Page 67 of August
“Yeah?” AJ asked.
Elisa smiled at Myra’s mention of her because she knew Myra had done that on purpose.
“Yes. And this old house has a lot of history in it. Do you know where the term shotgun house comes from?” Myra asked him.
“No.”
“These houses are common in the South, but New Orleans is known for them. With every hurricane, we seem to lose a few, which is unfortunate. This one has been redone a few times, but these houses have been here in one way or another since the early eighteen-hundreds, and they’ve found houses like this in Haiti and Africa even earlier than that. They were built this way for a few reasons, but some that make the most sense are that they have excellent airflow because they’re long and don’t have hallways.”
“This one has hallways,” AJ noted.
“Short ones that were added later. That’s a common remodel. But before there was air conditioning, air flow in New Orleans was important. They’re also long, not wide, so when they built them down the street, more houses couldfit. Your house has hallways and a second story now, but it didn’t when it was first built. In fact, if you think it’s cool, you can go to city hall and the Department of Records. They have all the old documents and blueprints. You can see what this house looked like when it was first built.”
“Wait. Really? This exact house?”
“Yeah,” Myra said.
“How do you know they would have this exact house?”
“Because they have mine there. In my work, I spend a lot of time with blueprints and historical documents because sometimes, I’m trying to update a house but keep the history. Your house and mine were actually built by the same family. Two brothers. I found out when I did research on my own house.”
“Whoa. Cool,” AJ said.
“Itiscool,” Myra replied with a laugh. “If it’s okay with your mom, I can take you there if you want. They’re closed on the weekends, but my cousin works there, so she lets me in when it’s not busy. We can’t take anything out of there, but we can look. It’s actually pretty remarkable how some things have held up. We’ve had so many storms here over the years that a lot of history has washed away.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I want to, but I’m supposed to be back at my dad’s this weekend,” he said.
“Well, another time, then,” Myra replied.
“Mom?”
“Yes?” she asked, trying to pretend like she hadn’t been listening in.
AJ appeared at her side as Adele handed her a plate she’d just rinsed to put into the dishwasher.
“Can I stay here this weekend and go to city hall with Myra? She’s going to show me some stuff on the house.”
“I thought you wanted to go back to your dad’s.”
“I do. I can just leave after, if that’s okay.” AJ looked at his sister. “Do you want to stay, too, or go without me?” Then, he looked at Myra. “Can we do Saturday morning? I can stay here Friday night and leave for Dad’s after we get back. MaybeMom can come. Mom, do you want to come?” he asked.
“That’s a lot of questions at once,” Elisa said. “It’s up to Myra when she can do this for you since she’d be taking time away from her own life to show you stuff.”
“Saturday morning is fine withme, but I need to check with my cousin first. I’ll text her now, and we’ll see what she says,” Myra replied, pulling out her phone.
“And I can’t stay here until Saturday,” Adele said. “I’m going back Friday morning.”
Elisa looked over at her and smiled.
“You can’t wait so we can drive together?” AJ asked. “Or do you need your car there, too? Yeah, that makes sense.” He nodded. “We can take more stuff that way. You can fit your stuff in your car, and I’ll get what I need until we leave for school in mine.”
“Yes, that’s why,” Adele said and went back to rinsing a glass in the sink.
They usually drove to their father’s house together since they were coming right back in a couple of days and didn’t need both of their cars. Archie Senior had three cars of his own there. One was his pride and joy, and no one drove it, not even him. It was a collector’s item, but Elisa didn’t know cars and hadn’t bothered to remember what kind or year it was. He also had a Mercedes that he drove day to day as well as an older Mercedes that he had planned to sell at one point but still hadn’t, so it mostly sat in the massive garage and was available to the kids whenever they stayed there.
“So, is it okay? Mom?”
“Honey, you can stay here whenever you want. This is your home. You know that.”
