The abandoned roadway turned into a footpath, which led up to the door to the old farmhouse.  As the pair approached, the door -- which had been standing closed -- opened inside for them with a creak, as if it had just been blown open by a gust of wind -- but the wind was coming from the opposite direction, and it carried the scent of frying fish and garlic much more clearly now.<br/><br/>Once they were near enough to see inside, for a moment they saw the front room of the house as it must have been for some time.  Leaves covered everything, having been blown in through a broken window, and animals had been in here, leaving their smell.  The furniture was broken and musty at best, and everything was askew.<br/><br/>But when just enough time had gone by for them to be sure that they had seen this scene, it was all transformed.  The leaves and dirt and dust and droppings were gone as if by magic -- and it must have been by magic.  The window was whole, the furniture seemed new and clean, and the entire interior of the house, in fact, was as if sparkling and new.<br/><br/><sup>------&gt; to The Abandoned Orchard and Farmstead</sup>