The Christmas House (4 page)

     As they finished dressing, they stopped to bid Martha a final farewell. Standing at the open front door, Martha embraced each guest with a big hug and a kiss good-bye.

    
As they exited the house, many guests commented, “See you next year Martha...no wait. We’ll see you in
Spring
!”

     One by one, couple by couple, the guests left the house on Festive Lane.

    
“C’mon Quincy”, Bill and Alyce yelled as the big black Lab ran through Martha’s legs and dropped her bra at her feet and then flew out the front door.

     At last, the only guests remaining at the front door to say good-bye were Stephen, Mary and Rebecca. They each hugged Martha for a very long time. Mary and Rebecca walked out the front door, onto the stoop and started down the front walkway.

     
“I love you Mother. See you soon my sister,” Martha shouted after them.

     Stephen lagged behind as he hugged Martha.

    
“It will be fine. Trust me,” he said.

     “Yes I know it will be fine,” Martha said, trying to hold back the tears as she did every year at this time. “I do trust you father.”

     As Stephen turned away from Martha and walked down the front walk, he caught up with Mary and Rebecca. They all waved good-bye to Martha. As she waved back, they turned and walked toward the street. Their images faded into the darkness and Martha could barely see their figures outlined in the light falling snow. Then, in less than a second, they were gone.

     Martha stood at the front door wiping the tears from her cheeks. She finally stepped back and closed the solid oak door. As she turned back into the dining room, she once again heard the eerie silence that echoed throughout these walls 364 days a year. She started to straighten up the house and pondered the thought of not having to perform this chore next year and a smile came upon her face.

     Later that evening Martha retired to bed and said a prayer to bless the house and every guest that would come to visit it in the near future.

     “Please dear God. Send me a buyer for this home who will appreciate
it
s
’
magic as much as I have for the last 79 years. A family that is missing loved ones in their lives.
A family that will open the door of this home, as well as their hearts to unlikely and unexpected holiday visitors.
A family that will accept the magic of this old house and never question why or how this phenomenon is allowed to continue year after year.”
 

February 11th

148 Festive Lane

Martha’s Birthday

3:35 p.m.

             
Several months passed and despite numerous showings and a half of dozen Realtors representing the property, Martha was still without a buyer for the house.

             
Many interested and potential buyers inspected the house. Many made generous offers of over $2.3 million dollars for the prime location of the four-acre estate. Martha was not concerned with the money. She only wanted to sell the house to someone that would live in it and love it. Unfortunately, none of the serious buyers were interested in living in the house, much less loving it. They were only interested in demolishing the structure and rebuilding on the property. Martha ran out of potential buyers as well as willing Realtors. Every Realtor she signed with to represent the house quickly canceled their listing agreement after the first Open House. The assumed that Martha was senile and unstable due to refusing offer after offer, regardless how generous the amount. She would make each Realtor very uncomfortable when she would ask a potential buyer about their personnel family history and the status of living relatives and friends. Time after time, as the buyers would respond as to how large and caring their family was, Martha would dismiss their offer.

             
Today was Martha’s birthday and she only had a few months remaining to sell the old house to a deserving family. Having scared off every available Realtor in the area, Martha was forced to sell the house on her own.

It was an unusually warm day for February, and traffic in the area was more congested than it had been for the past several months. Martha was working down in her basement, trying to clean up some of the mess that accumulated over the years. The dark and damp basement was dimly lit by the shadowed light of a bare incandescent bulb hanging from a black frayed cord as Martha rummaged through the affects stored in corrugated boxes. She came across newspapers dated 1936 that
shouted headlines about a new zeppelin being introduced in Germany. She found an old ten-ounce soda bottle that hadn’t been used by bottlers for over 20 years. The more memories she uncovered, the more depressed she became. Every item brought back a memory that made her think fondly of better days.

     As she moved throughout the cellar, she passed in front of a ground level basement window that looked out to the front yard. She could see the “For Sale
By
Owner” sign that she placed there, just two days earlier.

    
She moved away from the window and as a beam of light shined past her, it cast a natural spotlight on a mouse gnawing at a box that sat on the floor. Martha screamed!  The mouse was just as startled and scampered off in a flash. Martha regained her composure and grabbed a nearby broom. She quietly and slowly moved in the direction of where she last saw the mouse run off and slowly raised the broom over her head. As she turned the corner around a stack of boxes ready to bounce on the furry rodent, the doorbell rang and she screamed again! Jumping back and dropping the broom, she tried to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding a thousand beats per minute. She slowly made her way up the basement stairs to the kitchen area when the doorbell rang again.

    
“Just a moment.
I’m coming,” she shouted.

     When Martha opened the front entry door, a young man, a younger woman and a small ten-year-old boy greeted her.

     The handsome young man, in his thirties asked, “Excuse me, but is this house still for sale?”

    
“Why, yes it is. Would you like to come in and look around?” Martha asked.

    
“Well, if it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition, yes that would be fine,” the young man replied.

     Martha opened the door wide and the three guests entered the house. The young woman, now in full view, was pregnant and carrying high.

