Our grandparents' house was on the cul-de-sac with a neighbor flanking on each side. It was not a peculiar house, it was not a grand house, it was, however, an inconspicuous house with a memorable red door. I looked up and saw the faithful brass elephant door knocker, the size of my fist and instead of a knocker, there hung a small bell at the end of the elephant's curled trunk. As her eyes reached the same level as the broken left tusk, my sister rang the bell, unbeknownst to her it would not be heard. I lowered her down, knowingly that it was one of her favorite routines. We were not engulfed by our grandparents' welcome hugs, I wondered if our arrival was announced with silenced trumpets.
Our motion, however had awoken the beast, eyes opened and they darted towards Sophia.
"Welcome Mr Dominic and Miss Sophia. The door is now unlocked. Please remove your shoes and enter," addressed us the stoic voice. As we entered, the red door closed behind us and I heard it lock silently.
The house was empty.
Sophia dropped her backpack, water bottle, lunch bag, and Mr Watson and blissfully ran to the back. "Miss Sophia, please place your belongings in the demarcated area!" echoed the voice respectfully. I picked up her keepsake together with her other items of life sustaining necessities and walked to the wall lined by the edge of the stairs. The tallest door opened and its shelves moved towards me as my pace neared it. There were 3 shelves, I placed Sophia's things on the bottom and mine on the top shelf. I stood back and the door started to move and align itself with the rest of the wall.
"Honey, you are early! Where is your sister?" echoed my grandmother as she kissed me on my forehead and both cheeks; sometimes forehead twice. "She ran to the back grandma, looking for you." Presumably. Sophia hovered back to us, she found her other favorite routine. "Sweetheart, I have missed you so much!" my grandmother picked Sophia up from the hover chair and kissed her forehead and both cheeks and forehead again. Sophia returned the kisses twice over and gazed over at the hover chair to indicate she is done with her pleasantries and would like to return to her hovering throne, only to see it hover away. As Sophia attempted to jump from my grandma's hold and onto the run away, parts of the floor started to flurry open. A love seat attached to a piece of floor, flipped onto the empty space from below the basement. As one piece of floor snapped into position, another unlocked.
Rectangular pieces of the floor flipped to reveal a coffee table, then a couch, and a TV. It was on the floor. "Code refactoring?" Sophia's reprisal of my grandparents' discussion got a bemused expression from my grandmother. Another one of her favorite routines, Sophia green eyes lit up and her grin showed all two of her teeth. Sophia loved what she could do to my grandmother's arching eyebrows and also green eyes, when distracted or amazed. She regurgitated with timing, timing is everything, and she was always spot on.
