3
NATALIE
“Hot water would be good, but first fix the leak on the roof.” I sat at the kitchen table making a list of all the things that needed to be done on the house. And talking to myself. The backdoor was open to the warm day. I’d forgotten how beautiful summers in Montana were. How peaceful. I was getting used to the lack of city noise. No cars driving by. No other tenants in my crappy apartment building yelling at each other or the sound of someone’s TV. No ambulances or dogs barking.
Nothing but the wind and an occasional bird, which had me having conversations out loud. Scratching out the line PAINT HOUSE, I moved it further down the to-do list. That could wait although I felt bad for anyone driving by who had to look at the place. The clapboard siding was faded and peeling, and
