The House in the Fens

The old house creeks as she settles in the black fen soil.

She remembers her first owner. He had fallen in love with

her at first sight and was determined nobody else would

have her. He had always loved her, cared for her, kept

her young. He bought her paintings, ornaments, drapes.

He bought her a piano and his music filled her with emotion.

He made a beautiful garden for her with views from every

angle. From her windows you could see for miles and

miles into the distance. He would stand and watch the

seasons pass and the big skies changing. They lived happily

together for nearly 70 years. He had no family and

consequently, when sadly he passed away, she found

herself alone and in fear and trepidation as to who might

own her next – would they care for her as once he had?

She hated the ‘For Sale’ sign which was standing so close.

Within a few months the new owners moved in. They were

young, ‘modern’ and had small children. They walked through

the house discussing how they would change everything. She

was devastated but could do nothing. Soon the house was

filled with builders and decorators. They covered her wood-

panelled walls and doors, they painted the rooms psychedelic

colours, they got rid of his piano and bought a television.

They sold her paintings and the children played with the

ornaments until they broke them. The children were allowed

to run riot throughout and draw upon any surface they fancied.

But worst of all was the dog who peed on the carpet and

scratched at the doors.

They gave parties and the smoke from their ‘pipes’ made her

feel giddy. The noise rattled her walls and windows. They let

her garden become ‘natural’ and all sorts of unwelcome

creatures made it their home. The grass and nettles grew high.

She tried to show them how unhappy she was. Her doors warped.

her windows rattled and would not fit properly. But this did not

work as they then replaced her beautiful old windows with square

pieces of characterless glass, and simply removed the doors to

make her ‘open plan’ She began to sink into the fens with shame.

Eventually, having done as much damage as they could, and the

children were leaving home, they decided to move back into the city.

They no longer needed such a big house. When they were gone,

neither she nor the estate agent could Imagine anyone seeing

beyond this wreck, and therefore put her up for auction.

So once again the old house stood empty and alone in the fens.

Occasionally someone would walk up her path with the agent and

take a look around and as the auction date approached she began to

wonder what sort of hell she would be put through this time, thinking

this would be the end of her and she would just collapse into the soil.

Late one afternoon a middle aged couple walked up her path, took

up her keys and carefully opened the front door. The man said “This

is what I was telling you about!” The look of shock on the woman’s

face – would they just walk back out again? The woman walked around, looking in every room and then slowly replied, replied, “yes,

I can see the potential for a beautiful house, but it will take money and

time to restore.” This was music to her ears. “That is just what we have plenty of!” the man replied.

Did they hear the old house sigh with pleasure and anticipation?