Story of the Little Brick House-Responding to Ann’s Challenge

The challenge wants to know, “What happens in this house?” What happens is only the beginning.

I see the picture of this tiny brick house and I clearly recall the little house near a truck garage my son, Jason worked at years ago in McKean County, Pennsylvania. It, too, is made of brick. If this house could talk people would be amazed of how it come to be. I don’t know what the owner’s name is and I won’t say which city it is in. My facts may be a bit off, I don’t even know the years in question, my guess would be the 60s, but it is a true story. I thought it to be an interesting little tale. There are many ambitious people in this world with goals and ideas that are unheard of, many never get told. Perhaps not mentioning things to the next generation because we don’t think it important enough to tell is where we go wrong. Wouldn’t it be fun to have the whole story and not just bits and pieces?

A man lived in a house much bigger than he thought he needed. His lot was big enough to add another residence with room for each to have a good size yard. He worked at a local business that made brick. He comes up with a grand idea to build his own brick house. The man begins to stack brick at the edge of the lot. Each day he brought bricks home in his dinner bucket. Only one or two at a time was never missed from an order so he was given permission to take them free of charge. They did not think him serious when he told them of his plan. As he got enough brick for a wall, he began to assemble his new house. It reminded me of the Johnny Cash song, “One Piece at a Time”. This could be where the man that built the brick house got the idea from. The song tells a story of building a car, one piece at a time.

I don’t know how many years went by. It had to have been several. Just collecting the brick, a couple at a time would have been like drawing molasses. And waiting to build the house as enough brick became available to do so must have required a great amount of time.

When the house was done, it allowed the man to move in and rent out the bigger house. Surely the profit he made from his rental helped cover the cost of building his brick house. The brick and labor may have been free, no doubt the other materials were not.

Everyone and everything have a story behind them. So many times, we see things differently than they are. To see this little house, nobody would ever know of the story behind its being. It is a cute little house on a pleasant street. And its owner got it one piece at a time.

Each old house we see can be a great story starter. How old is it? Who lives there? Who has lived there? Facts or fiction? It is up to us to decide. The picture of the little brick house got my mind wandering back to a story I never thought I would want to write about. My son told me what he was told. This was over a decade ago and many gaps are missing in the real story. A good memory would be helpful. No wonder our own history gets out of focus.