Short Stories

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As Wisdom walked through the front door to the house he had been hired to renovate - the occupants of the house greeted him at the door. The whole family were there to meet him - not with anticipation, but so that they could air their concerns and complaints, needs and wants about the rooms he was to redecorate. There was Miss Worry, Mr Unforgiveness, Mr and Mrs Sin and Master Indulgence, Mr and Mrs Anger & Intimidation (who were boarding), Grandfather of Bad Memories and Mrs Grandmother of Good Memories. There was also a Backyard of Fear that had to be re-designed. Mr Unforgiveness stole Wisdom’s attention from the rest of the group - he demanded that the decorator follow him into his room - so they entered the Room of Unforgiveness. As they entered, Wisdom noticed that there were many, many photos of people on the walls around the room. The first thing that the decorator noticed were the darts that had been thrown at the photos - the darts had cracked the glass and ruined most of the faces - when Wisdom looked at Mr Unforgiveness with a quizzical smile, Unforgiveness just shrugged and mumbled something about the fact that he had been upset, hurt, betrayed, abused, yelled at and lied to by the people in the photographs - and he threw darts at them to make him feel better. With that explanation out of the way - Unforgiveness continued to explain to the decorator what it was that he wanted done to the room. As Wisdom was listening to the instructions laid out by Mr Unforgiveness, Mr and Mrs Sin and Master Indulgence rudely approached him and demanded that he follow them into their room. As Wisdom was dragged into the Room of Sin and Indulgence, he couldn’t help but notice the stench that was being unsuccessfully hidden by cheap perfume - the perfume was nice enough - but the underlying stench was sickening. The Room of Sin and Indulgence was attractive; with a dim lamp showing just enough to make it look inviting, but not enough light to really be able to see the whole room. The look was ‘glittery and glitzy’ with all of the latest gadgets and technology and garish colours. Mr & Mrs Sin and Master Indulgence offered Wisdom a comfortable seat as they talked, but Wisdom knew better than to sit with Sin and Indulgence and politely declined - making the inspection of the room more of a priority. Even though The Sins and Master Indulgence were not as demanding upon the decorator as Mr Unforgiveness, He felt that they were trying to sway him into their way of thinking. Whereas Wisdom knew that it was more flattering for a room to be bright, minimal warm and comfortable - Sin and Indulgence were advising the decorator to be daring in his colours, overly flamboyant in his style - but, since it was their room and not his - he listened intently as he watched a couple of cockroaches scuttle under a nearby chair. After taking notes about the room of Sin and Indulgence, he was met at the next room by Miss Worry. She was wringing her hands and looking, well, worried. She invited the decorator into her room and it was then that he noticed how uncomfortable and unorganised the room was. Miss Worry was flitting around, trying to move things to make the room look perfect - but because it was so unorganised, it was hard for her to do. As Miss Worry pointed out the cracks in the ceilings and walls, Wisdom couldn’t help but notice just how much this room needed to have Organization and Warmth. All Miss Worry needed to do was rest for a while and take her mind off the constant reshuffling in her room - then she would be able to see just where she could begin to make her room more ordered and inviting.

As the decorator walked down the hall - he felt the heat coming from the next room. This was the Room of Mr & Mrs Anger & Intimidation. As Wisdom knocked on the door - he was greeted with frowns and abuse by the occupants and the heat was unbearable. He had to walk past Mr Anger & Intimidation as he went to greet his wife - which was no mean feat - Wisdom was abused the whole way. The decorator had to restrain Mr Anger and Intimidation with his strong right hand whilst shaking the hand of his Wife. Mrs Anger and Intimidation was no better. As Wisdom was trying to find out what they wanted to do to their room, Intimidation started to twist Wisdom’s words to make out that the decorator was offending the couple‘s taste. Wisdom could not take much more of the heat in the room - so advised them to write down what it was they wanted done to their room and he will do the best he could. As he left, he turned down the heat on the thermostat by the door. ‘That should cool the pair down’ he thought to himself with a gentle smile. Just as Wisdom thought he’d seen most of the house, an elderly man approached him whom the decorator had met at the front door. His name was Bad Memories, and, he advised Wisdom, He was the Grandfather of the family. As they walked into the room, even Wisdom was taken aback. He had seen quite a bit in the last few hours, but he wasn’t prepared for this room. Everything was broken. And when he got a proper look at the elderly man, he saw that there were sores on the Grandfathers skin and plasters all over most of the sores, as though he had been trying to heal what was wounded and infected with plasters - temporary fixes for something that needed the right antibiotic. It was raining outside. There was no comfort in this room, it was cold, clammy and Wisdom couldn’t help but notice that the items in the room were old and well used - as though they had been picked up and put down so many times they were worn out. On the table there were cigarettes, alcohol and what looked like drugs. When Wisdom asked the Grandfather of Bad Memories what he needed them for - he said it made him feel better to use them - it made him forget the Bad Memories that plagued him. Wisdom knew that it would make the Grandfather feel much better if only he went to the Right Doctor who had the correct antibiotic to heal the wounds - not just cover them up.

