I have not thought about the dark house in years.

There were roads not taken—a house in the woods, a beautiful Victorian with no yard, a dog-less condo.

When you are old you realize how much you did badly

So many regrets.

But not the landlady, not the note, not the conversation between the nice neighbor and the petulant four year old

Defiant on the roof of the porch when she should have been sleeping

Later, much later, she would sleep when she should have been

Defiant on the porch of the house

I pray the time machine prayer

Dear God, permeate the darkness, the loneliness, the horror, the nightmare, the hell the children went through

Let them sing in the courts of the Temple of God

Hosanna, hosanna in the highest!!