Dream Home

'It's nearly time to go, mate.'

Justin stuck his head around the corner of the dirty old workshop and took in the sight of Frank sitting on the floor. He was so engrossed in contemplating the small, black notebook he held in his scarred hands that he hadn't even registered Justin was speaking. The familiar growl of the incoming wormhole was starting and they were standing in an abandoned mechanics building, anticipating the next leg of their adventure. They had tracked this interstellar opening for days and Justin was thirsty as he addressed the essentially empty room. "Reckon there are any beers in that fridge? They might not even have good water where we end up next so we should check to make sure.' Justin walked quickly across to the old rusty fridge and yanked it open. The door broke and crashed loudly onto Justin's foot, then the floor, snapping Frank out of his haze.

'WHAT?! Wait, is it time?' Frank seemed bewildered and displaced. He looked down at his hands with their two angry marks from a childhood accident. The book he held in them looked compact and unassuming. It felt magnetic and the pages made the scars circling his palms feel electric, almost like it was conductive but organic. It felt...strange. Like something not made in this world.

The growl was getting louder and Justin was agitated. 'I don't know whats so amazing about that notebook but its time to GO and i just smashed my foot up while you were sitting there like a bloody goose, alright? There's no beer, check that work bench for anything drinkable and then Let's. Go.' He stumbled out of the room and left Frank to do a final check. The growl was deafening as Frank stood up. As he walked over to the workbench he considered the notebook. He had found it at his grandmothers house as a child and was rarely without it since, however, in the moments before the opening began, it suddenly became alive. As he considered this, the dark metal cap of a bottle caught his eye. 'Justin gets his drink after all' he thought. Frank tucked the book into his shirt pocket and used both hands to pull the bottle out from where it was wedged.

The familiar tearing sound of space and time separating began. This was it, the one way trip was here again. The book still niggled in his mind and Frank laughed wholeheartedly at the absurd importance his brain had assigned the question 'Where had it come from after all?' Justin's voice rang out 'Let's GO you cooked goose, COME ON!' Frank gave the bottle one final heave and as it came free, the book slipped unnoticed out onto the bench. Frank rushed into the room and thrust the dusty old bottle at Justin. As they lined up to take their leap, Franks hands went instinctively to the pocket that no longer held his book. As the realisation dawned on him the choice he had to make, Justin made it for him and shoved his brother firmly through the wormhole leaving the workshop and the book behind them.

________________________

Claudia looked at her watch. 7:27. Time to put the kettle on, he would be home soon. She started clearing off their small kitchen table, taking all her paper craft supplies to a tidy box in the corner of their cramped little apartment. Claudia heaved a deep, heartfelt sigh as she surveyed the messy room that they resided in. 'Not quite the dream home we had in mind' she thought. The kettles whistle snapped her out of the bitter train of thought circling in her head. The door opened and in walked Ben, beaming from ear to ear.

'Hello my love! Did you sleep?' Ben swept her up in a warm embrace and spun around the room bumping the chairs and table, knocking down the box of paper scraps to the floor and covering everything with colourful leaves. 'Oh Ben! Look what we've done!' Claudia broke away and rushed to clean up the mess they had created. From her crouch on the floor she continued 'I clocked a couple of hours but i was up early enough to make another flower, look!' She stood up excitedly and held out the most delicately crafted paper rose. Ben took it and put it to his nose, inhaling deeply."Oh, the scent, it's divine' he crooned, grinning at her. 'I shall go plant it. Here, look at this while i visit our garden! Found it on the salvage. It was the weirdest thing, this old garage with a crazy looking burn on the wall and a fridge full of maggots that had rusted out and dropped its door clean off!' He tossed his prize find and turned to walk into the only other room of their home, the bedroom, complete with a beautiful rose garden.

Claudia put both hands up and caught what Ben had thrown. Opening them up, she gasped as she took in the complete strangeness of the item in front of her eyes. It was a small, black book. It felt heavy, a bit chunky for her petite hands but so beautiful to hold. It had an energy she couldn't put her finger on. Familiar. Enigmatic. Curious. Brimming full of potential and humming with expectation. It felt exciting, new but lifetimes old. It was a strange moment and she felt almost as if time were slowing down.

