Saturday we'd find out for sure.   Dennis would be here on Saturday and he'd know by then and tell us.
      I know, at my age, I shouldn't be so excited about anything but I was.   Things have begun happening so fast, I can hardly believe it's me.   Just last week I was going along my same ol', everyday and now, it looks like it'll really happen.
      We're going to buy a house!
      Sunday, after church, I thought I'd just drive by a house that I saw in the paper and found myself parking in the driveway and walking around the house, peeping in the windows.   Harvey hadn't gone to church with me, needing to hold a fishing pole more, so there I was in a strange neighborhood, looking at a house by myself.   It could use some cleaning up but it reminded me so much of my own childhood home.
      There must have been at least an acre of land surrounding it.
      The flower beds needed sprucing up but look at the trees.   I could still smell the evergreens . . . and the flower trees . . . when they bloomed it would be so beautiful.

      I woke up and realized that it had only been a dream.   I was a little disappointed but hoped that maybe it was a sign of things to come.   I also wondered who Dennis was, I couldn't remember knowing a Dennis except a cousin that I hadn't seen in many a moon.
      The dream stayed with me so much so that I got a paper and looked through the ads checking off the houses that could be likely.
      When my daughter called, I told her about it and she was all for us going out and finding our 'dream' home.
      Before we hung up, however, we were discussing recipe's and her daughter's school.



CHAPTER TWO
THE REAL HOUSE
      "Rebecca,"   I could hear my sister calling from outside.   I hurried to the front of the house wondering why she hadn't phoned first.
      "Connie, what in the world?" I asked when I saw her, practically hanging from her pickup.
      "I have to get to Mr. Snyder's house before dark to get my vegetables he promised.   I tried to get you on the phone but you must not have heard the ring.   Can you go with me?"
      "Sure, let me get my jacket."
      I hurried to gather my purse and put on a light jacket and leave a note for Harvey.
      I put a smiley face on the note and my pet name that he has for me, 'Bonnie', so he'd not feel so bad about me not being here when he got home.
      We took off for Mr. Snyder's house, with Connie driving too fast.
      "Slow down Connie."   I admonished.
      "Okay, okay," she said and let the truck slow down.
      The sun would be going down very soon, I wished that we would have started out earlier.
      We left the main highway and turning a bend in the road, I shouted,   "Stop Connie!"
      Connie was so taken by surprise that she almost wrecked the truck.
      Now it was her turn to get upset.   "What! Don't frighten me like that!"
      "Connie, go back,"   I told her.   "Did you see that house?!"
      Connie slowed down and turned the truck around.   "What house?"   she asked.
      I pointed to the house that was like the one in my dream that I still thought of at times.
      "Pull into the driveway, Connie, I have to see it up close."
      Connie pulled into the driveway and I hopped down from the pickup.
      "Come on, Connie, no one is here, see, there're no car's here."
      Connie got down from the truck more cautiously than I had and said,   "What's going on, Becca?   Why do you have to see this house?"
      "I had a dream about this house not too long ago."   I said.   "I knew that dream was a sign.   This is my house, Connie."
      Connie was walking across the lawn, looking at something in the grass.   Following her gaze, I saw it too, a 'For Sale' sign.
      I ran over to it.   "It must have gotten knocked down, somehow,"   I said, picking the sign up.
      "Come on, let's look at the house."   I said.
      Connie was more reluctant,   "It may not be safe, Becca."
      Ignoring her, I ran to the front window and looked in, just like in my dream.
      "It reminds me of our home when we were kids, except our's was two story, remember?   Look at the trees and the flower bushes, they just make it more homey, don't you think?   I've got to call these people and see what they want for it."
      "Becca, I have to get to Mr. Snyder's house, maybe he'll know something.   You'll have to leave the sign, you know."
      I looked at the sign that I was still holding in my hand and said,   "I'll write down the phone number and the house address.   What road are we on?"
      After writing my information, I very carefully laid the sign back where we had gotten it from.
      The house didn't really look like it wasn't lived in, maybe with the sign down, we'd have more of a chance at it, I thought.
      While we helped Mr. Snyder carry bushel baskets of vegetables to the back of Connie's pickup, we talked about the house.
      "I know just the house that you're referring to,"   he said looking at me.   "That house has been empty for a long time."
      "It doesn't look like no one is there,"   I said,   "The grass is mowed, even."
      "Someone does that for them.   They moved to another state, I believe.   I don't know if anyone around here keeps in touch with them or not.   Why don't you go ahead and call your number and I'll keep my ears open to see if I can find anything out that may interest you."   he continued,   "Thanks for coming, Connie, I'd better get in to my supper now, the Missus' has been keeping it warm for me."

