A House Made of No

Together, they had turned their relationship into a haunted house. Ghosts from their happier past — some benevolent, some not — floated through all the rooms, across the lawn, atop the roof. Seeing them was no longer a scary event because it happened so often: That picnic by the river a long time ago, the freezing day the car wouldn’t start and somehow they ended up making out in the front seat like two fat Eskimos in their heavy winter parkas. The day the rabbit got into the basement… Ghosts all, memories as tangible as steel yet fragile as the thinnest thread. For a while they lived in two houses at the same time — one made of brick, the other made of ‘maybe’ that together, despite their best efforts, eventually hardened into no.

from a work in progress

Jonathan Carroll is the author of over 20 novels and short story collections. His latest novel “Bathing the Lion” is now available in trade paperback. If you liked this piece, there’s lots more on his monthly newsletter. You can subscribe here