Chapter Four - The Closing

The Christmas House

April 9th

Lake Forest, IL

Martha remained extremely busy during the months preceding the closing. Before moving into the small studio apartment that she found in nearby Morton Grove, there was much to do. The apartment was in a retirement center and was fully furnished. She realized that she wouldn’t need any old and worn furniture left in the house, so she conducted several estate sales. She was amazed at how many people wanted to purchase useless junk. But she was just happy to get rid of the hundreds of pieces lying around collecting dust throughout the house, garage, and basement. Martha was packed and ready to vacate the premises. The closing was tomorrow, and she would give Michael and Arianna possession at that time.

During this same period, Michael and Arianna were busy as well. They managed to sublease their apartment and would be out of their lease by April 30th. Michael was disappointed at first since the closing was on the 10th, and he was stuck paying for the apartment for the entire month of April. Then Arianna pointed out that the time lapse between the closing and having to vacate the apartment could be used to clean and fix the more minor problems at the house. Michael, being the go-getter, decided to work on the house's interior during this time. Maybe even strip some wallpaper and paint a few rooms if time allowed.

Their son David was very excited about the move as well. The house they moved from in Las Vegas was a small two-bedroom townhouse. The Festive Lane house living room was larger than their entire home in Vegas. He had already planned how his “rooms” would be decorated. Yes, David decided that the house was so big that he could master two rooms instead of just one.

Just 10-years old, David was already quite the musician. His father was teaching him how to play guitar, and David was catching on fast. Michael recently bought David a used electric guitar and amplifier. David was planning on making one of his rooms into a music room. He hoped to make friends quickly at his new school and possibly start a rock band.
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