onward

Archie was impressed. Emily's Mom could crack the whip.

"You have to stop thinking about it being their house. It's your house, Archie." She told him. That meant, he had to get rid of stuff.

"You have to let someone else enjoy this stuff," Kat said. "OK."

"Like what?" Archie didn't think anyone would want this stuff.

"Well, you have to start putting stuff in piles to go to charity places. If its something you can part with that's valuable, try e-bay." With that she got Emily with her digital camera to take pictures and to make sure the account was valid on e-bay.

So they got started. Magazines and newspapers to recycle. Charlotte took care of the kitchen. She got Rosco to tackle the bathrooms. Emily's Mom didn't mess around. This was phase one. Clean up.

"Hopefully, the next weekend we come, we'll bring paint." She suggested.

"There'll be a next weekend?" Archie wondered if they'd get through this one. He guessed they would. Kat was working as hard as anybody else.

"But, lets not stay here, OK." Had that been Kat's plan all along, he wondered.

Anyway, she did keep things moving. Even so, it would probably take a few more weekends to get to that painting. There was a lot more crap in this house than Archie even imagined. But the more empty it became, and as the walls echoed, it made him all the more sad of the life that once was, wasn't coming back. And it frightened him a little more.

"Maybe I should just sell the place," Archie thought after a few hours of digging through stuff he was sure he didn't want.

"The market's not so hot, you know," Emily winced. "And this really needs to be fixed up. Do you really want somebody to get it for nothing, just to flip it?"

Archie shook his head. It was getting to him. He just stood there in the empty livingroom, hugging himself.

"Its not like it has to be done tomorrow." Emily put her arm around him.

"Well, you can't wait forever, either," Kat interjected.

Archie sighed. He was glad they were all here. He knew he couldn't do this alone.