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 Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:10 pm
They'd been taking things out of the house next door for weeks. First, the deceased's children had come to pick through tchotchkeys and furniture to take what they wanted. Then the estate sale people came through for a few days, removing antique furniture and odd quilts. Finally Salvation army combed through the leftovers and carted them away to a store downtown.
Two days ago, a realtor stuck a For Sale sign in the snow in front of 2097-B East Park Street, and ever since Tallulah Cowden had been camped out in the bay window at the front of her house, watching for house hunters. It was slow going - she suspected the cold weather was a deterrent. But this was a historic neighborhood, modestly priced but well behaved.
People would come.
She clicked her pen and scribbled a few more words on her essay-in-progress, and then Tallulah's attention was drawn back to the street again. There was a car stopping in front of 2097-B, and someone was getting out.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:40 pm
Tony was very interested in moving from the run down apartment he had been living in for some years now. It wasn't that he didn't like the area... no, he hated it. He wasn't going to try and sugar coat it in his mind, or if anyone asked him. He hated his place, and had for some time. But it just hadn't been convenient or really a dire need for him to move before Nathan had moved in.
He had moved in to the place because it had been cheap, once upon a time, though he had noticed his rent shooting up over the years. It was close to the library, though located in a bad area of town, and it was falling to pieces. It was also small. Big enough for one man who spent most of his time at the library, but now that his son had opted to move in, entirely uninvited but it wasn't like Tony could kick him out now, it seemed to make sense to find some place bigger.
He wasn't sure he would buy anything yet, and he hadn't been able to find anything big enough, nice enough, in a neighborhood he thought might be good for Nate to grow up further in. Yes, Tony had it in his mind that Nate still had growing up to do, that he was just a kid, and a good neighborhood was important.
He stopped his used, slightly dented and scratched, car in front of a house he had found in a listing, stepping out to look at the front walk with some interest, taking mental notes. Dogby barked and jumped from the car the moment the door was open, darting into the front yard of the neighboring house and jumping into a snowdrift. The stumpy legged, tiny corgi puppy was lost under the snow immediately.
"Dogby! Come back here, girl!" Tony yelped, running awkwardly into the yard, feeling like a trespasser, holding her leash in his hand.
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:27 am
Escaped puppy! New potential neighbor! Tallulah leapt from her seat, glanced quickly around to make sure the cats weren't sulking by the door, grabbed her coat, and hurried into the yard. First of all, there was a dog. And second of all, she needed a pretense to snoop on the people who she might wind up sharing a wall with.
"Hi, hi!" she called, pulling on her coat as she hurried across the un-shovelled lawn, sinking to mid-calf in old snow. "Come here, girl," she said to the puppy, who was closer to her than to the man, then scooped the little corgi into her arms and trudged the rest of the way across the lawn.
"I believe this is your little escapee," she said, smiling as she held the wiggling puppy out for its owner. "I'm Tallulah, I live at Twenty-Ninety-Seven-A?"
With the dog successfully delivered, her hands were now free. She jerked a thumb at the empty side of the townhouse. "Are you looking?"
Dumb question. Obvious answer. Surprisingly decent conversation starter.
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:14 pm
Dogby was more than eager to be picked up, finding the snow to be surprisingly cold. She wiggled wildly, licking at Tallulah excitedly as she yipped happily. She was a very energetic puppy, and Tony had a hard time keeping up with her most of the time. She had darted out of the car before he could even get her leash on.
So now he knew to get it on before he got out of the car. Or, better yet, just left the leash on.
Tony looked relieved as the girl picked Dogby up for him, smiling appreciatively at her approach. He took Dogby carefully, the dog wiggling excitedly as per usual. She had her tongue sticking out, which was cold, and nuzzled against Tony as she watched Tallulah.
"Oh? It's a pleasure to meet you, Tallulah. I'm Anthony Darrow. Ah. Tony. I was looking at, ah, B, over here, yes. Or I was going to, before Dogby decided to explore your yard. I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion." He smiled, looking over at the house he was supposed to be looking in to.
"I was just taking a look around the area, seeing what was available. Ah, if it's not rude of me to ask, how do you like living around here?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:14 pm
"Oh, it's no problem," laughed Tallulah, giving the over-enthusiastic puppy a scratch behind the ears. "I like dogs, but the cats came first and my mom and dad say it's either or. I can't just kick Casper and Wendy out." Casper and Wendy being the world's best (or worst) names for a pair of cats, obviously.
