Life in a Carboard Box

“I wish people didn’t move so much. They would just stay put where they belong and be content with it. These days they just seem to vanish. No life-long neighbours no life-long friends. I wonder what it would be like to be born and grow old in the same house, to know every wall and brick and have every wall and brick know you back. Homes have now become commodities, simply a means of exchange. Money. That’s what they are, money! What a dreadful thought. What happened to nesting?”

She sat by the bay window sipping at a cup of tea. The tea left a coating on her tongue, that irritated her. She sat there, pondering, nevertheless.

The doorbell rang and annoyed her furthermore. “Who now?”, she thought. She decided not to open. It rang once more.

And again.

Banging the cup on the floor she walked to the door to open it.

“We are offering a great deal on the vent cleaning service, Miss.”

“That’s rude of you to assume the vents in this house aren’t clean!” She frowned back.

“When was the last time you had it cleaned madam?”

She wondered what the right answer would be to drive this man away. They won’t be needing any vent cleaning. Not any more.

Then she decided there isn’t a right answer and just replied, “Not interested, thank you” and shut the door to his face.

She always felt bad later. Maybe she should have asked him for a drink. It was a hot day outside. And maybe he had walked from door to door, all morning trying to make a living. Poor chap.

She picked up her half finished cup of tea, not wanting to drink it anymore, and poured it out in the sink.

The shiny speckles in the granite counter looked sad. Sad, that she was going to be leaving them soon. She looked at the walls that she had fondly spent hours in picking the right colours. She looked at the sit-out and wondered if she will ever have a great sit-out like this one ever again. The trees around provided a perfect shade and privacy. She could even lie there without wondering if the neighbours were watching.

She walked to pick up a magazine she had left by the bay window and saw the “vent cleaner” pass by her house again. This time, ringing the house in front. The lady of the house had actually let him in.

She didn’t feel so bad for him after all. The young couple who had bought the house last week are probably keen on getting everything cleaned.

“I would have to get my new house cleaned as well”, she thought. And before she knew it, she was already thinking about new paint colours and new ways of decorating her new home.

They had sold their house at a much higher price than they had paid. That extra money meant too much, in their current situation, having lost her job and all.