House for Sale:
Three-bedroom, three-bath house in idyllic setting. Duck pond, weeping willows, two acres of rolling green land. Perfect for small family. Recent upgrades include all-new copper plumbing and extensive renovations to kitchen and baths. Price reduced. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to escape town and experience the bucolic country life!
Diary Entry, April 2
Our new home is beautiful—so beautiful I feel as if I’m on holiday in someone else’s place. The air is fresh and clean; the tap water sweet. What a contrast to the pollution of the city. And we have space! So much space for the little ones to run and play. When they tire of chasing the ducks in the pond, they collect catkins from the two weeping willows flanking the house. I time them, one runs to each side, and they meet on the front porch after their minute is up, each proffering a bucket of spoils to count while I watch with amusement.
Diary Entry, August 2
What a drought we’ve had this summer! The duck pond has dried to a shallow puddle and the grass is a sickly scorched shade of brown. Even my roses are having a hard time. The only survivors are the willows, standing tall and full and lush, tenacious sentinels. I don’t know how they manage to do it. With school out, the children spend hours hiding from the heat, shrouded in the green tentacles of the trees. I tell them not to climb too high, and they laugh at my worry.
Diary Entry, December 2
We’ve had the plumber out three times in as many weeks. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with the drains. The kids are annoyed because they can’t have baths every night and we’re down to one working toilet—when it works, that is. Everything is grey outside, even the willows. Winter has turned them into scraggly monsters, clutching at the house with bare branches. I hate the sight of them this time of year.
Diary Entry, April 2
Our water situation hasn’t improved and I’ve taken to harvesting the springtime showers using rain barrels. Even the girls help out, setting their plastic buckets on the stoop, hauling them into the kitchen when they’ve been filled. I know they’d rather be collecting the catkins that dangle, tempting them to the race, or chasing ducks, but the ducks have all gone. What an imagination my little darlings have—I can hear them playing in the dry bathtub, counting their pretend catkins, screaming with delight.
House for Sale:
Three-bedroom, three-bath house in idyllic setting. Duck pond, weeping willows, two acres of rolling green land. Perfect for small family. Recent upgrades include all-new copper plumbing and extensive renovations to kitchen and baths. Price reduced. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to escape town and experience the bucolic country life!
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Christina Dalcher is a linguist, novelist, and flash fiction addict from Somewhere in the AmericanSouth. She writes long stuff and short stuff and nothing in between.