    
“It’s going to be a girl,” said Martha.

    
“Well, we hope so but we will be happy no matter what it is,” replied the woman.

    
“No matter what it is?
Honey, it’s going to be either a boy or a girl, not a
what
,” said the young man.

     The young expectant mother raised her voice slightly and said, “Michael, please no jokes. You don’t even know this woman.
How embarrassing!”

    
“I see your husband is a bit of a joker,” Martha said as she laughed.

     The young mother responded sarcastically, “Yes, he can be, but I still love him regardless.”

    
The young man was very handsome. Tall with a muscular build, he was obviously a weightlifter or worked as a tradesman. His boyish face was bright and cheery as he chomped away on a wad of bubble gum stuck deep inside his cheek. A lumberjack shirt that was neatly tucked into a pair of snug fitting jeans confirmed his blue-collar status.

     As they walked into the dining room, the young man said, “Oh, I’m sorry, let me introduce my family. This is my son David.”

     Martha shook the young boys’ hand and said, “Hello there David.”

    
“Hello,” replied
the young boy.

    
David was the spitting image of his father. Dressed alike, they resembled a
poorly
cast advertisement for the great outdoorsman. Chewing gum as well, David was only a fraction of his father’s height. Dark hair and bright blue eyes glistened effortlessly as he blew pink bubbles from his mouth.

     
“This is my wife Arianna and this is our soon to be offspring (
as he pats her stomach)
whatchamacallit,” the young man said.

     “Michael!” said his wife.

    
Arianna, although very pregnant, was extremely attractive. Golden blonde hair tied back in a ponytail let her stunning facial features shine. A model’s profile featured a button nose and small gentle mouth. Big wide eyes that were crystal
blue,
sparkled as she smiled at her husband.

     “Oh, and in case you didn’t catch that, my name is Michael, but my friends sometimes call me Mike or Mickey.”

    
“Oh, like the mouse that just scared the bejesus out of me downstairs. Nice to meet all of you,” said Martha.

    
“Please come in and look around.”

     
“You have mice?” Arianna asked Martha.

     Martha realized her mistake and said, “No deary.
Mouse as in singular.
He is harmless and down in the basement.”

     Arianna let out a sigh of relief as Michael added, “Well if he’s staying with the house he’s going to have to pay rent, right David?”

     
“Right Dad!” responded the young boy.

     As they toured the house, Michael turned to Martha and said, “Listen Mrs...?”

     
“Call me Martha.”

     “Okay Martha, I have to be honest with you. We really love this old house. We have been driving by it for the last few weeks but just never had the nerve to ring your bell. You see, we can fix it up really nice, but we don’t have very much money to spend.”

     Martha paused a minute and said, “Tell me about your family. Are they excited about the new baby?”

    
“Neither of us have any family.  Michael’s parents and brother died in a car accident about 10 years ago and both of my parents passed away when I was 12. I am an only child,” Arianna replied.

    
“Oh how sad,” Martha said and continued. “Well what about grandparents, aunts, uncles...”

    
“No, we have no other family; just the three of us and the
(patting her stomach
) unnamed addition on the way,” Arianna responded as she smiled.

     “But I would take it you have many friends right Michael?” asked Martha.

    
“No, not really.
We just relocated to this area from Las Vegas where I was a contractor. I got an offer to move here with my company due to expansion, so we took advantage of the opportunity. Unfortunately, we left all of our friends behind,” Michael said.

     
“Well, I am sure your closest friends will still visit when they
get a chance,” Martha replied.

    
“Well, not unless they are supernatural,” said Arianna.

    
“Our two best friends were our best man and maid of honor at our wedding 11 years ago. They finally got married a few years ago and then perished in a house fire just last fall. It was so sad. It’s one of the reasons we decided to relocate. A fresh start if you know what I mean.”

    
“Have we depressed you enough yet
Martha?’ Michael asked.

    
He turned to Arianna and said, “Why did you tell her all that stuff? Now she is probably thinking we are bad luck or something.”

    
He turned back to Martha and said “Don’t worry Martha, you won’t die or anything in the next couple of months.”

    
Martha nearly spit out the coffee she was sipping at the time of Michael’s statement and started to cough.

     “Damn you Michael, you are always screwing around!” shouted Arianna.

     Michael patted Martha on the back and started to apologize profusely.

    
“I’m sorry
Martha, that
was just a joke. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

    
“No problem dear (
as she coughs and gasps for air
), I’m not going anywhere just yet,” Martha replied.

     Once Martha caught her breath, she asked the couple, “So you would like to take a tour my house, yes?”

     They both nodded their heads.

    
As Michael and family following Martha from room to room, upstairs and down, they marveled at the story she told of each room. Ironically, each
tale
was centered
around
Christmas. Even though the house was in need of major renovation, Michael and Arianna felt the sense of love built on the memories of the old mansion. As they returned to the foyer area where the tour had begun, Martha asked, “So Michael and Arianna; are you still interested in buying this run-down house? It needs quite a bit of fixing up.”