Once Upon A Rodeo

Two - [The Rescue.]

Just an hour and a half after walking into Mr. Parker's new office, I was standing in front of my new home.

The house was adorable. It had been kept up well after the previous owner's death, apart from the uncut grass, but that did little to diminish the ascetically pleasing quality of it. The land beyond it was beautiful, with forrest surrounding the house and long driveway.

Behind the house to the right, there was a barn that was in bad need of a paint job. That had not been in the picture, but I found myself happy at it's presence. Maybe I could get a horse. Directly behind the house, there was a large, fenced in field. Inside of the field, there was an inside shelter for an animal of some sorts. It looked like a baseball dug out, but above ground.

There were a few more fields behind the fenced in one, and beyond those were small, rolling hills. In the distance, there was a thick forrest. To the right of the house, if I squinted enough, I just make out the home of whomever was my next door neighbor.

I loved it.

It was just what I had wanted, and I had known that from the moment that I had been shown the picture. It was also just what I needed; the complete and permanent break from the big city and my previous life.

Sighing with content, I stepped forward towards the house.

I walked up the porch steps and was greeted with an ominous creek. My first thought was to get it fixed, but I decided against it. It gave the house more character. There was a white swing on the porch to the left of the door. It hung by rusty chains, and also needed a new coat of paint.

After opening the screen door, I stuck my key in the lock.

For some reason, I half expected it not to work. But the key slid in easily, and I unlocked the door with a turn of the key. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The first thing I noticed was everything was covered in dust. It was obvious that no one had been in here in a long, long time. Since the poor man had no next of kin, no one had probably been in the house since his death.

The first room I came into was a foyer. There was an old coat rack to my immediate right, and it appeared to be the only thing that had been left in the house. The first room on the right was the living room, and the one on the left was the dining room.

Walking past the stairs that were after the the entrance to the dining room, the were two directions in which to go; a short hallway to the left that had a bathroom and a small guest bedroom and the kitchen, which was directly in front of me.

Past the kitchen was a sunroom of sorts, with only a screen door that led to the backyard. I could see two wooden posts holding a white clothesline wire between them.

"So old fashioned," I muttered fondly to myself.

I went upstairs.

There was a linen closet directly in front of me at the top of the stairs, and two bedrooms on either side of the hallway to my left. There was another bedroom to my right that had a walk in closet (this would be my bedroom) and a bathroom across from it.

I began to bring in all of my stuff, most of it being clothes. I hung most of them up, leaving the rest in boxes to be put away when I had a dresser. After emptying my Jeep of my belongings, I went back into town.

On my way in, I had spied a second hand store that I decided to stop by. I needed furniture - I would not be sleeping not the floor.

I didn't think until about the price that would come with buying furniture. A whole house worth of furniture! I bit my lip, suddenly very glad for my late grandfather. It was very strange to think about the size of my bank account.