      After we'd parked at my house, Connie jumped down from her truck and emptying one of the bushel baskets, she began taking some of everything she had gotten from Mr. Snyder and putting it in the basket.
      "I want you to take this,"   she said.
      "Oh, Connie, thank you so much, I'd like to pay you for it, though."
      "Listen, Mr. Snyder lets me have this at a reduced rate because it's his left overs from his day's sale.   I'm just happy that you went with me.   I don't really like to go out there by myself this late and we had a good visit and got to see your 'dream house', I hope you can get it."
      Harvey came out and hollered at Connie,   "Hey, girl, what're you up to now?"
      "Here you big baboon,"   Connie said,   "take this in for Becca.   Gotta go, you'll have to come for dinner, soon, okay?"
      We waved bye to Connie and walked in, each of us holding a handle of the basket.



CHAPTER THREE
VIEW OF THE HOUSE

      The next morning, I phoned the number that was on the sign.
      The lady said that she could meet me at the house that afternoon, if I was ready.
      I called Harvey to see if he'd go with me but he said that he couldn't get away, he had a client coming in from out of town.
      I called Connie to see if she'd go and she said that she'd be happy to.
      We went in my car, this time.   When we pulled up at 2:00, I noticed right away that the sign had been put back into the ground.   There was a red Forerunner already in the driveway.
      When the agent saw us, she got out of the SUV and introduced herself. "I'm Irene Bentley," she looked at both of us, saying,   "Which of you is Mrs. Downey?"
      "Guilty,"   I said, hoping to create a light atmosphere.   "This is my sister, Connie Parkinson.   My husband, Harvey, couldn't come today, he had another engagement."
      Connie and I were just wearing our jeans with shirts but Irene looked so nice I was sort of glad that Harvey hadn't come.
      We walked onto the porch, which swept across the front of the house and opening the door, we all went into the living room.
      The house had high ceilings and the main rooms were large.
      I had grown up in a house so similar that I practically already knew the floor plan.
      "You do realize that the house is 'as is'."   Irene was explaining.
      "Is there anything major wrong with it?"   I asked.
      "No, nothing major,"   She answered.   "As you can see, the floor is pier and beam, the wood could be beautiful with some sanding and stain.   You could polyurathane it, if you like, if you don't want to cover it with carpet or tile, that is."   Irene explained.   "Just things like that; things that can be easily taken care of."
      While we walked around the house, Irene was pulling the blinds up for better light.
      Connie was doing most of the talking as I was trying to concentrate on what would be important for Harvey to know.
      I had brought my camera and was snapping pictures of just about everything.
      Off the front room was a small room.   A window overlooked the front porch.   "This would make a good accessory room," I began imagining aloud, looking in a closet, I said,   "We could have a coat closet here, my small table with drawers could go there for mail and catalogues and shutters on the lower half of the window might be nice."   Everything just seemed to dove-tail in my mind like my things had been made for this place.
      A pull hung from the ceiling where the attic entrance was.   "Would you like to see the attic?"   Irene asked.
      "We can look at it later,"   I answered.   "Maybe someone left some neat stuff up there.   Or we might could use it for another room, if we need to, it looks big from outside."
      "Sounds like a good idea,"   Irene said.
      The living room had a large bay window and a fireplace with a beautiful wood mantlepiece.   The tiles on the hearth had an unusual pattern.   There were windows on either sides of the fireplace.
      There was a wide, arched door going to the dining room.   Curio cabinets were in two corners of the dining room, a window and a French door were on the driveway side of the house.
      We went into the hallway, doors led to the bathroom, bedrooms and a closet.
