Rooms: An Allegory
Season 1
Mid-Season
House leaned casually against the wall of a long, dark hallway. His eyes were focused on a point further away, studiously intense. Scraping sounds and heavy thuds echoed from the deeps of the sub-basement.
"House?" Wilson's questioning voice floated to House's ears. House didn't respond, knowing Wilson would keep looking. When the younger doctor finally rounded corner of the hall House immediately motioned for silence.
"This place is like something out of a Stephen King novel," Wilson whispered. "It's nothing but dark twists and turns. What are you doing down here?"
"Hiding from Cuddy."
"I knew that," Wilson whispered in frustration. "I meant what are you doing? There's no TV and it's too dark to play video games. So you're just … standing here?"
"I'm watching," House said patiently. He pointed down the corridor where he'd been staring.
"Who is that?" Wilson asked.
"David and Katie," House said simply.
"Are they building a terrace?" Wilson squinted against the murky dark.
"Yeah," House said. "In the sub-basement."
"That's weird," Wilson commented.
"Wait," House said. Wilson gave him a strange look but did as he was told.
A third person joined David and Katie. Wilson gasped.
"Is that?"
"Yup."
"It can't be," Wilson argued. "I just saw her upstairs in the clinic."
House shrugged. He knew it couldn't be her, but there she was helping David and Katie build a terrace in the sub-basement.
"What are they … why would anyone … how can she be …" Wilson let his voice trail off. He really didn't even know what question to ask first.
"I don't know, but they'll be done for the day soon," House said checking his watch.
"How long have you been watching them?" Wilson asked.
"Couple days," House said. David, Katie and their assistant packed up their building materials into neat piles and walked off together. House held up a hand for Wilson to wait until he was sure they were gone. The two men proceeded down the hall to check on the progress.
The floor was the first thing Wilson noticed. It was stunning and like nothing he'd ever seen before. There wasn't a discernible pattern, at least not one Wilson could detect. It was constructed of a variety of materials, marble, stone, brick and even ceramic tiles. Each piece seemed to complement the ones around it, although few if any matched each other.
"It's … different," House said.
"It's amazing," Wilson said. "It must have taken them hours to plan this all out."
"No," House said quietly. "They just sort of put the pieces together. Like they knew where they were all supposed to go. None of them match."
"But they all go together," Wilson said. He leaned in closer to inspect the floor more fully. "Huh."
"What?" House asked.
"The pieces … they're all broken," Wilson commented. He looked around thoughtfully. "They make a nice whole."
House simply nodded.
&&&&&&&&
End of Season 1
Once again Wilson found himself searching out House in the sub-basement. Expecting to see him standing outside the 'garden' room as he referred to it, Wilson was surprised to find the entry way empty of the lanky figure.
Instead he found House lurking in a dark and musty corner, staring into a new room.
"This is new," Wilson commented. "When did David and Katie build this?"
"They didn't build it exactly," House said. "One day they just started moving stuff and there it was."
"Moving stuff?" Wilson asked as he tried to peer into the darkened room over House's shoulder.
"Old wheelchairs, a few walkers … five or six canes," House said quietly.
Wilson nodded slowly. "Do I have to ask when they did this?"
"I'll give you three guesses," House said. He stepped back and let Wilson see into the room.
It was thick with cobwebs; the air was musty from disuse. The walls were a rich burgundy color accentuated sharply by white woodwork. The floor was covered with a practical beige carpet. A sleek metal coffee table, its glass top covered by a thick layer of dust, lay on its side. Leather furniture, its luster stolen by neglect, stood haphazardly in the room. Its appearance was that of something once well loved but long ago abandoned.
Wilson shivered and stepped back from the door. "If I get it right on the first guess, can I save up the other two for future use?"
House gave him a tight, grim smile. He wished that he could see this room in its heyday. It must have been beautiful.
&&&&&&&
Early Season 2
Wilson stood and watched House stare into the 'modern' room. From his vantage point, he could see that it had been cleaned extensively. The paint on the walls, previously peeling, was fresh and clean. The cobwebs and dust had been cleared. The leather furniture had been rearranged and cleaned until it shone.
The room was ready for use.
&&&&&&&
Mid Season 2
A few weeks later, Wilson once again found House in the sub-basement. He had hoped his friend might finally enter the 'modern' room, but those hopes had been dashed.
As had the room itself, Wilson now saw. The leather sofa had been slashed in several places and the stuffing bleed from several mortal wounds in the cushions. The coffee table had been shattered; the million little glass pieces glinted against the twisted metal frame in a kaleidoscope of colors that made Wilson squint his eyes in discomfort.
Back in his original position, construction had once again begun on the 'garden' room. The floor was now complemented by finished walls of a rough plaster texture. The soft oranges and yellows were warm and inviting. But the most noticeable difference was the entrance.
