‘All houses are haunted. All persons are haunted. Throngs of spirits follow us everywhere. We are never alone.”
ATTRIBUTION:
Barney Sarecky, and William Beaudine. Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), The Ape Man, explaining her spiritualist beliefs to a reporter (1943)
She was happily considering moving to the countryside. She was tired of the city. It didn’t matter that the town she lived in really couldn’t be considered as a city, she considered it too urban for her tastes and now that her business had taken off, she didn’t need to live in the city. In fact, now that she ‘d sold franchises to her baking goods company in several major cities, she didn’t need to be near the town she lived in now. She was CEO of her company. They even sold stocks, for goodness sakes! She was proud and now felt she’d come into her own. Yep, Casey’s Cookies, Cakes and Pies was a major force in the bakery business...right up there with....well, not like Sara Lee or Mrs Smith’s. No, her bakery goods were made fresh and delivered to those upscales stores who dealt with upscale shoppers. Very exclusive. Yes, she could become quite uppity if she thought about it for long. She giggled. Her? Casey Roberts, uppity? She laughed heartily at that thought. No, she’d never be a snob. She had both feet on the ground. Well, other than those dreams of hers. No, she would NOT think of those right now. Maybe later....
The next day she called a realtor and told her that she was wanting to move south. She lived in New Jersey and well, she was tired of being so close to New York City. She wanted fresh air, plenty of room and not to be able to look into her neighbor’s house from her front stoop. Well, heck, she wanted to NOT even see her neighbor’s house from her front...not a stoop...she wanted a porch. One of those wrap around the house sort of porches. One of those porches that cried out for a big ole swing, freshly squeezed lemonade. Yes, she could see herself being lazy, reading a book...that kind of porch.
Where did she want the realtor to look,The realtor had asked. Sensible, feet on the ground Casey had replied, without thinking first (something Casey NEVER did)....”I don’t care, anywhere as long as it fits my criteria.” And so, the realtor had begun the search and as the days passed, had called Casey about a bunch of them. A flurry of emails with photos attached had come from her realtor. Some of them sounded great, but when she had gone to look at them.....she could see her neighbor’s house or the porch wasn’t big enough or the rooms inside were tiny. It was beginning to get frustrating for Casey.
Then, the call came. Her realtor had found a house in Louisiana. It was about an hour outside of New Orleans. The house came with a huge front porch, spacious rooms and was for sale. The kicker being that the owner had died seven years ago and it had been a tustle between the two inheriting sons. Neither wanted to live there, but they were too greedy to allow the other to get more than the other one got. It wasn’t the house itself that was at stake...it was the furniture and art inside that was the bone of contention. This bone had been fought over for seven years with no sight of either one getting what they thought was their fair share.
The state had stepped in. They were selling the house with all of the furnishings at auction. The two brothers in their struggle with each other had not paid the taxes and when this was brought to their attention, the taxes were too high for the two of them, even together, to afford. So, the house was being sold. End of story. All Casey had to do was to come down there and look at it, decide if it was for her...and if it was, bid on it at the auction. The state wasn’t waiting for all the furniture to be tagged, appraised or whatever, they wanted a good price for the entire building and what came with it. The house was not in the best shape and if they put it up for sale, well, they probably wouldn’t get a good price without all the nice furnishings and art included, so....that was that.
Casey agreed to get down there within the next two days so she could go out and look over the house. The house came with 30 acres and apparently had not been seen to in a long long time. The realtor told Casey, “I have to be honest with you, I haven’t seen it, but I’ve been told that the weeds are up past the roof of the porch and it’s been neglected for longer than the seven years since the last owner died. Be prepared. The state is having someone come out and bush hog the front yard and then have it mowed so that people can move about on the day of the auction. That should be taking place today....but still, be prepared for the worse, ok?”
Casey agreed to not hope for much, but was interested. She requested a photo, but her agent didn’t have one. Apparently there wasn’t one to be had...probably since the appearance of the house wasn’t that great and it had been so very neglected through the years.
This got my blood stirring, being that I love the real estate investment and the mysterious, unknown element! I would like to read more! Nice job, Silver!