"It's a good neighborhood," she said as they walked towards the side of the semi-detatched that was actually for sale. Then she quickly backpedalled: "I mean, as good as anywhere in Destiny City for this price. We do have the occasional issue with monsters."
It was only fair to warn him about that - the realtor probably wouldn't. But then again, it came with a caveat. "But what do you expect, living this close to the park? It comes with the territory."
Literally.
"But if you don't mind the odd unsavory beast, the crime rate's otherwise really low. We've got, um-"
She pointed to a set of signposts at the end of the street. "Neighborhood watch."
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Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:42 pm
"Cats, hmm? I never had a cat. Of course, I've never had a dog, either, so I don't suppose that means much. Besides... now. Before Dogby, I had a hamster, named Booder. But he was old, and he passed away."
He smiled, wondering why it was so easy for people to talk about their pets. He supposed it was because talking about pets was rather like talking about someone's family. It just came naturally, and it was comfortable because it was normal. And pets, generally, made life happier.
Talking about them just made things feel warm, in a cheesy way.
He laughed at her mention of monsters, shaking his head.
"I guess it is close to the park, but that's alright. There are monsters everywhere, I think. And I have had quite a few run ins with them, myself. Actually, I was starting to think I'm cursed to be a magnet for them. Or maybe I'm being paranoid. But in any case, I'm glad to hear there's not much crime! That's exactly what I'm looking for. My son gets into... a lot of trouble. I think he needs a better living situation." He chuckled. He moved toward the house, tilting his head. "Are we allowed to go inside it?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:08 am
"Yeah, I think the realtor's been leaving it open," said Tallulah, taking the lead in crossing the lawn. Sure enough, the door opened with the lightest of nudges and a blast of cold air pushed them inside. "Sorry, it's a bit chilly, I guess they've got the heater off."
From the way Tallulah looked around the tiled space, it was pretty clear she'd never actually been into this side of the house before. "Wow, this is crazy," she said, looking around the empty dining room. "It's like my house's bizarro conjoined twin."
"The kitchen's through there," she said, indicating an arch. "What do you think so far?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:39 pm
Tony shrugged his shoulders up, hiding himself behind the collar of his coat. It was colder inside than it felt out, though he imagined that was only because he hadn't expected it to be cold inside the house at all. He held on to Dogby, knowing she would have a blast running around the house.
The last thing he wanted was for her to poop or piddle somewhere.
He looked around, his expression easy to read. He was clearly impressed with the look of the place, and very much charmed by it. He hadn't ever put much thought into where he lived, but seeing homes like this made him rethink his stance on living cheaply in an apartment. He smiled, looking at her when she spoke, half distracted.
"Hm? Oh! Your house must be the opposite of this one, right? That must be weird," he chuckled, then paused, shaking his head to clarify. "To be in here now, I mean. Like you said. Not that your house is weird compared to this one. Uh."
Dogby yipped and wiggled free of him, darting off like a stumpy legged, brown torpedo.
Tony sighed, but smiled at Tallulah.
"I really like it."
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:33 pm
"There's, um," said Tallulah, chasing after the dog down the downstairs hallway. "A bedroom and a bathroom on this floor," she called, cornering Dogby in previously mentioned bathroom, which looked like it had been redone within the last ten years. She scooped the dog up and nudged the door opposite open. On the other side of the house, this room was her bedroom. Over here it looked like it had been used as a home office.
She handed the rambunctious puppy back to Tony, then stepped past him towards the base of the stairs. "There's two more bedrooms upstairs, and a bathroom and a laundry. We use one as a den on our side."
She leaned against the banister and gave this some thought. Why was it that she had the smallest bedroom in the house?
"You want to see upstairs, right?" she asked, trying to be helpful.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:38 am
Dogby wagged her whole bottom in her excitement, having run away from Tallulah once she realized she was being chased. Cornered now, she waggled her tail so hard her legs were wobbling, and she kept stumbling on her back paws. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and she tried to scramble away from her. But she was an easy one to catch, her little legs never going as fast as she thought they would.
But she didn't seem upset, barking and licking at Tallulah excitedly.
"Three bedrooms? That's good. I'm getting really tired of sleeping on the sofa." He sighed. Nathan had moved in, without an invitation, and had decided the only bedroom in the apartment was his, despite all of Tony's things being in that room. For years before he had arrived. So Tony had to sleep on the couch, though he had gotten used to it enough.
He rarely complained about it, save if he was in a particularly bad mood, but it really would be nice to get a bed to sleep in again.
