My mother was riding with me in a car which I was driving in the country. We came upon a house where I knew the owner had recently died. Even though I had only lived a short while in this area, I had heard about the man. He hadn't been well-liked. He had been somewhat of a rebel and had fomented controversy in local politics. 

I stopped the car, stepped out, and walked around the house until I found an open door. I walked in. It was my understanding that starting today, people could take anything they wanted from the house. I had arrived early and only one other person was in the house, so almost nothing had been touched.

I picked up a small box of items and held onto it as I walked through the house. I was surprised by how little of interest I saw: mostly very old stuff, not really antiques, just stuff of little value. I walked out the back door into a patio area. As other people began arriving, I had doubts about whether I actually was permitted to take things, or whether someone else might have acquired rights to all the property.

Quite a few things had been set out on the patio. I found a bag and looked inside. It was filed with several tied bundles of old letters, cards and pictures. One picture was of one of my old high school schoolmates, Beasley. It was a picture which had been published in my high school yearbook and it showed Beasley dancing with a girl. I figured other interesting pictures were probably in the bag.  I immediately wanted this bag, which probably contained the whole life history of the man who had lived in the house. Maybe some interesting post cards were even in the bag. I held onto it.

Another person was going through the drawers of a desk sitting on the patio. I also looked in the drawers, but they were empty.

I walked back inside. People were now quickly grabbing up stuff. I saw a row of perhaps 50 old 78 RPM record albums. They were in good shape but they didn't look interesting. I picked up one album and added it to my stash, but I didn't' take any more.

I saw an old interesting-looking telephone. It looked like one of the first telephones ever made, like a prototype. It was the kind with the separate mouthpiece to be held in the hand and spoken into. I picked it up and began talking with someone on the other end. I was amazed that it worked, but I didn't want it and I put it back down.

I just wanted to leave now. I saw my mother and she told me she had seen someone take a nice tea set. I wasn't interested. I just wanted out and I headed toward a back door. I hoped to leave without being seen. I walked out the back door just as several men (about 30 years old) were coming in. They were all drinking beer from brown long necks. I had met one of the fellows once before. I told him the beer looked good and he told me I could have his because he wasn't' going to take it inside. I hesitated, then took the bottle, about a third full. I thanked him and I walked off along the outside of the house.

As I took a drink of beer, I thought about the germs that might be on the bottle. I wondered if anyone had seen me taking someone else's beer. I was a little ashamed, but the beer tasted so good, I kept it.

I headed toward my car. I wanted to look through the old letters as soon as I could.

Dream Epics Home Page