House on the Corner

An Advent Calendar of Stories

December 08 2014

 House on the Corner

Dorothy Mahoney

A thermos of hot chocolate

He hides everything in boxes stacked along the inside walls of the garage and the rafters.

There are no windows. Sometimes there are noises, banging.

The yard has a chain-link fence, and his two large dogs pace a mud path into what was once grass. He mutters. Isn’t one for talk. Doesn't have a wife, works alone. Waits for the cold. Waits for night, his thick fingers uncoiling wire, reviewing plans, considering space, adds a new body to his collection. Watches cars stop from every direction, in a blaze of Christmas lights: Peace, Love, Hope, and his new Santa waving.

About the Author

Dorothy Mahoney lives near the southern most point of Canada and has had two books published by Black Moss Press, and is in several anthologies.

She has a book of dog poems appearing in 2016 with Palimpsest Press. She has an old English sheepdog. This story began on Drablr.