Montana's 'New' Cottage
The little craftsman cottage, almost completely unchanged since Fallon had lived there, had been divided up into two apartments. The one on the right side of the building was the "apartment" which Fallon had rented, and Ana now occupies.
The new "house" was much more roomy, and more homey, than Ana's previous apartment.
A wide front porch with its wooden construction, was one of the few structures shared between the two units of the duplex. Ana's front door was side-by-side with that of the duplex's companion unit. Each unit sported a large picture window.
Entering the front door into a spacious living room, one would notice the extreme variety in the paint selection - blue, blue, and blue were the highlights of the room.
Just inside the door to the left, beyond the wall-spring, stands a small rack of shoes and a coat stand. Along the left wall, reaching the corner is a tall wooden bookshelf with several drawers. A handful of books from a variety of genres, several magazines, and a small selection of catalogs reside on its shelves.
Barely a body's width pathway seperated the bookshelf from the white bar/desk. Beyond the bookshelf stands the currently empt, tall, portable cabinet that doubles as a dry bar.
The door next to the dry bar leads into the kitchen. Inside, just to the left of the door, stands the refrigerator, adjacent to the long counter in which the sink and range reside. The dishwasher stands as the only appliance on the far wall of the kitchen. From the ceiling hangs a chandelier-style lamp, illuminating the round table and four small chairs occupying the other corner of the room.
A door in the back wall leads out to the back yard.
To the right of the door between the kitchen and living room stands a white corner TV stand. There is not actually a TV on it at the moment; rather, the occupant pulls her laptop from her "computer desk" and sets it on the main shelf for viewing movies. A handful of movies are haphazardly currently stocked on the library shelf, including "Dungeons and Dragons," "Contact," "Monty Python's Holy Grail," and "Sex and the City, Season 1." The position of the TV stand blocks access to another large bookcase, which is currently empty.
An oddly shaped computer desk stands against the short wall holding the archway to the bedroom, laundry, and bath.
The long left wall of the bedroom is empty and blank, broken only by a lumpy pile of laundry. An old, weathered oak bureau stands against the far wall, holding a small lamp and alarm clock. A wide bed occupies the space between the room's only two windows. A mussed and shockingly pink comforter that seems too small to fit the bed is bundled in the center. Both north-facing windows have flimsy white curtains covering them. A very small closet, enclosed by a pair of sliding doors, occupies the wall near the bathroom.
The bathroom is clean and scented lightly of lavendar. From the wall to the left hangs a pair of hooks as well as a pair of towel racks. Behind the toilet in the corner hangs a mirror with a medicine cabinet. A tiny window juts above the sink, next to which stands the tub. The shower curtain is a semi-transparent white, with the names, symbols and pictographs of the twelve zodiac signs.
A washer/dryer combination stand in a cubby next to the bathroom door. Wire shelves hanging above hold linens and towels.
A lavendar sofa sits below the picture window, barely obscuring the wide sill. An unobstructed view of the porch, front lawn, and street, as well as any cloudless sunrises, are visible. An aged coffee table lays just in front. The ornately carved edges and support posts of the table have been varnished and re-varnished over the years and, outside of a few scuff marks along one side, is unblemished. An area rug, with patterns of various shades of blue, lays beneath the sofa and table. A single tall torchiere-style lamp stands in the corner next to the sofa, opposite the front door. Two pink naugahyde chairs stand in the middle of the living room, slightly removed from the sofa area, in a position to be turned towards the "TV stand."