      The back bedroom was large with tall windows overlooking the back and side of the house and there were two closets.
      At the end of the hall, in the middle of the house, was a small bedroom with a closet.
      The bathroom wasn't very special but the tub did have a shower, something I'd missed.
      Going back through the dining room we went into the kitchen, a large room with a window over the sink that had a wide sill that had the remains of a small herbal garden on it.
      A window next to the back door looked out at a large screened-in porch where the laundry setups were.
      Harvey and I had made a list the night before that would be important to ask about.   I took it out now and began comparing it with what we'd seen, so far.
      We went down the steps from the porch to look at the outside of the house.
      An old garage was catty cornered to the house and had steps going upstairs. "There's a small studio apartment that could come in handy for you, sometimes,"   Irene told us.   "Hey, if Woody and I have a fight, I could come over here and stay up there,"   Connie quipped and ran up the steps.   "Irene, do you have a key for up here?"
      "Sure do,"   Irene answered and walked up the steps, herself.   Close behind Irene, Connie and I went into the loft with Irene and saw what could be made into a charming little place. "Oh, wow, this place just keeps on getting better and better."   I exclaimed.   I was beginning to get goose bumps in my excitement over our finding this place.   I could see that Irene was as happy as we were.   There was a little bathroom and kitchenette, with plenty of storage space and windows with good views.   The way the roof jutted out over the staircase and little porch, you could tell that apartment had probably been in the original plans of the house.
      Locking the door, we headed towards the back of the yard where we could see a creek.   Irene said that it was a part of the property and the fenced in land behind it was, as well.
      "There's a sprinkler system connected to the well back here that runs over the property."
      A cluster of flagstones close to the house, made me to believe that there was a patio here at one time.
      Going back into the house, Connie and I helped her lower the blinds, thanked her for showing us the house and we all left.



CHAPTER FOUR
HARVEY'S VIEW

      After supper that night, I showed Harvey the pictures and we discussed the pros and cons of the house and the move.
      As we were going to bed, I remembered to ask about his work that day,   "Did everything go well with your client today?"   I asked.
      "Oh, yeah, Dennis always comes through for us."   Harvey answered.
      "Dennis?   Dennis Who?"
      "Dennis Buckner, our client.   I'm sure I've talked about him before."   Harvey was puzzled at my queries.
      "I hadn't remembered, is all.   Odd."   So, that was who Dennis was, a subconcious memory of Harvey's talking at one time or another about Dennis Buckner.   A little weird, still.

      The next day, Harvey called to ask if I could be ready to go see the house around 3:00.   I asked him would he want to just see it from the outside or have Irene meet us there for the complete tour.
      "Just outside for now,"   he answered.   "If it looks okay, we can call her later.   I don't want a hard pitch salesman following me around."
      "Well, she's not hard pitch, more like soft pitch but whatever you're comfortable with."   I was just excited that he was willing to look into it.   At our age, you don't just up and move.

      I hadn't paid much attention to the actual neighborhood surrounding the house but trying to see it from Harvey's viewpoint, I looked around at it as we were driving through.   I thought he'd like it and he did.
      Walking around the outside of the house, this would really be his world more than mine, I tried to see things from his eyes.   Suddenly it looked a little shabby.
      "It could use a little paint and fixin' up but I do like it.   The creek is just perfect for fishing.   The fence looks good and I do like the sprinkler set-up and the garage with the apartment.   I think I'd rather build a carport like the one at home and use the garage for my shop, though,"   Harvey was saying.
      "I'll call Irene and set up another appointment."   I started to relax.



