brick

The red brick house held the memories.  She smiled as she traced her finger over the picture of her old house.  The bats, the mice, the rat snake under the porch, Winter Wonderland, the long driveway that seemed never ending, the tire swing, the secret passageways, the stone wall, the big red tractor, the climbing tree, the corn fields, the spring house.  Her last memories of her family, faded.  Memories of leaving, to meet for the drop and swap.  The red volvo in the parking lot...or not.  The barbed wire fence that sliced her knee.  The woods with endless treasures, ducking and dodging in bright colors to avoid hunters who paid no attention to trespassing signs.  The hermit crab who went missing and was never found.  The three legged cat who kept the house safe, leaving reminders of her actions with mice and birds on the doorstep.  Creating go carts out of plastic piping and racing down the hill in front of the house with reckless abandonment.  Sword fights against villains and trying to steal keys from alligators who would lock her in jail.  The brick house seemed slightly less advantageous in the pictures than in the memories.  The newly painted trim did not capture the memories of impromptu adventures and treasures.  Instead, the facade seemed to reflect the sentiments of the family.  Arguments echoing up from the vents late at night.  Empty promises and empty mailboxes especially on birthdays.  Hidden by a new coat of paint or a new story, empty excuses.  The picture did not reflect rainbow cats or paper trees, but told only a small version of the story.  She turned the photograph over, slowly, imagining more images on the other side.  The glossy white reminded her of her innocence while living there.  The dreams of leaving the small town and changing the world.  Somehow, through a maze of corn, wheat, trees, bugs, hallways, buses, and ever changing schedules it seemed possible.  She smiled and put the picture of her old brick house away, hoping the current residents enjoy the house as much as she did, still wondering if the lost hermit crab found a small space and is an invisible tenant of the old house.