That House

After Melvin and I were, officially, married we started making plans for our future. He was retired, the children were grown, I was at the threshold of retirement, we could finally consume the fruits of our labor. We both loved traveling and meeting people, so journeys to other countries would be a given. Between us we'd bought four homes and an innumerable amount of cars, I know Earth had at least five, yet I had never had one built to my specification and Melvin wanted me to have my dream home. I was not enamored with the idea, but if that's what my man wants for me, how can I object. We began to window shop anytime we were out driving. If we passed a nice area or subdivision he would turn in and we'd gaze and critique, none caught my fancy.
One day while driving near highway 150, Melvin said, "Poo, lets look over here, they'll let you tell 'em what you want and how you want your house built." I reluctantly said okay and we began the laborious banter of how they look, is that the size, it's not a corner lot and on and on. He finally saw one that beckoned, Open House, Come On In. It was, truly, not something I wanted, but Melvin insisted we go in and look around. It was not completed, but a work in progress. Melvin walked all around the interior, upstairs, downstairs, the backyard and the basement. I was snobbishly peering into the rooms, but my attention was on the grey, brick cathedral ceiling home across the street. "Poo this would be a perfect home for Joe, my brother, to raise his family." "Yeah," I said still not paying attention. I guess he was satisfied with home window shopping for that day, because we drove home after that one walk through.
Afterward I became ill and between taking care of me and the grandchildren that kept coming,
we never purchased my dream home and that's okay, it would have been, yet another material possession to maintain. After Melvin transitioned I was happy we didn't move, I wouldn't have been able to afford it alone.
My brother, on the other hand, needed to move, his growing family had outgrown their modest home in the Oaks and were shopping around for a good deal. My brother is a child of obedience, so though a more spacious domain was becoming a necessity, he was not going to rush into making such a large, long term purchase.
He and his wife looked and searched, placed bids, signed contracts and for some reason or another the deals would fall through. Never dismayed, he'd say, "I guess that wasn't the one." One day he called me and told me his fraternity brother, who was a realtor, wanted them to peruse a new subdivision, no promises, just check it out. They went, they saw, they liked, they made the deal. When it was time to close my brother came over, with such delight and told me he wanted me to take the virtual tour of the home. He was so excited and his glee filtered over to me. We sat down, he started the tour and was going on about the home, the upstairs, downstairs, backyard and basement.  I could hardly catch my breath, the tears were streaming down my face. "What's wrong, What's wrong?" my brother kept asking, but I couldn't get the words out. I asked him to go back to the first picture of the foyer and from there I began to tell him about the house. I said, "Isn't there a funny little nook at the top of the stairs?" "Yes." "And isn't there a grey, brick cathedral ceiling home across the street?" "Yes." By now I was weeping uncontrollably. "Melvin picked this house for y'all before he left." That's when my brother understood the reason the other homes never came to fruition."This is the one," he said. When we told his family the story, they were at peace as well. After they settled into the new home I asked one of my nieces if she was ever afraid in their new surroundings and she said, "No, Uncle Melvin picked this house."


Tomorrow...