Safe in the Quiet

 

            Donald sat alone in his tiny home, celebrating his 65^th birthday in solitude, a chocolate cake with white frosting tempting him to consume the entire thing in one setting, of course accompanied by a glass of milk. He cut the cake into four pieces, looked at his watch to realize that it was seven forty-five in the evening, a full two hours after dinner. He slid the first slice onto his plate to deliberately take his time consuming the large slice of cake that introduced a joy that he rarely ever experienced.

              With a slight groan, he unbuttoned his pants, finished the first slice and the glass of milk and immediately began eyeballing the idea of eating a second slice. “Phew, it’s already eight thirty,” he groaned. “Wow, that is a lot of sugar. Okay, give yourself another thirty minutes before tackling the second piece.”

              Nine o’clock rolled around and he gave into his passions, slid the second slice of cake onto his plate and like the first, slowly worked through consuming a ridiculous amount of sugar. “Phew, okay, that’s enough for one evening,” he said to himself. “Ugh, I need to lie down and distract myself with something other than eating more cake.”

              He strolled down the hallway, threw his clothes into the hamper, took a cool shower, dried off, put on his sleep shorts, his socks, and a t-shirt to then lie down and resist the urge to eat more cake. Staring onto a highly textured ceiling above his bed, his mind began to run from one thought to the next to the next and to the next. “Wow, so much distraction the first fifty years of my life, so many people, so many pointless conversations, so much entertainment, and so many missed opportunities.”

              Donald reached back into his oldest memories, of time spent with friends while in middle school, playing games, watching movies, and attending concerts. “So much noise, so much distraction, so much pointless activity and wasted time,” he grumbled. “I need to do something different.”

              His home, beautifully decorated in a wealthy neighborhood, surrounded by similar expensive homes, his memories began to pick at him for time spent, money spent, and the reason for living, for existing, and for continuing on a path that provided no real joy. “Okay, that’s it, I’ll get hold of a realtor tomorrow, list the house, sell it, and find a reasonable replacement in some obscure corner in the depth of a forest with no neighbors and no opportunities to waste my time.”

              Uncertain of exactly when he fell asleep, Donald rolled to his side, opened one eye to catch a glimpse of the clock to realize that he had slept past his regular seven a.m. wake time. “Okay, time to clean the house, call the realtor and get this glorious gem listed and sold.” After a quick shower to cool off, he worked through the house from front to back, cleaning, organizing, and leaving each room in pristine condition to leave a good impression when the realtor visited for an assessment.

              Two hours after finishing his cleaning and organizational efforts, the realtor arrived with a camera, a notebook, and a laptop. Donald answered more questions that he ever imagined could be asked of him. By the end of the day, the realtor called him with his assessment and a request to come over and complete the paperwork for the listing.

              “Yes, seven p.m. would be fine,” Donald said. “Oh, one other thing, I need you to find me a small and simple home somewhere deep in a forest, obscure, unknown, with no neighbors, preferably within an hour of an actual town or community.”

              “Yes, I can do that, Donald,” the realtor said. “I’ll be arriving at your home at seven o’clock. I am sure what we can get everything in order and find you the home you have pictured in your mind. See you soon.”

              The realtor arrived, joined Donald at the kitchen table, who then exhumed a ridiculous amount of paperwork, of which Donald signed his name upon more times than he could count. “Alright, great,” the realtor said. “I’ll put all of this together tomorrow morning. Also, I found five homes that I think match your description, and we can go over them tonight if you’d like.”

              “Perfect, yes, let’s take a look,” Donald said. The realtor pulled out a folder with the listing details and a map showing the location of each.

              “I’ll quickly work through these,” the realtor said. “We can spend a few minutes on each one and I’ll leave the paperwork with you to pick through, study through, and make decisions on. I’ll call you in the morning once your house is actually listed and visible to the rest of the real estate market.”

              “That’s great,” Donald answered. “I will spend a good deal of time looking over these listings and hopefully my house will generate enough interest to sell quickly. I look forward to receiving your call in the morning. Have a good evening.”

              Donald returned to his table, spread out the listings, studied the map with each location and made a mental note of travel time and distance to the closest towns or communities. Two of the listings were immediately rejected as needing too much work or were too close to neighbors. “Okay, then, that leaves three possible homes, all very similar, close in price, and beautifully secluded. I’ll need to put them in order of preference.”

              Within nine days of his house being listed on the market, he received three offers after five showings. Within two weeks of completing the sale paperwork, he realized that he had seven weeks to pack all of his belongings, visit the three homes that met his preferences and hopefully make an offer that would be accepted.

              After a second meeting with his realtor, he and the realtor traveled to each of the three homes for a viewing, during which time Donald took notes, took photographs, and asked a lot of questions. Deciding on the second home as one that would meet his needs, he made an offer which was accepted within twenty-four hours, an opportunity that kicked all of his activity into full speed.

              By the end of the week, he and the seller completed their paperwork, he hired a moving company to load all of his belongings into trucks to be moved from a busy neighborhood to a beautiful and secluded corner of a forest. He watched the moving company carry the last of his belongings out of the house, to then pause and look into the now empty and relatively cool house that once was his home. He followed the moving truck as it weaved through the neighborhood, out of town, and into the deep forest.

              The truck pulled into the driveway of his new home, backed up to the front door, at which time he retrieved a dining room chair from the truck to sit and watch from the center of the living room while all of his belongings were carefully placed in each room. The house immediately fell silent, leaving Donald in a new home, alone, in silence, breathing easy as he knew that he had escaped from the noise and chaos of city life.

              “Phew, that is so much better,” he said out loud. “Maybe I should get a cat. A little feline company would be nice.” He had barely spoken the words when he realized that he had left the front door open and was joined by a rather skittish cat that had emerged from some obscure corner of the woods. “Would you look at that. I guess all I had to do was ask the question and here he is.”

              The Victorian rug rested against the living room wall, begging to be opened and spread out. Donald turned the rug into place, gave it a kick and watched it unroll to create an inviting and comfortable place to lie down and spread out. As soon as he laid himself out spread eagle, the cat immediately lay down on his soft and warm stomach. “Hey there buddy,” he said. “I need to give you a name, how about Larry? Does that name suit you at all?”

              “Phew, I need something to eat. It has been a long time since I ate breakfast. Time to get up and satiate this wretched emptiness,” he grumbled. “Wow, this is going to take a long time to get everything in place, unpacked, and make livable. After a quick meal, I’ll get the bathroom and the bedroom in order so I can have a decent sleep and spend tomorrow getting everything else in place.”

              His internal clock woke him at his regular seven a.m. time, leaving him somewhat confused regarding his location and where to begin. “Breakfast, I need to eat first,” he said. “I’ll eat then I’ll get the kitchen in order and move from room to room. I hope everything is clean. It does not get any better than this. I can hear nothing, no cars, no airplanes, no chaos and noise from city and neighbors. This solitude and silence will be wonderful. There is nothing better than sitting on the front porch, watching wildlife, hearing only wind and seeing a multitude of shades of green.”

              “Let’s get this house in order first,” he said out loud. “I wonder if anyone knows that I’m here. The closest neighbors are nowhere near, so this might be an interesting existence for who knows how long.” After four hours of organizing, unloading boxes, and moving around furniture, Donald found a cold drink, sat on his front porch and relished the lack of noise and distraction.