If Boo Lived In Beaver

If Boo Radley lived in our town, he'd live here.

This evening, we learned that a house for sale up the street which is deserted and unlocked had seen many private viewings by those in the neighborhood, due to its uninhibited access. The house, built just after the turn of the century (not this one) has 13 rooms, and was probably something to boast about 100 years ago. Not so, today.

Sadly, this place, which no doubt was quite the gem in its day as evidenced by some beautiful stained glass and unbelievable wood moldings, has been left to decay. The house which at some point was divided into 3 apartments was just littered with forgotten belongings.

Strewn about the place were old records, antique buttons, a few stuffed toys, various pieces of furniture, tired and worn curtains, and even a few handbags which looked to be quite ancient, although I was afraid to touch anything to make certain. The road map of the place could cause anyone to get lost, and doors opening to dark descents lead down to what I could only assume were the old servants quarters (very Upstairs, Downstairs).

So what do you do when you have just moved to a new town, to which your son is still getting adjusted, it's getting to be dusk, and the neighbors mention that the door to the place is unlocked?

You do what any responsible parent would do and take your children, and some neighborhood children who have befriended your children and who have already seen the inside of the place and swear that it's haunted, as they once saw a used pickle jar levitating in one of the three kitchens, into the house.

Duh.

You impress upon your children not to fall into any holes, or put their hands through the walls (for you could see through from room to room in some places), or to touch anything. Most importantly, you make sure you've got every child accounted for at all times. You clutch your son's hand who repeatedly states that the joint is creepy, while trying to dispel the haunted house rantings of the other neighborhood kids who are still going on and on about the levitating pickle jar.

For the remainder of our evening, Zane talked and talked about the "mystery house" and how he never wanted to visit it again.

Hey, we do adventure around here, and tonight, this was one. We paid for it with some bedtime issues, and in fact, I just halted production of this post for a bit as Zane woke up screaming in fear. Both kids are sleeping in their rooms with lights on and doors open.

Really patting myself on the back for this one.

I'm bringing my Mom to see the place tomorrow. She will be awed by the old house. It is a shame that it has gone the road of disrepair. It needs someone with a ton of dough to come and save it. I hate to see such a historic structure wither and fade and would have loved to see it back in its day.

Harper and Zane, however, never want to step foot inside of it, or around it, or north, south, east, or west of it ever again. Whether day or night.

The whole episode felt very movie-like to me.

My kids just haven't seen those movies. Yet.