know about you two but I’m exhausted. I might not be able to get any sleep but I feel like I need to go to bed.”

Miri finally fell asleep but it was restless. Ian approached her in another dream. “You haven’t been through the whole house yet,” he said. “There is still fun and games to be had. You’ll see when you visit all my rooms.”

That morning they all sat around the table looking like death warmed over. “You guys didn’t get much sleep either,” Dave yawned while rubbing his eyes.

“I had another visitation in a dream,” replied Miri. “Apparently Ian wants us to visit every room. He wants to play.”

“Oh just great!” Said Jake. “Wait, if there’s something of his in each room and we go along with his fun and games, we can get rid of those items and hopefully we’ll be free. Dave you can continue with your renovations while Miri and I visit the other rooms and see what we can scare up,” he said half-heartedly. “Hopefully we can get this over, with and soon.”

“It’s worth a try,” agreed Miri as Dave nodded in approval. I just hope our nerves can handle whatever he has in store for us.”

Dave held his hand up as if in a classroom. “Won’t whatever you bring to a museum, or wherever, haunt that place too?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Miri. “I think the items and Ian are connected to this house only. He died here, leaving his toys behind and once we play with him and his toys it should all be over, but I’d still like to get rid of his things once we accomplish the tasks.”

“Sounds logical,” Dave and Jake said in unison. Dave continued, “Do you want me to do anything to the smaller room on the second floor that you’re intending on using as a linen/storage room?”

Jake replied while looking for Miri’s approval, “Maybe make closed closets with shelving? We can measure later in order to decide how big we want them. Before you do work in that room, though, we have to search it to see if there are any artifacts that could cause an event to occur and clear it out of there.” Miri nodded her agreement. “Let’s just hope if we have to go through another episode, it isn’t as frightening as last night’s!”

Continued next week.

FICTION: The House, part 3 (continued): Tiger, tiger, burning bright

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This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

Continued from last week.

“Is that a Katana?” Pointed Dave to a beautiful sword from the Japanese medieval period. “How did the old guy get his hands on this?”

“Probably during his travels,” answered Jake.

Miri found a chair to rest in and watch as her guys were gawking, oohing, and aahing at what they were finding. Jake, having been a history teacher, was also a history buff, especially in weaponry.

The guns that were found in the steamer trunk were also quite impressive. There was a Derringer pocket pistol, a Harpers Ferry Flintlock pistol, a Francotte Pinfire revolver, as well as a Belgian Pinfire revolver. “This guy liked his guns, but he couldn’t have hunted big game with these,” commented Jake. He then came upon an object wrapped in another wool fabric. It was light enough to take out of the trunk, which he did, and carefully picked it up, putting it on a nearby table. He began to unwrap it, revealing its contents. “What have we here?” he asked in awe.

There before him was what appeared to be a hand carved box made out of teak wood. The carving on the box showed a scene out of what looked like the Serengeti. By the time he was ready to open it, Miri and Dave were one on either side of him, also in awe. It was beautiful and still looked new. The hasp holding the box closed opened easily. Before them lay two parts of what appeared to be a powerful rifle. Jake cautiously picked up the two pieces to see how they would fit together, giving him a better idea of what type of rifle this would be. “Sweet!” exclaimed Jake with excitement. “This is a 12 Bore Howday Rifle. This is what Jebediah used for big game hunting.”

At that announcement, for some unknown reason, Miri glanced inside the trunk where Jake had found the carved box. There lay a toy Blunderbuss Pistol. “I bet Ian had wished he could have been a hunter like his father.” As she picked it up she started feeling dizzy. She went back to sit down while still holding the toy gun and then she felt she wasn’t in the attic any more.

“Miri are you OK? What’s wrong?” asked Jake and then he felt the same way and so did Dave. “What the heck is going on?” Looking around them they were, but were not, in the attic. They could see everything that was in the attic but they appeared undefined. What appeared more detailed were tropical trees and different wild animal sounds, the loudest being the roar of a tiger.

“I was kidding when I asked if this place was haunted.” mumbled Dave. “Miri, didn’t you say that Mr. Hodges was killed by a tiger?”

