The Anchor

Chapter 1

The sun streamed in from the large living room windows; flooding the space with a warm, dust-filled light. The elderly man sat in this favorite chair facing the large sun-filled living room windows, with tears running down his worn face. He quietly sobbed. His son would soon be there to pick him up before the realtor arrived to show a young couple the house. The yellow, brown and green cross-stitching of his favorite chair had worn and frayed through over the years. He sat waiting, hoping his son would not arrive. This is his house. But he knew this fight was in vain. This is the fight that his son and daughter have had with him multiple times over the years. At first, he was able to dissuade them by saying that he could take care of a house that large at his age. His age, however, had caught up to him and over-taken his side of the argument. But he still fought that fight every time.

"I will lose everything," he told himself.

The Mr. Nelson got up and walked to the front door, watching the overcast day outside. As he turned back, he felt the warm glow of the sun on his face through the window. He found his way back to his favorite chair and with an effort, sat down. For a moment, he shut his eyes, and enjoyed the warmth.

There was a knock on the door.

Mr. Nelson's son walked in the front door, allowing the sunlight to fill the entryway, just before the door shut.

"Dad, are you ready?" He said to the older man, with guilt in his voice.

"Do I have a choice?" The older man replied, knowing that he did not.

"I am sorry...." The son said, not wanting to have the fight again. He held out his hand to help his dad to his feet. He gathered his Dad's coat and cane as the elderly man held on to his arm for support. He did not look his son in the eyes.

The son opened the front door for his dad and held it open for him as he hobbled through. He securely shut the front door, allowing the realtor's key safe to thud on the thick, wooden door.

The older man put his coat on as the son waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. The older man was deliberate, but unsteady in his walk and his son knew that he was making the right decision getting him out of this house. The old man finally got to the car and the son helped him into it. The son reached onto the dashboard and put on his sunglasses.

"Dad, it's a beautiful day to be outside." the son said as he rolled down the windows of the car, allowing the cloudless sunny day to air his car out.

"We have a new listing that may get you guys excited!" said Erica, with a hint of her own excitement spilling over.

"It is a 100 year old, 2 story house with a huge garage and a basement....

"But, is it like the rest of the 100 year old houses we have seen? You know, "Looks great from the outside, but the inside another story!" kind of thing" asked Sharon.

Sharon Davis had been looking for a house like this since she was a little girl. Fast forward 20 years and she is a new department head at the local college. In those 20 years a lot had happened; she graduated high school, went away to college, got her undergrad, found a guy, married him, had a couple of kids, and got a couple of Master's degrees. Now she is back in town to raise her kids, working as a new department head at the local college.

"Not this one." Erica said. "This one's right up your alley! It looks great on the outside, and the inside looks pretty good as well."

"Pictures can be deceiving, you know." Trevor said snidely "Looks like a lot of work to me...."

"Just ignore him, he is pretty much along for the ride unless he were to 'contribute' something to this family...." Sharon retorted.

Erica, able to see and almost taste the tension between her two new clients, tried to quickly put the focus back on what Sharon liked most about the house. "...and in the backyard, there is hot tub, and it is secluded as well...."

"That's nice, although I'll never get to use the damn thing cuz' I will be working on that house...." Trevor thought to himself. Trevor sat in the backseat of their realtor's car as they went from house to house looking at possible places for them to live and for him to fix up and sell again whenever the time came. Sitting there in the cramped space with another home-listing packet in his hand, Trevor hoped beyond hope that this would be the house Sharon wanted. He was tired of looking.

When Erica pulled into the driveway of a classic Doll House, Trevor smiled. He quickly caught himself and turned it around, hoping that she did not see it.

The women were out of the car, not worrying about the usual niceties of showing the house as a group. Erica was already 2 or 3 rooms into her tour when Trevor finally made his way in the front door. "Everything about this house is big and old." sighed Trevor. Off in the distance he could hear Erica and his wife talking in excited tones about hardwood floors and what room will become what room with the family.

"It smells like old people... Who would want to live here..."? Trevor kept muttering to himself since he needed someone to talk to that was of his same mindset. As he walked out the front door to see what the foundation looked like from the outside, he caught a chill. He headed to the realtors car to grab his jacket, but stopped halfway, thinking it was a little warm for a jacket. It was a Saturday afternoon in October and an Indian summer was in full swing. He walked around the outside of the house, doing the "manly" thing, checking the foundation for cracks...and avoiding those two. Mostly it was a great chance to be alone...too bad it would not last.

The foundation looked great. The previous owners had done a really good job making the little repairs to the house as they became necessary over the years. After walking around the house and hoping he had wasted enough time, he trudged back up the front steps and into the front door. As he walked in the door, Sharon and Erica were walking down the stairs after the tour of the upstairs bedrooms. Her eyes met his with a decision already made. He knew that look and sighed. Erica knew what his sigh meant.

After some small talk about how great the house is and what a great neighborhood it was and how close it was to downtown and all the other details that would make it seem like the decision had not been made yet, they decided to call it a day. Trevor opened the door so the ladies would leave and then closed it behind him after he walked out. There was no thought of his jacket this time as the warm south breeze blew bright fall leaves at their feet as they walked back to their car. While they drove off, the grown- ups in the front seat talked as he sat quietly in the backseat. They had not asked for his opinion yet and it probably would not happen anytime soon.