A wall was being built there. At first Wilson thought that David and Katie had decided to make the entry way more elaborate. But on closer inspection he noted there was no arch, no opening of any kind. As yet incomplete, the wall stood approximately waist high on House, who was leaning against it with a pensive look on his rugged features.
"What's going on here?" Wilson asked.
"Looks like they're walling this room off," House said.
"But they spent so much time building it," Wilson said, perplexed.
"Yeah," House said quietly. "And they've started another one."
"Another one?" Wilson asked. "Like this one?"
House didn't answer, just nodded his head toward the far end of the corridor. Wilson traversed the expanse slowly. He came upon another room and saw David and Katie and yet another woman inside. He stopped just outside of earshot, but from where he stood he could tell they were carefully going over plans of some sort. The new woman lifted her head to glance around the room and Wilson's eyes widened.
He hurried back to House and stood before him in shock and confusion similar to what he'd felt the first day down here.
"What the hell is that about?" Wilson asked.
"Don't know," House said. "Looks like a lot of work though."
&&&&&&&&
End of Season 2
House stood in the middle of the hall between the 'garden' room and the 'designer' room. Neither was completed.
The garden room was closer to being done than the other. To House, it looked less like it had been built and more like it had just grown there. The wall wasn't any higher, but there was still no opening.
The designer room was a work in progress. There were several sofas and armchairs in differing prints and fabrics. Draperies in a variety of colors and styles were slung over the furniture and piled against the walls. Paint chips were strewn over the floor like discarded betting slips and on every flat surface there were plans and blueprints.
House sighed and walked slowly out of the sub-basement, wishing that David and Katie would just pick one room and finish it already.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Season 3
Wilson hadn't been down to the sub-basement for quite some time. Watching House in the enclosed spaces reminded him far too vividly of a prison cell and it always made Wilson uncomfortable. But all his years of friendship with House had cultivated his curiosity and one day he decided to check on the progress down there.
He found House standing outside the designer room. It was closer to being completed than Wilson had remembered. The walls were painted a golden hue that reminded Wilson of Spanish doubloons. The floors and woodwork gleamed a rich mahogany shade. A chaise lounge in a decadent chocolate suede resided in one corner. A loveseat and armchair in a lighter mocha shade completed the set. The drapes were not yet hung; no art work adorned the walls, but the room was almost ready for use. It was classy but comfortable. It felt familiar.
The woman Wilson had seen with David and Katie waited in one corner. She seemed coolly confident that she would be joined by someone soon. She smiled at Wilson and tossed her dark curls over one shoulder.
Curious, Wilson walked toward the garden room. Half way there he saw a door he'd never noticed before marked.
"I don't remember there being a janitor's closet down here," Wilson remarked to House.
House clenched his teeth but didn't answer. Raising intrigued eyebrows, Wilson opened the door and was surprised at what he saw. What was indeed a janitor's closet was being inhabited by two life-sized Barbie dolls. One bore a striking resemblance to a blonde foreigner Wilson knew only too well. And the other was clearly the woman who belonged in the garden room.
Wilson looked around more closely and realized that although the room resembled a janitor's closet, its contents were entirely made of plastic. It looked very real, pretty almost. But there was no substance to any of it. Wilson shook his head and closed the door.
"I try not to look in there much," House said quietly from his spot outside the designer room.
Wilson nodded his understanding. He wouldn't want to look in there much either. It was all very orderly and pretty and exactly what you expected to see. But there was just something … creepy about it. It was too perfect. Nothing that perfect was ever real.
Moving on down the hall Wilson came to what should have been the garden room. What he found instead were David and Katie, convincing their brown haired assistant to climb over the wall and inside. The wall was nearly done; it was well over the brunette's head. She shook her head resolutely; she didn't want to go inside.
David and Katie were insistent. And reluctantly, the woman allowed David and Katie to help her over the wall. David and Katie exchanged sad and uncertain looks and turned to a wheelbarrow and a pile of bricks nearby. Wilson watched with a heavy heart as they closed the wall.
Further down the hall, House sighed. He approached Wilson and motioned that they should go. If the rooms were going to be put to use, it wouldn't be today.
&&&&&&&
Inside the garden room, the young brunette sniffed back her tears. She sat on the wrought iron bench that had been added not so long ago. She looked around at the splendor of the rough plastered walls, the mosaic tiled floor and sighed heavily.
Her eyes landed upon a box she had never noticed secreted in a corner behind a largish potted tree. She stood from the bench and pulled the box out quickly. It was long and heavy. She laid it on the bench and opened it. She smiled, a radiant hopeful smile. From within the box, she withdrew a sledge hammer and began chipping away at that wall.