I got a knock on the front door the other day from an elderly man
& his wife
the man said he had a question if I didn’t mind
I said I didn’t mind what was the question
he asked what I knew about the family murdered in that house
over there
at the end of the cul-de-sac
years ago
I followed his boney finger, callused knuckle
I said when we were kids we called it the murder house
my father had helped build it
I said his name was written in white chalk on one of the beams
in the attic
along with the other four that helped
it’s probably still there actually
I said I remembered the wife’s name was Louisa
she was a nurse but always wanted to be an actress
one year I watched the Sugar Bowl in the living room with the kids
I said that Florida State quarterback sure threw all over the Buckeye defense
that night
I remembered the dad had a lot of books in the den
My dad helped nail plywood on all the windows afterward
I bet those panels wished they were still trees
as you can see the shutters are all rotted
we used to throw the baseball over there
it was messy
it was real messy
I said rampage
no I didn’t but my old man did
when he came back home he said he needed to sit down
hysterical
all three kids the wife the husband, the nanny
I said it was the wife’s coworker at the hospital
yep sure was
I said flesh
who knows why
just sits there like an abandoned prayer
I said yep that’s the murder house
cars pass by it slowly
three bedrooms two & a half baths.