Moving In

1.

Because he owned all three houses, the backyard was huge. To the far left was a secluded flower garden for his mother, partially walled and wildly overgrown. It had an old-fashioned table and chairs, completing the classic English-Cottage vibe. If I could, I would have sat in that part of the garden and enjoyed the sunlight. But I wanted to respect her privacy and property, so I stayed away.

2.

On the righthand side of the garden wall was a chicken coup with six forsaken chickens. They were protected by a dark green, wooden fence, a ring or refuse and then finally the wire walls of the coup itself topped with a plastic roof.

3.

This was all, apparently, intentional because his two dogs had previously murdered the first lot of chickens.

4.

The inside of the coup was dim, the plastic roof heavy with rotten leaves. Their water laden with faeces. Mouldy food. The ground sticky and barren. Inside of the hutch were a hundred charlotte’s spinning a thousand webs, all bearing the same word. There was very little straw for roosting.

5.

They produced too few eggs, considering their number.

6.

The majority of the garden was a grass field so he and his son could play soccer. Patta held season tickets for Sunderland and had, in his possession, almost every nation’s flag. Not small flags either, the full-sized fly up the poll type of flags. He changed them often, depending on the game, and flew them on the front, side and back of his homes.

7.

I asked him once why the goals had no nets. So, Patta told me the story about the neighbour’s cat, who sometimes wandered in his yard. The cat was always quick and able to escape the dogs, should they notice. But one afternoon the cat was caught off-guard and when the dogs came for him, he panicked and bolted into the netting. Twisted in the fibrous rope, the cat could not escape. Patta said it happened so fast, he couldn’t get to it in time. I asked how he told his neighbour. That’s when he said, “mum loves those dogs. I didn’t want to risk them getting put down. So, I threw the cat over the fence.”

8.

At the back of the garden, near the coup, was a manmade pond with few fish. The plastic base stuck up around the sides, held in place by the minimum stones.

9.

First, I bottomed out the house. Dust caked with dog hair. Every carpet thick with years, including the one in the bathroom. Seals speckled with mould. Windows pelted by dirt. Considering other places that I’ve cleaned; this wasn’t too bad.

10.

But it did take about a week.

11.

The walls were painted a garish orange with accent chips, scratches and dents. So beige and mint green were slathered in six layers before it became passably covered. But that took two weeks and honestly, I could have done with another week. But Patta wanted his sun room back (it held all my boxes) and Hilda was tired of Christopher’s night owl nature.

12.

We moved in at the end of May 2017.

13.

Once everything was unpacked, I turned my attention to Patta’s home. He had hired a house cleaner who came weekly, but considering the hoard, two kids and two dogs, it was honestly all she could do just to keep the house tidy. So, while he was at work, I organised. I gave things homes, finding duplicates tucked in the most obscure corners, collecting trash stored in the drawers and cupboards, arranging the shelves, clearing out the cushions and scrubbing surfaces that had last seen daylight when Patta was married.

14.

Leaving it as is was not possible, considering the aforementioned children.

15.

Once the downstairs was in order, I did not venture up. I drew the line at bedrooms.

16.

I decided that something had to be done about those chickens. I evicted the Charlottes, cleaned off the roof so that they could see sunlight, made them a swing and perch from recycled garbage, cleared out as much of the trash from the surrounding coup, then got fresh water, food and straw for them.

17.

I called them my babies.

18.

The garden became my hobby. I weeded it, cared for the chickens, Christopher handled the lawnmower and, in the winter, I kept the fish alive by breaking the ice and providing them with additional food.

19.

Finally, after months, I transformed the front yard into a flower garden. I sat out there often, before the paperwork finally processed and I found a job. But when I got home from a shift, the sun setting over our evening meal, I'd look at the flowers and knew that I had finally moved in.