Southern Gothic: In the old houses

There are two things that you will find in every house that’s been left behind.

The first: Skulls. I could fill a book with drawings of the different skulls I’ve found. Birds, with their little eggshells heads, looking so small without their feathers and beaks. Opossums and their pointy noses, snakes with the spine still intact, cats and dogs and a few times, just once or twice, a big round one. I leave the houses with the big round ones pretty quick.

The other thing you find, unless the house caught fire, is books. Lots and lots of books. People seem to think if they get left then they’ll just fall apart, but books are sturdy. They last, even though their pages crinkle at the edges and the covers wear away. My favorite is a house with stacks of books about the judges in our county. When they were appointed, what laws they approved and when. It makes me wonder why someone needed those, and what happened to them.

It’s a good reminder though.

In the end, all that’s left of us is our bones and books.