CHAPTER FIVE
THE MOVE/THE ATTIC

      From the time that Harvey looked at the house until we went to the tables was less than two weeks.
      We all met at Irene's home, where her office was.   The Hammiter's, the seller's, were there and they seemed like nice people, glad to be out from under the burden of the extra house note.
      Moving day arrived and we rented a truck and got the help of our daughter, Denise, and her husband, Kirk; Connie and her husband, Woody.   We did the majority over the weekend and Connie and I finished up with her pickup truck and she and Denise came over for several days helping me to set the house up while Harvey was working.

      One day, Denise was working in the front room and said,   "Hey, Mom! Have you guys been in the attic yet?   I'd sure like to see if there's some neat treasure up there."
      Connie and I were working in the kitchen and looked at each other, we hadn't even had time to think of going into the attic.   We both smiled and took off for the little room off the living room where Denise was.   We were giggling like school girls, a little nervous about going into an attic that may not have been opened in years, for all we knew.
      Denise grabbed the pull and together, we all pulled on it until a disappearing staircase appeared.   We hurriedly backed up to let it come all the way down.   Climbing the stairs, we realized that we didn't have much light to see by.   Connie went to her truck to get her flashlight since I didn't have any idea where mine could be in the midst of all of the boxes.
      It was a strange view, to say the least.
      Staying on a middle walkway where we knew we were on safe flooring, we began to realize that this was a second story that had been taken down.   There was lumber piled on the sides of the attic along with different fixtures, doors, windows and hardware that had gone to rooms that were no longer there.   The whole floor plan was still there, the bathroom tiles, the wall spacings but only a small window in the front of the house and one in the back.
      It was like visiting a ghost town.   We all felt a little creepy so we went back down the stairs and closed the attic.   Denise, usually quieter than Connie and I was saying,   "Wow, what in the world, how weird.   Why would someone do something like that?"
      Connie and I had never heard of anything like that, ourselves, and had no answer, either.
      We could hardly wait to tell the guys and get their take on this.
      As soon as Harvey drove up that evening, I had him going in the direction of the attic with what he called my 'wild stories'.   I came prepared with a light this time so we could see even better than we had earlier today and with Harvey beside me, I enjoyed my excursion through the attic.   He was unsure about what had happened there but, like a guy, didn't really think of it as a great mystery like the girls and I had.
      Harvey was retired but worked part-time as an accountant.   Everything for him was pretty much cut and dried, not much romance in him.
      I decided to wait until tomorrow to see if the girls may have had better luck seeing what their guys thought about it.



