family house

It was Christmas and I was at home with my family, in the house that we built. Though the exterior of the house was the same, the interior was very different. We were gathered on the lower level, setting tables and preparing food for our celebratory lunch. There were about twenty of us and not all were family; there were friends as well as people I barely know. On another level of the house, another group was gathered, also preparing a Christmas lunch. There were perhaps even more of them, squashed around the table they had set up. Downstairs, I decided to go outside to get some candles for the tables which were dressed in buttercup coloured cloths. I opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it behind me, feeling a wonderful rush of cool air on my face. I wondered why we were sitting inside with the doors closed when it was so fresh out here. Then I noticed that yet another family group outside, seated around a large table. A woman approached me and said that she wished that they were sitting inside where it was warmer, but I assured her that each space had its comforts. I collected a couple of tea light candles and some flowers, went back inside. We ate and drank and talked about things. At some stage, I was sitting on the ground on some cushions in the corner of the room where the roof sloped down very low. I was trying to get up with some difficulty, when a man offered to help, stretching out his hand. I could see that he was wearing surgical gloves and suspected they may be soiled, but I accepted his hand anyway. He helped me to my feet whilst he balanced by holding onto the exposed roof beams, and once I was out of the corner, he suggested that I wash my hands as his gloves were dirty with human waste. I thanked him and found my way down to a below-ground level where there were rooms devoted to bathing - a bath house of sorts. I skated across the wet floor searching for the soap which I found on a shelf along with many other bathing items: bubble baths, oils, brushes, cloths, pumice stones and more. In these rooms was another family group. They were bathing and they were also cleaning their natural sea sponges and scrubbing brushes which were piled up in the centre of the steaming room. I waved hello, washed my hands, and left them in peace. I went back outside, into the yard, where people were talking about a beautiful woman who had returned to the house after many years away, hoping to reconcile with a long lost love - Jon Stevens. They said that she would be surprised for whilst she was still youthful though mature, he had continued to smoke and drink and was greatly aged.