She answered quietly, “According to the diary, he was critically injured by a tiger, but died here from infections of his wounds.”

Suddenly, toward the far end of the attic they saw a shape coming toward them. It had an unfriendly low growl. It was a tiger, yet it appeared they could see the far wall of the attic through it. The trio huddled close to each other in panic. “This can’t be real!” yelled Jake. The tiger came closer and they moved toward the opposite wall. The tiger appeared to walk by them and then disappeared. They saw large cat prints going up the side of the wall or tree. What they were witnessing was confusing. Next to the paw prints they could see drops of blood.

The tiger jumped back down to the ground/floor of the attic looking around as if hunting for prey. Everyone stayed perfectly still, probably not even breathing, in hopes the tiger wouldn’t notice them. At one point it came so close to them that Jake could feel the brush of its fur against his leg. Miri wanted to scream but Jake put his finger to his lips indicating to stay quiet. It continued to prowl around the jungle/attic seemingly walking through any furniture that would be in its way. Then the tiger turned, this time seemingly noticing the group on the far end of the room/jungle path.

“Pick up my gun,” said a young boy’s voice to Miri. “Shoot the tiger!” the voice said again.

“What did you say,” Miri whispered to no one in particular. Both Jake and Dave whispered back to her that they hadn’t said anything. She heard the boy’s voice again in a more pleading manner. She noticed she had the toy gun in her hands. Following the boy’s instructions, she aimed it toward the tiger. “Bang, bang,” she said. The tiger fell.

“We did it! Thank you!” said the boy’s voice in a giggling manner. “You are now my chuckaboo.” Miri also heard the sound of small hands clapping.

Just as suddenly as everything appeared, it all disappeared leaving the trio in the attic just as it was. It took some time for everyone to be able to calm their nerves. “Miri, I don’t know why you did that but it worked in getting rid of the Twilight Zone moment.” shuddered Jake.

“A little boy’s voice implored me to do it. Before I knew what I was doing, I just did it.” Miri replied.

Continued next week.

FICTION: The House, part 3: Tiger, tiger, burning bright

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Hawthorne House

This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

Continued from last week.

As the three were getting ready to go on their first exploration adventure of the house, Miri asked Jake if he had had a chance to find out about the builder and owner of the house.

“It took some digging but I did find a rich dude by the name of Jebediah Hodges who had the house built to his specifications. He got rich by investing in collier companies which were trains and canal barges that transported coal. Those investments paid off, making him quite wealthy. There wasn’t much about him other than the fact that he was rich, and helped a lot of local businesses stay on their feet in their early stages. Apparently he died due to injuries incurred in a big game hunting trip. I couldn’t find out anything more about the house or his family other than he married Emma Brithe. There was no mention of children.”

“Strange,” said Miri, “The entries of the diaries I’ve been reading mentioned those trips. It was a sad and lonely life for his wife. Their only child, a son by the name of Ian, was born with ailments that kept him frail throughout his childhood. I just got to an entry in the diary stating that he died at age twelve. It was tough on Emma because her husband was rarely around to help with the upbringing of a sickly child. Her life was deeply devoted to caring for him. She resented her husband for not being there and tended to imbibe in the spirits often. I think she blamed herself for her son’s illness because she drank so much while she was pregnant with him. From her writings I think what her son had was what we would call today, FAS, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.”

The young couple shook their heads in sympathy for the original woman and child of this house. “Let’s get out of this slump and head upstairs. Attic here we come!”, said Jake.

The only one of the three who had been in the attic before was Dave when he was inspecting the house to make sure there were no leaks coming from the roof. The place was solid. Since it was only half a story tall the ceiling wasn’t as high as the other two floors and didn’t give much clearance for someone like Dave to walk around without bending his six-foot frame while Jake and Miri didn’t have too much of an issue since both were vertically challenged being less than five feet, five inches tall.

“It’s warm and musty up here,” said Miri. “I think that window can open and by the way don’t either of you think of changing it. I love that window.”

