The first thing she noticed was the broken windows on the garage door.  If you could really call it a garage door with the paint chipping extremely and a hole in the bottom corner that looked like it was made by mice.  What color was it suppose to be anyways, brown or white?  Did it even open?  Despite how it looked, she was definitely going to explore later.  Cindy was not afraid of mice, or bugs for that matter. 

She got out of the car and turned to look at the house.  The yard was full of branches and leaves and it looked like the lawn hadn't been mowed in two months.  The front door looked like a family a spiders had made a home, especially since mountains of ants were living inside the front steps. There were no broken windows on the house, but there were shutters missing and some drooping.  Shingles were laying in the front yard like they had a confetti party, and there were some trees clinging to the side of the house.  How is this house legal to live in?

"Are you sure you got the address right?"  Cindy looked at her mom, but her dad answered.

"It needs a little work, but your mom and I agreed to work on it together, as a family.  Like a litte summer project.  You can help too if you want Cindy.  This summer can be fun."

Cindy scoffed at her dad thinking that he could talk to her, and let herself into the front door.  She thought it would be fun to fix up the house, but Cindy wanted her and her dad to be friends again. Maybe she should just forget what he did and surrender.

The front door, of course, squeaked like a haunted house.  The musty smell caught Cindy in the nose right away.  Coughing at the dust that lingered in the air, Cindy went to the nearest window and opened it, with more effort than it should have been.  The light breeze quickly entered the house, and Cindy was relieved that her cough went away.  She didn't have allergies, but this was all new to her.  She was used to trees, not dust bunnies. 

Walking farther in, Cindy found more windows and started opening all of them, well at least the ones that were't painted shut.  The breeze quickly made the musty smell dicipate a little.  Cindy tried taking it in and focusing on the positives.  Well, there really wasn't anything positive yet, but she still hasn't found her room.  She started looking for the stairs, assuming she would be upstairs. 

"What are you looking for Cindy?"  Her dad had just walked in, her mom walking behind him.  She looked between the both of them and decided to ask her mom.

"Where is my room mom?" 

"I am sorry hun, your dad is going to have to show you.  I can't climb stairs that well.  Your brother makes it hard for me to walk sometimes."  Rose rubbed her belly and headed back to the car to grab some things.

Cindy followed her dad awkwardly through the house.  Looking around, she saw more defects that they family would have to fix this summer.  Passing the kitchen she noticed there was no microwave, just an empty hole above the stove.  The stove looked like it came from the 50's.  It had that famous robin blue color, but at least it looked usuable, just needed to be cleaned.  The fridge hummed, maybe louder that it should.  Cindy imagined it humming so loud that it would start to shake and come to life, stomping all over the house.  She giggled in silence at the thought. 

They continued down a hallway in silence, Cindy glancing around.  The first door on the left was a bathroom.  There were tiles missing on the floor, which made nice homes for some ants.  The shower door looked new, but the shower was starting to brown.  The sink was missing a faucet and the toilet looked like it has seen better days.

"Yes, it does flush," Cindy's dad said noticing the disgusted look on her face.  "I know it doesn't look, like much now.  But it was all we could afford.  Once we fix it up, it will be a dream house."

Down the hall a little further, there was a room on the right side, the nursery.  There was another room farther down, Cindy walked right in.  She hadn't seen any stairs, so she thought this room was hers. 

"This is mine and your mom's room."  Cindy was upset.  Was there even a room for her?  She hoped it wasn't in the basement.  Cindy never liked basements.  She would rather sleep in the falling apart garage than live in the basement. She read Stephen King's "The Night Shift."  She still didn't want to talk to her dad so she just looked at him in confusion.  "Your room is this way."

Cindy's dad walked out of the room to the end of the hall where there was a door.  Cindy followed him.  The door was cracked right down the middle, but it seemed to hold itself into place when Ray opened it. 

They were both met with the steam of humidity, and the tickling of cobwebs.  The stairs looked rickety, and they were.  Each step seemed to creak louder than the last.  They were steep, like every stair that was ever built back in the stone age.  No back sides on them either, Cindy's foot could fall through if she wasn't careful. Her baby brother would never be allowed to walk up these steps. 

