![]() I bet some of these cards are worth a good penny, especially since they look to be in good condition” Good question, but I just smirked and shrugged it off. “Why in the fuck would you put that dusty ass box on this good table?” I sat next to him on the couch and placed the box on the coffee table in front. I couldn’t help but feel disgusted that my brother would smoke a cigar that our dad was saving for a special occasion, knowing damn well that less than a week ago he passed away. I think dad was saving them for a special occasion” “Where did you get those cigars? You don’t even smoke” “Took you long enough” he said sarcastically. Once I exited the darkness of the basement and embraced the light of the room, I saw Joe sitting on the couch, smoking a cigar. Intrigued, I grabbed the Pokemon binder and the other materials that I deemed worthy to keep, put it in the box of video tapes, and headed upstairs. As I wiped the dust off, I opened the box to see a set of video tapes, unmarked. The box was covered in dust, seemingly untouched in at least a decade. On my hands and knees, I crawled under the stairwell to grab the box. I pulled out my phone to turn the flashlight on the search under the stairwell if I missed anything, and that is when I saw a small brown box, tucked into the back corner. The last box just had old silverware and plates, half of which were cracked and broken. As I searched through the remaining boxes, I thought for sure there was nothing at all worth keeping. There were some old pieces of art that Joe and I drew in class, but nothing worth keeping. The rest of the box was almost uneventful. Hell, I even went to a few tournaments and won badges. ![]() For those of you who are too young– or too old– to appreciate Pokemon cards, it was the greatest thing for an eight year old kid in the 90s. I flipped through the pages, just smiling from ear to ear. I felt like I had just discovered gold in the form of these little paper cards. There was an old white binder that had hundreds of Pokemon cards in the sleeves. I set it off to the side and pulled the next box closer to me. The first box were just holiday decorations: Christmas, Halloween, hell, even Thanksgiving my mother was very festive, no matter the holiday. I pulled up an old wooden chair and began to search through the boxes, hoping I’d find something worth keeping. Under the stairwell there were a few boxes from previous years that have yet to be unpacked. There was a time where my father wanted to make the basement a lower level family room, but the hanged photo is as far as he got. I looked over toward the single window in the basement, where a framed photo of my mother and father hung below it. Once in the basement, the old musty smell became familiar with my nostrils. As I looked down the narrow flight of stairs, memories of 8 year old me falling down and breaking bones flashed before my eyes. Hours went by, and after taking a break to sit down, rest, and enjoy a cold beer, I opened the door to the basement. All these years later and it’s still implanted in my mind. When I was younger, I fell down the steps and broke both of my legs, and my right wrist in the process. I started on the main floor, mainly because I still had this irrational fear of that basement. ![]() I would be in charge the basement and main floor, while Joe would be in charge the top floor and attic area. Like an episode of Scooby-Doo, Joe and I split up to make the job easier. The familiar smell of the home reminded me of better times times where I woke up on Christmas morning to see a Nintendo 64 and Pokemon Stadium waiting for me. The lights were on but nobody was home, if that makes any sense.Īfter the funeral, my brother Joe and I were going through their house to get their belongings out so the home could either be sold, rented out, or become property of the bank. The news hit me like a ton of bricks and all I could do was stare endlessly into the background. I was away at college when it happened, and unfortunately, nearly 400 miles away. I was at the bar with a few friends and my fiance at the time when I received the phone call from the local police. Their car slid off an embankment in the snow and ice and crashed, killing them almost instantly.
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