The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued

Page 230

The House

The house was one of those rambling old country houses which popped up here and there back east during the nineteenth century. Though modernizations were typical and expected with structures of this advanced age, none were evident on this one. There had to have been some, but they also had to have been done “in keeping” with the original style’s integrity. The clapboard exterior siding was painted a cloudy yellow, suggesting that the painter had finished his work a while back. Despite the age there was no peeling. In fact one might say that the color had acquired a charming patina, the yellow gently blending with a creamy white undercoating, which could not be mimicked out of a can.

He fleetingly wondered how he had come to see the outside. As far as he knew he had never previously been there and he was on the inside; on the second floor. It was only his logically refined instincts which told him that this was his house as he was trailed by two home improvement contractors, who continuously spoke to him, themselves, or no one in particular, of how easily and cheaply they could make repairs. He thought that he heard Beth rattling around downstairs, sometimes speaking to someone or also talking to herself.