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Sara was driving slowly and looking around carefully. She was driving near a pretty neighborhood, but it did not catch Sara's attention because she had to find her grandmother’s house. The sky was getting dark and it started raining soon after.
"Western road 300 East...4439 south...I am pretty sure it was around here..." Sara mumbled to herself. She tried to remember where her grandmother's house was. She was following her GPS, when her phone ran out of battery. Katy Perry was blaring on the radio. Sara turned it off to concentrate. I should've charged the phone. Sara was a little bit frustrated, yet she was still smiling. She knew she would find it. When she turned the corner, she saw a familiar sight; her childhood memory flashed before her eyes. Even though it had been a while since she visited her grandmother’s house, she could remember the neighborhood. Suddenly, she missed her sick grandmother and had tears in her eyes.
Sara saw her friend Michelle standing in front of her grandmother’s house, waving to her. “Michelle!” Sara exclaimed. She was so excited to see her friend, that she honked the car horn.
“Hey, your phone is off. I’ve been waiting forever.” Michelle complained playfully.
“Why didn’t you just wait in your car?” Sara replied.
“Because I figured you would be on time, and I was so excited to see you!”
“Me too, it’s been ages since I saw you last, ”Sara replied with excitement. Sara ran to Michelle and the best friends embraced. Then began the normal routine at grandma’s.
Sara went to the mail box, and opened it. There was a key in the back corner of the mail box. When she opened the door, Sara felt like her grandmother was in the house. It smelled like cookies. That scent brought back memories of Sara’s childhood. Sara turned on the lights. There were many pictures of her family on the walls and tables. Some of them were pictures of Sara. She looked around. It was a little bit different from her memory. She felt great peace and comfort being in the house.
“Wow, this house is so cute!” Michelle said entering the room with her luggage. “How is your grandmother?”
“It was serious at first, but she is a lot better. She is staying in the senior center now so she always has someone to take care of her.”
“Well, I am glad she is alright.”
“Yeah. She is a tough old lady. She’ll be fine. As soon as I move my stuff into my room, I am going to visit her.”
“I’ll go with you. By the way, I love these pictures.” Michelle looked around the living room.
“That is my mother.” Sara pointed to one of the pictures behind the couch.
“Oh, she is beautiful.”
“Yeah, she still is,” Sara said, walking up the stairs. “There are empty rooms; choose whichever one you like.” Sara walked down the hallway. Every place was filled with memories. It is so great to be here. I can finally rest and forget everything. She opened her grandmother’s room. It was well organized. She missed her. She opened the next door. There was a big window and Sara could see the back yard where was still raining. Searching the rest of the room pulled Sara away from the peaceful scene outside the window. The room had a desk, a chair and a bookshelf filled with old books.
“I call dibs on this room!” She called out to Michelle as she emerged from the closet. Walking out of the closet, something snagged her left shoulder. “Ow!” She checked her jacket, and luckily it wasn’t ripped. She saw the bent nail. “Hmm...” Sara tried to pull it out with her hand, but it didn’t move.
“I am getting you out of there; you can’t ruin my moving day!” Sara could just ignore it, but for some reason she could not leave it alone. She tried to find where her grandmother kept the tools.
"I’m going next door to borrow a claw hammer," Sara told Michelle as she left the house. Sara looked around and found one house right next to her. These houses are very close. They must know my grandma well.
There was nothing in the neighbor's garden. Sara saw some dead plants in vases. She saw a small light through the window. It must be coming from the television. She knocked on the door and after getting no response, she knocked again. Sara was about to give up and move onto the next house, when the door opened slowly. An old man was at the door. He seemed like he was just waking up from a nap.
“Oh, I am sorry. Did I wake you?” Sara said.
“You are...fine.”
“Well. Hi. I am Mrs. Olvermann’s granddaughter.” The old man did not say anything. Sara felt awkward. “Could you lend me your hammer?” Sara asked.
“Hammer?”
“Yes. The one with the remover on it. We have a problem with nails.” Sara made her hand like a claw to show what she meant.
“Ok, wait for a minute.” The old man brought the claw hammer, and she ran home and took the nail out from her closet.
"Yes!" The experience was gratifying. The nail was in the wrong place for a long time, but now it was gone. This was just like me, but it's ok. It's all good now.
She checked the clock. It was a little after noon. She unloaded her stuff from her car and recharged her cell phone. She came down to the kitchen and started baking brownies. Her grandmother baked brownies for her often, so she wanted to bake some and bring them to her in the senior center. After Sara finished unpacking, she saw the hammer on the desk. She grabbed the hammer and went downstairs. She took out the brownies from the oven and put several pieces on a plate.
"Did you make brownies?" Michelle asked with a smile.
"Yes. I wanted to bring some to grandma."
"Are you leaving now?"
"Oh, no, this is for the neighbor." She showed the hammer to Michelle.
"Can I have some?" Michelle asked tentatively.
"Of course! Hey, you don't work today, right?"
"No. Tomorrow morninnn--." Michelle answered while she put the brownie in her mouth.
"Is the hospital far from here?" She asked after chewing the rest of the treat.
"Nope, it's close. That's one of the reasons why I moved here.” Michelle put another piece into her mouth and smiled. When Sara opened the door, the rain had stopped and it was sunny, making her day suddenly so much better Sara brought the hammer and brownies to grandma’s neighbor. When she knocked, the same old man came out. She returned the hammer and gave him the brownies. She walked back to the house, and smiled, grateful for the joy she was feeling in that moment. Sara wasn’t sure how long she was going to stay here, but she had a great feeling about this place and the choice she had made to come.