We’ve always lived in the great white house since I can remember. It had belonged to our grandparents before they died, and Thomas says that it was really nice back then. It seems nice enough to me now, but Thomas tells me it’s a dump. That it started rotting the moment I was born. He says stuff like that to me all the time, but not around Mama and Papa. Around them he’s always so bright and sweet. I’ve learned to try and avoid being alone with Thomas, but it never works out that way. He’s so much bigger and stronger and smarter than I am, and he likes it too much. When he hurts me, he never looks sad. He just grins and grins.

There is a big field behind our house. I think at one time my grandparents farmed it, but now it’s just mainly rocks and weeds. I’ll slip away to the field when no one notices, which is often enough, and I like playing by myself anyway. I figure if they forget about me, maybe I won’t make them so mad and sad anymore.

But one day when I stepped into the back yard, I saw the field was different. There was an extra house back there, just like ours. Well, not just like ours. It was bright white and clean, with neatly trimmed hedges and beautiful flowers lining the walk up to the front porch. There were no vines growing over the columns, and all the shutters looked like they had been painted and hung just right. I felt my heart flutter happily at the sight of it, but I also knew I must be in a dream. Not wanting it to end yet, I walked up the path and to the front door.

It really was amazing. Everything was the same, but not the same at all. The wood of the door almost glowed with some kind of varnish or lacquer, and I finally got to see the large brass doorknocker that had been gone from our front door for as long as I could remember. The thought of our house made me look back, and I half expected my house to be gone. But it still sat there, faded and gray, looking worn out and shabby next to this miracle.

Still, I felt my stomach starting to rumble with worry at the strangeness of all this. I pinched myself, thinking it might wake me up, but nothing happened. This was all too real and too clear. It wasn’t a dream after all, and that scared me a little. I started backing back down the porch steps when the front door suddenly opened.