december, 2019 second place winner: house of four chimneys by melissa ganendran

At first, there were only two. It wasn’t a terribly big house after all, and that was all they needed. Mr Jennison and his grown-up son George did quite well there, thank you very much. One fireplace in the West Wing sitting room fed one chimney, and one in the East Wing sitting room fed the other. They used the two quite efficiently. George’s mother had died three years ago and they avoided speaking of her, although she was always there with them, a heavy presence that was impossible to forget. The cook, Patricia, had passed away shortly after and since money was short, they didn’t worry about replacing her.

Of course, there came a time when two was no longer enough. There had been a gardener, you see, just a fortnightly fellow who tidied the lawn and pulled the weeds. The only trouble was, he had a habit of listening at windows. It was around that time that the Jennisons decided to extend their home, although they couldn’t really afford it. There were three chimneys now, a third fireplace and plenty of fresh new brickwork.

They kept themselves to themselves, the Jennisons, but occasionally they had visitors. Salesmen, people wanting charity donations for local orphans, that sort of thing. They heard an awful story once though, a week aft

er Emily Anderson called by, collecting for something. Apparently she had disappeared not long after and nobody had seen her since.

“Terrible shame,” George shook his head when he heard it from the grocer. “She oughtn’t to have gone knocking on doors alone, defenceless old lady like her.”

That week, George and his father decided to have the house extended once again.

“Let’s have a fourth chimney,” Mr Jennison smiled, running his fingers over the architect’s plans. “A nice round number, four.”