the bird on fire

When we mused about favorite places and dream houses, Sophia turned to her cabin in Big Bear.

By Middle-School Blogger Sophia Bottine

You drive through the gated neighborhood

And find my house

You park in front of the driveway.

As you get out, you notice how beautiful it looks,

The sunlight shines on the top of the brown, sleek roof

And hits the nearby trees

To the left and to the right there are trees, scrub, and overgrown plants.

There are not many though as the snow has frozen all of them away.

You then go towards the front door

It’s on a platform 

With a lounging chair in front of a sliding door on the right

When you go up the short stairs 

You see a “Welcome” rug in front of a door

–a large, beautiful, wooden door

There is another “Welcome” sign above the door with a cartoon bear,

This time, it’s in French.

You go through the front door

And immediately enter a long hallway

With a neither narrow or wide flight of stairs to the left

A large dog bed under the stairs

And a medium-sized bedroom

That bedroom is mine

Inside it, there is a bed in the middle

And a brown desk in the back right corner

There are bedside tables next to the bed 

With books filling them and a large lamp on top

On the left, there is a closet with a small window above the clothes

There aren’t many clothes, it’s quite empty

And there are spiders crawling and hiding in corners

You get the chills and go out and into the bathroom

It has a green, glossy, counter on the right 

A shower on the left 

And a toilet behind the shower

It’s a very minimalist bathroom, pretty but kind of empty.

You’ve seen enough so you go back out into the hallway 

Further down the hallway, there are washing machines to the left

A garden in front of you

And a master bedroom to the right

You decide to go into the master bedroom first.

As you enter it, you notice how big it is

There is a small TV in front of you

A fireplace in the far right corner of the room

And a sliding door leading outside,

A large bed to the left 

And once again, two bedside tables accompanying it,

As all bedrooms should 

There is a walk-in closet 

With a large wardrobe carrying all the pants and belts,

You get out of the closet and to the room right next to it,

The bathroom.

It has two sinks with a fake orchid on top,

A shower and a bathtub to the left

A small window near the ceiling

And yet again, another fireplace at the end of the bathtub

You leave the master bedroom and head outside

You open the glass door and step through

You’re now on another platform

There are many chairs to the right for no reason at all

A dart-throwing game, covered in dust from the lack of use

And a jacuzzi with a cover on top around a corner

There is another small staircase leading to the garden

You don’t go down, there isn’t much to see

Just a few mounds of dirt and very few patches of grass.

You decide to go back inside and go up the large flight of stairs

There are a few pictures on the wall, depicting a family

Finally, you reach the top of the stairs

You’ve now entered the living room

A large, grey, “L” shaped couch sits in front of you,

A fireplace with burnt wood inside 

And a large stack of wood next to it,

On top, a large TV

And a lengthy, wooden hanging shelf with candles under it.

To the right there is a billiard table,

Near the window, an aesthetic lounge area

And behind the billiard table a green countertop with a few pictures

And a printing machine

You notice a bedroom that you hadn’t seen before

There is a powder room next to it

You head towards the bedroom and open the door

The first thing you see is a bunk bed with a ton of stuffed animals

And a large, homemade Barbie house in a corner

A blue desk stands next to it

With a closet close by.

You open the closet door 

And immediately notice that it hasn’t been cleaned in a while.

There are piles of clothes in a corner

And there’s no way to tell the dirty from the clean.

You then go into the bathroom

This too, is dirty, but there are no clothes on the ground

Just a few splashes of paint and nail polish on the countertop.

You get out of this bedroom 

And go near the kitchen

There is a large dining table to the left

With a wooden chandelier in the shape of antlers

A bench surrounds one side of the table

With three chairs where it doesn’t reach.

There’s another lounging area to your right

And a dog bed, next to the kitchen countertop

You go into the kitchen

It’s like any other cabin kitchen

Green tiles on top of wooden counters

A sink near yet another window 

And a pantry to the left 

The pantry is filled with snacks and spices 

And a small refrigerator carries all the drinks. 

The big refrigerator is near the stove and the oven

You get out of the kitchen and living room

And go outside, through another sliding door and onto another balcony.

This one has a barbecue on it

With sunbathing chairs, dog toys, 

And some tall chairs with a round table in between them

A flight of stairs leads down to the garden.

You’ve now seen all the parts of the house.

You go back inside and lock the door

You go to the bedroom and close everything you opened

Then, you go downstairs and lock the doors leading outside 

And close the downstairs bedroom’s door

Finally, you open the front door once more, lock it behind you

Head down the small stairs and down the driveway

Past all the scrub and overgrown plants

And into your car

You think about the house,

It’s cozy, calming, with a touch of nostalgia in it

You can see that it’s dear to the owners

And how much they love it

The sun barely hits the top of the roof

It’s almost sunset

You take a final look at the house before driving away…