PEREGRINATE

CHAPTER 2

If our house reflected how our fresh start would go it was going to be plain awful. No houses nearby as far as I could see. So loneliness would be a part of it.

The one reason for the lack of other houses would be that my dad was the only operator of the power plant who was not from the town. Most of the other workers were permanent residents and did not require quarters to live.

The house was located quite a bit of distance from the town center. There were other houses along the way but ours seem to be right at the end of the road. It was a two-storeyed house colored peach. The front lawn was overridden with weeds. Our neighbors were nowhere in sight but there was plenty of privacy. For the serial killer who would murder us in our sleep.

"Don't think we would need some walls and a gate in place of this dubious fence?" I presented my evidence by merely touching a part of the wooden fence that easily fell apart.

"There is hardly anyone around," my dad easily dismissed my fears.

"That is what I am worried about," I said empathetically.

As for security, the door did have a gate and my dad promised to install a doorbell with a camera.

"People do live in sparse places like this. It is just that you have grown up in a city and are just used to having people around. And if you want I can even get a dog. Though I pity the poor robber who visits our house as you will have him on his knees in mere minutes with the kickboxing classes I have been shelling my money on." He placed another luggage on the road.

We walked the little path to our front door. Calling it a path was generous as here the grasses were sparse enough to see that we were not stepping into any hole or reptile. The yard was in serious need of maintenance.

The uneven ground did not let us roll our luggage so we had to lift them to carry them into the house.

"Why the house is in such pathetic condition?" I asked panting. Who knew I had so many clothes?

"No one has stayed here in years. The previous supervisor was from here itself and he died."

"Wow. And I thought retirement came first."

There was furniture behind the front door but they were covered with a thick layer of dust. Cobwebs the size of my face hung at the corners. And I thought I heard the sounds of critters running by.

The whole place had to be dusted and aired out. It was a good thing that we arrived at noon. It took us a few hours to make the place more habitable. First, we took the sheets off the furniture in the bedrooms. There were two downstairs and another upstairs. Dad decided to take the downstairs rooms as his office and bedroom. The room upstairs was more like a loft which covered the entire house as a single room with an attached bathroom. But it had no doors so anyone climbing the stairs on the way to the roof could have a free peek. I didn't want to take the room till I saw the other two walls were covered with wall-to-wall windows with an attached Juliet balcony.

I could just place a bell at the bottom of the staircase and ask my dad to ring it before coming up.

My room was relatively empty except for the old bed. So we aired out the old mattress and just swept out the floors.

Next, we cleaned the bathrooms and his room. By the time we were done, it was dark and we were massively hungry. A single piece of naan was not enough nourishment. But I had never expected the rigorous labor that awaited us. To tame an empty house into a habitable abode before nighttime was a Herculean task for which we neither had enough energy nor time. We had been traveling for over 24 hours and I could not wait to crash onto my bed.