“Why me,” she moaned, standing in front of the dilapidated house and outbuildings in a yard overgrown with noxious looking weeds. “Who the hell was third-cousin-Harley-five-times-removed?” she asked out loud. “Why do I have to settle his estate?”
She walked carefully across the sagging porch; keys screech in rusty lock. Pushing the door open spawned a dust-tornado skipping across worn wood and peeling linoleum floors. “Achoo!”
Three years later, she is curating the “Harley House Family Museum” with displays of everything from kitchen kitsch and wedding trousseaus to farm implements and mechanics tools. And, Harley’s prize possession . . . (100 words)
for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. (August 20, 2021) Photo credit: © Lisa Fox
click here to join other riders in this week’s road trip
Lorraine's frilly freudian slip 
September 4, 2021 at 12:37 am
I’m glad it turned into a loved project.
LikeLike
September 4, 2021 at 7:07 am
I will let you know if I find one.
LikeLike
August 21, 2021 at 4:32 am
A lovely story that rings with authenticity, I know what it is like to clear out other peoples’ items, all saved for …what!
Perhaps I should set up a family museum – for someone else to clear.
LikeLike
August 21, 2021 at 1:14 pm
Sounds like a plan! Clearing out my parent’s stuff was tough — I did donate items to a museum — nice to think my father’s military uniflorm and stuff is actually one display! Had yard sales, donated to chairty. Still have a storage locker in there after 10+ years! Yikes. We did pare that down in 2019. Maybe I’ll just donate the locker to someone . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 20, 2021 at 9:16 am
Good one. I can picture it so well.
LikeLike
August 21, 2021 at 1:11 pm
Thanks. I was thinking too of a family run museum in a small town where I once lived. It was an old Victorian home, filled with all sorts of fun and interesting things from many generations of the family. Quirky and very informative about every day life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 21, 2021 at 3:06 pm
My Cousin’s grandmother owned a grand victorian that she bequeathed to the historical society. I spent many a happy hour there. Used to do living history there as a teenager, too. It was always fun!
LikeLike
August 22, 2021 at 6:15 am
How wonderful! What a great family legacy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 20, 2021 at 6:47 am
Lovely story.
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 7:47 am
Looks like things turned out well for her. Great take.
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 11:15 am
Thanks. Decided to write a happy ending!
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 3:45 am
After a shaky start it has worked out well for her in the end!
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 7:20 am
That’s the sort of inheritance I’d have fun with.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 18, 2021 at 7:32 pm
One person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Such good descriptions of the place. I hope the collection is purchased by a museum for future generations.
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 2:51 am
Would be nice! I lived in a small town in the Pacific Northwest which had a museum much like the one in my story. Family owned and run, it had an incredible collection of every day objects.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 19, 2021 at 12:33 pm
I love browsing through places like that.
LikeLike
August 18, 2021 at 11:14 am
That was fun. I bet she is pleased now that she had to settle the estate.
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 7:21 am
I think her inner historian is quite happy now. As is her cousin many time removed.
LikeLike
August 18, 2021 at 10:14 am
Who knows what treasures dust conceals? Delightful, Lorraine.
Here’s mine!
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 7:22 am
Thanks, Keith. I enjoyed your take on the prompt!
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 18, 2021 at 9:04 am
Lovely turn of events!
We both have estate/property in our stories :)
My Story-The Key House
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 2:50 am
Yes, sometimes our inhertances are much more than they seem at first view. I enjoyed your story.
LikeLike
August 18, 2021 at 8:41 am
Dear Lorraine,
As soon as I saw you title, the song started playing in my head. ;) Of course I had to watch the video all the way through. Over half a century ago, my husband and I went to see “Easy Rider” on our first date.
And your story. I really loved it. Apparently she figured out what to do with her inheritance. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 2:49 am
As soon as I saw your prompt/read your post (including the great photo of the bikers and the babe), I had that tune (and Meatloaf’s Bat Outta Hell) running roaring through my mind.
LikeLike
August 18, 2021 at 6:58 am
We truly never know where events will take us
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 2:48 am
So true. She had no idea she was a musuem curator at heart.
LikeLike
August 18, 2021 at 6:45 am
From a sneeze to a curator, lovely
LikeLike
August 19, 2021 at 2:47 am
Thanks. The historian in me would love to have a relative live me a place like that to sort out.
LikeLike