“Okie dokie, you’re the boss,” said Jake as he went to figure out how to open the window. “It pivots out from the bottom,” discovered Jake and swiveled it open on its hinge, allowing a comfortable breeze to enter the attic. Once the back window, which was a plain sash window, was opened the air in the attic wasn’t so musty. “There isn’t any lighting up here so we’ll have to do our exploring during daylight. Dave, any chance you can install a light or two up here and maybe a plug or two?”

“No problem.” Dave started to look where he could bring up the electrical wiring, while Jake and Miri started looking around the attic.

There were odd pieces of furniture, wooden boxes, and two large domed top steamer trunks. At one point, Jake jumped back, startled to see a large animal face peeking out from behind one of the dusty bureaus. “Whoa, what is that doing here?”

“Didn’t you say that the original owner of this house was a big game hunter and there used to be some of his trophies in this house?” answered Miri. “Maybe not all of them were removed and the head of that Wild Boar was put up here.” Hope we don’t find too many more of those trophies. Who do you think would want it so we can get rid of it?”

Once Jake’s nerves calmed down he said, “I’d like to bring it to school to show the students in Mr. Wilkinson’s history class and then see if the state museum would like it. I wonder what other exciting things we’ll find up here.”

They started going through drawers of some of the bureaus, finding very little; some pieces of clothing that dated back to the 1800s and apparently one of the bureaus was used in the dining room because table linens and silverware were found in the drawers. “We could probably find someone who would purchase some of the antiques that we won’t use and we can use the money toward the renovations,” suggested Miri.

“Sounds like a good idea, Ollie,” grinned Jake, referring to a famous old-time comedy team. He went over to one of the steamer trunks and brushed off the dust and cobwebs. “I wonder if it’s locked,” He said as he attempted to open it. At first he thought it was locked but apparently only stuck from being closed for so long. Once opened, the trunk revealed clothing made of heavy wool twill, which looked like something someone would wear when going hunting and lighter cotton clothing worn apparently for fishing. There were also some old rods with spools holding rotting fishing lines. “Well I guess Jebediah liked to fish too.” I can’t wait to show the history students some of this stuff!

“Ouch!” exclaimed Dave, who also was looking at the antique fishing gear.

“What happened,” asked Miri, hurrying to go to his side when she saw blood on Dave’s hand.

“I was moving some of this stuff aside and I caught my hand on some of the old fishing hooks that were stuck on a piece of cloth.”

“It’s a good thing you recently got your tetanus booster shot. Maybe we should go down to wash that out and bandage it.”

“I have a boo boo strip in my wallet,” motioned Dave as he took one out and put it over the injury. “We’re almost done up here anyway, so I can take care of it when we head back downstairs.”

Once they completed the investigation of the first trunk, Jake headed to the second. “Great! This one is locked. You didn’t happen to find a key in any of those drawers did you?” he asked Miri. She shook her head.

“I need something to pry the hasp open. Dave, do you have a screwdriver handy?”

“I never leave home without one,” chuckled Dave.

Once opened, Jake picked up a large piece of wool fabric which covered the contents of the trunk. “OMG! Miri, Dave, you gotta see this!” Jake cried out. Before them, within the trunk were small pieces of ivory, most likely from some of the animals that Mr. Hodges had bagged. They couldn’t believe what lay before their eyes. All types of small weapons from knives, to swords, and even guns. Jake was hesitant to pick any of them up, not wanting to damage any of them considering how old they were. “This, I believe, is a Bowie knife named after Jim Bowie who fought at the Alamo. This is a cavalry sword; I think a brass hilt saber.”

“Is that a Katana?” Pointed Dave to a beautiful sword from the Japanese medieval period. “How did the old guy get his hands on this?”

Continued next week.

FICTION: The House, part 2: The Diaries

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This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

Continued from last week

Two weeks had gone by after the closing of the house. Jake, Miri and Dave concentrated on cleaning up the main floor, especially the bedrooms so they would have someplace to sleep while preparing the place to become their second income. It being summer, Jake and Miri had plenty of time to work on the house since both had occupations in education; Miri, a third grade teacher and Jake a high school principal with a background as a high school History and Geography teacher. Dave, when not doing an odd job for someone else, focused on the Stewart house, bringing it to what it needed as a B & B. They were hoping to get it up and running in a year.

