Whose House Is This?

The people who bought

it from us took down

our shutters, dug out

our willow, and put up

a deck. The people who

bought it from them

angled the roof like a

lifted wing and added

two skylights. Their

improvements look good

but we screened in the car-

port to make it a porch,

then we closed in

the porch to make it a

room. We put up the shed

and the basketball

court. We anchored the

swing set in cans of

concrete. Our wagons and

bicycles cluttered

the drive, and our bossy

black spaniel patrolled

the backyard. We staked

out our claim in the studs,

in the tiles, in the

concrete slab floors.

It will always be ours.