Week 6: Prompt 26 You haven't been there since you were little. Now you go back....

Though I was only three years old, I can still remember the fire, the house, and the neighbors.  The house sat at 36 Pine Street in Van Buren, Maine.  It had an older look to it, of course this was the seventies, it was a two story house with a basement and a detached garage, country blue in color.  The front door was always inviting with the smell of homemade cookies and fudge.  The rust colored carpeting and gold colored appliances stood out as if to invite you in.  A wall of mirrors behind the sofa hung in the living-room reflecting all that went on in there.  The stairway creaked all the way up to my toy filled playroom.  The gravel driveway was short and there was a lawn to the left.  The Cote's lived to the left and Madore's to the right.  The last look I had of this place was of burnt remains sitting in the basement.  The smell worse than a bonfire.  My walking doll was no longer white, how it survived I will never know!  The neighbor up the street came by and wanted the doll to see if she could clean her up.  I was glad to be rid of it, I hated dolls!

My grandmother passed away in 2005 and my sister and I drove up to our hometown.  I decided to take a ride to the old neighborhood.  The warm spring air was still.  There was no evidence that the house ever existed.  The Madore's bought the property and there was a huge lawn where home used to be.  The garage had been relocated up the street to the home of the girl that adopted the walking doll.  It didn't look so good anymore, it had aged and was not well maintained.  The house to the left, the Cote's home, had not changed much.  The stairs still creaked, the wraparound porch needed fresh paint, the big wood barn still stood where I had had many conversations with Mr. & Mrs. Cote and their grown son.  I walked up the few steps that I had walked many times before, and knocked on the door.  A wrinkled, aged man answered, he was the son of the Cote's.  They had since passed.  The kitchen had been updated, candy dishes were still there.  A cake on the counter, brought back memories of the sweets Mrs. Cote always had around when I'd come sit with her for hours.  When I told him who I was, his face lit up like it did when I was little.

The stillness and quietness of the neighborhood saddened me.  The elders had passed, the children had grown and gone, and there was no trace of home.  Now etched in my mind, I almost wish I hadn't gone back.