No Flowers in the Attic

 Today I went somewhere I've never been before: my parents' attic. Unlike the 1979 V.C. Andrews novel, I confirm that there were no flowers in my parents' attic (although, I don't think there were any real flowers in that attic neither, just paper flowers to keep the siblings born of incest from coming out of the attic..... I haven't read it but it doesn't seem like a happy novel). My parents' attic was filled with all of what you'd expect: cobwebs, poor ventilation, pipes, small windows to tthe outside, and worst of all for MJ...... dust. Dust mites, dust balls, pretty much just dust everywhere. My parents have owned the home for 20 years now, and I don't think we've ever went up there to clean or do anything. Recently, my parents have been hearing sounds coming from up there, suspecting an animal or some living thing, so I went up there to check out the situation, cuz what else is there to do on Saturday nights (except everything in the whole world). I'm not the biggest fan of mice, but I'm not deathly afraid of it..... I definitely was a little worried I would slide the attic entrance out, and the mice would get out into the real home, or worse, into my face. Luckily that didn't happen, but I stepped in a mouse trap! The trap made out of goo was set there to try to trap mice, but it didn't do anything but trap Bobby. It was also hot and humid up there with so much sun and heat accumulated from the hot SoCal sun, I sweat and had dust all over my body. And the goo- It got all over my leg and hands.......had to use alcohol to rub it out. It didn't come out with soap! Aigu! 

Being in the dusty, dirty attic with just one light source and having to get up there on a ladder made me think of the most famous person to live in an attick: Anne Frank, of "The Diary of Anne Frank" fame. My limited knowledge made me only remember Anne Frank as being in the Mieps' (a family friend turned traitor) attic, but in fact she was with 7 other family members, including her father Otto Frank. I don't know how big the attic Anne Frank lived in was, but if it was anything like our attic, I couldn't imagine 8 people fitting up there physically, much less living for 761 days. Maybe I should read the book, but what was the meal situation, the bathroom situation, the breathing fresh air situation? And what about mice? Was that a factor? After 761 days in an attic I'm pretty sure I'd want to just get out and be free, but in fact she got sent to an even worse situation leading to her death. So yes I got sticky tar and goo all over me that's hard to wash out, but at least I got a clean shower and went on with my life. Our generation has it so much easier. And yet we complain probably more than any other generation ever in the history of the world.