'Shall we have some tea then Claude?'

Ben's voice broke sharply through her contemplative haze and she jumped at the shock of it. 'Yes, that sounds like a good idea' she replied. 'Tea and showers, then off to face the day.' Claudia smiled at her hard working husband as she slipped his gift into the work bag sitting beside her. 'Everyday is worth facing if it has you in it, Mrs Claudia Barclay!' Ben minced over to his wife with two mugs of tea and he kissed her on the forehead. 'We just have to make it to Christmas and then we can relax a bit on all this work. Just gotta make hay while the sun shines! Claudia smiled up from the floor as she accepted her tea. 'Ill grab another lottery entry at the grocers today. You never know what could happen, did you hear how big the pool is now? Its going to be a windfall, that's for sure.' Ben smiled at his Claudia's enthusiasm for the unexpected, benevolent outcomes. 'I did, yeah! The guys were talking about it on the scrap last night. You should pick some different numbers today though, see if it improves our luck at all?' Ben kissed his wife gently on the cheek and then took a deep gulp of his tea. 'I will probably leave while you are in the shower, my love. I will see you tonight though, before i head out to salvage again? I love you sweetheart, ill see you soon.'

________________________

'Grandma, look!' A small child hurtled off the diving board, executing a spectacular cannonball into the palatial lagoon stretching around the backyard. Laughter rang out as the children continued to play, oblivious to Claudia's distracted mind as she observed them. Gratitude swelled in her as she looked past the pool and her grandchildren, to the rose gardens surrounding the beautiful house they had raised their children in. Bees flew around the beautiful flowers, releasing their heady scent into the air. 'Our dream home.' Ben sat down beside his wife, kissing her gently on the cheek as he wriggled into a comfortable position. "Remember all those years ago, when we were working ourselves so hard? You would stay up all night drawing this' Ben gestured broadly at their home and the two wizened lovebirds stopped to smile as they gazed out over their grandchildren frolicking in the pool.

'You know, this actually all started with that mysterious little book you found' Claudia replied. 'Remember those salvage nights you used to do for extra cash?' 'Oh, how could i forget!' chuckled Ben. 'My elbow has never truly come right since, lugging all those air conditioners out for metal scrap stripping. What do you mean though, about that book? I thought you had used its pages for making those beautiful roses we had in our apartment. I can still remember how those pages felt too. Unique, kind of like a thin foil but made from bark. Smooth and rough at the same time.'

'Yes! That book WAS strange, wasn't it? It went missing years back now so i'm sure one of the kids used it for something. You know, it was so weird. The book had such an energy about it but there was nothing inside! A few pages were torn off and there was an imprint on one page of some numbers- i shaded over them with a pencil and that's what i used to make our winning entry at the store.'

Ben beamed incredulously at his wife. 'I love that after all these years, you still can surprise me with something new, my love. That money changed our lives! I should have found you more strange books!'

They laughed softly in the moment, sharing the strange new piece of information about the windfall that had altered the outcome of their lives together. Even in its absence, the book presented a curious atmosphere of magic, woven through the very fibre of their dream home. Their grandchildren disrupted this quiet reflection as they burst into the gazebo, dripping with water and puffing with excitement. 'Grandpa Ben, we're hungry! Can we have something to eat?' came their chorus.

Claudia scooped the smallest boy up and the family began to walk towards the house. 'How are your hands feeling there Frank?' she asked the young boy in her arms. Frank said nothing, just looked at his grandmother and smiled. He waved his bandage mittens at her playfully and then made a face, laughing. She laughed at his resilience- the electric fence had been no match for the young boys delicate skin and even with bandages, cream and soaking, he would still go through life with both hands scarred. It had not dampened his adventurous spirit and as she carried her grandson to their kitchen, Claudia's skin tingled registering the same familiar energy, brimming with potential that she had experienced so many years ago. 'How was that even possible?' she thought. 'And what is that strange growling noise?'