Auntie and Uncle Claus

Living with the Claus's as seen through the eyes of the narrator and the memories of winter and summers at Auntie and Uncle Claus's upside down house.

Everybody always says that my aunt’s house is by far the strangest they’ve ever seen, thing is they don’t even know the begging of how strange it really is. When my parents sent me and my brother Joey here for the first time, we had a feeling we were going to visit frequently. To the naked eye, her upside-down house may seem small, but once you’re inside, it’s three floors worth of wackiness. There is a ultra-big slide that lowers you to the basement. Auntie used to say: “Who wouldn’t have a ball pit room?” and we didn’t argue with her. She had a movie theater with five seats; for Uncle, Joey, Me, and her dog, named “Cat”. The second floor was where our rooms were, and mine had a secret room made out of trampolines. Joey’s room was the better one, because he had a water bed, and a chocolate fountain, so he let me stay in his room with him. My aunt’s theory was that the purpose of a backyard was to make use of it and enjoy it. So she turned it into our own mini-zoo.  She had a six- foot snake she’d brought back from Africa, together with tony, the tiger. One day, I remember, she came home holding the hand of two baby monkeys, one for me and one for Joey. Then two weeks later, she brought a parrot. Her kitchen was the most extravagantly delicious one in the country. She had a popcorn machine and a cotton candy one too. Auntie thought we didn’t know it, but if you crawled through under the sink, you would be led into a candy room. The dining room was a dance floor with a Ping-Pong table and mismatched beanbags to sit on. Our Auntie was so much fun; she had an arcade for us in the second floor. The third room was the workshop, where she and Uncle Claus would build all of these contraptions. There was a choo-choo train in the room that would take us around their shop. Living with my aunt was whacky and fun. She tried to spoil us as much as she could every winter and summer. And whenever we left, Auntie would leave us a bag of cookies and a red lipstick kiss on our foreheads, and we would count the days until we saw her again. 

Reviews

[Marie]

What a wonderful house this is! No wonder children count the days till they can visit it again.