The next room belonged to the Grandmother of Good Memories. After such a depression first impression, Wisdom was pleasantly surprised to find that the next room was bright and airy. The weather had cleared up from the previous room and the after-rain sunshine was pouring through the clean, clear windows. The décor in this room was beautiful with silk covers and pastel colours. It was tidy and inviting, but strangely, didn’t seem to be used much. It didn’t have that lived in feeling that was so prevalent in the other rooms. As an elderly lady invited him in to the middle of the room - he had such a pleasant feeling that he felt overwhelmed to stay. When Wisdom met the Grandmother, He instantly liked her. When He asked her why the room seemed to have the feeling as though it was not occupied very often, she explained that she didn’t often have visitors because once guests had visited the rooms of the rest of her family, they were too sidetracked and worn out by them to bother to enter her room. It saddened them both because they knew how inviting and refreshing was the Room of Good Memories. After a nice hot cup of tea and lots of wonderful conversation, Wisdom thought he would carry on. Wisdom knew that this room would be the best to re-decorate but knew also that he would have to clear out and redefine the others first. As Wisdom entered the Backyard of Fear he was met at the gate by a deep ravine about 5 metres wide - the only way to cross was an old rugged bridge. He heard what sounded like vicious dogs barking like crazy not far away. It was definitely a place that he would have preferred not to go, but he knew that it was part of the package, the Family definitely wanted to clear out the Backyard of Fear. As he was looking around, he came upon a group of gardeners. These gardeners were angry, bitter, resentful and offensive in their language and manner. They made the decorator feel less than welcome and tried to make him fearful by their horror stories about the backyard they worked in. They told stories of snakes and scorpions lurking under branches and all other manner of horrible things, but Wisdom knew better than to listen to the stories of fear from the gardeners. As Wisdom searched the area - he started telling the gardeners of the positive ideas he was coming up with for the house and the backyard - as the gardeners heard of these plans - they were offended and once again shrivelled off into the darkness. After walking through the Backyard of Fear, the decorator came across an open field behind the bordering fence. In the middle of the field was a beautiful mansion. His curiosity got the better of him and he journeyed up the path. He saw what he thought was the owner of the mansion tending to the roses and approached him for polite conversation. After explaining that he was to redecorate the house next door, the owner of the mansion seemed relieved and remarked that the house next door was in desperate need of a spruce up. It was then that the decorator had a thought. He asked the owner of the mansion if it would be okay to invite the family next door over to have a look and maybe get some new ideas on the redesign of their house. At the agreement of the owner, Wisdom gathered the neighbours together and they went through the door of the mansion.


The first door had a title, The Room Of Love. As the neighbours walked into this door they were overwhelmed by the smell of fresh cut flowers. Mostly roses from the garden. The décor was white and the windows were wide open to let in the fresh air. The seats were inviting and comfortable looking. Photos of loving, happy scenes were displayed before them. The atmosphere was so overwhelmingly positive, warm and loving that they found it hard to carry on with the tour - as they walked out of the Room of Love, they all had an overwhelming desire to return. They felt like a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders - Wisdom followed quietly behind. As the owner continued showing them the house, they came upon what was called The Room of Joy & Goodness. This room was used for cooking. It was a room full of laughter, kindness and gentleness, warmth and baking smells. It reminded them of how it was when they were children. As they stood in the middle of the room and admired the way it was designed, it seemed to invoke a feeling of warmth and comfort. The room smelt so good that their mouths were watering - and the atmosphere in the room was joyful, light and fun. One of the bakers in the room offered them some baking which had just come out of the oven - and they tasted and saw that it was good. As they left the Room of Joy & Goodness, Wisdom followed quietly behind. The next room they entered took them by surprise. It was The Room of Patience & Self-Control. This room was thrown into utter darkness. They could only see the light from an open door on the other side of the room. The open door looked very intimidating but they knew that it would be worth the effort to pass through The Room of Patience & Self-Control to get to the other exit. Together, holding hands, they went through. It took time because the light was limited, but as they manoeuvred their way around it - they felt like they had achieved something by the time they reached the other side! Wisdom was at the exit waiting patiently for them, smiling gently. The next room was The Room of Kindness & Gentleness. This was obviously the room the owners used for childcare. There were 2 sleeping babies, a warm fire and lots of soft and huggable toys. This was definitely a room of Kindness and Gentleness. As they were led through the room, one of the babies started to wake up and cry. Gently, Kindness scooped the crying baby into her arms and soothed her with loving, kind words that quickly settled the baby down into a deep sleep. As the neighbours left the room, they themselves felt as though someone had taken them into strong protective arms which made them feel protected. Wisdom followed closely behind them with a gentle smile upon his lips. As they came upon one of the last rooms, they read on the door that it was The Room of Faithfulness. To their surprise a strong looking man was waiting for them. He warmly invited him in to sit on the comfortable furniture. The neighbours felt so comfortable in The Room of Faithfulness that they found themselves telling Mr Faithful all about their problems. He listened quietly and intently, seemingly filled with compassion for their plights. As time passed, they found that there really were solutions to their problems. Faithfulness helped them, along with Wisdom, see sense in all that had happened to them and as they left, they felt as though they had just been through an intense counselling session followed by a health spa! Leaving and bidding farewell to Faithfulness, Wisdom followed close behind the neighbours gently smiling and humming to himself. Since all of the rooms seemed to have been shown to them - they were led into the foyer. The owner of the mansion said that there was one thing that hadn’t been shown to them - but the room they were about to see was only ever shown to people who really wanted to see it. Of course, this piqued their curiosity and they begged the owner to let them see it. As they followed through the beautiful foyer - the owner slid large double doors that opened up onto the most beautiful garden the neighbours had ever seen. They were so awed by it’s beauty they were speechless for a long time. The first to speak was Anger. “I have never felt this peaceful before - and all I am doing is standing at the door looking out. What can I do to have such a beautiful garden?” he inquired. As Wisdom was standing right behind him, he gently placed his hands upon Angers shoulders and said. “My friend, you have just entered The Garden of Peace. As I’ve watched, you have passed through so many rooms. You have been through and visited the places of Unforgiveness, Sin and Indulgence, Worry & Intimidation. You have stayed too long in the Room of Bad Memories and have often walked through The Backyard of Fear. You constantly live with Insecurity and Guilt - no wonder you want to have a garden just like this one. But, I tell you. Now that you have walked with me through the rooms of Love, Joy, Goodness, Patience, Self-control, Kindness, Gentleness and Faithfulness - I believe that you can now experience the joy of walking in the Garden of Peace.” Wisdom carried on, “I will re-design your house, now that your ideas and desires have changed - I knew that if you came to the mansion you live so very close to but have never entered that you would want to have your house decorated this way. I knew that once you saw that there was a better way to decorate your house - with my help as the decorator - you would ask me to fulfill the desires of your heart - through the new ideas you have discovered. “I look forward to redesigning your house just like this mansion - and I will do it for you. You don’t know this but I have already paid the price to redesign your house, because it is worth it to me to see your house look like this beautiful mansion - it will be much more pleasant for people to visit once it is completed. So yes, you can have a garden just like this one - And rooms just like the rooms you just saw - but I may need your help. If I ask for you to help me, I know you will, because you have seen the end product.”


As the Mansions owner and Faithfulness waved goodbye to the Neighbours, the owner said “As you go about redesigning your house - and as construction is in progress - feel free to come and visit - it will be a pleasure to give you more ideas on how to make your house more pleasant, and thanks for dropping by, I look forward to seeing your completed house!”. As the neighbours walked back through the field, past the Backyard of Fear and into their rooms, they no longer wanted to be there - later that evening, they found that the desire to visit their Grandmother was too overwhelming to resist. And as they entered the beautifully kept room, Wisdom was there, in deep conversation with their Grandmother - and as they walked further into the room, Wisdom and Good Memories greeted them warmly.

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