Chapter Five - The Move

The Christmas House

April 30th

Lake Forest, IL

Since the closing, Michael, Arianna, and David spent every evening and weekend at the house at 148 Festive Lane. Cleaning, tearing down wallpaper, ripping up carpeting and tile floors, rodding out plumbing, and doing whatever else they could that did not cost hard cash, only hard labor.

Michael inspected the furnace thoroughly and found it was not as bad of shape as he had originally thought. He replaced the flue and the filters after giving it a good cleaning. It seemed to make the difference, and Michael was pleased to have saved thousands of dollars that would have been spent on a new furnace. Unfortunately, with the electrical wiring, he was not as lucky. When he inspected outlets and light switches, he found frayed and bare wires that were a serious fire hazard.

As he pulled the old wiring out and replaced it with new, he ran into light fixtures and fuses problems. The old wiring was BX, long since outlawed by today's building code standards would have to be replaced with a conduit that was now the industry standard. The wiring replacement would cost them thousands of dollars he saved by breathing extended life into the old furnace. Every time he saved money on one problem, he had to spend those savings plus more on another.

The house was still a disaster area with walls ripped open and floorboards removed, leaving gaping holes that looked directly into the basement from the first floor. Michael barricaded the opening to alert anyone who walked in the area but promised Arianna that he would have the floors repaired by the baby's birth. Martha had left behind several pieces of furniture, including all of the guestroom furnishings and the ominous grandfather clock that still chimed every hour on the hour as it stood in the corner of the dining room.
Listen now.