The Dandies bought the house from a nice goth couple who just couldn’t with Mrs. Peacock Lane / Her campaign against them also began on move-in day & they both worked so hard at keeping up their own appearances the decoration subcommittee took advantage of their missing cats to poison the water / He was a musician & she rolled spells into wax cylinders & made plenty at trade-shows to franchise shops across town / Before the goths the house stood empty long enough for two generations worth of recess gossip / The owner of the property never lived on Peacock Lane but rented out to young couples who might want extra space for children / My wife & I could not so we had no reason to leave our condo above the river / The Stranger told them he had bought the lot on a whim while drunk & it was the last good mistake he made before the drink started to sour / He decided to keep deed as a trophy from the glory days / A couple would move in & have a kid or two then be off to grander things before the next couple would come around / This carried on for a long time & the reminder of what The Stranger couldn’t have drove his wife across the street & turned her into a caricature of the perfect housewife / She loathed families coming & going but was particularly nasty to those without children & gleefully drove them out the same / Oh? The Dandies looked at each other in disbelief & pulled a silver key from a paisley waistcoat hanging by the fireplace / But we have a child / Would you like to meet her?
Take The Dandies’ guest down to the basement
Carefully walk backwards towards the front door
RJ Equality Ingram works as a used bookseller for Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette. Their first collection of poetry The Autobiography of Nancy Drew is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in early 2024. RJ received their MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College of California with concentrations in poetry & creative nonfiction. More work can be found in Phoebe Journal, Miniskirt Magazine & Citron Review among others. RJ’s cat Brenda lost a leg designing her memory palace.