It Came From His Room(George Wilder) The house was big and beautiful and nothing like we had ever experienced and lived before. The children emerged from the car and ran towards their new and gorgeous home with glee. My wife and I railed at their excitement. Actually we were all excited with giggles about our new home. And it was about time, that I finally owned something that no one could take away from me. It was located in South Peterson, Illinois, with a population of only a few thousand. We wanted to get away as far as we could from Chicago. This was a suburb where nothing exciting ever happened and after Chicago, that was the way we wanted it to be. It had everything but the white picket fence out front. We could always erect one later. My wife, Lisa Thurman and I, Mark Thurman had pooled our hard earned resources over number of years along with some long term savings to buy this house that could be best described as being out in the middle of no where, however, we loved it. It was a wonderful ranch style home, however, without the horses. This was a single family home of about two thousand and four hundred square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The exterior included a two car garage and a fantastic driveway. No more of living on top of and right next to rowdy and noisy neighbors. Wooden and pine oak floors almost in every room of the house.

The interior could only be explained as immaculate. There was central air, a fireplace, glossy hardwood and tiled floors even in the bathroom. We loved it. The furniture had arrived about an hour ago before we had come. As mentioned, our children Amy eleven and Jeffery twelve, quickly darted and ran to claim their rooms which were located on the second floor of our new home. Once inside, I immediately claimed the den. My wife was sold on the spacious bedrooms. I had been recently promoted at the employment agency where I worked now as an assistant district manager. My wife Lisa was a Chicago Public School teacher and she was pulling down the big bucks. So, therefore, we would have no problems paying the monthly high mortgage as long as they did not lay her off as was being talked about. I was the district manager of Shelby’s Park District. As a family, we were all smiles.

The city life had really taken its toll my wife and I. We wanted a safe place for our children to play and grow up and to have good and solid friends. We all knew that there was no real escape from crime and that it could hit anywhere, anytime, and anyone. However, we knew that in South Peterson, Illinois deadly crime was not an everyday occurrence. After a few weeks, as the family had become so attached to the house it was so unbelievable. I could not wait to get our children out of public schools, in my view; they have become some of the worse in the nation. With all the noise locally and nationally, I knew that I wanted my kids in a safer neighborhood and a school where they could learn without the media sticking a microphone up in their young faces. I believe we had found that.

My wife and I always enjoyed a clean house, and this house deserved nothing less. She had learned it from her parents, and so did I learn from my own, parents. After a few weeks, Amy’s room could have stood some improving; however, on the other hand, Jeffery’s room was always a colossal mess. His clothes were hanging half way out of his dresser drawers. Half eaten hamburger sandwiches and French fries were located way under his bed now with mold. His rotting manure was slimed upside the walls. Urine covered the beddings. We figured with plenty of input coated with immense threats from the both of us, would do the trick. We wanted the entire house to be one as it pertains to cleanliness. This was going to be hard work for my little Jeffery.

This was the life. We had a nice car, a house, lovely children, and we were finally away from Chicago, a beautiful city but just not for my family. On this wonderful Saturday morning I wanted to step out and see the neighborhood and try and meet some of our new neighbors. I’m sure that someone saw us moving into the house. However, they did not bother to come over and introduce themselves. I finally had a real house to call home. It was exciting, my wife and I had worked very hard for this day. As I walked around, Peterson, Illinois, it was a very quiet place not many people were out and about. This was a far contrast from the City of Chicago. The area where we lived in Chicago was congested, people walking on top of other people, almost literally. You were lucky if you found a parking space at all, and even luckier if you were not ticketed and towed from a parking space by a quota driven attendant. A rag-tag gang sent their lieutenant out each day to case the neighborhood to try and find the best place to spray graffiti paint when no one was looking. Graffiti went up, it was down the next day, the city saw to it. In general, Chicago is not a bad place to live, again, it just was not for me and my family or maybe we were just seeking that big change. However, there were lots of businesses in that area of Chicago. You really did not need a car. Most of every thing that you could want was in walking distance of any residence. Here in Peterson, if you wanted to go and buy a bottle of water, you had to drive for miles just to do that.

I saw only a few people, maybe neighbors, rushing off to do weekend errands, I assumed. I waved my friendly hand at them and they waved and greeted me in return as they pulled out of their garages and then drove on down the quiet and serene streets of this western suburb. I turned around and headed back in the house. Suddenly, I heard a weird noise coming from upstairs where the kids’ rooms were located. I ventured up and I discovered that Amy had her door wide opened and she was on her cellphone yapping away to some friend she had left behind in Chicago. But the door to my son Jeffery’s room was shut tight and bolted. “Open this door, Jeffery.” I shouted. “You do not lock doors in this house.”

His room was nasty and dirty as usual, he was a good kid, Jeffery just did not know how to clean up period. Shit was everywhere. I could not understand it, the boy just did not have a knack cleaning up his messes. Again, Jeffery was a good kid, a smart kid with good grades and all that. He had great and wonderful friends. However, Ice cream wrappers, toilet paper, chicken bones, mac and cheese, and more could be found in clusters in the room somewhere that been in there for days if not weeks. Now at the age of thirteen, I was expecting him to be a lot more responsible, after all we had a new house. On some days I would talk to the entire family about the way this house should be kept. The words seem to just bounce right off of my son’s head into oblivion. Do not get me wrong, Jeffrey enjoyed the new house, especially the surrounding areas such as the playground that was just across the street, the library a few doors down and his friends from school.

“Now look Jeffery, I love you and all that, but you cannot keep your room the way your last room was kept. I will not have it.
“But dad, this way, I will know where all my stuff is.”
“Clean up this room right now,” I told him mildly. “Every room in this house will look presentable and yours will be no exception.” I walked out of his room expecting improvements. I walked back down the stairs and saw my lovely wife preparing ice cream snacks for all of us on this hot and searing evening. I was still in awe of the new house and I just marveled at the big green lawn that sat outside and on our property. I just love plants and flowers, they can make a house more beautiful than it actually is, however, I loved plants and flowers no matter where they were. They were just as alive as my family. We always preserved life in any form.

Once my wife was done with the goodies, I called everyone downstairs, and as we set around the table, I asked them to say what was so special about our new home that they admired.

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