A Temporary Place

They all show up
Where everybody used to live

The little blue house
By the Bay State sign
And the carpet cleaning place
On Mt. Towne

Sheila wakes up
To find them on the front lawn

Sitting around
On their fold-out chairs
Barbecuing
Telling stories
Trying to sell cheap earrings

'What the hell is this?'

It's nostalgia, Sheila
It's a powerful thing

'Jesus Christ,' she says, 'Who are these people?'

The couple on the lawn
With the sunglasses on
Raised two kids in your house
Before his business went big
And then they bought a place
On the East Side

The kids grew up
One of them right
One of them wrong
And every three years
They redecorate the East Side place
Trying to make it feel
Like somewhere they're happy to be

And she misses the little blue house
Even if it was in a bad neighborhood
And he misses it
Even if it was a money pit
And they miss hearing the kids
Go in and out of the crawlspace
Despite being told not to
While the couple was downstairs
Trying to patch up a hole in the wall

The guy grilling burgers
Built the second floor
With his dad
When he was sixteen

They spent a whole summer
Tearing the place up
Then putting it back together
His Mom had run off
With some guy from town
And when they put the lock
On the bathroom upstairs
His dad went to lie down
And never got back up

He left the little blue house
And went to live with his ant
Who was pretty cool, you know
But still, but still

That was when the couple moved in

And after them
The girl selling cheap earrings
Moved in with her boyfriend
And he used to knock her around
In places that wouldn't bruise

She started making these tacky earrings
Just for fun
Until her friends started buying them

Then one day she had enough money
And took off
Leaving the asshole behind
In the little blue house

She doesn't miss him
But she does miss the comforting way
The kitchen would hum
After he'd leave her lying on the floor

You can't blame a house
For the people inside of it
And part of her always wanted to move back
Even though now she lives in Chicago
In a high-rise
With a guy who'd jump from the roof
Before he'd touch her like that

Her ex-boyfriend isn't here
And she knew he wouldn't be

After she left, he picked a fight
With somebody who fought back
And when his head hit the curb
She woke up from a deep sleep in Chicago
And outside it started to rain

That was when she knew she could go back
To the house on Mt. Towne

She's selling her earrings
To the other people on the lawn

People who rented the house
And the people they rented it from

Kids, grandkids, vets, mothers, accountants
Students, teachers, drinkers, construction workers
Bass players, fishermen, Avon ladies, and a guy who bakes bread

All sitting together in front of the house
All talking about the walls
Because the walls can't, after all

Sheila sits on her front step
And somebody hands her a burger

She thinks about her husband sleeping upstairs
And the baby she hasn't told him about yet
And she worries they'll be stuck by the carpet cleaning place
And the Bay State sign
For the rest of their lives

But seeing the people out on the lawn
Makes her realize that this is a temporary place
And that's what it's supposed to be

She remembers going to visit famous people's houses
When she was in school

Her teacher would take the class
To see where the colonial people lived
And writers and artists
And people that meant something

And all their houses
Were smaller than this

Sheila remembers thinking
That great stuff
Can come out of a two bedroom house
With bad plumbing

Maybe this was that kind of house

A place where you stay for awhile
To remember
That some of the best people in the world
Lived in two-room shacks
And tents
And a suitcase

She folds her arms across her stomach
While earrings get put in her ear
By a very nice woman
Who smiles like a warm bath

'Hey babe, you okay?'

She turns around to see him
Leaning against the doorway
With his muscle shirt sagging over his sweatpants
Scruff coming in even though he shaved yesterday

He rubs her back on bad days
And when she started feeling morning sicknes
She told him it was just a virus
And he sat by her bed like an old dog
Ears to the floor, and all

'We're gonna have a baby' she says

He sits down on the step next to her
And looks at an empty lawn

Two cars drive by
One blaring music
Disregarding the sentiment of the moment

'You happy,' he asks
'Yeah,' she says, 'You?'
'We're gonna have a baby,' he says

She turns and sees his head shaking
While he closes his eyes tight
So he won't start to cry

She puts her arm around his shoulder
And he starts to laugh
And clap his hands
Like he's applauding the news itself

Then he turns to her and says--

'Should we move?'

And she says--

'Nah, I think we're okay for now.'

He gives her a kiss on the side of her head
Then on her lips
Then he whoops
Like he just caught the biggest fish of his life

Then he looks at her and says--

'Where'd you get those earrings?'

And she smiles and says--

'You don't need to know everything.'