"Upstairs, yes," he said, nodding. He was feeling good about this place, even if he had come in without the intention of making any offers. He was supposed to just be 'browsing', but the area was perfect, the house was good, the neighbor was nice. It was all very tempting, and his apartment just started feeling worse and worse when he reminded himself that he would have to go home to it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:59 am
"Right," agreed Tallulah, taking the steps two at a time and wiping dog slobber off her face with her sleeve. At the top of the stairs there was a landing where she waited a moment for Tony, and then she nudged open the doors to the laundry closet. A decrepit-looking washer and dryer greeted the house hunters, looking perhaps circa 1980 and worse for the wear.
"You might want to replace those," said Tallulah. Then, she turned left and proceeded to nearly walk head on into a wall before stopping herself. "Sorry," she said, hurriedly turning around. "Mirror image of my house. Bathroom's here," she said, nudging a door open. "Looks like he redid this one, too-"
Or maybe the former owner's children had. The chrome faucets seemed too modern for an old man's taste, although the claw-footed tub was old enough. Tallulah circled it in amazement. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "I bet this came with the building!"
And for Tony's benefit, explained, "This whole neighborhood was built a year or two before world war one, so we've got Destiny City Historical Society statutes all over the place. They can't tell us what to do inside our houses, but they'll keep you from painting the outside hot pink or cutting down all the trees in your yard and putting up a nine-foot privacy fence."
She smiled and moved on through the door at the other end of the bathroom. "I hope you weren't planning on doing that," she remarked. "Master bedroom?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:25 am
Tony peered into the little room and nodded his head at the washer and drier. He didn't think it would be too difficult to replace them, though he didn't have any at the moment. He lived in an apartment, and did his washing at a laundromat, simply because the washer and drier in the building were in a worse state than these, and were always in use.
Really, he thought the same load of washing was just constantly spinning for no reason but to annoy everyone.
Tony grinned at the bathroom, though, liking the look. He wasn't exactly an interior designer, and would likely just roll with whatever was there initially for a long while before worrying about redesigning things. Nate might complain, though, and if that happened Tony would likely give in to him. But at least he would get his own room, and there would be no more sofa turned bed.
And Tony was not going to let the teenager call 'dibs' on the master bedroom, as he already knew Nate would try. Putting his foot down.
"On painting the house pink?" Tony laughed, "well, damn. I'm not that easy to read, am I? I suppose I can be happy with a normal colored house for now." He followed her, looking very excited and happy with the place.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:10 am
"Oh, the Historical Society is going to love you," grinned Tallulah. New neighbors with a sense of humor? Tony was well behaved, which only meant that she was trying to imagine what his son was like - was he also well-behaved, mild-mannered and funny? Or... Well, Tony had said his son got into a lot of trouble.
The door to the master bedroom put them out on the landing, and Tallulah confidently strode across to the one opposite it. "This is the other bedroom," she said, pushing it open.
Just from the looks of the shag carpeting, the room had last been occupied by a teenager circa 1970. Tallulah bit her lip. "Um," she said thoughtfully. Or more accurately at a loss for words. "How old is your son?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:57 pm
"I'm not sure if I should be glad for or worried about that," Tony grinned, shaking his head. Of course, he had little intention of changing much with the place, if he bought it, save superficial things. So long as Nate didn't punch any holes in the walls, or spray it with his blasted paint, things would be fine.
Of course, now that Tony had thought about it, he was sure Nate would try it.
He looked into the secondary bedroom, subconsciously knowing that it would probably be his no matter what he said to Nate. He frowned at the carpet, looking at Tallulah skeptically.
"Seventeen," Tony said, pausing to think about it but nodding his head. He was certain it was seventeen, despite not ever having been present for one of his birthdays. It wasn't like that was his fault, he had never known the boy existed, but still. He was doing his best to catch up and learn what he could.
"He's, uh. Not... that friendly. I'm sure he'd rip up the carpet and be happy with whatever it looked like afterwards."
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:58 am
"Oh, um, okay," said Tallulah, less than enthusiastically. For a moment she'd almost been looking forward to having someone her own age living close by. But if Tony's son wasn't friendly then she'd take his word for it and just focus all her attention on the dog. That was okay, right?
Judging just on Tony's expression, he found the carpet just as questionable as she did. "I think this went out of style on New Years Day, 1980," she said, frowning. It was hard to think of a time when wall-to-wall orange shag was appropriate.
"I think I've shown you everything?" she said, a little uncertainly. She couldn't really think of anything left to do. "The Realtor left her number in those flyers in the tube-thingy on the for sale sign..."
Was there a good word for that tube thingy? She didn't think so.
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