Evil Whispers From The Pines

We Got a House

Despite the fact we loved living at my Aunt's house we knew we needed a space of our own particularly when my older sister, her husband and three kids joined us. In our previous town, they lived near us and I went over to my older sister's house frequently to help her with the three little kids who were almost like triplets being barely a year apart. To lure them to California, my dad promised to get them a place with us if they would make the move. He loved his family and did not want to be 8 hours away from his grandkids. My sister had Irish triplets (babies that are barely a year apart) and needed a lot of help with them. Having me and my mother around was live-in child care help. My brother-in-law also worked for my dad and wasn't highly employable elsewhere. My sister met and married him when she was only 17. And he was a biker/hippie type of person. So his appearance alone was enough to keep the job offers from flowing in but he also had a tendency to come and go when he pleased. Anyway, it wasn't hard to talk them into moving along with us. Now we just needed the place.
My Aunt was sad to see us go because we filled up her otherwise empty house. There were multiple people in every room. And, a huge bonus to that was the occult was no longer coming and going in vacant areas of the house to alarm her. I guess seeing all the people around her at that time, they mostly left her alone. I get now why she would have been more than willing to deal with a house brimming over with people.

Every move we ever made had to be done with a lot of consideration. We always had a lot of people living with us. We had relatives like Granmas, Aunts, and Cousins live with us at various times. My dad also let some of the workers that came to him without the means to get a place live with us until they could get on their feet. Sometimes that was weeks, sometimes months, but we had a few live with us for years. So we needed large places that could accommodate multiple generations, more than one family or virtual strangers. Not a lot of houses that are for rent fit all those criteria. The other huge factor was the cost. My dad's work followed the feast or famine pattern. Sometimes we had a lot of money and, other times, there was very little money. So, when mom and dad went to the real estate office to find a place to rent or lease they expected it would take awhile. It wasn't a super large area to begin with.

To their surprise and delight a house that fit all of the criteria became available and it was maybe 7 miles up over the summit and just down the other side of the mountain from my Aunt's house. It meant that my dad would have a quick and easy drive to get to her house to do work and I was within the bus route for the high school.

I remember when we first heard mom and dad rented a house we were very excited. We could finally get all of our stuff out of storage and things would get back to normal. Or at least we thought. We did not realize, at that time, how wrong we were. Still, as much as we enjoyed staying at my Aunt's house, where there were all the luxuries and food was abundant, we looked forward to having all of our things again. If I had known what we were about to experience I would have pleaded with my parents to stay at my Aunt's house until we could find something better. Thing is, on that mountain, at that time, with as many occult members as there were all about, we may not have found anything better. At least not that we could afford.
Mom and dad went with the realtor to look at the house before renting it. When mom described it she told us it was a beautiful big house set down in a wooded area with a private drive. She said we would all be able to have our own rooms which was a huge plus as we often had to share. Briefly she mentioned that there were some dead cats in the refrigerator in the basement area but the realtor had offered some excuse like the people that lived there were taxidermists or something like that. I can't completely recall now but I remember my mom was nervous about it and the realtor said something that eased her concerns. I think my mom allowed herself to be calmed. I have to tell you if I was considering buying or renting a house and we roll up to look at it and there were dead cats or other animals anywhere I would go all Eddie Murphy on it and take it as a good reason not to get that particular house. But, again, we did not have a lot of options so we looked the other way on a lot of things. Mom also said the basement was not cement or tiled or anything that there was a carpet over the dirt. She thought that was weird but the realtor said it was one of the reasons the rent was inexpensive. That part of the house was not finished. As the family of a contractor, we were used to living in partially finished structures.

It was always a relief when we found something. One time we had such a hard time finding a place that we lived off the grid for several months. We not only had a large family with pets to house, we always had a very limited budget. That made finding a house that worked for us a huge endeavor. My father would often swing a deal with the owners to fix up or remodel the house, or do work for the owners, as a way to supplement the rent and get something beyond a trailer park. Still we always lived in old, fairly run down houses, in lower middle class areas. With all the criteria around renting a place, there was always a big sigh of relief that we found something. It was no different with this house. Despite all the vacation rentals, the pool of houses available to rent in that area was very limited. And the pool of houses that were large enough for a mixed generation family of 10 was even more limited. That is why we were all so excited initially when we found out we got a house.

I was so excited. Just couldn't wait to see and decorate my new room!