“I wonder why most of the furniture remained. You’d think someone would have removed some, if not all. Some of the pieces are beautiful antiques,” admired Miri as she was going over a Sheraton Flame Mahogany Step Back Secretary desk. There were several drawers, all locked except for one, which held the key to the other drawers. She was tempted to start unlocking each drawer to see if anything might be in them but more work had to be completed in the kitchen if she was going to make supper there that evening. She gently patted the desk, “I’ll be back.”

After the supper dishes were washed, dried, and put away, everyone retreated into the living room to get some much needed rest. It had been a very busy day. Miri was about to pick up a thriller novel about underwater adventures and espionage by one of her favorite authors when she happened to glance toward the desk. “Forget the book,” she said as she got up, took a nearby desk chair and sat down to start fumbling through the drawers. The small skeleton key still worked well and the drawers easily opened. There wasn’t much to get excited about, finding pieces of paper, stubs of pencils and a couple of fountain pens. She almost didn’t see it but in the back of one of the drawers she felt, more than saw, a cloth wrapped package tied with a ribbon. Opening the package, she found several notebooks. Upon opening the first notebook, she realized that it was most likely a diary. Looking over the other diaries, they were dated and the name Emma was on the cover of each one. She nearly felt guilty reading through the pages; going through someone’s private thoughts put down on paper. She giggled, feeling silly about those thoughts since the author of this diary was long gone.

An hour later there was a voice calling out to Miri, “Hey, you going to put that down and come to bed?” Jake said. “It’s been a long day. What’s so interesting?”

Her husband’s voice brought her back to the present, “I think I found someone’s diary in the back of one of these drawers. It has to be the wife by the dates on the pages and what is written. If she’s the one who wrote these diaries, her name was Emma. She talks about the house progressing and that the upstairs is nearly done. She wrote that it’s a good thing, too, because their child is due in another few weeks. I’ve been trying to make a mental picture of this woman in this grand house, expecting their first child. Jake, did you ever find out who actually had this house built and lived here?”

“I asked the realtor and he thought the name was something like Hodges, but wasn’t sure. Next time I go into town I can ask around, or better yet, go to the historical society and see if I can find something about the history of the town and there just might be something about this place. Now let’s go to bed.”

Miri hesitantly rewrapped the diaries and put them back in the drawer. “Good night. I’ll be back.”

“Please come back real soon to read the diary. it’s the only way you’ll understand this house and I’m so lonely. Please!”

Miri woke up with a start, enough to wake up her husband. “What is it?”

“Didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked Jake

“Someone talking, I think from the living room.”

“Unless it’s Dave up and about talking to himself, there’s no one else. I’ll go check.”

Miri followed Jake through the house. Dave’s bedroom door was closed and there wasn’t anyone else in any of the rooms, which Jake knew there wouldn’t be. “It must have been a dream. What did the ‘voice’ say?”

“I don’t remember but it seemed urgent. It must have been a dream.” They both went back to bed but Miri barely slept.

Miri was already up and reading the diary when Jake and Dave came into the kitchen for breakfast.

“Is that thing that interesting?” Said Dave pointing to the diary.

“It is very interesting.” answered Miri. “The woman talks about her young son and how he and she were often left alone when her husband went away on business trips or big game hunts. This page talks about him going to India. Apparently, there were many ‘trophies’ of his hunting trips around the house.”

“I’m glad all of the stuffed animals that were supposedly in this house were removed before we bought it. Those would have given me the creeps,” said Jake. Miri nodded in agreement.

“Dave and I will be going into town to pick up some supplies we’ll need to start making the bathrooms in each of the rooms. While in town I’ll go to the historical society to see what I can find out about this place and the original family.”

“I’ll keep working in the kitchen and bathroom,” said Miri. “I’d like to do a little more exploring of this house if you don’t mind. We really haven’t gone through each room to see what we can, or should, keep as far as the antique furniture is concerned. Maybe starting with the attic and working our way down? I wonder if there are more surprises in any other pieces of furniture left in the house.”

