Abandoned house

The other day after dinner at Blossom Foods (my favorite place to eat in Anjuna) my friend Joanna and I decided to skip the taxi and walk home. Here in Goa there are many beautiful old houses and often they look quite derelict.

We climbed the fence to visit one that seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. Big and gorgeous once. I imagined the family that must have lived here, sat on the porch, kids playing in the yard.

 There was so much old stuff lying around. Pots and branches and nails...it was beautiful

Four elusive peacocks hid when as we walked around back. I picked up some of their tiny underside feathers with green-gold tips.

We dearly wished to see the inside and tried peering in the windows. Then all of a sudden Joanna gasped and grabbed my arm. "I saw a face!" she whispered. Yes, there was someone inside. We were terrified for a moment. I could hardly believe that it was not in fact abandoned. My first instinct was to run but instead we got up the courage to go around front and knock on the front door. It took a while and a couple more knocks before the door opened a hair and then a little more. A woman's face peeked out. She was small, Indian, older but not ancient. I wish I'd taken her photo but I felt it would be rude. We told her we admired her house and she spoke to us in perfect English. She seemed embarrassed that it was so out of sorts, told us she was born in Africa, that she'd lived here for a long time. I wanted to see the inside but didn't ask. We thanked her and left.

Jo and I thought how nice it would be to go back and bring a gift to her. We daydreamed about having tea inside the house and listening to her stories. But we didn't go back. And now we are gone.