After destroying about twenty spider homes, they made it to the top step, brushing themselves off.  There was a window right at the top with no screen looking out into the backyard.  It too looked like it was painted shut, and it definetely needed to be cleaned. Cindy tried squinting out to see something.  She managed to see a fence surrounding the neighbor's yard.  Behind the fence she saw a man.  Maybe some day should would meet the neighbor.  Squinting closer to the window, she saw the man pacing.  Back and forth he went.  Cindy didn't think anything of it.  A lot of people pace, maybe he was just trying to calm down.  What was really strange though was that he was carrying a baseball bat on his shoulder.  Cindy shrugged her shoulders and turned away.  Yes she wondered why he was pacing with a bat on his shoulders, but it wasn't her business to spy on the neighbors.

Turning the corner, she saw all of the space that she had.  It was a decent size room, considering it was the attic. There were vaulted ceilings and another window on the other side.  Cindy walked over the open it.  The breeze from outside immediately made the room ten degrees colder, and the humidity diminish. 

She looked around and noticed two doors built in to the wall.

"Those are your closets," her dad said.  He looked around Cindy's room like he was proud of the choice that he made for her to live in the attic.  "Your mom and I thought that since you are getting older, you would like a little more privacy.  Plus, you wouldn't have to hear the baby crying in the middle of the night."

"Uh huh."  Cindy kept looking around her room trying to come up with ideas to make it her own.  Once she had her 3D puzzle animal zoo, it would all come together.  She'd make fake cages for them and trees for the monkeys.  She would even create an imaginary ocean for the fish and mermaids. 

"Cindy look."  Uh Oh.  Cindy thought.  This is how dad starts all of his lectures.  Cindy took a deep breath and turned around to look at her dad, preparing for him to ramble on. 

"I know this isn't your first choice for a home.  I am sorry that I was stern with you back in Montana, but I am a little stressed out.  I think we all are.  I am being selfish and putting my feelings before yours.  I hope that you will forgive me, but this new job is giving me a huge pay raise.  A pay raise that will help us fix up this house.  It will be perfect for us when it's done.  If there is anything you need for your room, you just let me know.  I will put it on the shopping list.  OK?"

"OK Dad."  Cindy smiled at her dad for the first time in two weeks.

"Friends again?"  He asked as he put out his hand in front of her.

"Friends."  Cindy giggled as her dad grabbed her into a huge bear hug.  "The room is not the best, but I have some ideas in mind that would turn it into something great."  Cindy looked at the ceiling full of graffiti and discovered a new disgusted look for her face.  A paint job would be the first thing for her to do up here. 

"I am going to go and help take some things out of the U-Haul.  Feel free to stay up here as long as you'd like.  Let me know your great ideas and we can work on it together."

"Want to get some paint later?  Maybe a light purple?"  Cindy's hopes rose a little bit.  She could picture it now.  Light purple room, she'd create some paintings of the sky to go behind her zoo.  She was getting excited. 

"Sounds like a good plan."  Cindy's dad winked at her and headed down the stairs. 

Cindy took one last look at her room.  She was going to have fun decorating it for sure.  She headed for the stairs.  She peeked out of the window again and the man was gone.  He must have calmed down and went inside.  Hopefully the bat was for something unharmful. 

Cindy went downstairs to help unpack.  Someone must have brought in the chair for her mom, she was taking a break already in the living room. 

"Are you doing OK mom?"  Cindy asked with concern.  Her mom had been having a tough time with her pregnancy, but she never admitted it.  Cindy knew just by watching her that she was always uncomfortable. 

"I am fine dear, your brother just keeps moving on me."  Rose giggled.  "Come and feel."

This wasn't the first time that Cindy felt the baby move in her mom's belly, but it was always nice to feel him.  Cindy thought it was a wonderful experience and knew that her mom was joyful about it in every way.

"Mom, can I go over and meet the neighbors?"  Cindy asked her mom.  If she knew them, it wouldn't be considered spying right?

"What neighbors are you talking about Cindy?"  Rose asked, adjusting herself on the chair.

Cindy was confused.  They were in the suburbs, but there was only one house that was walking distance from where they lived.

"The house in the backyard, the one with the fence around it."

"Oh, sweetheart.  That house has been abandoned for the last thirty years.  We don't have neighbors."