Thom and Rebecca went on a house hunt. Some houses were too
big or too small. Some had noisy streets and spooky neighbors. One house
required an offer just to see the inside.
So they said, “OK. We’ll play that game. Here’s our offer.”
The seller’s agent said, “We’ll let you see it as soon as
the “hostile” tenants move out.”
“Hostile?!” Thom and Rebecca said. “We’ll keep looking.”
A few days and houses later, Thom and Rebecca walked through
the front door of a house that they just loved at first sight. Everything was
just as if someone had read their minds and put everything they liked into this
house. Aah…just right.
Then, their agent said, “That house you have an offer on is
open to look at today. You want to see it?”
“Oh, that one with the hostile tenants? OK, we’ll look, but
we really like THIS house.”
So they drove to Hostility House.
When they arrived, they thought, “Hey, this looks OK. Needs
a little paint on the front door, but we still like the other house.”
The seller and her agent were there, carrying buckets and
wearing elbow-length rubber gloves. Clearly, there was some disinfecting going
on.
Thom, Rebecca and Nolan walked through the front door. The
bouquet of Pine-Sol, stale body odor and vintage urine flooded their senses.
“Nolan, don’t touch anything!” said Rebecca.
The carpets were tattered. The color wasn’t discernible
between the stains. The interior doors had been chewed and soiled by wild
things with ever-growing teeth and scratchy claws. The walls had a line of oil
and dirt grime that revealed the average shoulder height of the dogs that had
ruled these ruins.
In the backyard, the former site of a rabbit hutch was known
by a small mountain of pellets. Thom regarded their work. “So that’s the angle
of repose for rabbit manure. Now I know. At least it’s outside.”
The view of rocky hillsides a few miles away was wide open
and a westerly breeze carried fresh air into the house and out the front door.
Thom and Rebecca looked at their agent. “We’ll take it.”
