Less than five minutes later, the truck from the moving company pulled into the driveway.
“Oh, dear!” Vanessa’s Mom said. “They’ve come too early. We haven’t had a chance to think about where everything should go.”
Three men climbed out of the van and began bringing in a few pieces of furniture that had come from the old apartment. They put boxes of dishes in the kitchen, and moved the television set into the living room. They carried suitcases full of clothes up the stairs and left them in the hall. Next came cartons of books and pictures for the walls and all the other things that people need in order to live.
When at last their belongings were safely inside the house and the truck was gone, Vanessa and her mother unpacked the boxes in the kitchen. They put the dishes in the cabinets and the knives and forks and spoons in one of the drawers. They arranged the canisters of flour and sugar and tea and coffee on the counter. Vanessa organized the refrigerator, and her Mom stacked cans of soup and vegetables and boxes of cereal and cookies in the spacious pantry. When they were finished, they decided to go upstairs and unpack their clothes.
There were two bedrooms on the upper level, one at the front of the house and one at the back, with a bathroom in between. Vanessa thought the bathroom was as big as their whole apartment had been - well, almost. It had an old-fashioned claw-foot bathtub along with a modern shower, and not one, but two basins, one for each of them.
There was a big double bed in the front bedroom, and a tall chest of drawers. An antique dressing table stood opposite two side-by-side windows that faced east. It had a huge mirror that reached almost to the ceiling. The closet was wide and deep, with plenty of room for lots of clothes, and there was even a big brick fireplace in the corner. Vanessa had never seen a fireplace in a bedroom before.
The walls were painted a sort of dusty tan colour, and the woodwork was finished in a dark brown walnut stain. Vanessa thought the room seemed gloomy, and even a little bit depressing. She didn’t think she could sleep very well in there. But her mother thought it was beautiful. She especially liked the ornate furniture, and the east-facing windows that would let in the morning light.
“We’ll paint it yellow,” she said. “That will brighten it up.”
Vanessa decided to check out the room at the back of the house. As soon as she entered, she knew that she could be happy there. It was smaller than the front room, but it was much more cheerful. Two tall windows overlooked the beautiful back yard, where hundreds of flowers were in bloom. The one on the left was open, and through the screen she could hear the birds singing in the trees.
The woodwork was pure white, and the walls were a rosy pink colour that made the room feel warm and inviting. Best of all, there was a tiny fireplace tucked away in one corner, faced with blue and white tiles that had little Dutch windmills painted on them.
All of the furniture was white, too, and there was even a desk where Vanessa could do her homework, and a table for her computer. Two big bookcases stood on either side of the windows, giving her plenty of room to store schoolbooks, her collection of favourite novels, and all of her stuffed animals.
“Mom!” she called out. “Come and see. This is the room I want.”
She had already forgotten about the old woman’s warning.