Page 7 of Black and White, Twice the Might

We’ve not driven this way before, so we look around as Sly drives. We have been driving for a few minutes and are just on the edge of town when Enoch suddenly shouts, “Stop!”

Sly quickly pulls over, and I turn round to look at him, to see him staring out the window. “Come on,” he says, undoing the seat belt and scrambling out of the car before I can ask what’s wrong.

We all quickly get out and follow him. He is standing in front of the most perfect cottage I’ve ever seen. It has an empty feel about it, but not neglected.

“This is amazing,” Sly says, gazing at it.

It does indeed look amazing, double fronted with roses around the front door arch. The house looks pretty and big. Did I mention perfect? I re-evaluate my thinking. It’s too big to be a cottage.

“Come on,” Xander says, opening the front gate and practically running up the path to look in one of the windows. He cups his hands around his eyes and looks. “This room is amazing, and it looks like it has a massive fireplace. Pretty sure we can stand up in it.”

“The same for this room,” Enoch says, looking through the other window.

I look, and the room is huge and empty. I can picture us living here. I pull back and look around, but there isn’t aFor Saleboard, so I turn back to look at the house.

“Hello, can I help you?”

We spin round and see a young man now standing by the front gate. He looks to be our age and is smiling shyly at us.

“This house looks amazing,” Enoch says, pulling out his too-cute smile.

“Is it on the market, do you know? We’d love to look around it,” I say.

“It is, and it just so happens I have the house keys with me as I was going to check it over. I’m Cam Stone, the town administrator.”

“Are you related to Mayor Stone?” Sly asks.

“He’s my oldest brother. Do you have time now to have a look around?”

“Yes, please,” Xander says, sounding excited, and answering before either Sly or I can.

Cam laughs. “So, the house has been empty, for about three months. The couple who lived here had to move into assisted living,” he explains, walking down the path towards us. He pulls the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the front door. “There are three reception rooms, all the same size, with a large kitchen diner, a downstairs WC and a study.”

We walk in, and I swear the house just hugged me. I look at Sly, and he smiles.

“Wow, the house felt like it hugged me,” Enoch exclaims.

Cam laughed. “Places can do that.”

The house entry way is massive. There is a large staircase in the middle, and the upstairs landing looks to go in two directions. There are doors leading off the hallway.

“This is the first reception room,” Cam says, leading us into the first front room, the one Xander was peering into.

“It’s so big,” Xander says, walking further into the room, over to the fireplace and standing up in it. “Told you.”

We laugh, and I shake my head at him.

“It’s a working fireplace, all the fireplaces in this house are. I’ve also had them all cleaned, so they are ready to use,” Cam says. “If you look up at the ceiling, you’ll see all the original features are still in place, the same for all the rooms. The previous owners, when they renovated this place, wanted to keep all the original characteristics of the house. All the windows were replaced about four years ago and are all triple glazed.”

I watch Sly’s face. He loves old houses and their unique features. He is falling in love with this house. Mind you, he’s not the only one. I am too, and I’m pretty sure the boys are as well.

Cam shows us around the rest of the downstairs. This house really is perfect; the study screams Sly. I can see him practically drooling over it. If I had to guess, he likes this study better than the one we saw yesterday. The kitchen, however, is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.

“This kitchen is amazing,” Sly sighs happily.

“You have both gas and electric in here,” Cam tells us. “That door there leads to a pantry,” he points to said door, “and this one here leads to a utility room. You can get to the back garden from this door here, or from the utility room. Do you want to see the outside space first or the upstairs?”

“Upstairs,” we all say at the same time.