A: Not the one you're thinking.
Q: What's that supposed to mean?
A: I mean that you're thinking about a movie about a small child left home alone while his family goes on vacation for Christmas. I'm not talking about that.
Q: Well fine then.
A: I'm talking about how when I'm home alone, I like to pretend that I'm on my own. I know that it's my parents' house, and I know that they still live there and all that, and it's really just a temporary situation of my being home alone, but I still pretend.
Once Mom's out to work and Dad's on service calls, and my brother's in summer classes, I just revel in the silence. Everything feels stiller when the house is empty. It's just me and the dog. Even the dust bunnies speak in whispers. Not that I hear them...because that would mean that I was insane...heh. Anyway.
In high school when I had the house to myself, I used to blast show tunes and sing through the entire Wicked or RENT or Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. At the top of my lungs. It was glorious because I could hear myself echoing throughout the entire house and I could dance up and down the hardwood floors without anyone judging me or telling me to be quiet. I could be as loud as I wanted to be. I could belt out the high notes, and if my voice cracked...no one knew. I miss that.
Nowadays I spend my alone afternoons pretending that I'm living in my very own house, but I'm quieter than I used to be. At least, that was the case today. I made myself a cute little sandwich lunch and I settled down to watch a movie with the surround sound on. Not that it mattered, because Seven Year Itch didn't really have much in the way of sound that should surround a person. But anyway, after that I did dishes and threw in the laundry, because that's what I would do if I was on my own, I would never leave the sink full of dirty dishes, mostly because that's gross. Even though I've been lazy at school...we're not going to talk about that. And then I read. A little bit.
But all of this is really exciting because I'm set to house sit for my aunt soon. For a whole week. I think. Maybe it's ten days. I should probably look that up... But I'm excited because I'll get to scare their little dog with my show tune belting, curl up on their couch and watch a movie on their big screen TV, read and write outside on the covered porch...hell, I could even hang out outside while it's raining. And it'll be like I'm living out on my own. Just like a mini adventure.
"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."
- Maya Angelou
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