June 04, 2009

10:44 p.m.

Night Reconnaissance

I dropped by the family farm to give Rose an ad for my bike that she could hang in her office, and to pick up a check for an enormous amount of down-payment money. "Don't spend it all in one place," Marc quipped. "Sorry, but I'm going to," I answered.

After visiting, yakking, talking and singing to a parrot, playing with chicks (they're bigger every day, and boy, are they feisty!!) and scritching cats and holding Arthur nice and still while Marc plucked a lot of really tiny ticks off from around his kitty eyes (this is a daily ritual for them all), I set off for home. But then I had an idea.

Rose's roses are in bloom over her arbor. They're big and bright pink and so beautiful. I know I have various overgrown rose type bushes along the yard and driveway, so I wondered if they were blooming yet and what kind they were. It was about 9:30pm, but there's a street light in the long driveway so I knew I'd be able to see somewhat around the house. So I turned into the driveway, which is looking more like a jungle every week. I rode slowly up; you can't see the house until you get almost to the top. The big rose bush wasn't in bloom yet... but the yard... yikes. I left the lights and motor on and got out of the car.

The grass and weeds are up to my hip. A small rhino could hide reasonably well in the yard now, if it were lying down and very quiet.

The roses weren't blooming yet at the stone wall. But the big, cascading, overgrown bush at the side of the driveway, which I thought was pretty dead and maybe should be cut down... it's absolutely burgeoning with fountains of little, trumpet-shaped white flowers. It practically glows in the dark.

I smelled and looked and feasted my heart. Nothing looked different outside, as far as evidence of anything else removed. I looked in the kitchen window; the broken dresser is still in there. I went round to the living room, walking just where it looked like the last person had walked, so I wouldn't leave another trail in the tall, wet grasses. Everything looked just the same in there. Huge tv, dining room chairs and coffee table still where they were. It doesn't look like he cleared anything out unless he was working in the basement.

And as far as I know he's still laid up with the injury from whatever it was.

I put my hands on those old, peeling clapboards, tilted my head back and looked up at the eaves. I talked to House and told it I loved it, and that it was only a matter of a few weeks now and I would be there, for good and all. If I could have gotten my arms around the whole house, I'd have hugged it.

Finally I got back into my car and slowly, slowly, went back down the driveway. Something was blooming at the side, so I got out and plucked this to bring home:

A five-petaled wild rose, and looking closely I can see that most of the petals are heart-shaped. My guess is that this is what's in the front yard too.

Oh, we'll see.