“Maybe we’ll find skeletons in the closets,” laughed Dave. “Oh yeah, there are no closets, only armoires. I can’t believe that closets were not built in because houses tended to be taxed according to the number of rooms they contained, and for tax purposes, a closet counted as a room. That’s so crazy. The people who built this house were rich so you would think that they could have afforded paying those extra taxes. Will you want me to build closets in the upstairs rooms like I am for the main floor bedrooms?”

“Why don’t we wait to see what condition those armoires are in and I bet ghosts can live in those too. Hey! If ghosts can walk through walls, why don’t they fall through floors?” jested Jake. Miri gave him “that look”, again, that one that all men were born to understand. “Ok, ok, either way, it sounds like a great idea. We all could use a break. Let’s start with the attic tomorrow.”

While the weather was good, Miri took her breaks on the front porch, breathing in the fresh air while she continued perusing the pages of the diaries. She had just come upon the part where Emma’s husband had returned from a trip to India where he had been hunting tigers. He was injured by one which he did manage to kill. He died several weeks later from complications of those injuries.

Continued next week

FICTION: The House, part 1

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This story is completely fictional. Any resemblances to names of people and/or places is purely coincidental.

by Peg Pellerin

I would like to tell you about a house in Midia, Pennsylvania, very close to the Poconos where you can go hiking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, camping, swimming and picnicking; even swim or canoe along the shores of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers. It’s not just any house, but one beyond your imagination. It was built in the early 1800s by a wealthy family by the name of Hodges. Since the Hodges didn’t have relatives to take over the house when they died, it stayed empty for several years. Over the years there have been only three other owners of this house, most selling it within five years. It is currently owned by the local bank due to foreclosure from the last owners.

It is a two-and-one-half story, nearly square building that is handsome in its own way. Large granite steps lead up to the front porch. A similar porch compliments the back of the house. Not counting the basement or attic, the house has 12 spacious rooms with one full bath on the main floor and a half bath on the second. It has a large enough kitchen to hold a breakfast nook with a window view, a utility room off the side of the kitchen, dining room, a living room with an adjacent smaller sitting room, and two bedrooms on the first floor. The second floor had six large rooms. The second floor had five large rooms and one smaller room. Two of the rooms are adjoined with doors leading into each other.

Why would folks buy the house and stay in it for only a few years? Maybe it was too large. Maybe it was too difficult to maintain. Maybe it was too expensive to renovate in order to get it up to code with electricity, plumbing, and heat. Maybe this is a mystery. Maybe this is a haunting. Maybe this is a fantasy. Maybe…you have to decide.

Over the years the house went through a few sales and finally a foreclosure. A young couple in their 30’s are about to purchase the house through a realtor who is handling the sale for a bank. The price is right for the couple, especially since the price of real estate has, recently, gone through the roof. Let’s see where this goes. Enjoy!

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY

Jake and Miri Stewart had saved up to buy a house, maybe one that would be large enough to make into a Bed & Breakfast to help defray the cost of the mortgage. After five years of marriage and real estate constantly rising, they thought now would be a good time to become homeowners. They jumped from one realtor to another looking for something that wasn’t in shambles and that they could afford. They started to lose all hope until they came to a realtor, who knew of a realtor, who was trying to get rid of a house for several years. He didn’t know why the house wasn’t selling, but from pictures he had seen, it looked fine. He helped make an appointment with A & B Realty the following day for them.

“It’s a foreclosure home in Midia, which is only 20 miles away and being close to the Poconos, perfect for a Bed & Breakfast,” stated Allen Jones. “From what I’ve been told by the bank, the house was built around 1830. It had a few owners, each starting to renovate it. I’m not sure why they didn’t keep the house. The house is up to code and should pass any homeowner’s inspection. I believe the price might be in your ballpark, especially since the bank in Midia is trying to get rid of it. I personally think it has a lot of character and potential, especially if you’d like to make it into a B&B.”

“Any chance it’s haunted,” said Jake jokingly.

“My wife Betty asked the same thing but I wouldn’t have anything to do with a haunted house, let alone sell one,” laughed Mr. Jones.

