Rose & Rock loved their rental home.  They had moved hundreds of miles after a trail of tears to find the peace of southern warmth.  There were already garden plots, so they grew wildflowers & peppers from seed, & the yard was edged in rose bushes, which Rose took as a good sign.

“They’re called ‘knockout roses’,” she told her husband as they tended to the beds, “They’re radiant, but hearty; they do well in intensely hot temperature – I’ve never seen a red glow like this.”

As Rose & Rock nurtured the flower’s growth, they found peace & started to grow roots, falling deeper in love with their new state & the next big new – leaving the sunshine sanctuary of their rental house & investing in a new home. 

Rose & Rock lived close to the house they were going to view; as they turned into the court, the For Sale sign on the lawn was a red badge alerting the vacant location, their Realtor in the shadow of the door, fiddling with the lock box, sweat stains on his shirt.  After liberating the keys from the tired locking mechanism, the couple stepped inside the house, the vibe clicked immediately & they knew this was the house for them.  They put an offer in, & with a mix of hot shot gambling tactics & numerology their offer was accepted, & after a month of close-reading contracts & financial interrogation, they closed with no issues.

The front door was unlocked, so Rose & Rock entered their new home holding hands, Rose’s other arm wrapped around a vase filled with cut roses from their rental house, a proud reminder of everything they had grown in their previous new phase.  This turnkey house was finished, a culmination of the successful end to all they had weathered.

Their Realtor stood in the middle of their freshly-painted, vaulted-ceiling living room, damp around his hairline, & leered, “Make sure you change the locks.  Everyone has a key.”

“Tomorrow is Halloween,” replied Rock, the moving truck pulling in behind their car blocking them in, “I’ll do it over the weekend.”

keys

The Realtor was as superstitious as he was greedy, so when Rose contacted him to see the new house on the market, he got to work:  called the agency, got the call girl, & hustled to the vacant house to fill it with hot pheromones.  He would have the same girl back on closing day to celebrate.  The Realtor had access to so many properties, he lost track of clients, girls, connections, & keys.

*

The Seller would never be ready to go, but it’s time to move on, her kids told her.  Dad is gone, they said, come closer to us so you can spend time with your grandkids…

The Seller wanted to spend time with her own babies, remember when we got the Barbie Dream House for Christmas – do you want to see it, I have it in the attic. Mom, why are you still holding onto that…

The Seller did not remember agreeing to sell, but they told her it was happening.  What was her life if she left the home they had built, the memories of joy & rest that had shaped & contained their family? 

She pulled the attic steps up behind her & made herself an apartment under the gabled ceiling, sheltered in the space where holiday hope was stored. She sometimes drifted downstairs when the house was empty, into bed in the bedroom, still filled with her dreams; The Seller stayed, tethered to time but not locked into body, & withered into the place.

*

The Movers were jacked up on caffeine & conspiracy.  The Main Mover was a pirate who worked the best jobs because he knew the treasures of every age & could slide a long-forgotten heirloom out of a pack list without his top-tier clients noticing.  This move seemed like peanuts, but he shifted through the stuff for maybe an unpacked passport.  He had his cronies move the safe, but he noted its’ location, & with ease, slid a key for the front door from the hook to come back: household safes are a cinch; the whole thing can be lifted out.

*

“I miss the rental house,” whispered Rose to Rock as they relaxed in the new house’s sunroom, overlooking the mature planted myrtle, magnolia, & long-leaf pine. “I want my roses. I hate admitting I’m living in the past, but nothing new has grown here yet.”
“Well let’s go cut some, it’s just around the corner,” replied Rock.

“We can’t go in someone else’s house,” said Rose with a glimmer of hope.

“Sure, we can,” said Rock, “We still have a key.”