{"id":6408,"date":"2014-04-23T14:29:15","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T18:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=6408"},"modified":"2014-05-08T11:49:42","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T15:49:42","slug":"inside-aurora-full-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-full-house\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Full House"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a beautiful spring day (finally), and I was strolling through the Arboretum, enjoying the sunshine.
\nI was thinking about all of the times I\u2019d run into the Easter Bunny here this time of year. He was usually in some sort of pre-Easter distress about missed deadlines, or supplies, or location challenges, or some other issue that was hindering his ability to deliver eggs to the kids of Aurora on time.
\nSince it was now after Easter, I figured that I\u2019d missed him this year. No sooner had I thought that, when I spied a familiar furry figure slumped on a bench.
\n\u201cHi, there,\u201d I said, sitting down next to him, and looking over at the haggard expression on his face. \u201cYou must be exhausted from the big Egg Hunt at the Seniors\u2019 Centre last week end.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, it was busy,\u201d he replied with a sigh, \u201cbut now I\u2019m in trouble.\u201d
\n\u201cHow can you be in trouble? All the eggs got hidden in time in the right place, didn\u2019t they?\u201d
\nHe nodded in agreement.
\n\u201cAnd the kids had a great time?\u201d
\nAgain, a nod.
\n\u201cSo what\u2019s the issue?\u201d
\n\u201cWell, I needed somewhere handy for the eggs to be delivered to before I hid them. So, I had them sent to Petch House. It was empty, right next to the Centre, and it was just for a few hours.\u201d
\nHe looked around nervously, and confided in a whisper, \u201cI didn\u2019t tell anyone.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, Easter\u2019s over now, and don\u2019t worry; I won\u2019t tell anyone. No one will be the wiser.\u201d
\nBy his expression, I could tell my assurance wasn\u2019t enough, and there must be more to the story.
\nThere was.
\n\u201cThe problem is,\u201d he continued, \u201cthere was an ordering mishap.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, they delivered to the right place,\u201d he added quickly, anticipating my question, \u201cbut they delivered too many eggs.\u201d
\n\u201cHow many more than you needed?\u201d
\nHe looked up with red-rimmed eyes.
\n\u201cTen times.\u201d
\n\u201cTen times!\u201d
\nThat was a lot of eggs.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t there! I didn\u2019t know!\u201d he exclaimed, spreading his little arms wide. \u201cAnd I couldn\u2019t send them back. I tried. And even being generous, I couldn\u2019t begin to give them all away last weekend.\u201d
\n\u201cYou mean\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cYes, Petch House is packed to the rafters with Easter eggs.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, just give them away next year.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah, I\u2019m going to have to, but until then, I\u2019ve got nowhere to put them. The hole in the ground I live in is barely large enough for me.\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe no one will notice.\u201d
\n\u201cHow could they not notice? The first person who opens the door will be buried under an avalanche of eggs!\u201d
\nI thought for a moment, as he sobbed silently beside me.
\n\u201cWell, Petch House has been sitting empty for several months. It has no plumbing, needs significant improvements inside, and is really kind of limited in what it can be used for.\u201d
\n\u201cSo?\u201d
\n\u201cWell, maybe it\u2019ll stay empty till next year?\u201d
\nHe looked up hopefully, \u201cYou really think so?\u201d
\n\u201cSure,\u201d I said with confidence. \u201cIt always takes the town ages to do anything. Look how long it took to rebuild that log house, and they still don\u2019t have a tenant for it yet. I\u2019m sure no one will notice.\u201d
\n\u201cI really hope so,\u201d he said, hopping down off of the bench.
\nAs he wandered off, I smiled at him with encouragement that I didn\u2019t feel in my heart. Despite what I\u2019d said, it was highly unlikely that the Petch House would continue to sit empty for another year.
\nBut then, stranger things have happened in Aurora.<\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston It was a beautiful spring day (finally), and I was strolling through the Arboretum, enjoying the sunshine. I was thinking about all of the times I\u2019d run into the Easter Bunny here this time of year. He was usually in some sort of pre-Easter distress about missed deadlines, or supplies, or location […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1Fm","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 14:02:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}