SPARK

Photo by:  Melissa Pasanen

A Symphony of Home

By Mary Lucas

Squawk-snap.

The woman pulls the day’s mail from the faded black box at the curb then pushes it closed, ignoring the box’s noisy protests. Passing through the front gate her symphony of home builds with the whine of the hinge on the front gate. Stepping into her front hall the fifth row of floorboards picks up its instrument to add percussion with a familiar “pop” as the front door clicks shut.

As she makes tea at the kitchen sink the rattle of the pipes adds syncopation, punctuated by the whistle of the kettle as it ends the first movement. The stiffness in the woman’s joints matches the consistent stick in her pantry door as she replaces the tin of tea bags.

The chaos of growing children now quieted, the house offers a familiar soundtrack to keep the cloying silence of emptiness at bay. The cold perfection of the once-new home now makes way each day for new flaws and eccentricities as the house, and its owner, grow old together.