Chapter One, Episode 132 - Inscriptions - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

This morning's revision began as only a few small wording changes and punctuation corrections. However, when I talked about Dez and Emmie examining every brick, I really was concerned about the relaxing weekend they had planned. So I have re-visioned that area to cut them a bit of slack. It does seem that as I get farther in any episode, the more wording or sentence structure issues crop up.

Inscriptions

Houses do not have personalities. But then most of us know that ghosts do not exist. I’m sure Sarah, the ghost girl, the girl on the swing, would disagree. Dez and Emmie had been discussing the personality or lack of personality of the house for several hours. “Let’s go for a walk, Emmie. I’m not sure personality is the right word for a house, but every time I come up the drive, I see more than just a pile of bricks stacked up around a wood frame. Maybe, I’m seeing history?” 

“A walk. Good idea! If we go out the front door, no one will notice us.” The sisters were taking time away from work on the Estate and Dez's work in Hartley. Unable to completely re-create their pandemic two week self-isolation in March, they could, sort of, self-isolate upstairs with the benefit of Cook's culinary expertise for a weekend. From just 24 hours to a full weekend, they had settled in to relax. Emmie agreed to Dez's suggestion for a walk to humour her sister. After all of the Beaufort family celebrations and gatherings, thinking about the personality of the house seemed quite odd. She hoped that going for a walk would actually distract Dez from this crazy idea. But the first thing they saw when they went out the front door were double twin pillars supporting a small parapet. “This is what I’m talking about. When I see that, I don’t see a pile of bricks that hide pretty rooms. I see support and protection. Here - look up there.” Dez took Emmie by the elbow and led her around the far side of the house. “There. Up in the corner of the house, almost completely covered by ivy, there’s a gargoyle - and another at each corner, level with the eaves. Some say they ward off evil. More protection - right? I guess I’m sounding a little strange.” Dez did take a more artistic view of the house than probably most on the Estate did. 

Emmie was rather amused, but tried to hide it. When she thought about it though, she had always felt protected in this house. Well, except when Sarah was floated unexpectedly through a wall or window. Suddenly curious, she stopped and bent down. “Look what I’ve found, Dez.” Emmie had squatted at a corner, brushed away dirt and tugged at sparse ivy that clung to the bricks. The brick she had uncovered at the front of the house, a slightly deeper shade of brick red, was inscribed with a single word: Hope. “Do you think there may be others?” Dez was curious and excited. Each corner did have another. Kindness at the front. At the back on either corner was Wisdom and Truth. Walking the whole perimeter of the house, they looked for any other inscriptions, but only the four cornerstone bricks were inscribed. Unless they had been covered too completely by ivy, there were no others. Emmie saw her home with different eyes. She had lived within the walls for over 20 years since marrying into the Beaufort family and had wandered the grounds. She had never known the old house, her home, this intimately, but had grown to love it anyway. Emmie still didn’t believe that any house had a personality, but this house felt……….different. 

“It is not length of life, but depth of life.”

 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson