As Alice walked past the house on Maple Street, she saw the “For Sale” sign. She stopped and looked at the house. It was a beautiful house and big enough for her family. Alice was eleven years old and to her, this house looked like a mansion. Something inside her made her walk towards the house. She would ask the owner the price of the house, to see if her parents could afford it.
Alice knew that her parents would love the house. As she walked up the walk towards the door, two men in their early 30’s ran past her towards the house, one of them knocking her down to the ground. The house had just become available that day and it was located in a beautiful neighborhood. Houses like that one did not come on the market that often. The two men were both interested in buying the house and each of them was racing the other to buy the house.
Alice stood up, dusted off her dress and ran to the house. She got there just as the door was opening. An elderly man invited them into his home. He took the three of them on a tour of the residence. Alice had never seen a house that big in her life. It was three stories tall with a full basement. The house was over 100 years old. On the first floor were the kitchen, dining room, family room, den, living room, and bathroom, all very large rooms. The other two floors contained eleven bedrooms and four bathrooms. The house had three wood burning fireplaces, a porch that went all around the house and balconies going all around the 2nd and 3rd floors. The landscaping was breathtaking, with flower gardens, trees and a small pond. Alice knew that her mother would love the gardens.
After the tour, Alice and the two men were asked to sit down and discuss the house. The owner; Mr. Peterson, said that he had lived in the home his entire life, over 75 years, and he had to be sure that the new owners would take care of the house and love it as much as he had. He asked the three of them to write an essay telling what plans they had for the house if they were to buy it. He told them he would know if they were being honest. He also asked them what changes they would make in the house if money were no object. When the three of them had finished writing, he put the essays in three sealed envelopes with their names on them.