Spirits in the Windows

The house that overlooked the ocean had finally changed hands, sold for taxes in the midst of a family dispute. I stood in the gravel driveway that cold spring day and looked at it while ghosts peered back at me through the windows. My parents and grandparents, my brothers, and all the friends and family that had come and stayed for a few weeks each summer over the course of years, some of which before I was born. The house had a long history,a long memory, and many spirits still within. The key in my pocket would open the house but I hesitated, not sure I wanted the spirts and memories to come spilling out.

The playhouse was still intact, the garage and the woodshed still stood. The flagpole needed painting, damaged shingles lay here and there, and there was a broken window pane by the side steps. Grass had overcome and obscured the well but the clothesline still hung and the path to the front road was mostly clear, worn down by the hundreds of fishermen who shortcutted around the curve twice a day. No one had ever minded their small trespassing except the dogs. On either side of the path the grass grew tall and wild and it bent gently with the wind. Mowing season was past and the field had been forgotten or passed over. The sunporch windows needed washing and from the front I could see the entire house suffered from neglect. The hurricane damage had not been repaired and the foundation was uneven, giving the house an off kilter look like a picture hung just slightly
out of alignment.

But from the road, sunlight reflected in the windows and the waving grass looked natural. The tide was coming in behind me and I could hear the ferry making it's crossing, the familiar and steady chug of the engine as it navigated the tide and the currents. The factory whistle gave a shrill shriek, then another. The boats were coming in from the day's fishing - seiners, draggers, even some scallopers from the mainland, all coming home at the end of the day. The ocean was churning and the whitecaps were showing in welcome. I walked back up the path toward the house with the wind at my back and the key I woudn't use still in my pocket. The spirits in the house wished me well and I left them in peace.