The Straw Bale House Part 2

 

Mum and Dad are busy-busy-busy. Then they tell us about the new house on the block of land, where Earl lives.

 “Will it have a pool?” I ask.

“Can Earl sleep in my room?” says Paige.

“No,” say Mum and Dad, very quickly.

 You should see me, Paige, Mum and Dad building. Our new house is going to be made out of straw. Just like the three little pigs. I don’t know how many people have made jokes about wolves…

So we’ve got a truck-load of bales of straw. Dad already built the shed. Well, he went to the shed display place in the next big town and chose one, and later Stan from the gravel place came and helped him put it up. We have a house frame with a tin roof, too. Mum, and Dad, and Paige and I move the bales in wheelbarrows. We line them up in the frame. Dad and Mum tie them down with wire.

At lunchtime on the first bale day, we sit under the big gum tree, and I can’t stop laughing. It really does look like a house from “The Three Little Pigs.”

“What are you laughing at?”

“The house looks like a fairy tale.”

“I thought you hated those wolf jokes,”

I still can’t stop laughing. Paige goes to give her apple core to Earl, who leans over the gate. He isn’t allowed near the house yet.

 On Sunday we go back. We move more bales. Mum and Dad look like scarecrows. They laugh when they see us, so probably Paige and I look like scarecrows too. Earl leans so hard on his gate, the hinges start to creak, and the wire droops.

 Paige and I sit in the house when we get tired, pretending it’s finished. Playing houses. I won’t tell Katy.

On Monday, Dad orders another truckload of straw. On Tuesday, Jan the shop lady rings and asks when he wants it delivered. On Wednesday Mum goes out with the truck to show the delivery man where the shed is. On Thursday nothing happens, and on Friday I get a phone call from Katy, saying can she come for the long weekend?

 On Saturday Mum, Dad and Paige go out to the land and put more bales onto the house. I stay home, tidying my room and waiting for Katy. Her parents are dropping her for the weekend on their way to Melbourne.

“Is your house really haunted?” says Katy when she sees the house behind the hedge.

“Might be,” I say. I smile. It is pretty cool to live in a haunted house.

India comes round. After a while Katy says she’s homesick and wants to watch TV, so I play with India.

 On Sunday, we all go out early.

“I can’t wait to see your new house,” says Katy. “Does it have a pool?”

We turn off the main road onto the dirt road. Katy gets scared. She’s never been on a dirt road before. We come to the gate with our name on it. I painted that sign. It looks good. We can see the shed up the hill, and Earl near the gate, waiting for us.

 That’s when things start to go wrong with the house. It’s like this. Earl stands near the gate…

But that wisp of something hanging from his mouth isn’t grass from the paddock… it… it’s…

We drive up to the house. I should say what’s left of it. The cows from next door and Earl and probably every sheep in the district have been there. The house looks like some sort of messy old haystack with pieces of straw hanging out like untidy blonde hair.

 “Oh….” is all Mum can say. She starts to cry. I can’t tell you what Dad says, and when he remembers Katy, he stops suddenly.

Katy stares at the house. “It really does look like the little pig’s house,” she says.

I look at the house. Actually, it does look a lot like the little pigs’ house. After the wolf blew on it.  Suddenly we’re all laughing again, even Dad and Mum.

I like having a house that makes me laugh.

Paige gets the broom and starts to sweep up bits of hay from the cement floor. The rest of us spend the day chasing animals out and fixing the fences

.“Oh well, I guess we would have had to fix those fences sooner or later,” says Mum.

As we leave, the wind comes up. In the rear vision mirror, Dad sees something odd. He stops the car and we all pile out. We see all the loose straw that Paige swept

blowing out of piles and following us down the track to blow against the fence near the gate and onto the back window of the car.

“I’ll go and check the shed once more,” says Mum. She goes into the shed, then we hear a scream. We all leap out of the car and run.

Mum’s in the shed, loose straw blowing around her, standing on a bale like a statue; if she had a skirt on she’d be holding it round her knees.

“Mice!” screams Mum.

“I’ll save you, dear,” says Dad in a silly voice. As he crosses to her a crowd of mice scamper away. I never knew Mum was so scared of mice. I laugh, again. Paige laughs so much she falls over.

Katy covers her eyes. “Tell me when they’re gone,” she whispers.