CHAPTER SIX
BUBBLING CREEK

      The following day, I decided to check out our surroundings since we were living even farther out from the city than we had before.   Going back to the highway, I headed north and soon saw a sign announcing the town of Bubbling Creek, our new home town, if you could call it that, it was more like a village.   I had liked that name from the first time I had heard it and to think that we could call it our's now.   The village was off the main highway so I turned in that direction and soon was surrounded by the small downtown of Bubbling Creek.
      I immediately fell in love with it.   It was an old fashioned picturesque town looking like it came right out of a book.   Everything seemed to be located pretty much in a small area so I parked in front of a row of stores and got out to have an upclose look.   A good sized park with a baseball diamond was catty corner from where I parked.   A church with a steeple was at the end of the street and a school was nearby.
      From where I stood, I could see a grocery market, a drug store, a hardware store, a dress shop, library and several other shops.   There was even a small office building where several signs were hung outside of.   One was for a constable, another for a law office and a Town Clerk sign.   I decided that I would begin my sleuthing about my new attic there.
      A middle aged lady was getting a paper cup of water from a glass fountain and as I watched it bubbling, I wondered if this might be the Bubbling Creek water.   I didn't ask, however.   Looking at me, she asked,   "May I do something for you?"
      "I hope so,"   I replied.   "I'm Rebecca Downey, we've just moved into the old Hammiter house on Shamrock Road.   We've made a discovery in the attic and I'm wondering if you have any information about the house."
      Looking at me with an odd look on her face, she said,   "I'm Rita Harper, I'm glad to meet you but I'm not sure if I can help you.   What sort of discovery have you made?"
      "My sister and daughter and I were looking up there yesterday and discovered that apparently the house used to be a two story but has been made into a one story.   All of the material plus the floor are still up there.   We were wondering what may have caused someone to do something like that."
      "I don't believe I've heard of that before but we can look through the records and see if we can find anything here.   The road is a part of our community so the house records should be here."
      Looking through her files, she found our's and said,   "Okay, here we are, the new records for the sale are right here."   She continued looking through the papers for 211 Shamrock Road but didn't find what we were looking for.
      A man came into the room and looking up, Rita said,   "Sam, this is Rebecca Downey, is that right?"   she looked towards me.   I nodded and she continued,   "Sam is our village's constable, our local policeman."
      I nodded in Sam's direction, this time, and extended my hand.   Smiling, he shook my hand and speaking a little loudly, said,   "Glad to meet you Miss Downey.   I'm Sam Robson, at your service.   What brings you in today?"
      I explained to him about the attic and he looked a little funny.   "Well, I'll be, and you didn't see anything in the records, Rita?"
      "No sir, I didn't."   she answered him.
      "Do you have any old records around someplace, maybe you have a local paper or something?"
      "Something like that would probably just be a part of local gossip, not anything newsworthy, I wouldn't think." Sam voiced his opinion. "I tell you what, I know everyone here, I could ask around and get back with you.   Does Rita know how to get in touch with you?"
      I gave Rita my new address and phone number and told them not to go out of their way, it was just a curiosity on my part.
      "Well, you've got us interested now."   Rita laughed.
      "Welcome to our village,"   Sam said.   "We're a condensed version of Grange City, just up the highway, but we should have most of what you'll have need of.   If not, let us know, we'll try to locate it for you."
      "Actually, I am feeling a little peckish, do you have a place here where I could eat?"
      "Sure, we have several, Louisa has a cafe down the street.   She serves mostly homestyle, the Corner Drug has a lunch counter and on your way in, you probably saw Ron's Bar-B-Que, he serves a good meal." Rita described the local eateries.
      I decided on the Corner Drug to eat, hoping to see some locals that could fill me in on upcoming events.



CHAPTER SEVEN
OL' PETE'S STORY

      Bursting into the house, I found Harvey, who had beat me home, and turning down the radio, I proclaimed dramatically:   "I found out!"
      "You found out what?!   What's the idea of you buttin' into my game?"
      I wasn't to be deterred however, "I found out what happened to the upstairs!"
      "What, what do you mean what happened to the upstairs!?"
      "I went into Bubbling Creek today and while I was in the drug store getting lunch, I saw an old man in there and we struck up a conversation.   "And, you won't believe this!   He knew about the whole thing.   He said he saw it happen!   He said that he used to live on this road and one day he was outside and saw a crop duster and all of a sudden, it flew into this house.   He said that he ran over here to see if he could help out.   He said that there was a big uproar about it and the people around here were talking about it for a long time, afterward."
      Harvey was just standing there with his jaw practically open.   I couldn't believe even he was impressed with my story.
      "Ol' Pete said that the pilot wasn't hurt really bad and did recover but that the whole top of the house was just taken down, it was so demolished.   It was an older couple living here at the time and they only used the upstairs when their kids visited with their families and didn't really need it anymore."
      Harvey started smiling broadly.   "Bonnie, you beat all, I should have known you'd find out, although that was pretty quick, even for you," hugging me, he began laughing.



THE END

Thank you for reading my little story. Please let me know how you like it by emailing me at ora.lea @ gmail.com
Copyright March 21, 2011   All rights reserved.

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