The Home on Evelyn Street- by Conor McCaulley

It was only about 400 square feet in area. It had a small kitchen, with a stove, refrigerator, and sink. It had a hall, a bedroom, a living room, and about five closets. The front yard had a small lawn and a small garden. Behind the house, there was a cement patio that was as big as the whole house. In the hedge, there was a hole that was cut just for me, so I could go into my neighbor’s yard…

My neighbor was Uncle Todd. He wasn’t really my uncle--he was my godfather. I trusted and loved him so much, he felt like a parent to me. My Uncle Todd was one of the first people I met when I was little. I used to walk out my back door and through the hole in the hedge. I would walk into his garden. Sometimes I would stop and pick a tomato. Then, I would walk up his back stairs and knock on the back door. If he was home (which he usually was, because he was a writer and a musician), he would let me in. Usually, he would give me carob-covered raisins. I thought he was so cool.

My Uncle Todd was a storyteller. In the stories he told to me, there were several characters. This is one of the stories he told to me:

One day, Knocker’s mom told Knocker that she was going to San Francisco for the day. She said, “Knocker, you cannot go to Hm-hm’s or Jeremy’s.”

“OK,” said Knocker. Then she left. “Hmm,” said Knocker to himself, “She did not say that Hm-hm and Jeremy couldn’t come over here.” So he got the ladder and got on top of the roof and called them, but they were miles away and could not hear him. One of the neighbors heard the call. The neighbor called Jeremy and Hm-hm on the phone and told them that Knocker was on top of his roof, shouting for them at the top of his lungs. Jeremy and Hm-hm came over and stood among the small crowd that had gathered to see what all the shouting was about.

Hm-hm and Jeremy shouted up to Jeremy, “What do you want?”
“Oh good, you’re here,” said Knocker. “What should we do today?”
“I know,” said Hm-hm.
“What?” asked Knocker and Jeremy.
“Come down and I’ll tell you,” said Hm-hm.
“Psp, psp, psp.

(My Uncle Todd would keep his listeners in suspense by saying “psp, psp, psp” instead of the characters’ actual words. This always made me want to hear the rest and made me excited because I knew something funny was probably coming up.)

“Ok, Ok,” said Knocker and Jeremy, “that sounds like a good idea.

So they went to the equipment rental place and rented two cranes as big as the Empire State Building. Then, they drove the two big cranes over to Knocker’s house and strapped chains from the cranes big booms to the house. Then, Knocker took his chainsaw and cut the house right off its foundation. With the help of the cranes, they loaded the house onto two flat-bed trailer trucks. When it was loaded, Jeremy and Hm-hm got in the cab of the trailer trucks, while Knocker got back into the house and started playing Legos, being a good boy like his mom told him.

My Uncle Todd’s stories usually lasted about an hour. If I was drinking a glass of water while I listened, the rug would usually end up soaked because he always made me laugh right after I took a sip.