Individual items picked. Studied. It’s future to be decided.
Choose left to keep? Right to toss? Centre to sell?
Out-of-date, broken remnants unearthed.
Remembrances resurfaced and retained.
Boxed. Labelled. Stacked. Carried.
An uncluttered cavity created.
It echoes loud silence.
Front door locked.
Family relocated.
Only the unshifting shell remains.
(50 words)
There’s this guy who wrote messages underneath kitchen drawers as his secret farewell memento in houses he’d once occupied. Others have scratched names on trees, initialled wet cement, and children’s growth marks have been left inconspicuously on door frames.
What secret mark have you ever left in a previously lived-in dwelling?
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24/11/2015 at 10:27 pm
When I read about the person who wrote messages under kitchen drawers, I instantly regretted not having thought of such a clever good-bye. I have almost finished writing a book about moving dozens of times; all those lost opportunities! But I suppose I can be philosophical and say that it meant I was truly ready to move on, even if I thought I wasn’t. Hmm…
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25/11/2015 at 1:04 pm
The stories and secrets that houses could tell… endless possibilities. Thanks for the comment, and congratulations on nearly finishing your book. 🙂
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24/11/2015 at 11:21 pm
What a great piece, we have all done it but yet none of yet have really done it.Thank you
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25/11/2015 at 1:06 pm
Thank you, David. I’m sure most of us have left some mark, somewhere – where the real estate agents/ landlords can’t find, and what we won’t own up to.
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25/11/2015 at 1:21 am
I once left a ketchup stain on the living room carpet. Does that count?
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25/11/2015 at 1:08 pm
That’s pretty tame. 😛 Unless it was a stain on white carpet – then you could’ve made out it was a post-murder site?
Thanks for commenting.
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25/11/2015 at 2:49 am
Enjoyed reading this excellent piece.
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25/11/2015 at 1:11 pm
Wow. Thank you, kind sir.
(*Me – doing embarrassing happy-dance far away from any witnesses.*)
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25/11/2015 at 1:12 pm
Smiling
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25/11/2015 at 9:04 am
I can’t believe through all the years of rented and bought accommodation across two continents I’ve never left a secret mark. The wasteland that is my life has been truly revealed
*makes note to contact estate agent in the morning*
🙂
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25/11/2015 at 1:19 pm
Dude, seriously? Nil marks, nowhere? Wow! You’re a rare breed, my friend. Should’ve been called Mark. Mark-less, Mark-free… move along, there’s no-Mark’s here! 😛
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25/11/2015 at 3:33 pm
Good question, I remember stick random items in a hole in the floor once. But that was when I was a kid. 🙂
When we remodeled our house we found old newspapers in the walls, that was fun.
If we ever move from our current house the next person will find hundreds of dead bees in the wall. Some bees made a nest in the wall and I plugged the hole.
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26/11/2015 at 10:13 am
Great comment. Newspapers would be a common find in old houses & uncovered treasures beneath floor boards has my mind rambling off on its own tangent. But bees? That’s new. ☺Thank you so much for sharing.
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01/12/2015 at 4:12 pm
I know it’s not exactly the answer you asked for, but one of my neighbor’s kids wrote something in marker on the underside of a table in my house. He was very young, though, so I didn’t get too upset about it. What can you do? In any case, nobody else will ever notice unless, for some unaccountable reason, they decide to get down on their hands and knees and start examining my furniture from the underside. 🙂
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02/12/2015 at 1:06 am
I remembered doing that at the end of school year where we’d flip desks to pack up the classes & sign our names ( and try not to get busted by teaches). Thank you for jogging my memory & for your comment. Much appreciated of the visit too ☺
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02/12/2015 at 3:48 pm
I vaguely remember some kids doing something similar on our last day at elementary school. I don’t think I did, though. I was probably too busy dancing and cheering. 🙂
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