Jake and Miri shrugged their shoulders, looked at Dave Brooks, Miri’s brother, who was a jack of all trades and licensed/certified at carpentry, plumbing, and electricity. He was with them in hopes of living with them while helping to renovate the house if needed. “Up to you guys,” he replied. They all agreed to go see the house.

Large was an understatement! The light gray and black shuttered house appeared to be in excellent condition except for needing a new coat of paint and a few of the shutters requiring repairs. Miri especially liked the large octagonal cabin breeze dormer window that appeared to go to the attic of the house. She could see themselves sitting and relaxing on the large front porch. She could also see herself placing large hanging flower baskets in strategic places to make the porch a welcoming place.The lawns and landscaping needed some work but the house was going to be their principle objective.

When Mr. Jones opened the front door, allowing all to walk through, he heard the sounds of awe coming from the trio. Thankfully renovations did not cause the house to lose its inner beauty. The twisted banister and staircase leading upstairs was in rich mahogany. At the top of the stairs was an elliptical stained glass cameo window. “So beautiful!” exclaimed Miri. “I’m so glad no one got rid of this window or the one in the dormer.”

All other windows in the house had been replaced with energy saving double paned windows. The windows were installed to keep an inside ledge, which gave the house even more charm. The heavy dark wood trim was kept and evidently was also liked by previous owners because they were pristine.

After looking around and doing a thorough inspection Dave commented, “I don’t get it. For a house that no one has lived in for years with minimal heating so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, it is a very sound house. Except for cobwebs, the basement doesn’t appear to have water problems, which is a plus. Glad that was taken care of. When this house was built, I bet it had a dirt floor. You guys are lucky that it was redone with cement. There are a few storage rooms down there, too, with a few things in them. I checked the circuit breaker panel as well as the furnace, which needs cleaning, but otherwise all looks good.”

The kitchen and bathrooms were the only rooms to have been modernized and not keep the old world charm. The kitchen had all the modern conveniences anyone could ask for; dishwasher, deep sink with state of the art faucets, and a central island that held the electric range and oven, with a separate oven in the wall. “Hey, Miri, that extra oven will come in handy when you have to make all those muffins and cookies for the B&B.” laughed Jake.”

Miri’s reply was ‘the look’ that all men know, but she did agree with him that an extra oven would be convenient. “I like the fact that they made a separate laundry room to the side of the kitchen. It will be so much easier having it on the main floor. I just wish that once we have the B&B opened, that there would be an easier way to bring down the linens and towels.”

“I can probably figure out a way to make a laundry chute somewhere in the upstairs hallway leading down to the laundry room,” said Dave.

Renovators kept many of the built-ins such as shelving with beautifully etched glass doors in the living room and small sitting room. There was a set of double doors between the two rooms with designer glass. It allowed light to go into the small room while keeping privacy to anyone within it. Some of the furniture looked like it could have been furniture from back in the 1800s when the house was built.

“You folks seem to like what you’re seeing, am I right?” asked the realtor with a smile in hopes that they would take the house off his and the bank’s hands.

“We do like it, Mr. Jones, but after doing all of this work, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms, why did the people give it up, especially the last owners?”

“I can’t give the reasoning for the two previous owners but the last ones who did most of the renovating just ran out of money and couldn’t afford to pay their bills and mortgage. Such a shame. They did wonderful work for the place,” he replied.

Miri and Jake went into another room to talk it over while Dave remained behind to talk a bit more with the realtor. “You know they intend to make this a B & B, which means modifications to the upstairs rooms. That will take a chunk of change, if you get my drift.”

When they returned Jake asked one more question of the realtor, “We really do love this house and it would be a perfect Bed and Breakfast. Is there any chance the bank would lower the price?”

“Give me an offer and I’ll present it to the bank. I’ll make sure to tell them about what you’re planning on doing with the place which will generate more business in town. As soon as I give them the offer and have an answer, I’ll get in touch with you and we’ll see if we can’t close on this place.” They left the house, shaking hands and went their separate ways. Jake turned the car around so they could take another look at the house. “I hope we can make this work,” said Jake.

“We’ll make it work, together,” added his wife, “With Dave’s help that is.” All three laughed and three weeks later the house became the Stewart home, later to become the Stewart B & B.

Continued next week.